Princess Cruise (2022)

Note: Days 1 thru 15 were spent in Malta & Italy.  Please click on the following link if you wish to read the journal for the first couple of weeks of this amazing vacation.  At the end of the Malta & Italy journal there will be a link back to this journal.

Malta & Italy (2022) 

Day 16 (November 14, 2022)

 Rome ==> Civitavecchia (Italy)

Not too much to say about today.

We were picked up in the morning (Simona, once again, arranged for the transportation).  Before we left Rome our driver has taken us to the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola also known as Il Fontanone ("The big fountain"), which is a monumental fountain located on the Janiculum Hill, near The Church of San Pietro. The skies were clear and blue after the all night and early morning rain. The view from the hill was spectacular.

 

   

We arrived to Civitavecchia and an hour later we were aboard the Island Princess, our home for the next 28 days

We went through the welcome and screening routines and were in our cabin by 12:00 pm.

We met already 2 couples: Chris & Noel, who met each other on the same ship last August and became a couple, and also Kathy & Greg from Fort Mayer, Florida.

We exercised at the gym and returned to our cabin an hour later feeling good about ourselves.

In the afternoon we watched Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn & Gregory Peck to relive the attractions we have just seen in Rome.

We met new friends in the dining room for dinner. We met Marco (from Sacramento) & Kathy (from Houston). Marco & Kathy met each other an hour earlier in the singles club. We also met Gail & her son Shane from West Virginia.

A highlights show was next as we walked to the main theater. The show featured an English Comedian.

We found out that there were some changes since we have taken our last cruise on Princess.  The main change was the Medallion Watch, which has replaced the card that used to be your cabin key, credit card and your identification card.

A passenger could be anywhere on the ship and his location is known to the crew.  For example one could order food, drinks, etc. and they will deliver it to you to where you are at the moment of the delivery.  The Medallion has a built-in GPS .  The Medallion is also used as a key to your room.  You could also know where your partner to the cabin is, at all times.  Also, as soon as you approach your cabin (walking in the hallway) the door will be unlock automatically as soon as you approach  you cabin.  

The ship offers a watchband (for purchase) and your Medallion could be wear on your wrist. 

 

Day 17 (November 15, 2022)

 

Sea day!

We woke up at 7:30 and as I always do on a cruise when I wake up, i opened the sliding door to the balcony to breathe the fresh salty air.

  

Not far from the ship I saw a volcano with smoke coming from its "mouth". I took a picture and found out later that it was Mount Strombuli, located in Struògnuli Island, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily. The volcano is one of the four active volcanoes in Italy.

  

Other than that the day was spent on eating, drinking, exercising, and 2 production shows where the main event was a Scottish singer who won Britain Got Talent in 2011, Mr. Jay McDowell.  He had a good voice but his choice of songs was was kind-a boring.

     

The real stars today were members of a band from South Korea, who sang non-stop Beatles songs for over an hour.  They made many of us, the passengers, dance along...

  

 

Day 18 (November 16, 2022)

 Olympia, Greece

We arrived to the port of Katakolon, Greece.  The town of Katakolon is a seaside town, overlooking the Ionian Sea.

The Port is a popular stop for cruise ships, offering an opportunity for passengers to visit the site of Olympia. Our intentions indeed!

  

I made arrangements and we met our awaiting guide Helena, who took us for a day full of history.

We started with a visit to the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

We listened to Helena for the next hour lecturing about this important museum, while walking from one room to the next as the museum building comprises 12 exhibition rooms containing objects excavated in the Altis, the sacred grove and sanctuary.

       

Among the findings, the most important exhibits of the museum are:

The sculptured ornaments from the Temple of Zeus, Hermes of Praxiteles (Nike of Paionios, the statue depicts a winged woman), statues of Zeus and Ganymede, (A terracotta statuette depicting Zeus carrying off young Ganymede), and The Helmet of Miltiades (Bronze battering-ram)

        

The collections are displayed in a modern way, in a chronological order, which is easy to understand.  Information panels and subtle lighting made our visit an enjoyable event.

Helena concluded that this Museum is one of the most important museums in Greece, presenting the long history of the most celebrated sanctuary of antiquity, the sanctuary of Zeus, father of both gods and men, and a place where the Olympic Games were born.

   

We then started our visit in Altis, the adjacent grounds where all of the discoveries were made.  We saw pillars of palaces, partial structures and other important findings.  At one point we saw the site where the modern Olympic torch is being lit every 4 years and then make its trip to the host country and city, in time for the opening ceremonies. 

      

We ended up in an open field where the competitions took place in mid summers in front of 45,000 people, some 2000 thousand years ago.  I closed my eyes for a moment to visualize the suffering of the spectators in high temperatures and very high humidity in the month of August without any shades shelters in sight.

  

  

From there we rode the mini-van to a very unique store that sells its own olive oil and olives.  We tasted a dozen different flavors of olive oil and decided on a flavor, which we purchased.

   

We then visited a beehive farm where a farmer showed us the process of harvesting the honey.

When we arrived back to the ship, we heard some bad news for tomorrow: The Captain announced that since they anticipated riots in Athens tomorrow, they altered our itinerary and we will visit Athens on November 24th instead of tomorrow and therefore, we will dock tomorrow in Santorini and not in Athens.  Also, to make our docking in Athens feasible, we will skip Mykonis next week.

  

Tonight's show was nice.  An evening of singing and dancing with the main theme of New Orleans.

 

Day 19 (November 17, 2022)

Santorini, Greece 

When we woke up early this morning, we were already in Santorini. The sun just peeked through the morning clouds and the scenery was spectacular.

An hour later we joined Chris and Noel (the couple we had met in Rome) for an excursion on the island's 2 main cities.

   

A tug boat carried us to land from where we docked, as our ship is too big to fit the tiny Skala Port.  Once on shore, we purchased tickets for a taxi-boat, which in cooperation with the local bus company, brought us to the center of Oia, the beautiful city in Santorini.

Located on the northern tip of Santorini, 12 kilometers up the coast from the capital Fira (we will visit this city later today), we found Oia as a picture-perfect village of whitewashed houses, several of which have been converted into chic little boutique hotels with infinity pools, overlooking the caldera (the rocks underneath the city) formed by the massive volcanic explosion that blew the center out of the island some 3,600 years ago).  The city lives from tourism. 

       

   

     

We zigzagged the tiny alleys and narrow streets of the beautiful city and at 1:00 we were back on the bus, with the destination of the second city, Fira.

Fira lives principally from tourism as well, and many of its buildings now serve as small hotels, apartments, restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, and jewelers. 

    

We walked up and down the streets, stopping every couple of meters to take breathtaking photos of the beautiful city with the white washed homes and scenery that was so spectacular. When we were ready to return, we decided to take the many downhill steps (I counted each one of them.  The total was 587) to return to the port.  

      

We stopped in a seafood restaurant in the city, which was fantastic,  and then started our way back to the port.  The road was busy with passengers and by mules, used by some of our fellow passengers.  There is another way to get down to the port, by using the gondolas (or cable cars), but we wanted to walk our lunch off.

We arrived to the ship an hour later.

We still managed to get a light dinner and enjoy the highlight show, featuring a great English entertainer by the name of Tom Lowe.  He was actually excellent!

 

Day 20 (November 18, 2022)

 Kusadasi, Turkey

When we woke up the ship was approaching Kusadasi, Turkey. The gate to Ephesus.

Right after breakfast we lined up next to the exits and waited for the ship to be cleared.

      

Few weeks ago I hired our guide, Denishan Pekoz (Denish for short) and we greeted him as we approached the parking lot and so our names on his sign.

We started our tour, trying to get to the Archaeological Site Ephesus before the buses and the many passengers.  We did manage to get there before them!!!

The city was famous in its days for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated as one of the holy sites for Christianity as many believe that the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, was brought here by John The Baptist after the death of her son, Jesus. Both had to hide, from the Romans and found a shelter in the surrounding mountains.  Mary later died and was buried there. We made a visit to the site to see the many believers, some coming from afar.

    

The site, once designated as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World thanks to its many monumental buildings including the Library of Celsus and a theater capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

      

Denish gave us a brief overview of the site:

It was built in the 10th century BC by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in the 2nd century BC.

The old city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015!

               

The Gospel of John may have been written there; and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils. The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263.  In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

       

We walked around this important site for two and a half hours and also visited a house of a very important and rich family.  The 900 square meters home included beautiful mosaic floors and walls covered by paintings.

We continued to our next attraction, not fat from the archaeologist site: a huge store, famous for its olive oil, honey and some other souvenirs.

About a mile before reaching the ship, we asked Denish to drop us off and we continued the rest of the way to the ship on foot.

Tonight entertainment after dinner was an electrifying pianist called Martin Kaye, who dazzled the crowd with playing his piano, singing and dancing.

 

Day 21 (November 19, 2022)

 

Another day at sea

 

After lunch we walked around deck 15 for an hour.  Blue skies and temps in the middle 70's (F) made it a great day to exercise outside.  We walked for 4 miles on the 15th deck.  It was wonderful!!

 

We decided that tonight we should celebrate our 51st Anniversary (actual date is January 4th) and made reservations to Sabbatini, the Italian restaurant on board the Island Princess.

  

We dressed up nicely and went for a dinner date.  The menu offered a large variety of delicious dishes.

          

We started with Fried Calamari and a salad (pears, apples and lettuce with a unique dressing) then pasta (linguine with shrimp and clams) and 3 cheese pasta, then Veal Massala, chicken and ended the feast with tiramisu, my favorite dessert.

In the theater, we enjoyed a production show of "Let's Dance”

 

Day 22 (November 20, 2022)

 

Shalom Israel!

I was so excited last night, knowing that today we were going to step in our Holly Land, Israel, that I was awake already at 5 am.  After breakfast we checked out from the ship and the Israeli immigration was really smooth.

  

We met my brother, Ronen, and his beautiful wife Yudit, at gate 1 in Ashdod Port.  It was an emotional meeting as we missed them terribly. We headed to our first item on our agenda: Ein Kerem, a charming hillside village next to Jerusalem.

We had 30 minutes until our meeting with our guide so we sat down at a small Cafe and had some coffee and cakes.

Shoshanna Karbasi, our guide showed up on time and we started our tour.  Shoshanna told us that Ein Kerem is famed for its centuries-old holy sites:

       

These include the Church of St. John the Baptist, containing a cave said to be the saint’s birthplace, and Mary’s Spring, where the Virgin Mary is believed to drink from the springs after a long voyage from Nazareth. Right before she met Elizabeth, mother of John, who was pregnant with John while Mary was pregnant with Jesus.  They were cousins. 

We walked in the village’s narrow streets looking at galleries and shops selling hand-painted tiles and jewelry, plus quaint cafes and stylish Mediterranean restaurants.

As it turned out, our guide Shoshana is also a famous poet, who has written many books.

   

We toured the streets and then were invited to Shoshanna’s home where we were treated to hot and delicious tea accompanied by her own making jams and jelly. The home itself is historic and a mosaic floor from the year 586 BC (the destruction of the first Temple), was discovered under the kitchen floor.

      

     

We continued to our next destination: The Western Wall – The Kotel., the holiest place in the Jewish tradition. We all prayed and asked God to listen, forgive and fulfill our prayers.

  

We had a great lunch in Ben-Sira restaurant.

Ronen drove us to Rishon Le-Zion to visit our good friends Danny and Hannah.   We spent a couple of hours with them, talking about what is going on with our lives and theirs.  Danny returned us back to the port.

Once back on the ship, we skipped dinner and retired to our cabin.

 

 

Day 23 (November 21, 2022)

Haifa, Israel 

I woke up this morning early again.  The ship was already anchored in Haifa, Israel and in a couple of hours we will hug and kiss our daughter Emly & granddaughter Noa.

 

The beautiful sunrise and the bright day gave me a taste of things to come today.

At 9:00 am we had Emly and Noa in our arms. It was a great reunion and an emotional emotional one.

      

Our first destination was the Bahai Gardens and Palace.  We started with the bottom garden and then walked towards Yefe Nof Street, a walk that included 211(!) steps plus a steep climb and finally we reached the top.

A couple of weeks before our trip I made this place part of our itinerary.  I read the following facts: 

The Bahai faith is a relatively new one. It was founded 200 years ago by a Persian of the name Siyyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi. He revealed himself as the prophet Bab (meaning “gate” in Arabic) who sought out to spread his beliefs. Bab was shunned by the Shia clergy despite the fact that he gained tens of thousands of followers. He was eventually executed, only six years after he began his movement. His efforts were continued by Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri who chose the name Baha’u’llah. Also hounded by the clergy and was expelled to the Ottoman Empire.

     

I also found out that the "Bahai Gardens" is possibly the most distinct tourist attraction in all of Haifa, and is very likely the most visited. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals alike travel to the Bahai Gardens on Mount Carmel in Haifa. This is the most holy site of the Bahai faith. Last year alone, 750,000 people enjoyed the beautiful terraces of the Bahai Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We toured the spectacular gardens and then entered the shrine that has been a center for thousands of pilgrims who come here for prayers and meditation.

  

A taxi took us to Stella Maris Monastery, which is a Catholic Christian monastery for Discalced Carmelite Monks, located on the slopes of Mount Carmel in the city.

The main church inside the Stella Maris Monastery is said to contain the Cave of Elijah, a grotto associated with Biblical prophet Elijah.