The Cruise - Part Two

This is the continuation of our 2 week trip through Italy and the Mediterranean, and more so the continuation of the previous post in which we left on our cruise. If you hadn't read those, you should go back a few posts.

Tuesday, May 12th - Day 4 - Kusadasi, Turkey

This was the "other" stop when we were planning our cruise - the place where the boat was stopping that we didn't really care about. Kusadasi is on the west coast of Turkey, pretty close to Greece. It is famous for being the city closest to the ruins of the Biblical city of Ephesus. Ephesus was at some point abandoned and it is now known as one of the best sites of Roman ruins. It also has what some believe is the post-crucifixion home of Mary, Jesus' mother.

Since we had just seen Pompeii a week before, we weren't sure we wanted to see more Roman ruins.  Also, we were skeptical about Mary's house.  Even assuming the stories of her living there are true, we assumed it would just be a huge tourist trap, which we don't like in general, and we hate when they profit off the Church.  The deal got sealed when we found out that the only way to get there was to take a taxi that would cost €80 round trip, and we ended up just staying in the town of Kusadasi.  We regretted it a little when we returned home and found that our 1,000 Places book listed it as a site (something that Jenna was supposed to research before we left), but in the end I still think it was the best decision.

In Kusadasi, we had our first experience with the Middle Eastern bazaar. It was something else. We were walking through the various shops, thinking we might be interested in some kind of trinket. Outside of each shop, there was a man doing everything he could do to get you into his shop. If you dared to pop into the shop, it was all over. It was the most high-pressure sales situation that you could ever imagine. They would follow you around, asking you to look at this or that, telling you how long they've been selling there and how they make the stuff in their shop. One jeweler pulled out a book to show us that another guy from Texas had bought something from him back in 1984, which I guess was supposed to get us to spend €300 on a €30 necklace.

Needless to say, we were not fans. We ended up just walking through the lines of shops looking straight ahead, making sure we didn't make any eye contact. It is a little sad because we're sure they would sell twice as much if they were a little more laid back and let people browse a bit. Anyway, I think we were glad to experience it, but even more glad that we don't have to deal with it again anytime soon.

We left the market area and spent the rest of the afternoon on a small island right near the town, which was connected to the mainland with a man-made land bridge. The island held the city's main fort some time ago, which is now a small tourist shop (like everything else in these port towns!!). There was a small cafe so we sat beside the crystal blue waters and enjoyed a cool drink and the beautiful scenery. There wasn't really anything else to do in town, so we headed back to the boat where we grabbed a late lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon laying out on the deck by the pool with all the other folks who didn't make the trek to Ephesus.

Dinner on night 4 was the big winner. The meal was decent but forgettable, but the desserts were incredible. We weren't sure what to get - they had 5 options, two of which were sugar free. Since you can have as much as you like, we ended up ordering 3 (guess which two we didn't get). We felt a little better when the couple at our table from England ordered all five!! When they were delivered, the waiter let us know that baklava, a Turkish specialty, had been available but not on the menu, and he'd forgotten to tell us. Because of this, he just went ahead and got us a piece anyway. So sitting in front of us were 4 desserts - and our neighbors had 6. When they came to clear the table, none remained. All I could think is "Why haven't we done a cruise before!?"

The theatre show this night was the Newlywed Game, which actually used couples of all ages, from honeymooners to a couple married 36 years. The honeymooners actually won by a landslide, but the show was made worth while by a middle-aged Indian couple who were hilarious. They were there with their whole family, and you could tell that the wife was very very conservative/traditional and pretty nervous to be up there. They couldn't get a single question right, that is until the last one, where they both answered with utmost confidence that the most exotic place that they had "made whoopee" was in the "back kitchen". The crowd, and especially their family, were pretty much rolling in the aisles.

Wednesday, May 13th - Day 5 - Santorini, Greece

Santorini is one of the small Greek isles, off the east coast in between mainland Greece and Turkey. The whole island was once a large volcano, but a massive eruption and earthquake long ago caused the center of the island to sink into the sea. Now, the main bit is shaped like a crescent moon, with a few small islands making out the shape of what was once the full circle. In the middle of the water is the caldera - the center of the volcano - where there is a small land mass and there are actually some hot springs.

They think the eruption that caused the sinking was the biggest in the history of the world (although not too many scientists were around to witness it), and legend says that the resulting tsunami is what destroyed Atlantis. The last seismic activity took place in 1954, when nearly every building on the island was destroyed.

There is no port big enough for a cruise ship, so they have to drop anchor and take you in by shuttle-boat. Because the middle fell out of the island, you have to get up a large cliff face to actually get to the main towns. There are three options - 400 stairs, a cable car, or a donkey ride. For us there, was only one option:

It was a little weird, and we felt kinda bad, but the signs said they were well equipped to handle people much larger than us, so we hopped on. The ride was a little scary, but with the help of a native yelling at the donkeys in Greek we got to the top of the island quick and steady. We were really glad we made the decision to take this route!

We arrived at the top in the city of Fira, where we took in the amazing views of the white buildings and the blue domed churches sitting on the cliffs overlooking the sea that the isles are famous for. Apparently the white paint helps reflect the sunlight and keeps the homes much cooler in the summer. Either way, it was a sight to see. We walked around Fira for a bit and took a bus to the other major city on the small island - Oia (pronounced: ee-ahh). It was a lot of the same, just scenic small houses built into the cliffs overlooking the water.

After taking in all we could, we headed off for one of the island's main beaches - Kamari. This is one of the island's black sand beaches - black from the lava rock - and it was interesting to be there. It was the first real sand we'd seen so far on the trip, as all the other beaches had been very rocky, so that was nice, but it was the hottest beach we've ever set foot on. It was in the low 80s, which was pretty comfortable, but the sand still scorched your bare feet, and you literally could not walk on it without shoes. Regrettably, we only had about an hour to spend before needing to head back to the boat, so we made the most of the sand and sun and scenery and made our way back, taking a short break to wish my sister Sarah a happy 21st birthday.

That night on the boat was pretty standard. It was formal night number two, so we got to get dressed up again. Dinner was good but the show afterward wasn't too appealing, so we blew it off and ended up crashing early while watching one of the films that they played on a 24 hour loop. The best part of the evening was returning to our room after dinner to find our favorite towel animal of the trip - a monkey dangling from a hanger in the middle of the room.

Thursday, May 14th - Day 6 - Corfu, Greece

Corfu is the 2nd largest Greek isle, and it sits off of to the west of the mainland. We had a late docking here - most of our days were 8-5, this was noon-8 - and as a result we were able to have a full breakfast at one of the restaurants rather than the light room service we'd been having, so that was nice.

From our research, it seemed like there wasn't much to do in Corfu town, just see a few old fortresses and walk around the old town center. We didn't care too much about the forts, so we went straight to the bus station and headed across the island to the beach at Paleokastritsa. It took a while to get there, but it was well worth it, as this was one of the highlights of the whole cruise.

We got off the bus and were greeted by a beautiful white sand beach overlooking more amazingly blue water. We saw another couple who we recognized from the ship, and struck up a quick conversation. They had gotten there about 45 minutes earlier than us after taking a cab (and paying 10x as much as us - HA!). They suggested that we take one of the touristy boat rides around the area - a 30 minute ride for €10 each. This is something we never would have done on our own, but based on their recommendation, we took a chance.

The boat trip was incredible. It was a really small boat, fitting just 6 people and a driver - so it was able to go into a bunch of little caves and the driver was able to talk to us about the area. We basically just rode around the area for a 30 minutes, seeing several different beaches and all of the little coves and caves and scenery that the island had to offer.

After soaking it all in, we headed back to the beach and laid out for a while. I (Aaron) also took advantage of our last opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean. The water had been really cold everywhere, and the air temp barely hit 80, so it was really all we could ever do just to stick our feet in the water. Here, it was a little warmer though, and knowing it was my last opportunity, I dove in (or waded...semantics) and swam around for a few minutes, making a mark in my mental checklist. I was able to talk Jenna into taking a dip as well, with the whole "I swam in the Mediterranean and you didn't" approach. It worked until the water got just above her knees, and she decided that it was too cold and turned back...Boooo.

We (mainly Jenna) shed a little tear as we got back on the bus, knowing that this was the last beach we'd see for a while, and that the vacation was nearing its end as Corfu was our last port of call. We were able to walk around the city a bit before heading back to the boat, and we were glad that we hadn't decided to spend the day there. It was nice, but we'd have been done in an hour, and the alternative was soooo rewarding.

Since we didn't return until later in the evening, we missed dinner in the main dining room and had to "settle" for the buffet. We finished eating as the sun was setting, but Jenna got too cold and just had to go in. I stayed out on the deck with about 15 other people and watched one of the most amazing sunsets of my life over the islands and the sea as we pulled away from port. There was probably something poetic in there about the sun setting on our trip or something, but I was too busy snapping 75 photos to think about any of that...

Friday, May 15th - Day 7 - Cruising

This was by far the worst day of the cruise and of the whole trip. We woke up and grabbed breakfast at the buffet, hoping to repeat day number 3 of sitting out on the deck by the pool all day. But alas, it was not to be. It was very cloudy and windy and cold on the deck, and the water was very choppy. After jostling around a bit and watching the waves, Jenna got seasick. We ended up spending the majority of the day in the room while Jenna tried to feel better and we tried to avoid the cold and sporadic drizzly rain. There really isn't too much to say - Jenna slept a lot and tried not to throw up (which thankfully never happened), and I did a lot of reading. She really wasn't feeling better until late afternoon, so we didn't do anything that day other than go to dinner.

Dinner on the last night was pretty good. It was a little sad because it was the farewell dinner. Not sad because we had to leave the people or the food, but mainly that we had to go back to work on Monday.
After dinner we attended the Farewell show in the theatre, which ended up being a juggler. He was pretty good, but you can only do so much, and it gets a little old after 30 minutes. We left the show and shuffled back to the room, knowing that we had to leave the ship in just 8 short hours, and in that time we still needed to repack all of our luggage. The only bright spot was that we knew we didn't fly out of Venice until 7pm, so we still had one day of sightseeing left in us...(to be continued).