Days 13 and 14 were spend at sea cruising
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Days 13 & 14 - At sea
Friday, October 14, 2022
Day 12
We arrived at our last port before Rome in a couple of day and it is Limassol on the island of Cyprus.
Again the weather was perfect – that’s every day so far on
the cruise the weather has been great.
We had hired a guide to tour the town, but for the first
time in a long time, after an hour, we dismissed her and went out on our own.
Basically there is nothing in the town except shops,
restaurants and a huge marina housing some of the largest boats there are.
We found a small restaurant to eat lunch and wow, what a
gem. We tried a new to us Greek cheese
called Halloumi and we are going to find some when we get home because it is
outstanding.
Then we ordered the main dish and it had 5 kinds of meat,
chicken, port, sheftalia, halloumi and sausage.
We didn’t think we could eat it all, but we did.]
Then it was back to the city center for a shuttle ride of 20
minutes back to the ship as the ship sailed at 3:00pm.
The show was a singer/pianist who just happened to be the wife
of the Hotel Director on the ship. We
have seen her before and she is very, very good as a piano player and also a
singer.
Then dinner where we ate with a couple we had eaten with
before going to the casino where Barb lost and Ed won, and enough that we are
even for the night.
Tomorrow is our first of two sea days before we arrive at
the Port of Rome.
Nite-Nite
Days 9,10, & 11
Back to day 9 where we docked in the first of two Israeli cities, Haifa where we hired a driver to take us to Nazareth.
Originally, we were not sure we had been there before and
when we saw the first church, the Church of the Assumption, we knew we had been
here in 2011. So we revisited the
church, which on the spot where the Angle Gabriel came done and told Mary that she
was going to bear the Christ Child.
After that we walked to St. Joseph’s Church which was the place
were Joseph, the husband of Mary had his carpenter shop.
After about 2 hours I Nazareth the driver took us back to
the ship.
Dinner was with a new couple from England and it was fun sharing
experiences.
After dinner the show was a singer who sang the music of
Andrew Lloyd Webber and he was pretty good.
Then it was onto the casino where Barb did not play and Ed
had a quick win.
Day 10
So many of the passengers on the ship for the almost sole purpose
to be in Jerusalem for two days.
Our driver met us at the pier at 9:00am for the 1-hour drive
to the Old City of Jerusalem.
Words cannot describe the original city of Jerusalem and neither
can pictures – but we will do our best.
The official name of our hotel is – the Pontifical Institute
– Notre Dame – of Jerusalem Center and it was amazing.
The hotel was part of a larger building built in 1882 to
house pilgrims coming to the Holy Land. While the rooms were small by American standards,
they were quite nice with all the modern conveniences, except a tv which we did
not miss. We also had a 2’ x 25’ Balcony
that overlooked the city.
This hotel is the only hotel that is located right next to
the wall of the Old City so it was perfect for us.
We first walked to the Hotel of the Holy Sepulcher, which is
built on the site of Jesus’ Crucifixion and burial.
The hotel dates back to the 4th century and it is
in the Christian area of the Old City; however, the Church as shared property
with the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic, who all control
parts of the Old City.
We then walked around and had an interesting experience in a
German Lutheran Church where we met a couple who were running a small coffee shop
in the cloisters of the church. Turns
out that she was a magician and did a trick with Barb that was quite good. They
also sang Happy Birthday to Ed and gave hi a candle to light in the Church.
We then ate dinner in a little shop on one of the streets.
Then our room was ready and we went back to the hotel to check
in.
We found out that the 12th and 13th was
a Jewish holiday so the Old City was to be very busy.
We had tickets to see a light show at the Tower of David. This was a set of towers and fortress type of
building where they were to have a light show depicting the various states of
King David. The first part of the Tower
was built in the 5th century BC!!
We thought that if we arrived there from the hotel at about
6:00pm we would be early so we could walk around.
When we got to the gates of the Old City, the police had
closed the city and were not letting anyone if as it was already too crowed.
We walked along the wall and found a smaller gate and a policeman
who believed us that we had tickets for the show. We arrived just in time to see it and it was
very good.
We then walked back to our hotel with what seemed like hundreds
of people, laughing, playing music and just celebrating their holiday.
Day 11
This was our second day in Jerusalem and we traced the steps
of Jesus and he was led through the streets of the Old City to his Crucifixion. It was moving to see all the places that are
part of the story.
Then we went to the Western Wall, sometimes referred as the
Wailing Wall.
Hopefully the video will show you had crowed it was, but a
great experience for us.
We had originally planned to be driven back at 4:00pm for an
8:00pm sailing; however, our driver called and said we had to leave by 2:00pm
or we might not make it back to the ship.
We took his advice and left at 2:00pm. Coming the drive was one hour and going back
to the ship it took 2 hours as the traffic had not gotten bad yet.
We had dinner with a couple from England we had met before and
thoroughly enjoyed it.
After we went to a small entertainment area to see a couple
of magicians up close and they were amazing.
At the casino, Barb didn’t play as Ed started out with a nice
winning streak and got up a winner after only about ½ hour, plus we were very
tired.
Our next and last port with be Limassol
on the island of Cyprus.
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Days 9, 10 & 11
We have had an amazing last three day.
Tomorrow we arrive in Cyrpus and have an early morning walking tour.
As it is past midnight, this will be very brief and we will fill it in tomorrow.
Here are some videos from our trip.
In the main shopping area of AthensOur cabin on the 10th floor
Shopping
Light show about King David at the King David Tower
At the Western Wall
How to say no to a salesman!!
At the entrance to the Western Wall
Celebrating with dance at the Old City
Nazerath
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Day 9 –
We found a private guide to take us to Nazareth, which was about 1 hour away.
It is very late, so I will post some pictures and we will
finish this in a couple of days.
Tomorrow we will arrive in Ashdod, which is where we will
meet a drive to take us to Jerusalem where we will spend the night before
returning to the ship on Thursday night.
Tonight at the casino, Barb broke even and Ed had a very nice
win –(Jason 7,7 against a 6 - $120, split, drew a 4, doubled, 10 on one, drew a
3, doubled and 9 on the other. A great win.
Nite for now, and will finish this in a couple of days as we
will not have our computer in Jerusalem.
told Mary she was to give birth to Christ.
Monday, October 10, 2022
Day 8
Our second of three sea days and it was perfect timing as we have had 3 port days and it was time to just relax.
Our life was very simple today.
We slept in.
Ed had breakfast
We were up on the sun deck until 1:00pm and temperatures were
in the high 70’s, clear skies and probably the calmest seas we have every
sailed on.
Had a wonderful lunch
Back out on the deck
Got ready for the show in the main theater.
Tonight the show was a production show called
Crystallize. Their description was that
it was and “electrifying pop violin music and mesmerizing choreography and
aerial acrobatics set to the rhythm for a high-energy light show”. It certainly was and was probably the best
production show that we have seen on any ship!!
Then we went to dinner in our restaurant Blu and met some
new friends from England. She is a Vicar
in the English Church. A vicar is a priest
who is over a number of churches. They
were very nice t0 eat with.
After dinner, we went to a place called The Club for Motown
music for 45 minutes of music and it was very good.
Then it was on to the casino where Barb was even and Ed had
a nice win.
Tomorrow is our first of three days in Israeli and we are
really looking forward to the days.
Nite - nite
Sunday, October 9, 2022
Day 7
We arrived in the port of Kusadasi, Turkey which is the
gateway to Ephesus.
Ephesus is a World Heritage site that is one of the world’s
oldest ancient cities an once home to over 250,000 people.
Excavations have been underway for 150 years and only 20
percent of the city has been uncovered.
They have excavated the Great Theater, the Temple of Hadrian
and the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We traveled on the main street of the city walking
for about an hour marveling of how this city was built.
One of the most amazing things was that everything was built
out of marble, from the streets to the tall columns.
They we went up the mountain to the site of the last days of
Mary. The stone house is very tiny but
the religious site is beautiful. This is
the home that Mary and the Apostle John lived out their last days. When Crist was being crucified, he asked John
to take care of Mary and this is where they lived.
We had a wonderful guide and driver. What was supposed to be a 3 ½ hour tour
turned into a 5 ½ hour tour.
Along the tour, it is expected that you will visit either a
gold jewelry store, a carpet store, a fashion store or a leather store. We chose a fashion store and a leather store
and words cannot describe the experience of Turkish sales people and the
pressure they can put on you. If you
realize that’s what is going to happen, it is easy to deal with.
At the fashion store, we were ushered into our own private
area, the lights dimmed and we were treated to a runway fashion show. The video only shows part of it. Then of course they pushed and pushed to sell
us something. Guess what we didn’t buy
anything at any of these stores.
Back on ship, we dressed for dinner, which was good and then
went to the show. Tonight the show was 4
males singers recreating the quartets of the past and they were pretty good.
Finally we went to the casino where Barb lost a little as
did Ed.
Tomorrow is a sea day and we are looking forward to just
relaxing all day.
Night
Ready to go out for the day's tour
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