Gibraltar

Here we are on the rock of Gibraltar. Behind us is a mosque. (I am wearing this same ratty gray sweater in almost all the photos! I actually brought a new beige sweater on the trip, but I only wore it on "Smart Casual" night on the ship.)

I fell in love with the Barbary Apes of Gibraltar. The bus driver stopped the van, and all these really friendly monkeys posed for us and leaped around the van. The one hanging from the van mirror nearly scared my cousin Sharalyn to death when he decided to use her shoulder as a stepping stone to get to the ground. Look closely at him. Doesn't he look like he has an attitude!

We spent 45 minutes touring the World War II tunnels. These tunnels were a fortress within a fortress during the war to protect Gibraltar from attack. The tunnels were large enough to house a hospital, a power station, military headquarters and accommodation for nearly 10,000 troops and civilians.

The fact that I have a "thumbs down" gesture in the tunnels has nothing to do with the quality of the tour. I am extremely claustrophobic, and I can't understand what possessed me to go underground for 45 long minutes. In some places I had to practically wriggle through the spaces to get to the next room. EEEEEkk!!!! (We wore helmets because the ceiling was dripping moisture.) I can't tell you how relieved I was to see the light of day after being squished in these tunnels.

Cartagena, Spain

These photos show parts of the beautiful city of Cartagena, Spain. With another perfect warm-weather day, we set out first to climb to the top of a hill. From there we could see the town below and also our ship (tiny miniature next to my arm). A few colorful peacocks ran among the tourists that day.

The two buildings in the photos are examples of the exquisite detail of architecture found in the city. Also, the beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary is one of many we saw throughout the European countries we visited. Approximately 85% of Europe is Roman Catholic, and we certainly viewed many examples of Christ and the Virgin Mary in churches in every city.

Lastly, here we are enjoying a drink in the afternoon sunshine of Cartagena. It's too bad I couldn't have bottled a little of the sunshine to take home to gloomy November Utah!

Barcelona, Spain

I learned something new in Barcelona. The word "gaudy" gets its origin from the architect Antoni Gaudi. The cathedral you see directly above this text is called Sagrada Familia Church and was built by Antoni Gaudi. This structure is really something to behold. I couldn't decide if I liked it or not, but it definitly grabbed my attention. "Garish" is as close to "gaudy" as I can get to describe the building. I had to buy this postcard for my scrapbook because there was no way I could get all of the building into the viewfinder of my camera. You can see at the bottom of the photo a few cars to give you an idea of the immensity of this church.

We watched a 30 minute Flamenco dance in Barcelona performed by a man, woman, and two guitar players. The dancing was very intense and loud. I was sitting next to the stage, and I could feel the vibration from their feet and see the sweat pouring off their faces. The dancers were very professional. Today, if I had been a drinker, I would have been served sangria. I had a coke and some snacks which included more olives!

The photo of Paul in a narrow street shows the flavor of this old world area of Barcelona, and really, of so many of the countries in Europe that we visited. In the United States, we talk of the age of buildings relative to the 200 plus years that we as a country have existed. In Europe, the guides would often talk of buildings in terms of before Christ and after Christ. I don't know how old these buildings are (maybe two or three hundred years), but the ruins we saw in Turkey and Greece were built close to the time of Christ.

Our guide was knowledgable, but she had an annoying speech mannerism that drove us all nuts!! She kept saying "eh" after every sentence and sometimes several times within the sentence. Everyone was glad to get off the bus and away from her!

The French Riviera

When I think of the French Riviera, I think about beauty and lots of money. In order to live in this area, you need to spend a bunch of money!

We traveled by bus to the highest point on the Riviera to get a panoramic view of the coast. Some of the places we saw were Eze Village, Nice, the principality of Monaco and the famous Monte Carlo Grand Casino within Monaco.

The weather the day we were in the French Riviera was perfect. We just enjoyed the views; no matter which way we looked, there was beauty.

I asked Paul to take a photo of me in front of a boulangerie and patisserie (bread and pastry shop). When I was in France as a student in a semester abroad program, my roommate and I stopped almost daily at shops like these, which seemed to be on every corner. France has absolutely the best bread and pastries I have ever tasted. They are still as good today as I remembered them to be 42 years ago.

I loved being in France again because I can read a lot of the roadside signs (they are probably on about a third-grade level of language ability). The atmosphere and feelings I had of the country as a student came back again in memories galore!

A Taste of Tuscany

On our first day in Italy, we chose a 10 hour excursion driving through the beautiful areas of Tuscany. On our first stop, we entered the walled city of Lucca. The city has kept its old-world charm. Cobbled-stone streets were narrow, making room only for a small car one-way or bicycles. Lucca is called the city of 99 churches, and we explored the interiors of several of the ornate structures.

We stopped for lunch at an Italian farmhouse and learned about all the orchards of olive trees and the acres of grapevines that we saw throughout the day in the countryside. Again, I probably missed some excellent wine at this stop but tasted several different kinds of olives--kind of sour!!

Our last stop was to Villa Torrigiani--one of the most important and elegant houses in the area including beautiful fountains and trees. The villa is shown second from the top of the photos for this blog. The top photo includes some of the grounds. As we strolled around the gardens, we concluded that even the very rich, who lived in homes like this, still lacked all the conveniences that we are used to in today's world; we wouldn't trade our small homes for this mansion with no indoor plumbing or central heating system!

Our second day in Italy, I decided to stay on the ship for some "alone time" while everyone else headed for some catacombs. I am very cluastrophobic, so catacombs didn't appeal to me at all! I read a novel and relaxed on the ship.

Olympia, Greece

As you can tell from the name of this city, Oylmpia is the site of the first Olympic games 2,000 years ago. The games began with a simple footrace and a few wrestling matches but graduallly expanded into a five-day extravaganza. The winners were crowned with wreaths of olives and were given assurance of immortality (pretty good reasons to participate!!).

We had to use our imagination to picture those first games. We could sometimes see an outline of stones where a full structure had once been. It all covered a very large area. An interesting twist to those games of long ago--the athletes ran naked! I guess they didn't want any kind of drag as they were charging toward their goal.

After the Olympic Park, we had lunch in a nearby restuarant. Greek dancers seranaded us as we ate our olives, tomatoes, cheese, bread, olive oil, etc. (wine too, but we don't drink). As we toured thoughout the cities and villages of Greece, we saw numerous orchards of olive trees. Olives are a major industry in their economy.

This was our last stop in Greece. Tomorrow, it's on to Italy.

Santorini, Greece

What could be more perfect than spending a day in beautiful Santorini, Greece? As we sailed toward the island, snow seemed to appear as a blanket of white on the ground. When the ship moved closer to the island, we could see the gleaming white houses built so closely together that they appeared to imitate snow. It was a stunning sight!

With our guide, we began a walking tour of several small villages. In one village, some of the residents were walking to their neighboring Greek Orthodox Church. As we weaved our way though the quiet streets, we declared the whole atmosphere as one of quiet beauty.

What could pry our minds away from such beauty? The dreaded donkey trail could!! We had three choices given by our guide to get back to the ship from the top of the moutain. One was waiting in a long line and then gliding down the mountain in a gondola. Another option involved decending a steep, cobbled-stone trail while riding on a donkey (scary). The third option--walking down the same steep trail that the donkeys also used. We chose the latter.

With confidence, we began down the trail. The sun beat down ferociously on us. We slipped as we tried to navigate the rocky trail. The worst part entailed staying alert as we gingerly edged our way along to avoid the donkey poop and urine that was splattered laviously along the trail. It was everywhere!

Paul and I eventually made our way to the bottom of the trail, slipping on the rocks and almost falling several times. I truly think that I had heat stroke by the time we completed the mile and one-half of trail.

Later, on the ship at dinner, we compared notes on our day's excursions. Mary Ann, our friend who is usually challenged and excited about adventures, went through the same awful experience we did a little later in that same afternoon; however, she added a new spin. She actually fell down on the trail and landed in a big pile of donkey poop. She was covered with it and had to decend the rest of the trail smelling the foul mess, which was smashed all over her clothes and skin.

Typically optimistic Mary Ann usually finds a silver lining in any venture. She said to me, "Well, with all the wet donkey waste on my clothes from head to toe, I had a natural airconditioner from the donkey urine to cool me for the rest of the trip."

You had to be there to get the full sensory effect. Those of us who shared the experience laughed for the rest of the trip about our donkey disaster.