Here is the continuation of European Portals 2019
Olympia, Greece
Athens, Greece
Mykonos, Greece. Mykonos had the BEST assortment of doors!! And so colorful!
Ephesus, Turkey
Rhodes, Greece
Crete, Greece
Naples, Italy
That wraps up my photo journal of European portals 2019. Always look for those open doors and gates and experience what lies beyond.
As many of you know, wherever I go I photograph doors. I find it very intriguing. Doors are passages. You are either coming or going into the space beyond the door. What lies beyond the door? An opportunity for you? A new experience? Insight into the people beyond the door?
In another blog I wrote about the colors of doors and what that represents. Red- welcoming. Orange-you are social. Blue-your world is ordered and controlled. Gray-you prefer compromise. Green-you have traditional values. Brown- you are warm, reliable and stable. Yellow- you are positive and logical, but also creative. Turquoise-speaks to emotional balance, a romantic dreamer. Pink-hopeless romantic. Purple-you are comfortable with risks. Wood- you are generous and down to earth.
Here are photos of some of the doors I photographed on our trip this year.
Saint Malo, France
Paris, France
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Montenegro
Zadar, Croatia
Split, Croatia
Korcula, Croatia
Corfu, Greece
Sicily, Italy
Part 2 will be Olympia Greece, Athens Greece, Mykonos Greece, Rhodes Greece, Crete Greece, Naples Italy and Ephesus Turkey
This trip went on for 5 weeks and this blog will wrap up on the places we visited.
Rhodes Greece. Rhodes is the lowest island in Greece. It is the closest island to Africa and in July the temperatures can rise to 114 degrees. We had a beautiful 70 degree day.
The excursion we chose for Rhodes was to travel to Lindos. We started the day with a sightseeing ride along the coast and saw some beautiful beaches.
Lindos is known for its clifftop acropolis. We went to the town and enjoyed all of the whitewashed buildings. Among these buildings is the Virgin Mary of Lindos Church which has 15th century frescoes. The last part of the road that goes into the village is very narrow and only allowed small vehicles. We had to walk down the road which was very steep and narrow. On the way there was a car coming down the hill. The car sideswiped a woman in our group! She was just in front of me and it was quite a shock when she fell over. She got right up and said she was fine. The poor driver who hit her was so upset and I was afraid he would have a heart attack. She really was ok and kept up with everyone going into the village. If you felt that you needed a lift in the village you could hire a donkey. Speaking of donkeys, we bought our granddaughter a stuffed donkey that will “HeeHaw” several times with the push of a button. Just one more thing to drive parents crazy! The village and the church were quite beautiful. We left Lindos and made a stop at a ceramic demonstration at Bonis Ceramics. We got to see how the pieces were made and painted. Of course I could not pass up a few pieces that were the Owl which is a Greek symbol for knowledge and wisdom.
When we returned from the excursion we went to stroll around the walled Old Town Rhodes. Found a great jewelry store where I purchased sterling silver evil eye protective jewelry. Can’t hurt, right?
Crete Greece. This stop was supposed to be Santorini, but the seas and winds were not cooperating. Our captain was able to get us to Crete for the day. We docked at Souda Port Chania and went into town to find a place for lunch and go though the market. Had a delicious lunch and walked around. It was May but there was still snow on the mountains. The highest mountain on Crete is Mount Ida. Legend has it that on its slopes in one of the caves Zeus was born.
Next was a day at sea to get us to our last stop before returning to Civitavecchia.
Naples Italy. Today all we really wanted to do was have real Napoli Pizza. Before we found a place to have pizza for lunch we took an on-off bus tour of the city. We found a terrific place for our Napoli Pizza and Chianti. I have to say, in this city where pizza was born, I had the BEST pizza I have ever had.
The next day we docked in Civitavecchia and we headed home from Rome. My friend Julie gave each of us a baseball cap for this trip and it really sums up the last 5 weeks for us. I wish you all happy travels and remember…
This is the first part of the final leg of our trip: Katakolon (Olympia) Greece, Athens Greece, Mykonos Greece, and Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkey, Tempuratures ranged from high 60’s to a high of 75 in Turkey.
This leg of the trip started once again in Civitavecchia. This is where additional friends joined the trip. We were very happy to greet Rosy and Al, Julie, and Pat and Jimmie. We left Civitavecchia on 4/29. The next full day we were at sea on our way to Katakolon (Olympia) Greece. This was a relaxing day at sea. The weather was sunny and warm and I spent part of the afternoon on our veranda cloud watching. I love looking at the clouds. It reminds me of my parents and I could feel their presence and that fills me with well being.
Our excursion in Olympia was to the Magna Grecia Olive Farm. Got a full education on olive growing and the products made from the olives. We had “tastings” of olives, olive oils, and jellies. Everything was delicious. We had a traditional lunch with music and traditional dancing. We saw a 1000 year old olive tree! Good thing they would ship to the US because we bought several bottles of olive oil, jellies, and olive oil shampoo and lotions. a great day from sunrise to sunset!
Athens was a 2 day stop. Day 1 Jimmie had arranged a private tour for us so that we could see as much as we could at our own pace. The Acropolis is a rocky hill in the center of Athens! In 1975 the Greek government began an effort to restore the Parthenon and Acropolis structures. The really important and fragile sculptures were transferred to the Acropolis Museum. The Parthenon is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis dedicated to the goddess Athena. Herodes Theatre is on the way up the slopes to the Parthenon. This walk is not for anyone with knee or ankle problems. The climb up is steep and slick rocks. This could be how the expression “you’re on a slippery slope” started!! The Acropolis museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and surrounding slopes. The museum is incredible. The top floor was designed on the “same axis as the Parthenon and has the identical cardinal orientation ” (Wikipedia). In other words, it has the same dimensions to display the entire frieze of the temple. With all of the windows and the elevation you can glance out and see the acropolis with the Parthenon in plain view. There are many sculptures on display. This was quite a day and ended with my decade changing birthday celebration! As I said to friends there is something to be said for celebrating a big birthday in an ancient city…EVERYTHING is older than I am!!
The 2nd day in Athens we took another private tour with Rosy and Al, Julie, and Jimmie and Pat. This one was a “foodie” tour of the old city. This was a walking tour and took us for baklava, olive oils, greek coffee, a stop at Miran’s Charcuterie and then another stop for slovaki and a beer. Needless to say we were not interested in having much for dinner. An observation: Athens is loaded with graffiti. Some of it is full sides of buildings and very well done. Perhaps the artist was commissioned to do it. But there is plenty of the usual looking graffiti which can really take away from what you are looking at. Another thing in Old Town was a section of a street with umbrellas hanging! I saw umbrellas hanging in Paris and now seeing umbrellas here, I decided to research this when I got home to see if there was any correlation. My brother and sister-in-law had been in Puerto Rico while I was away and they too saw an umbrella display. I researched this and found out about The Umbrella Sky Project which is an art installation by a Portuguese artist Patricia Cunha. These art installations have been spreading color and joy and love in streets around the world since 2011. I am assuming Athens was part of it.
Next stop Mykonos. We did lots of walking around in Mykonos and investigated most of the shops. We had a terrific lunch looking out at the water. The octopus salad was amazing. I found lots of treasures to bring home and I will enjoy my new jewelry! Tom and Al enjoyed their time too sitting on a seaside bench while Rosy, Julie and I shopped. I love how our husbands enjoy each other’s company.
Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkey. This was one of my favorite stops. The first part of our excursion took us to The House of The Virgin Mary. It is said that Mary spent the last years of her life here. We were lucky enough to be able to go to mass. I felt very spiritual and connected here. When we shared the sign of peace with each other we had tears in our eyes. After the mass we wrote a note and put it in the wall of intentions. I asked to protect my family and for peace for my family and the world.
From here we went on to the ruins of Ephesus. This was totally incredible. There is just so much history in this part of the world. Some of the things you see fills you with awe when you think about how much was accomplished. The Great Theater here is amazing. It was constructed in the Hellenistic period and was remodeled many times in the Roman period. It is the largest theater in the Asia Minor. There are 24,000 seats and 1,000 standing places. There are still concerts in the ruins. Many are at the Library. One of the places that gave us a good laugh was the “public toilets”. Imagine all these men sitting around sharing the news of the day. It is said that slaves “warmed” the seats! We all decided we’d never be able to go! There are running competitions between the Greeks and the Turks as to who was responsible for so many of the names of things and expressions we all use today. One that our guide shared on our tour was the story was how when Cleopatra and Mark Anthony came to Ephesus “the red wine would flow”…and so began the expression putting out the RED CARPET for special events. The journey will continue to Rhodes, Crete and Naples in my next blog.
After disembarking the Marina (Oceania Cruise) on 4/19 in Southampton UK we made our way to London Heathrow for a flight to Rome.
We arrived in Rome and met the driver we arranged to have pick us up and take us to the Hotel San Giorgio in Civitavecchia. That is where we will board the Holland America Koningsdam for a 20 day cruise. It was only one night at the hotel thank goodness, because the room left a lot to be desired. The concierge thought he had done us a favor giving us a “suite”. For this hotel that meant the queen size bed was up a full flight of carpet covered metal stairs that was the “loft”. The bathroom was downstairs so we opted to sleep on a pull out couch in the “living room “. It was Ok, particularly after a glass of Chianti. The rest of the hotel was fine. They had a nice small restaurant/bar and breakfast was included.
We boarded the ship on 4/20. This is a larger ship than the Oceania ship we were on previously. This one has a 2,650 passenger capacity. We were meeting friends for this cruise. We joined one of my best friends, Maria, and 9 of her friends from Florida. The 12 of us were doing the entire 20 day cruise. At mid point we would return to Rome and 5 more friends would join us for the final portion of the cruise. These friends are also “forever” best friends Rosy and her husband Al, Julie, and Pat and Jimmie.
There were a few things that bugged me about this cruise line. Granted, Oceania is more expensive, but this line charges for EVERYTHING. If you wanted coffee at a time other than meal time, you had to pay. If you drank bottled water in your room it was charged to your room. Laundry service was $30.00 /bag (not a large laundry bag) and for the internet there was a charge of $159.00 for the duration of the cruise. The good news was we had plenty of clothing with us (although we did do some laundry so it was all clean going home) and I decided that the kids hearing from us and posting could wait until we were in ports, so I passed on the internet connection. As far as the water goes, I came back on board with a giant bottle of water every day we were in port. In addition, there was an extra charge to have dinner in their specialty restaurants. We did go to two of their specialty restaurants and found that dining in the grand dining room was just as good. In the plus column, there were several bars and fabulous live music which was different at each bar. Billboard on Board featured dueling pianos or karaoke. BB King’s Blues Club was sensational blues. Rolling Stone Rock Room had a live band playing great rock and had the biggest dancing crowd. Lincoln Center Stage featured classical entertainment in the afternoon or early evening. That completed “Music Walk”. There was also entertainment every night if you chose to go to one of 2 shows at World Stage. We saw some really good shows-comediennes, a magician, a couple of local cultural musical shows brought on the ship while we were in port, a really good dance group and singers. By far our favorite was Vox Fortura. These 4 singers were Britain’s Got Talent semi finalists in 2016. They were incredible. We came home with a signed CD.
Our first full day was at sea and it was Easter Sunday. Mass was celebrated in BB King’s Blues Club. Wow. Sounds like strange place for mass, but it was fine and a very nice mass. The remainder of the day was very un-Easter. I went to the spa and got a gel manicure, there was a Captain’s luncheon, and then that afternoon at the Panorama Bar there was a Martini Tasting.
The first part of this cruise started in Civitavecchia (Rome), Dubrovnik Croatia, Kotor Montenegro, Split Croatia, Korcula Croatia, Kerkira (Corfu) Greece, Catania (Sicily) Italy, and back to Civitavecchia. Temperatures ranged from 67-68 degrees in Croatia, 77 degrees in Corfu and 73 degrees in Sicily. The weather was wonderful. I prefer to say mostly sunny than partly cloudy!
Croatia has been on my bucket list for a very long time and it did not disappoint. Dubrovnik was our first stop and it is so beautiful. We took an excursion into the mountains. We stopped at a local place for coffee in Cavat (Caffe Bar Amor)and then another stop for lunch at Konavoski Dvori a lovely restaurant in Konavle which is between Snijeznica mountain and the Adriatic Sea.
After lunch we came back into Dubrovnik and went to the walled city. We just explored all of the streets and shops. I took lots of photos of doors which I will cover in a separate blog. We left the walled city after sampling the local wine and buying some treasures to bring home. Leaving the port that night was so beautiful as all the lights were coming on in the city.
Our excursion in Kotor, Montenegro took us up into the mountains. Talk about hanging on while driving up the mountain. There were hairpin turns on extremely narrow roads. We had lunch in Njegusi at a place called Konoba. We had a delicious lunch of smoked ham and cheese with “Black Wine” which is their red wine and my husband tried the local beer Niksickol. I found a wood flute to bring back for our grandson. I’m sure he will play it so much that his parents will be ready to shoot us! After we concluded our sight seeing tour we went on our own to explore the walled city here. I was looking for a post office to send the kids a postcard (my grandson likes to get mail). Also found more wonderful treasures to bring home.
The next stop in Croatia has been on my bucket list since 2007 when I first read about it. The port we stopped at was Split. I had done research months before the cruise to find out how I could get to Zadar. I hired a car and guide to drive 6 of us a little over an hour to see the sea organ. “The Sea Organ is an architectural sound art object located in Zadar, Croatia and an experimental musical instrument which plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps.” (Wikipedia). This was created in 2005 by architect Nikola Basic. He also devised another piece that connects to the Sea Organ called The Greeting to the Sun. This is set at pavement level. It is 72 feet wide and represents the solar system. It is driven by the sun. By the time the sun is setting, glass panels generate enough power to light up the waterfront. It is really something to see and hear. This was a big check off of my bucket list. I could have sat on those steps all day listening to the sounds that were created. (Go to You Tube and find “sea organ Zadar Croatia” and listen to it) After this we walked around the town and found a great place for lunch. It was very windy today and it felt grainy. Our guide told us it was the “red rain” or “dirty rain” which blows up from the Sahara and it happens every year. Cars get totally covered in sandy dirt!
I had quite the experience on the ship after we sailed away from Split. I just talked about how windy it was and one is told to be very careful opening the door to the veranda. Well, I was stepping out on our veranda to get a photograph and I literally got sucked out the door! The door into our room also flew open and it had been locked! Thank goodness my husband was there and he dragged me and the door I was clinging to back into the room. A perfect lesson on listening to what you are told. Obviously the crew has much more experience than a passenger about the wind tunnel that can be created under the right circumstances.
Korcula, Croatia is one of the most beautiful islands I have visited. It is very low key and artsy. It was a magnificent day and the water was crystal clear and multiple shades of blue and green. We sat outdoors at a restaurant and people-watched and had a delicious leisurely lunch. After lunch we just walked all around and I had a great time taking photographs and looking into shops.
Corfu, Greece is not one of the prettiest places we’ve visited. We found our way around by ourselves again today. After taking an on/off bus tour to see the old city we explored the street markets and stopped at Taverna To Paradosiako, an outdoor café, just before a parade started through town for Greek Orthodox Easter.
Sicily. We docked in Catania. The symbol of the city is Fontana dell’Elefante in the Piazzo Duomo. It is said that the ancient elephant possesses magic powers. We did another local bus tour to see the sights and the coastline. We then found a piazza with a restaurant to have pizza and local wine. Sicilian wine happens to be a personal favorite. My husband and I both love Nero d’Avola. This red wine grape can only be found in Sicily. It is delicious. Had fun shopping for a Sicilian Marionette for our grandson.
After Sicily we had a day at sea before arriving in Civitavecchia where our friends would join us for “Part 3” of our European adventure…Olympia, Athens, Mykonos, Ephesus Turkey, Rhodes, Crete and Naples. Lots to come!
How To Wow Now 
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