Legend of the Seas Review (long)
Greg Moore
October 22-November 1,1999 (10 day)
Barcelona, Spain to Athens, Greece
Greg and Lorellen Moore (age 45) Previous cruises: Regal Princess, NCL
Windward, NCL Seaward, Dawn Princess
We booked our cruise in the spring and used miles for the airfare. It
took several phone calls to find flights that would work, but using
Delta miles, we flew their co-share partner Air France.
October 19
It’s my 45th birthday. I wake up with butterflies in my stomach.
Tomorrow we leave for an amazing trip, one I’ve prepared for all year.
So why am I nervous? We’re going on RCI Legend of the Seas from
Barcelona to Athens. What a trip I hope this to be! This has been an
amazing year. We’ve made 3 trips to Europe together this year already,
business trips for Greg, pleasure for me. We’ve seen Brussels, Brugge,
Gent, Paris, Normandy, Nice, Monte Carlo, Antibes, Eze, Cannes, and it’s
just the beginning….
We began our trip in our home town of Cincinnati, flew to Chicago,
connected in Paris to a flight to Barcelona. This took 18 hours from our
home to the Barcelona airport. The flight from Chicago to Paris was a
little late in arriving, and they parked the plane (as usual) out from
the gates and bused us in to the terminal. This is stressful when you
have only 1 hour to make the next flight. Most people in line for
customs at the terminal for flights that connected on were in the same
situation. The line was very slow moving, but finally getting through
it, and arriving at our gate, we found out the flight to Barcelona had
been delayed. The time needed to transfer in Paris was 50 minutes, and
this was with exact directions of where to go. Try to schedule more
time for your connecting flight if possible when flying through Paris.
Landing in Barcelona was beautiful! Its mountains and trees and ocean
views were exciting to see! We were very excited about this trip!
We saw a RCI agent at the airport, and I asked if they had
transportation to the hotels. She was willing to let us use their
transportation (for a fee) if it had been available then, but they were
also only using taxies at that time. We arrived a day early so we could
see Barcelona and get some rest before our cruise. I had written the
name and address of our hotel, Le Meredien on Las Ramblas, to hand to
the taxi driver. We did this everywhere we needed transportation and it
helped a lot with the language barrier. The driver knew a little English
and tried to warn us about theft on Las Ramblas. He blamed such
incidents on the Albanians. After a difficult check in, we had booked
on our own and had a faxed copy of the price which was lower than they
wanted to accept, it was a corporate rate, we finally got to our room!
It was the prettiest room we’d ever had. It was decorated in Provencial
fabrics and floral carpeting. The location was perfect, in the middle of
Las Ramblas, by the bird market.
After cleaning up and only a few minutes of rest, we were ready to
venture out! Being October, it wasn’t to crowded and the weather was in
the 70’s! We’d heard a lot about Las Ramblas and how wonderful it was.
Maybe to much, because we were disappointed with it. I did have to be
very careful about my purse with our video camera in it, but we both
used money belts on our trip and kept our money in them. These are worn
under your shirt, around your waist, so there is no threat of having
anyone having access to them. We started by seeing La Boqueria market
with the fresh fruit, fish and chocolate bread! Not as good as that in
France, but it would have to do! We walked to the harbor, which was
beautiful, thought about taking a gondola ride across the harbor, but
decided it’d take to much time! We went to the top of the Christopher
Columbus Monument, which has a great view of Barcelona, and of the Grand
Princess which was in the harbor! We visited Guell Palace. You can only
visit as part of a tour they give. They do have English tours which are
very interesting, and don’t miss the rooftop! If you are planning on
seeing several sights in Barcelona, start by buying a pass booklet for
600 ptas which gets you a 50% discount off several sights. Buy this in
an office next door to Casa Battlo at #43 on the Block of Discord
(between Consell de Cent and Arago). This office has moved to this
location, it’s no longer at Guell Palace. We then found a handmade shoe
store I had seen in a story on TV and really wanted to search out. La
Manual Alpargatera has been making handmade rope-soled shoes for 100
years. They speak no English, but the woman on TV helped me, was very
kind, and found the perfect shoes for me to buy! They’re very
comfortable.
We were ready for dinner, and were trying to find a restaurant
recommended to us by our daughter’s (who turned 22 on this day while we
were in Barcelona!) friend. We walked up Las Ramblas quite a distance.
The farther up you go, the nicer it gets. It looks more like the
boulevards in Paris, with more upscale shopping. Finally, giving up, we
decided on stopping at La Tramoia. They had a cute restaurant with
outdoor tables which we love to eat at while in Europe! Our daughter’s
friend had told us to order about 10 tapas between us. They are
appetizer sized plates. Following her suggestion we ordered 8 different
plates, plus a wonderful tomato and olive oil bread. They started
bringing out plate after plate of food. These were larger than we
expected! We had so many plates, we had to put a couple on the chairs!
I’m sure they were having fun watching our situation, but it did give us
a good sample of several Spanish dishes!! I even tried some squid. We
were very full, left much of the food, but had a great time, all for
only about $35 US including wine! Exhausted, we turned in for the night
around 8:00.
Friday - Barcelona
Friday was a joy! We slept in, then ventured out, buying metro passes
for $4 each for the day and explored Barcelona! The city’s sights are
widely scattered. Either use the subway or the tourist bus system. We
thought the subway was a much better value. We caught it near Placa de
Catalunya, the central square were there is a large fountain. We started
out at Casa Mila (La Pedrera) and saw the Gaudi home and apartments with
the intricate roof. This rooftop is even better than the one on Guell
Palace. We were the first people in so had the roof top to ourselves for
about 10 minutes. You can see all over Barcelona and Sagrada Familia in
the distance. We then went to the Block of Discord and saw 3 buildings,
Casa Battlo with its skull like balconies and tile roof like waves.
This was the best building. Next door was Casa Amatler and then Casa
Lleo Morera on the corner at #35. You can’t go into these 3 buildings.
Next we visited Sagrada Familia, again taking the metro. We loved it!
This is Gaudi’s most famous work and dying, crossing the street here,
he is buried on the grounds. It’s still under construction . We went up
the spiral tower, it’s very high and I did get a little nervous looking
down. They have a nice gift shop and small museum on the property here.
Next we went to Parc Guell. It’s in a rough part of town, a ways from
the metro stop, so you’ll walk awhile to get to it. We did enjoy seeing
the intricate mosaics there. If you go, when you hike up the long hill
to the park, veer to the right at the park. The important sights are
down to the right. Our next stop was the Picasso Museum. It’s in a very
cute part of town with nice shops and alleys with flowers and local
flavor! Picasso had a few impressionist style paintings here, very
amusing. I’d been to the Picasso museums in Paris and Antibes I think,
this year already, and this one is the best. He also did many pencil
drawings, very detailed which are here. It was getting late, but we
still wanted to see the Olympic Stadium, so we got a taxi, ( the metro
doesn’t go to the Olympic area) and had him bring us to the Catalonian
Art Museum which is next to the Olympic area in the Montjuic part of
town. Finding out we were just about out of Spanish Ptas. We decided on
skipping the museum, and walked to the stadium. We took pictures for our
son-in-law, who hopes to run in the Olympics someday, and admired the
Olympic flame tower. This area is beautiful, much more green that the
rest of town. Deciding we’d better get to the ship, we caught a bus,
which the fare is included with your metro pass, and checked out of Le
Meredien, again having a problem with the final bill. They finally did
honor our rate, but even with the fax of confirmation, it took another
30 minutes to settle it.
We arrived at the Legend of the Seas by taxi, a confusing ride because
he spoke no English, and we we’re trying to tell him which ship. He knew
it as International, (RCI), we saw it to the right, he drove to the
left. We told him he was going to the wrong ship, not knowing you drive
all around the harbor to the left, to get to the dock on the right! We
had a good laugh with him after we mistakenly had him go to the wrong
dock!
Checking in they told us we would have to surrender our passports. Now
this was not what we wanted to hear since we needed them when we were
going to overnight in Rome on our own. We had been told before we
arrived that we would be able to keep them in our possession. After much
discussion, they said we’d have no problem retrieving them when we
arrived in Italy. (Yeah, sure). There was no line at check-in, but then
it was 5:00 p.m. already! Getting on the ship, everyone (1856
passengers) was going to their muster stations for the life boat drill!
Not wanting to miss this and have to make it up, we hurried to our
cabin, an inside for the first time for us, and dropped our luggage,
which we carried on ourselves, and grabbed our life vests, hurrying to
our station. We were late, our cabin number had already been called but
we had seen Barcelona’s high points!! We went back to our cabin after
the drill, met our very friendly, very tired, cabin steward, Carla, from
Romania. This was her last week on her contract and she was very ready
to go home. She’d been doing this for 4 years, and didn’t know if she’d
be coming back. We explained to her we’d be overnighting in Rome instead
of coming back to the ship after Florence. She was very happy we told
her. She wished us luck, said it was a good idea, but we’d better get
back, because she didn’t want to pack our bags and hers at the end of
the cruise!
It was time to explore the ship! Our last cruise was on the brand new
Dawn Princess, so the Legend couldn’t compare to that, but it was a good
2nd! The ship was very nice, even though the cabins were VERY SMALL.
This was the first time we had an inside cabin, but since we were on
this cruise for the ports, and knew we’d have little time on the ship,
we thought it a wise choice for us. The Solarium pool was very nice, but
they had air conditioning on there, and being Oct. it was to cold. This
also ended up being the children’s pool. The Pizza they served in this
area was okay, the hamburgers better! After some pizza we went to the
early show then to 2nd seating dinner. We were at table 17 on the upper
floor of the Romeo and Juliet Dining Room by the windows. They didn’t
have open seating this first night, but your regular table so we met the
three other couples we were to dine with almost every night! We had a
good table, one couple was on their honeymoon and the other two were
traveling together, having met on a previous cruise!
Our waiter, Vijay, from India, is very concerned about our happiness
with the food. We had prime rib the first night. Mine was overcooked so
he replaced it. It was excellent, surprising, since the first night
usually doesn’t have great food. The bread was great also. It’d been a
great first day! Tomorrow is a sea day and no schedule, we needed some
rest.
Saturday - Sea Day
After sleeping in, we had breakfast in the dining room. It wasn’t great
The omelets were dry, pastries not good.. The milk is not what we’re
used to. We’ll skip the dining room for breakfast from now on. We
visited the library and Greg checked out a book, then we decided to
play a game of miniature golf . It was to cool to sit by the pool yet.
The game was free, and had no line when we arrived. It was harder than
it looked because the spot for tee off isn’t flat and you have to be
careful not to hit the ball to hard! Everyone was having a good time.
Decided to try the pool. It was overcast and cool so I had to eventually
put on a pullover sweater but still stayed around the pool. They had
special food by the pool for lunch. Also had pasta of the day or other
daily specials were you get omelets in the morning. I think it was make
your own tacos this day. They also had a large variety of food in the
Windjammer Café. I didn’t think the desserts were good in the Café, but
they had make your own sundaes everyday in the solarium for free!
In the afternoon we went to the wine tasting. The wine steward was
excellent, but they sure rushed through the wines. The pool games
didn’t go over very well. They had to beg and coax people to
participate. The horse racing was boring, which they did around the pool
also.
This evening was the Captain’s gala. We met the captain, Bengt Ronsen,
had our picture taken with him. He seemed very open and kind. We also
met the cruise director, Noelle Sipos. She was excellent. Dinner was
excellent. We had Beef Wellington and swan things for dessert! The show
was excellent, a Las Vegas style, traveling the world in song. There are
no bad seats in the show lounge. The drink service was excellent. We
even had a full moon to end our day! Tomorrow our adventure to Florence
and on to Rome begins!!
We did all our own touring on this cruise, taking no shore excursions
with the ship, except in Turkey. We saw much more this way, for a
fraction of the cost.
Sunday - Florence
We woke up early, had a quick breakfast in the Windjammer Café and
hurried to get our passports. It was time to leave for the train from
Livorno to Florence. We were planning on taking the train on our own
into Florence, then that evening taking the train from Florence to Rome
and overnighting at a hotel in Rome on our own. The ship knew of our
plans, and said it’d be no problem. Well, at the pursers desk, we
waited and waited for the passports to be released. The purser said
immigration hadn’t released them yet, it’d be a few more minutes. Well,
I look out the windows to the dock below, and many passengers are
leaving, getting on buses for their shore excursions. I get angry
finally and insist on getting our passports back. He finally admits
immigration hasn’t even arrived yet, and they don’t know when they will.
There are other ships…
This doesn’t work, we’re very unhappy with them. He sends us to the
library were immigration will eventually arrive. Just after we arrive,
someone from the port authority arrives and we have a good “discussion”
about the situation. After I explain that we’ve already missed our first
train, he gets on the phone and calls someone, who allows him to Xerox
our passports and give them to us, sending us on our way, FINALLY. We
run out to a waiting taxi, getting one at the end of the line to take us
to the train station. It’s to far to walk on your own. The taxi will
take you there, just not the taxies at the front of the line waiting to
take people all the way to Florence .The taxi ride was more expensive
($16) than the train ticket was, because of the higher charge for
Sundays. We run into the train station, buy a one way ticket($12 for 2
of us) to Florence and after validating it in the yellow machine, just
barely made the next train. It was 3 minutes late, thank goodness not
exactly on time, or we would have missed it! It was important to make
this train because we had prearranged reservations at the museums in
Florence at specific times, which we would have missed if we didn’t make
that train. The reservation # for advance tickets in Florence is 011
39055294883. When you call this number they’ll ask what museums you
want to see and at what time. You will get a reservation # and need to
show up a little early. You’ll miss all the lines, just pass them and go
to the ticket booth. The charge is only about $1.50 higher than what
you’d pay otherwise per ticket. We picked up all our tickets for the
day at the first museum. You need to have almost exact change. Arriving
in Florence we bought our onward tickets to Rome before we left the
station. We got the EC train, the Euro City, for $22 each. Walking out
of the train station we were not sure which way to walk. It’s not clear.
Bring a good map with you, which we did and guess! Once you’re in the
old town area, it’s very easy to get around. Everything is in easy
walking distance of each other. It rained this day, the only rain we
had, but since we spent a lot of the time in museums it didn’t matter!
Florence is absolutely beautiful. We visited the Academia, Baptistery,
Bargello museum, Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio (with limited shopping since it
was Sunday), Santa Croce Church,(where Michelangelo’s tomb is, The
Dumo, climbed Gilottos tower for fantastic views, had gelato a few
times, and had dinner and strolled through a dept. store. All this is
our one day! We didn’t feel rushed, and had enough time everywhere.
The people on the ship tour, drove by the museums, didn’t go into any of
them. If you want to really see Florence, do it on your own, planning
ahead, taking the train, getting advance reservations for the museums.
It’s not difficult. One the tourists left in the evening, the local
families came out. It was fun to watch them stroll the city,
socializing. It was more crowded than during the day. We went in a local
dept. store and saw beautiful clothing for reasonable prices. I’d love
to shop here. We had a light dinner and were very overcharged. If you
sit down to eat here the prices skyrocket. It was time to get back to
the train station for our trip to Roma! It was right on time, and 2
hours after leaving Florence we arrived in Roma! Our ears popped a lot
on the way, going through tunnels. We bought our tickets for the next
day from Rome to Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) for L
16,000 each. We found the metro station which is outside, next to the
train station, and bought metro tickets. We got the last metro of the
day on the line going to the Spanish Steps, line A, which closed at 9:30
p.m. The metro in Rome is very limited, old and dingy, nothing like that
in Paris. It does get you where you want to go though! It was dark, the
Spanish Steps had many young people on them. The area wasn’t great
though. We walked to the top ,lingered awhile and then headed for the
Trevi fountain. You can walk there from the Spanish Steps. The fountain
was beautiful, although a fence was around it. I guess it’s work to
repair it for the 2000 Jubilee. I had to throw coins into the fountain
though, so I tried doing it over the fence, making 2 out of 3! We
searched the area for a cute place for dinner. Maybe because of the
season, outdoor cafes in Rome are few. This area needs to be spruced up
for visitors. Finding no good restaurant, we got more gelato for
dinner! A taxi ride through Rome brought us to the Holiday Inn, St.
Peters. Having a reservation with our corporate rate, we got a huge,
executive room for a good price, although without air-conditioning. You
must have a passport to check into the hotel.
Monday - Rome
6:30 a.m. we check out of the hotel, getting a taxi for the drive to St.
Peters Cathedral. We gathered with only a few others in the pre-dawn
morning waiting for 7:00 a.m. and entry to the largest chapel in the
world! We were among the first inside. Most went to small rooms in the
underground area for individual small masses. Some met with priests is
small niches on the sides of the cathedral. Michelangelo’s Pieta is set
back on the right side when you enter, showing Mary cradling the dead
body of Christ taken from the cross. We were alone viewing this
magnificent statue. The Cathedral is beautiful, enormous, and moving.
Being there in the early morning was wonderful, no tourist crowds, just
the priests and cardinals worshiping. We then went below, down the
stairs to the tombs of many popes, and St. Peter. We were also here
alone. We wanted to go up the dome, but instead of opening the stairs
at 8:00 they were delaying past 8:30, so we decided to move onto the
Vatican Museum. Walking there, we bought some pastries for breakfast,
then got in a short line waiting for the museum to open at 8:45. If we
hadn’t overnighted in Rome, we’d still be on the ship. We were very
fortunate to get in very early,($10 entry) among the 1st 100 and climbed
the spiral steps to the entrance. The Egyptian mummy area was yet to
open, so we waited a little until it did!. Following the path described
by Rick Steves, Greg pointed out the important sights. We saw much of
the museum, our favorite things being the Raphael painted walls, the
School of Athens, map room and the Sistine Chapel. That was the
highlight. I videoed some of the ceiling showing the story of Creation,
before getting yelled at by security. I had missed the sign stating no
video! You can see the gardens of the Vatican from the windows in the
museum. Beautiful! We spent about 2 hours in the museum and chapel with
no crowds. The line to get in was very long when we left. Again the
ships shore excursions didn’t include the Vatican museum, they did stop
at St. Peters though, when it was very crowded.
Next, we took the metro over to the Coliseum. As you exit the metro the
Coliseum is massive in front of you. They sell some decent food right
there, so we had some for lunch, sitting at tables outside. Being here
was such a thrill for me. I’ve wanted to see the Coliseum for so long!
We walked around the outside, taking many pictures, then stood in line
for ˝ hour to get in. Right when we entered a free tour was forming, by
a tour guide with “Walks in Rome”. The woman giving it was from El Toro,
California. I was living in Mission Viejo, an adjacent town while back
in High School. We compared stories of our H.S. days, long ago! She was
giving a good tour, quite entertaining, but we only stayed for ľ of it.
I loved the coliseum! We were able to go on the 1st and 2nd levels, but
not the ground level. So many were killed here just for sport. We then
walked through the Forum. It adjoins the coliseum almost with the Arch
of Constantine in between, being repaired at this time .The forum was
great also. It takes some time to appreciate this area. After the forum
we sat in a treed courtyard for a rest and some water. I saw others from
the ship so asked if they took the train in. They had and told us the
ship had arrived late this morning because of heavy wind overnight. The
seas had also been rough. It was very hard to dock because of the heavy
wind. As a result the ship wasn’t leaving Civitavecchia tonight until
9:00 p.m. instead of the scheduled 7 p.m. We continued on to the
Pantheon where we bought a phone card and called our daughter at
college. She’s in the job search stage, being a senior, it was so good
to hear all was well at home! The inside of the Pantheon is very plain,
but you’re in Rome! We walked from here to Piazza Novella where the
fountains were mostly covered in scaffolding, but it had several outdoor
cafes. One didn’t want us to eat-“no quick lunch” he said so we moved
on. We enjoyed this piazza, it had some atmosphere! We then walked down
to Campo de Fiori which was all torn up. But more good gelato in the
area, so who could resist! Finding a taxi we drove back to the train
station and returned to Civitavecchia. We had no problems taking the
train back. We rode back with a couple from the Holland of America ship
which was in port also. She was an entertainer on the ship, and was just
finishing up her tour. She was able to have a friend onboard with her.
He was a comedian on ships in the past. They had a rough time around the
Coliseum area where a man dressed as a gladiator, for picture taking,
took money from her wallet for the picture. He took $30. She made a
scene and got some of it back, but was still very upset. She needed to
perform alone that evening, and needed to calm down. I hoped we helped
some, being able to share travel stories on the ride back to port. We
turned in our passports back to the purser desk, our adventure had
worked beautifully! Our table mates were amazed at our success. They
didn’t get to see much in Rome either, the full day tour drove by the
Coliseum, didn’t go in. Only went into St. Peters, and walked around the
Pantheon, not the Forum, or the Vatican museum. Such a shame. The
evening schedule on the ship was changed some because of the late return
of many from Rome.
Tuesday - Naples
We woke early again today. This cruise is very port intensive and there
isn’t much time for rest. We had breakfast in the windjammer café at
6:30 and had the made to order omelets. We were off the ship at 7:25. We
decided to walk to the train station to get the Circumvesuviana, the
local train which runs between Naples and Sorrento, stopping at Pompeii
on the way. The walk took about 20 minutes. The port area is dirty,
very run down and had heavy traffic. I was nervous walking, and we had a
map, knowing we were going in the right direction, but not totally sure
where it was. We should have taken a taxi to the station. Arriving, it
wasn’t to hard buying a ticket, even though the ticket agent only knew
very little English, and us no Italian. We bought a ticket straight
through to Sorrento, you can get off at Pompeii (“Villa dei Misteri,
Pompeii Scavi”) for the same price. It was L4.700 for l ticket (about
$2.50) one way. The scenery is ugly until about 3 stops from Pompeii.
Use the Circumvesuviana station, not the station in the basement of the
main train station if you go from the port. It’s closer. The people on
the train were all locals. It was around 80 degrees this day, and they
all had coats on! Guess the calendar dictates the wardrobe! The entrance
to the ruins at Pompeii is just down the hill a little from the train
stop. It’s a very easy walk. You must have almost exact change to buy
your ticket. They will not take large bills. Even a L50,000 note was to
large. The man at the ticket window was very rude. We gave him a L25,000
note and had to stand there and ask for our change. He wasn’t going to
give it to us. Pompeii was outstanding! We had a sunny 81 degree day.
I’m sure in the summer it must be very hot. With the help of a guide
book we toured the ruins for 3 ˝ hours. This was 2 hours longer than the
ship tours, but we could have even spent more time if we didn’t want to
go onto Sorrento and Capri. Do some reading before going to learn about
what you’re seeing. Palaces, murals, baths, the forum, amphitheater, an
Odeon, and the theater, large house of Faun and ornate house of Vettii
are all must sees. I can’t say enough great things about Pompeii. There
are stray dogs everywhere though. It also has a great cafeteria with a
phone upstairs, where we called another daughter of ours! She had great
news, their home loan was approved and the house they want to build will
be ready when their new baby arrives in April! We still had time on a
phone card we bought yesterday in Rome!. It was time to move onto
Sorrento. We stopped at a change office down the street from Pompeii to
get smaller bills, then walked back to the train station. Almost missing
that train, they opened the closed doors for us, we were glad we made
it. They run about every 30 minutes. The last stop on the train is
Sorrento. We strolled to the center plaza in town, found a cute
restaurant at an outdoor café and had excellent pizza, Naples style, but
with artichokes, olives, onion, tomatoes and cheese! This and a half
bottle of wine was L13 + tip. We were also given a small glass of the
lemon alcohol drink, way to strong for me. Lemon groves grow all over
this area and they are proud of their lemon alcohol. We saw many from
our ship here in town. They also had just had lunch at different
locations in Sorrento, and had a little time to shop. We had no time to
shop and hurried down to the dock where we bought tickets on the
hydrofoil to Capri. Ask for hydrofoil tickets if you do this. The ship
tour groups went by jet boat which was much slower. The ride to Capri
was fun. We sat on the top deck and got sprayed a few times with water.
20 minutes later we arrived in Capri. It was very picture some arriving,
but the port has several lower notch shops. There is a funicular to
Capri town. It’s L1,700 each for a one way ticket, buy a round trip.
Having little time we just shopped a little and had more gelato,
excellent lemon gelato! Capri would be better if you had time to get
around the island and see much more. We had so little time, but the trip
to Pompeii was much more important to do. We had a good mix today, but
I’d love to go back to Sorrento and Capri for a few days. Our return
trip to Naples was by jet boat. They had no hydrofoils making the trip.
You buy tickets at the area in town by the docks. The boat left exactly
on time and took 45-60 minutes. It dropped us off right next to the
cruise ship area. If you only wanted to go to Capri for the day on your
own, it would be very easy from Naples since the jet boats leave from an
area adjacent to the cruise ships. Returning to the Legend of the Seas,
we wrote a few postcards, the ship has stamps available for every port,
they’ll mail them for you, and went to the Jacuzzi, a great way to relax
after 3 wonderful days!
We had a great show this evening. It was the Big Band show. First we
thought it might just be music, but the Legend dance group also were
part of it. Dinners have been going down hill in quality. No one was to
happy with their food tonight. We’re all very tired!
Wednesday - Sea day
We need this day of rest. We started with omelets again for breakfast.
We do like these omelets! Then we rushed to the port lecture about
Greece and Turkey. The woman was very good in the morning, but in the
afternoon lecture, she was poor. She had slides and spoke about Crete,
Santorini, and Rhodes in the morning. She told us of the best winery to
go to on Santorini. Most people just wanted to know where to shop, they
cared little about the islands. Then it was back to the pool area for
some sleep and sun time. They had the fruit pool game. It was done very
poorly. NCL did a much better job. Again, it was hard to get anyone to
participate. Next we went to the port lecture on Ephesus and she was to
talk about Athens, but did little. There were no slides in the afternoon
lecture. It was mostly about culture. We did ask her about a Turkish
bath. She said she’d let us know when we arrived in Turkey, and she
could get a recommendation on which was best. She said she didn’t like
to talk about them in the large group because to many would go! Again we
had a special selection of lunch by the pool, and tonight is formal
night Again none of us liked our dinner choices, so I took the
alternate menu of salmon. It was good.
Thursday - Crete
Stepping off the ship, the wind was fierce. We walked along the pier, on
the way to the local bus station. Taxi drivers tried hard to get our
business, saying it was to far to walk, but we repeatedly said “no
thanks”. 30 minutes later and several pictures later , it would have
taken 20 minutes to walk if the taxi drivers had left us alone, we
arrived at the bus stop. We got a map of the town from a Lonely Planet
book, so we knew where to get the bus to Knossos. $1.50 each bought us
a round trip ticket to Knossos. We had just missed the last bus, so we
waited about 20 minutes for the next one. Ignore the sign that said they
run every 10 minutes! It was interesting watching the local people.
Knossos was about a 15-20 minute ride. We arrived and found out
admission was free today (normally it’s about $5) because it was a
national holiday, the day Greece said no to the Nazis. Many tour groups
had arrived and we wove our way through them to see the ruined palace on
our own. It’s been reconstructed partially by Sir Edward Evens. We don’t
really know how the Palace looked. I had read the book At the Palaces of
Knossos by Nikos Kazantzakis before we left on this trip, so I could
imagine life here. After Pompeii it was a disappointment, although our
pictures of Knossos are very good, because of the reconstruction and the
dark red, beige and blue paint. The country side around this area is
beautiful, but the town of Iraklion isn’t. After exploring the palace
we took the bus back to town. It began filling up with teenagers, groups
and groups of girls, then boys, wearing Filo shoes and levis. It was
also a school holiday. In the center of town, we all got out and to our
amazement, hundreds of students in uniform were gathered, a parade was
forming! Young boys were selling Greek flags. We bought one and joined
in the fun! We edged our way up close to the rope where sitting on the
curb were the children, getting ready to watch the parade! The parade
began and first they honored the war heroes, some walking, others in
wheelchairs. There weren’t many of them. The crowd cheered and clapped
loudly. Greg noticed that only the women clapped. Then injured solders
came by, more cheering, the nuns, nurses, police, other solders, and the
coast guard. Then several groups in their national costumes marched by
carrying the flag. It was wonderful! We loved being able to share this
with the people of Crete. We had 2 women by us explaining the history to
us. Finally all the groups of school children started marching by. We
decided it was time to try and find the archeological museum. We asked
school boys for directions. They knew some English, where the older
people didn’t. We found that we needed to cross the parade route to get
there. After about an hour of trying, we made our way to the museum,
which was also free (normally $5) today! It was a good collection of
pots and many items found in Knossos. A true treasure of items. Then,
after looking at not very good quality gold bee jewelry, we got a great
Greek sandwich and walked across town to the grave of Kazantzakis, the
man who wrote Zorba the Greek. It is located on the Venetian Wall.
There is a wonderful view of the area from this location. It is rather
isolated though. Greg was wonderful getting us around with semi-good
maps. We had a show with an Italian singer tonight, dinner of Salmon
again and then the newlywed game show. One of the couples playing was
from West Chester, Ohio, the town we moved from a year ago!
Friday - Santorini
The ship personal had some confusion last night about what time those of
us on our own could tender into Santorini in the morning. Getting 2
different times, we woke early, planning on getting the first tender
possible since we had reserved a jeep from Ecorama and wanted to pick it
up. (BY THE WAY, DON’T USE THIS COMPANY, THEY ARE DISHONEST, AS WE LATER
FOUND OUT). Walking to breakfast we saw our excellent waiter for
dinners. He told us the captain wasn’t happy with the situation with the
wind, and we hadn’t sailed up to Santorini yet, but were waiting out
farther. He thought we may not even go to Santorini after all. We took
this information with great disappointment. We sailed up closer to the
island an hour later where the captain said he was going to judge the
situation. Actually a waiter in the Windjammer told us the decision had
already been made not to drop anchor, and the captain was waiting for
clearance from Miami, for authority to sail onto Rhodes early. He was
uncomfortable dropping anchor because of the wind. This was very
disappointing to us, especially since the Renaissance Ship was already
tendering its passengers with no problem. We got a closer look at this
beautiful island, so unlike the others, from our binoculars. We picked
out Oia, and Fira, the steps up and the cable car area. Those of us who
really cared were standing outside gazing at this wonderful island. We
knew what we were about to miss. Others seemed not to care. We weren’t
surprised when the captain came on the speakers to tell us we would be
leaving, sailing to Rhodes, getting there around 5 p.m. instead of the
planned stop tomorrow. One man next to me said this was the 2nd time
this had happened to him here, the last being 10 years ago. He was just
as disappointed as I was. It was hard to accept. It’s not an easy place
to get so close to, and then not be able to visit. Bored we went back
to our cabin to lick our wounds. Later we went to the solarium and
spent some time in the hot tub. Some napping, reading and spaghetti
lunch , scanning the movies on the TV in our cabin. I’m just not cut out
for sea days. Finally we arrived at Rhodes, around 5:30. We were the
first off the ship. Trying to let go of our disappointment over
Santorini, we walked around the old town, enjoying the beauty of it
Walking to the old city is easy and close. The ship tours put people on
buses to see it. It’s a 5-10 minute walk. Buses aren’t necessary. We
loved the crusade palace and fort architecture. There are many city
gates, maybe 11. The area is a maze, but it’s taken over by shops. If
you love to shop, you’ll love it here. The shop owners were somewhat
aggressive, but not to bad. They were very vocal about not wanting
Clinton to come visit Greece. They are very angry with him over Kosovo.
They are also not very pleased with the Turks. Tonight is lobster
night for dinner on the ship. Bad scheduling in our opinion, since even
if we were on Santorini, we wouldn’t be back for dinner. Sunset in Oia
is a highlight there, so many would have missed the lobster. Was it
planned this way? We did miss dinner, because we decided to stay in
Rhodes town finding a cute café under a huge tree in a plaza. We had a
mixed plate of Greek specialties and then some rooster and potatoes A
couple of cats were waiting for our scraps! Several others from the ship
were here eating also. We then walked through the streets looking for a
Greek folk dance show that I had read about. Finding the location, we
were disappointed that they had just finished for the season. It wasn’t
going to happen tonight. We went back to the ship and stopped by our
table in the dining room where they were just finishing up dinner. We
enjoyed dessert with the others, then turned in for the night.
Saturday - Rhodes
Having seen much of old town last night, we decided on spending most of
our day in Lindos. Again we planned on taking the local bus there. We
walked to the bus stop, passing several fishing boats on the way. In
one, a fisherman had just returned and had his catch of the day
displayed neatly in a box for sale. I asked if I could take his picture,
he willingly agreed! Then he motioned for me to come aboard and have my
picture taken with him and his fish! He handed me a small fish by the
tail and Greg took our picture. Then he wanted Greg on his small boat
for the same opportunity! Greg was handed a larger fish by the head!
Another picture, and a great memory. We headed off in search for the
bus. It was easy to find and only a 10 minute walk. The bus to Lindos
ran about every 30 minutes in the morning and was $3 one way per
person. We took the 9 a.m. bus missing the 8:15. It stopped at many
towns along the way, dropping off the morning newspapers. It took 1 ˝
hours to Lindos. This was longer than usual because of the morning paper
run. It was fun to see the Greek lifestyle though. Again, the bus had
all local people on it besides us. Lindos was wonderful! It was worth
the drive. It includes an acropolis with more crusade ruins with
incredible views. You can ride donkeys up the path where local women lay
out lace tablecloths on the rocky hillside for sale. Most are imported
though. The path also goes through winding alleyways of shops. Again,
many tours had arrived, but we bypassed them, taking our time to see
everything on our own. Being in the Greek isles, we decided to spend
some time at the beach! We had worn our bathing suits under our clothes
today, and after touring the acropolis we walked down to the beach! They
had rental lounges and umbrellas for a very low cost, about $2.50 each.
We rented two, and along with some English tourists enjoyed 2 hours of
beach time! Those on tours had no time for the beach! The weather was
warm, water clear and not to cold. It was a great afternoon. We again
took the crowded bus back to Rhodes town. It went quicker, with very
few stops. In the old town, we again called home. Our daughter had
received news from the employer of her choice. It’s a funny story, one
she could only share a bit of until we returned! We ended our day
watching the ships production of a mediocre show, but having excellent
Fillet Mignon for dinner. We also had baked Alaska tonight, but since
they were cut so small, we ALL asked for seconds! They no longer dance
through the dining room with flaming baked Alaska, for safety reasons.
We change our clocks tonight for the end of daylight savings time. We
had already changed it once, 2 days earlier because of the change in
time zones! The ship had a great witch and pumpkin display outside of
the dining room doors for Halloween tomorrow! We did have rough seas
tonight. Overall it’s been a little rough, but not to bad.
Sunday - Kusadasi, Turkey Halloween
We were unsure what to expect from Turkey. We knew Ephesus would be
wonderful, but what was Turkey like? Looking out through the ship’s
windows, it didn’t look to bad! We were seriously thinking about
experiencing a Turkish Bath this afternoon. First we were about to take
our first ship tour. I didn’t see the advantages of doing Ephesus on
our own. Looking back on it, I think I’d do it on our own after all. We
felt rushed on the tour. We need more time exploring these sights than
the tour guide is willing to give us. We started by looking for the port
lecturer and getting her recommendation on a Turkish Bath. This held our
tour group up a few minutes, because she was hard to find. Noelle
radioed her for us. Getting a map from her and her suggestion, we got on
the tour bus, heading for Ephesus. Turkey was beautiful. We first drove
by St. John basillica. There are pine trees all around the area.
Ephesus is as wonderful as we expected! Greg walked down the old marble
steps onto the floor of the stadium where Paul was once heckled by the
residents of Ephesus. Our tour guide did a good job, but we waited
behind in some areas to see more. Some employees of the site followed us
around taking our pictures so they could sell them to us for $4 each at
the end of our tour. Two of ours turned out quite good and I bought
them. At the entrance of Ephesus are many shops selling trinkets and
books If you can possibly find the book Step by Step Ephesus by Mehlika
Seval, a Turkish woman, buy it. It’s a hard back, with the best
information and pictures you can find. It only cost $12 or $13. I
finally found it in a shop at the exit of Ephesus. I knew about her
books before I arrived, so I searched it out. I couldn’t buy it anywhere
before we left. She only sells them in Turkey. Ephesus is truly
wonderful, the library is the high point. It’s so touching to be walking
the marbled streets Paul and John walked so long ago. Returning to
Kusadasi on the bus, the only questions the other passengers had, were
about where to go shopping. The tour guide did give an overview of
carpets, but didn’t lead us into any shops. The shop owners were overly
aggressive. VERY, VERY aggressive. So aggressive that most people didn’t
even shop. Greg had a shoe shine boy run up to him and try and shine
his shoes while he was still walking, not taking no for an answer. If
those selling in the shops would back off, they’d get more business.
We followed a group from Holland into the Turkish Bath we were
interested in. They were just getting a tour of the central room and a
description of the process. It gave us a chance to go inside and look
around a little to see if this was for us! In the background we could
hear the prayer chants ringing through the streets. We exited with
them, and then decided to go back and try it out! We may never have the
chance again! I don’t think they had any other customers at the time.
The Bath was Belediye Hamami near the hotel Akdeniz. They charge $20 per
person, which is much higher than the $3 if you’re out in the
countryside. I asked if my husband and I could stay together, and he
said “yes, family”. We started by being escorted to a small room where
we undressed and wrapped plaid thin towels around us and sandals on our
feet. They then lead us to an all marble sauna room. It’s benches
were even all marble. We sat in this room alone for about 20 minutes,
which was about 5 minutes to long for us. It was very warm! Then the
Turkish man, wrapped in the same plaid towel and sandals, took us to a
bathing area. There were small rooms along the sides of this main area
with marble benches and basins of running hot and cold water with a bowl
in the sink floating in the water. He told us to bathe, or pour water
over ourselves. Then he came in and washed our hair ( we were in
adjoining small rooms). He washed my hair and then dumped several bowls
of water over my head. I held my breath, then he told me to continue
the process. Greg was first to start the bath process. He laid face up
on the marble slab in the center of the room. The towel was between his
legs! He got a good scrubbing with a loafa, massaging at the same time.
Flipping over for the same on the back. Then he continued with you
sitting up on the edge of the marble facing him as he washed your arms.
This isn’t for the modest, because I was next, with the same treatment!
Modesty doesn’t go to far here. It did feel good though! I closed my
eyes and tried to relax and did pretty good! Back into the small side
room and rinse off again. Greg’s turn again, this time he laid back on
the marble slab and was sudsed all over with a huge airy sponge full of
soap. At the same time his arms and legs were bent back, some massaging
also. The man would bang the soap bag real loud and continue on. Next
was my turn. I started face down. He pushed hard into my back and
cracked it! It was a little hard, but not to bad. He soaped and
scrubbed all of me, back, then front and bent my arms and legs some, but
not as hard as Greg’s. It did feel good. Then we rinsed totally in the
small rooms. Then he had us go out to the larger room and drop our wet
towels, oh well, he’s seen all of us by now anyhow and gave us dry plaid
thin towels to re wrap us. We then headed out to the main entry area
and back to the changing room where they wrapped a terry towel around
our body and another around our heads as a headdress. Greg was yellow,
I was blue! The cool air felt good. We waited a little while and then
they brought us bland apple tea. I took Greg’s picture, we dressed and
then walked back out into town! Now that was quite an experience! The
Marco Polo was docked next to us in the port. They must have arrived
between 9-12. Also a ship the Fred Olson – Black Prince was there,
although I have no idea what it is! We spent the next hour sitting
around the pool on our ship, looking out to the Turkish hillside with a
statue of Ataturk, Mustafa Kernai, the founder and the first president
of the Turkish Republic. It was time to pick up our passports, they had
different times for the decks of the ship to pick up their passport.
They were stamped with Pireas, Greece. It was also time to pack.
Tomorrow we arrive in Athens, and sadly leave the ship.
The show, again, wasn’t to good, but it was the last night. The dinner
of Prime Rib was excellent. We tipped our waiter and assistant waiter
who did an excellent job! We also found Carla, our cabin steward and
wished her good luck on her future, and tipped her. Our super charge
came and was only $150 plus the wine we had for dinner. We did great.
The shops on the ship really don’t have much good merchandise.
Monday - Athens
We needed to be out of our cabin at 7:00 a.m. Our purple tags will be
called at 8:45, so they say. We ate breakfast then sat outside on deck
chairs waiting for our tag color to be called. We were looking over the
port of Pireas, Greece. It was a beautiful day, in the mid 70’s. The
bells of Greece keep ringing in the distance, but the city itself isn’t
to attractive. We said goodbye and took pictures last night at dinner.
It was 9:30 and still our tag color wasn’t called so we just disembarked
anyhow. We wanted to go the to acropolis. Our luggage was waiting in the
large room, and we easily found it. We then went outside to get in the
line to get a taxi. We were going to stay at a small hotel, Adrian
hotel on the Plaka. We had made the arrangements on our own. The price
was great, as was the location. The taxi line was very long and we
waited an hour before it was our turn. It was so very poorly planned.
Later we heard those who got off the ship later had to wait up to 4
hours for a taxi. The ship should have had many buses waiting to take
everyone who wanted to go to Athens, into town. The ride to Athens in
the taxi was WILD and took about 15-20 minutes. The taxi driver spoke a
little English. He paid no attention to the lanes of the road, and very
little attention to the pedestrians. The taxi driver laughed when we
passed the large hotels most of the cruise passengers stay at. He said
the prostitutes will be there tonight! He also loved talking about
sports teams and got very animated. He got angry at the traffic and
yelled at it in Greek, then asked us if we understood Greek!! Our hotel
had a large room, was clean, had a view of the Acropolis, but the bed
wasn’t to comfortable. It has cable TV, an in room safe. It was in a
wonderful area on the Plaka though, and across the street was our
favorite restaurant, with wonderful food, Topia. After checking in we
bought a map of the Plaka. This is very important, otherwise you’re
sure to get lost. We found our way up to the acropolis, paid our 2000
DR each ($6.67) and walked up to a spectacular Parthenon. Marble
everywhere. The Odeon looks totally rebuilt, the whole area is
fantastic. There was some scaffolding on the Parthenon but it didn’t
distract from it. There is also an acropolis museum on the site. It’s
excellent. The other building is the Porch of Caryatids. Also you can
see the Dionysos theatre. We called our daughter from this area. We then
walked the Plaka, had lunch, an excellent Greek meal, bread with a
cheese spread, olives, a large Greek salad with lettuce, tomatoes,
cucumber, onion, olives and a large hunk of feta cheese. Then excellent
crepes with ham and chicken and cheeses. Greg got lamb and vegetables.
We then walked to the house of Parliament where they have the changing
of the guards every hour on the hour. Pigeons cover the square. We saw
the hotel Clinton will be staying at in a couple of weeks when he
arrives. The newspaper has editorials very much against his visit. The
shop owners here also don’t want him to come. It was time to get some
sleep and see more of Athens tomorrow.
Tuesday - Athens
We slept fine, then woke and had breakfast at the hotel. It’s included
in our room rate. They had toast, juice, cheese, yogurt, fruit, and hard
boiled eggs. We’ve also been watching CNN coverage of the Egypt Air
crash.
We had an entire day to do more exploring. We started at the Agora
where I got a whistle blown at me for trying to have my picture taken
next to a headless statue. This is not accepted by the Greeks. We also
went into the excellent museum which is part of the Agora. We were
watched closely here. I didn’t like the atmosphere. The temple area was
beautiful. There were several school groups here but not many tourists.
There are no crowds here in early November. We walked to the Herod
Alticus Odeon. It’s been restored. We walked around the Dionysos
theatre for $3 for the 2 of us, then to Hadrians Arch and the Temple of
Zeus, same cost. This sight is worth your time. It’s remarkable. One
pillar is seen fallen over, it fell 150 years ago. The other pillars are
original. Then we walked to the Olympic stadium! What a thrill. It
was open and Greg and I had some fun, running a bit of it. It made good
video to show our son-in-law! We then took a taxi, (try getting one, an
experience in itself) to the Arch. Museum. It was only open until 3:00
so we has 1 ˝ hours here. The 2nd floor of the museum was closed, of
course this is where the ruins of Santorini were. It wasn’t meant for
us to see Santorini at all. We then walked back to the Plaka, looking
for a pharmacy. They were all closed, they have very strange hours, and
did reopen later in the day. We ate gyros at Quick Pitas. Don’t eat
here. They bring tourists much more expensive food than the others are
eating, and you don’t realize it until the bill comes. The menu outside
is inexpensive, but that’s not what you get. We spent a little time on
our balcony of the hotel room looking up at the beautiful acropolis lit
up at night.
Wednesday - Paris
We had an afternoon flight from Athens to Paris where we were going to
overnight on the way home. After walking Athens in the morning, doing
some shopping, we headed for the airport. Of course our flight was
late, but we did call our favorite restaurant in Paris, making
reservations for 9:00. We started our day with a room view of the
acropolis and ended it with a view of the Eiffel Tower! How perfect it
was. Air France kindly checked our luggage through to Cincinnati, and we
only took one small bag with us. This way when we arrived in Paris, we
could take the metro into the city, avoiding the expensive taxi ride we
usually take. Arriving in time to check in, we hurried to the Eiffel
Tower, so we could see it one last time this year at night. We could see
much of it from our room though. We have come to love Paris, spending a
couple of weeks there already this year. Our favorite restaurant was
just as good as usual. It was a magical evening!
Thursday - Paris and home
We had a half day in Paris before needing to catch our 4:00 flight home.
We started by seeing the sculptors on the Champs Elysees. This road is
always beautiful. They were even flocking the trees for Christmas! We
went to my favorite porcelain doll store, where I must purchase one on
every visit! So much fun to carry them home on the planes! We walked all
over the city, saw everything we could, soaking up the atmosphere until
it was time to leave. We had just had the best trip we had ever taken.
With good planning you can see so much!
Arriving home in Cincinnati, we had no luggage. It was Thursday night.
Greg had to go back to Europe on business on Saturday. Delta had no
idea where our luggage was. We tracked it down ourselves with the help
of Air France. Delta was taking no responsibility. Finally Saturday
around 11:00 our luggage arrived at our door. Quickly I washed it,
ironed it, and repacked it, for the return trip for Greg to Brussels.
Quite an ending to our wonderful vacation!
Ernest Alleva
it in stride and had a good time.
Ernest
****"Can't You See Your ALL Going The Wrong Way God Damn It! " from the
reverend.....(The Posiedon Adventure)
Remember the Gift From The Captain...remember the EVIL
Diane
time to post it.
Diane
Greg Moore wrote:
>
> Legend of the Seas Review
>
> October 22-November 1,1999 (10 day)
> Barcelona, Spain to Athens, Greece
<snipped>