We have been cured of any further desire to cruise. Our 12-day Black Sea cruise on the Celebrity Constellation was a mixed bag. We were really interested in the Black Sea, loved Istanbul and Ephesus (Kusadasi) in Turkey, Sevastipol, Yalta, and Odessa in Ukraine and Burgas in Bulgaria, found the two sites in Greece (Athens and Mykonos) a little daunting with a number of angry people and really disliked most of the time on the ship.
On the plus side, all of the locations in Ukraine and Burgas were so, so interesting and places that are pretty much unspoiled by tourism. They were also places that we would have been unlikely to have seen otherwise.
I particularly loved Sevastipol, a place where most of the people we encountered were surprised to see anyone that alighted from a ship! Except for a trip long ago to the island of Lanai in Hawaii when there were just 11 hotel rooms on an island otherwise filled with pineapple fields, I've never experienced a place so untouched by western ideas of tourism. I think a lot of Russians may go there to vacation but their expectations must be quite different from ours because there were no hawkers of touristy stuff, no traveler specials, nothing suggesting that tourism is an economic driver. It was really nice. All we did was walk around the city, visit a park commemorating the Seige of Sevastipol during the Crimean War and had a very nice lunch, but it was just enchanting. Too bad we had to get back on the ship! The second stop in Ukraine was Yalta. A city just chock a block full of interesting history, including the meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin during which they made the decisions about carving up the spoils of WWII. The third, and final, stop there was Odessa; a much bigger city and very used to tourists from the countries in the former Soviet Union, but still exotic and interesting.
We had one stop in Bulgaria, Burgas, a seaside city similar to what Mykonos may have been like before every cruise ship in the Mediterranian stopped there and attracted hawkers and overpriced, mostly useless tchotchkes frequently made in China or India instead of the country visited.
In general, the Ukranian and Bulgarian people we encountered were generally curious and interested in us. Although few spoke English, there was a nice spirit of trying to get along.
Greece was a little less nice. In Athens we encountered a number of angry people, likely owing to their dashed hoped about what affiliating with the European Union was going to mean for them. We kinda expected it because there has been a lot in the Irish press about the difficulties they have encountered, what with the Euro Zone expecting them to pay taxes and all. That has to be annoying. But seriously, their economy is in very bad shape and that seems to have affected how they feel about tourists, particularly from Europe or America. Mykonos was just a huge tourist trap, although I did visit the island of Delos, just off Mykonos, the birthplace of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis, which was very interesting.
Turkey was great, we started and ended in Istanbul, a city to which Alan and I agreed to return. On the first day there we toured the Topkapi Palace and bought a rug (which I hope we don't regret) and on the second, just before boarding the ship, we visited the Grand Bazaar. On our return we had another day there and did the hop-on/hop-off bus to get a sense of the city in advance of a trip we are hoping to take back to Turkey before we return to America. Ephesus, the place where "mother Mary" spent her last days, was very interesting, very much outside the large port city of Kusadasi where the boat docked. So much antiquity all around, it was just amazing, particularly in light of our earlier trip to Connemara in Ireland where we spend so much time looking at Bronze Age stones in remote fields. These were whole, amazing cities, so well preserved. I would definitely recommend a trip to Ephesus to anyone interested in early civilization.
By far, the worst was the time we spent on the ship. We expected an all-inclusive, fun filled adventure, with lots of people who were open to meeting new people and having new experiences. What we got was constant up-selling of "extras" (who knew water was in extra), constant sanitizing of all surfaces "for your safety", amid hundreds of already formed cliques all operating in their own little sphere jockying for any desirable space in common areas and "saving" huge swaths of it for the exclusive use of their posse, whether the others were there or not. The prices were staggering, $80 for a bottle of gin (and you can't bring it back with you from the shore, they check); $30 for a bottle of the cheapest wine or a corkage fee of $25; $200 for a massage; $3 for a half litre of water that goes for 50 cents a litre when you disembark; $3 for a coke and close to $100 per person for a shore excursion that you can arrange for half that privately once on shore. We were so disappointed. The only good thing was that our table at dinner was great. Our group consisted of a nice couple from New Jersey and a single woman from Sydney, Australia. We all agreed to keep in touch and I hope that we do. If it were for them, we would have had nothing good to say about our time on the Celebrity Constellation.
All in all a lesson that we are not cruise people. I wouldn't do it again if it were free. That said, the experiences we had on shore in Turkey, Ukraine and Romania were just great and we are grateful to have had to chance to see them at this stage of development. We are happy to be back to normal.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
The day before leaving for Istanbul. My last post was just a brief rumination during our trip in Connemara. This will be a longer post, mostly in order since the last one.
I begin with a recap of the walk on the Way of St. James, The Campostela de Santiago, "The Camino," for short. I took this trip with a group of 11 other people, all of whom I've met in Ireland. The trip was suggested by my good friend Mary last winter, which I suggested to my other good friend here, Deirdre. Alan stayed home.
To quickly recap, we walked 6 days of the weeklong journey starting September 12 ending on the anniversary of the day Alan and I met on September 19th (also Alan's mother's birthday, when she would have been 98 years old). Alan prepared a great dinner to celebrate our 37 years together when I returned home. It was so nice to see him and to celebrate both our meeting and his great mother, who we both miss very much.
Walking The Way
The walk was a good one. The first and second days were the most difficult. We walked 'the French Way' (the way of St. Frances, not walking in France) beginning in Sarria in Galicia Spain, all of the walk was in Spain. Sarria to Santiago is the minimum one can do to get a certificate from the church at the end, It's 110 kilometers (about 65 miles) in total. When one signs up for the walk you get a 'passport' which you get stamped as you stop along the way. For pilgrims starting from Ireland, you can get two stamps in Dublin at the St. James Gate of the Guiness storehouse and also at the Church of St. James, around the corner from the Guinness storehouse. During one of our preparatory walks, Mary, Deirdre and several others stopped in to get those stamps before we departed Dublin. We did the stamps all along the way and all of us got the certificate too! Mine is now framed and sitting in the window well in our guest room.
We landed in Santiago and were met by an organizer and bussed to Sarria for the first evening. We began the walk the following day. The trip organizer that we used arranged for hotels, meals (breakfast and dinner) and transporting our luggage from hotel to hotel. The hotels were 3 star establishments. All were nice, all had restaurants attached, none were luxurious but more along the Holiday Inn or Marriott Courtyard quality. In general all good and clean with in-room bathrooms, several had bathtubs but most were just shower rooms. The food was good in all of them. Generally we were so tired and hungry at the end of a the day of walking it was all wonderful, particularly the three hotels with bathtubs, where a good hot soak at the end of the day did wonders.
The first two days were the most difficult, 20 and 22 kilometers respectively. All days had up and down walking but the first day was the most challenging. I re-discovered that I am much stronger on the up than on the down. This was something I learned in 2008 when Alan and I did the Bright Angel Trail to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The down on the first day of the Grand Canyon walk was much harder than the up on the second, even though I was well and truly exhausted on day two.
Day one walking on The Camino was was long and moderately strenuous until the very, very end when there was a challenging downhill followed by a long, high bridge over a big gorge, ending with a medieval gate consisting of about 100 steps to the top and into the town. Coming over that last bridge and seeing those stairs was about the most demoralizing sight I've seen since the end of the Grand Canyon walk when I saw the rope bridge swaying in the wind over the raging Colorado River to our campsite. My feet really hurt and I noticed a little irritation on my toe, but I thought a good night's rest would make it all OK.
Day two was a little longer than the first day but a little less challenging, again, until the very end when my toe really flared up. I just couldn't believe how much it hurt. I was so annoyed. I have always felt I had good feet. As a Taurus (earth sign) I really feel rooted and my feet have never given me problems. I thought my hip would be the problem, since I have a hip replacement, but it was hardly noticeable, except during those times when everything hurt. The last 2 kilometers I could hardly move, I really felt like I was walking like Frankenstein at the end. It was so pathetic. Still, I was optimistic that a good rest was all I needed. Before I left I'd paid big bucks for a custom made orthotic (300 Euros!!!!) but decided I needed to take them out for the walk on day three because the extra space they took up in the shoe was part of the problem.
Day three dawned, a 16 kilometer walk was in the offing and my toe really hurt, but I did it. When we got to our hotel, in the largest city on our journey, I was delighted to find a bathtub in the room. I was rooming with Mary, a great companion all around, she left for lunch with the others and I took a hot bath including the sachet of juniper salts I'd brought along "just in case." Oh, it was so wonderful. After the bath, a good nap and I felt much better. Still the toe hurt but not so much.
Day four was 18 kilometers ending in a much more rural location. There was a bath there as well but after that soak I sensed that my toe issue was beginning to change. Just after the bath, I discovered to my amazement, that you can get a blister under the toenail. The blister burst and my nail turned a purpleish color, which continues to today, almost three weeks later. I think it means I will untimately lose the nail. Still the relief was palpable and the following days were much improved.
Days five and six were much shorter, 14 and 16 kilometers each. They were punctuated with nice, shady walks and good conversations with a variety of my companions. Since I wasn't so distracted with foot pain, I really felt much better. However, it was during this time that I noticed that I wasn't feeling very spiritual, a sensation that others had assured me would happen while walking "The Way." I mostly felt satisfied that I would be able to make it to the end. Which I did; but mostly it felt like a long, hard walk.
The city of Santiago is very nice and we had most of late afternoon and evening and the following morning to explore. We also went to the mass in the cathedral there at 11 a.m. on our last day. Except for tons of people who seemed not to understand "no flash photography" and others who seemed to think that the mass was a performance and applauded at the end, it was a very nice culmination.
When I returned I learned that during a lengthy interview while I was away the new Pope (Frances) said he thought the focus on abortion and gay marriage was distracting and shouldn't be the only thing on the agenda for Catholics. I really feld the spirit then. Maybe the walk really contributed to a change. Certainly I felt more close to my Catholicism than any time in the last 30 or so years. It was a good way to end. I don't know that I'd do it again, but it was worth doing. In addition to feeling closer to my Catholic roots, I also cemented my friendships with both Mary and Deirdre and know I will know and value them both going forward.
I had two days home before our friends Linda and Bob arrived with Linda's brother and sister-in-law for two days in Dublin followed by a week in a house in Connemara. This was the subject of my last post (below). It was so great to see Linda and Bob and to meet Tom and Charlotte. Both Alan and I were delighted to renew our old friendship. We had a lot of fun exploring the many antiquities found in the west of Ireland. We would never have done such an adventurous trip were it not for their interest in discovering the very oldest remnants of civilization in Ireland. Up hill and down dale we went in places where there were no other tourists. Several times we had to knock on farmhouse doors to get permission to walk their land to see the stones, ring forts and burial sites. I also had a chance to do a little set dancing during a side trip to Innishboufin, on of the smaller Aran Islands that we visited for a day trip midweek. The house we rented in Clifden was a great home base and for all but one evening, each couple made the evening meal after a long day of exploring.
Linda and Bob returned with us to Dublin on Tuesday and left on the Irish Sea ferry to London on Wednesday. Tom and Charlotte went on to Cork where they were booked into a house in Kinsale for one week followed by another week in a remote location outside Dingle in Kerry. We parted company with them in Galway. In addition to catching up on laundry and putting our place back in order after visitors, we have been busy packing for our next adventure.
Tomorrow (Saturday), just four days after our return from Connemara, Alan and I leave for Istanbul. We will spend Sunday there and begin a Black Sea cruise on Monday. We are both heady with anticipation. In addition to what I hope is an exciting day in Istanbul, including a booking to see the whirling dervishes in the temple there, we will stop in several ports that have facinated me since childhood. Just the names: Sevastipol, Odessa, Yalta, Ephesus, Athens are exciting. I hope I haven't built it up too much in my mind. My only worry right now is seasickness. I will get pills for that.
Hopefully I will post again by the end of the month, soon after our return.
I begin with a recap of the walk on the Way of St. James, The Campostela de Santiago, "The Camino," for short. I took this trip with a group of 11 other people, all of whom I've met in Ireland. The trip was suggested by my good friend Mary last winter, which I suggested to my other good friend here, Deirdre. Alan stayed home.
To quickly recap, we walked 6 days of the weeklong journey starting September 12 ending on the anniversary of the day Alan and I met on September 19th (also Alan's mother's birthday, when she would have been 98 years old). Alan prepared a great dinner to celebrate our 37 years together when I returned home. It was so nice to see him and to celebrate both our meeting and his great mother, who we both miss very much.
Walking The Way
The walk was a good one. The first and second days were the most difficult. We walked 'the French Way' (the way of St. Frances, not walking in France) beginning in Sarria in Galicia Spain, all of the walk was in Spain. Sarria to Santiago is the minimum one can do to get a certificate from the church at the end, It's 110 kilometers (about 65 miles) in total. When one signs up for the walk you get a 'passport' which you get stamped as you stop along the way. For pilgrims starting from Ireland, you can get two stamps in Dublin at the St. James Gate of the Guiness storehouse and also at the Church of St. James, around the corner from the Guinness storehouse. During one of our preparatory walks, Mary, Deirdre and several others stopped in to get those stamps before we departed Dublin. We did the stamps all along the way and all of us got the certificate too! Mine is now framed and sitting in the window well in our guest room.
We landed in Santiago and were met by an organizer and bussed to Sarria for the first evening. We began the walk the following day. The trip organizer that we used arranged for hotels, meals (breakfast and dinner) and transporting our luggage from hotel to hotel. The hotels were 3 star establishments. All were nice, all had restaurants attached, none were luxurious but more along the Holiday Inn or Marriott Courtyard quality. In general all good and clean with in-room bathrooms, several had bathtubs but most were just shower rooms. The food was good in all of them. Generally we were so tired and hungry at the end of a the day of walking it was all wonderful, particularly the three hotels with bathtubs, where a good hot soak at the end of the day did wonders.
The first two days were the most difficult, 20 and 22 kilometers respectively. All days had up and down walking but the first day was the most challenging. I re-discovered that I am much stronger on the up than on the down. This was something I learned in 2008 when Alan and I did the Bright Angel Trail to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The down on the first day of the Grand Canyon walk was much harder than the up on the second, even though I was well and truly exhausted on day two.
Day one walking on The Camino was was long and moderately strenuous until the very, very end when there was a challenging downhill followed by a long, high bridge over a big gorge, ending with a medieval gate consisting of about 100 steps to the top and into the town. Coming over that last bridge and seeing those stairs was about the most demoralizing sight I've seen since the end of the Grand Canyon walk when I saw the rope bridge swaying in the wind over the raging Colorado River to our campsite. My feet really hurt and I noticed a little irritation on my toe, but I thought a good night's rest would make it all OK.
Day two was a little longer than the first day but a little less challenging, again, until the very end when my toe really flared up. I just couldn't believe how much it hurt. I was so annoyed. I have always felt I had good feet. As a Taurus (earth sign) I really feel rooted and my feet have never given me problems. I thought my hip would be the problem, since I have a hip replacement, but it was hardly noticeable, except during those times when everything hurt. The last 2 kilometers I could hardly move, I really felt like I was walking like Frankenstein at the end. It was so pathetic. Still, I was optimistic that a good rest was all I needed. Before I left I'd paid big bucks for a custom made orthotic (300 Euros!!!!) but decided I needed to take them out for the walk on day three because the extra space they took up in the shoe was part of the problem.
Day three dawned, a 16 kilometer walk was in the offing and my toe really hurt, but I did it. When we got to our hotel, in the largest city on our journey, I was delighted to find a bathtub in the room. I was rooming with Mary, a great companion all around, she left for lunch with the others and I took a hot bath including the sachet of juniper salts I'd brought along "just in case." Oh, it was so wonderful. After the bath, a good nap and I felt much better. Still the toe hurt but not so much.
Day four was 18 kilometers ending in a much more rural location. There was a bath there as well but after that soak I sensed that my toe issue was beginning to change. Just after the bath, I discovered to my amazement, that you can get a blister under the toenail. The blister burst and my nail turned a purpleish color, which continues to today, almost three weeks later. I think it means I will untimately lose the nail. Still the relief was palpable and the following days were much improved.
Days five and six were much shorter, 14 and 16 kilometers each. They were punctuated with nice, shady walks and good conversations with a variety of my companions. Since I wasn't so distracted with foot pain, I really felt much better. However, it was during this time that I noticed that I wasn't feeling very spiritual, a sensation that others had assured me would happen while walking "The Way." I mostly felt satisfied that I would be able to make it to the end. Which I did; but mostly it felt like a long, hard walk.
The city of Santiago is very nice and we had most of late afternoon and evening and the following morning to explore. We also went to the mass in the cathedral there at 11 a.m. on our last day. Except for tons of people who seemed not to understand "no flash photography" and others who seemed to think that the mass was a performance and applauded at the end, it was a very nice culmination.
When I returned I learned that during a lengthy interview while I was away the new Pope (Frances) said he thought the focus on abortion and gay marriage was distracting and shouldn't be the only thing on the agenda for Catholics. I really feld the spirit then. Maybe the walk really contributed to a change. Certainly I felt more close to my Catholicism than any time in the last 30 or so years. It was a good way to end. I don't know that I'd do it again, but it was worth doing. In addition to feeling closer to my Catholic roots, I also cemented my friendships with both Mary and Deirdre and know I will know and value them both going forward.
I had two days home before our friends Linda and Bob arrived with Linda's brother and sister-in-law for two days in Dublin followed by a week in a house in Connemara. This was the subject of my last post (below). It was so great to see Linda and Bob and to meet Tom and Charlotte. Both Alan and I were delighted to renew our old friendship. We had a lot of fun exploring the many antiquities found in the west of Ireland. We would never have done such an adventurous trip were it not for their interest in discovering the very oldest remnants of civilization in Ireland. Up hill and down dale we went in places where there were no other tourists. Several times we had to knock on farmhouse doors to get permission to walk their land to see the stones, ring forts and burial sites. I also had a chance to do a little set dancing during a side trip to Innishboufin, on of the smaller Aran Islands that we visited for a day trip midweek. The house we rented in Clifden was a great home base and for all but one evening, each couple made the evening meal after a long day of exploring.
Linda and Bob returned with us to Dublin on Tuesday and left on the Irish Sea ferry to London on Wednesday. Tom and Charlotte went on to Cork where they were booked into a house in Kinsale for one week followed by another week in a remote location outside Dingle in Kerry. We parted company with them in Galway. In addition to catching up on laundry and putting our place back in order after visitors, we have been busy packing for our next adventure.
Tomorrow (Saturday), just four days after our return from Connemara, Alan and I leave for Istanbul. We will spend Sunday there and begin a Black Sea cruise on Monday. We are both heady with anticipation. In addition to what I hope is an exciting day in Istanbul, including a booking to see the whirling dervishes in the temple there, we will stop in several ports that have facinated me since childhood. Just the names: Sevastipol, Odessa, Yalta, Ephesus, Athens are exciting. I hope I haven't built it up too much in my mind. My only worry right now is seasickness. I will get pills for that.
Hopefully I will post again by the end of the month, soon after our return.
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