In September 2013 we took a cruise through the Eastern Mediterranean with Celebrity Cruises on board their ship, Reflection. We flew to Rome where we spent a couple of days before going aboard and then sailed to Santorini, Istanbul, Ephesus, Mykonos, Athens, Naples and Rome. Here are some photos from the two weeks we were away from home:
Our holiday commenced in Rome. We stayed at the Hotel Oxford on Via Boncompagni. We arrived a couple of days before our cruise ship was due to set sail so were able to spend the first afternoon and evening of our holiday together with most of the following day in doing some sightseeing in this city. We decided to take a tour bus - one of those where you can get on and off as you please. There was therefore still a lot of walking involved! We also particularly wanted to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum at night. The first three photos were taken on the second evening of our holiday when we made a special journey down to the area of the Colosseum and Forum.
After our brief time in Rome we stepped on board the Celebrity Reflection to commence the main part of our holiday.
The ship was the newest in the Celebrity fleet and certainly one of the largest at 122,000 tons. It featured the usual facilities to be found on board a luxury cruise ship but also one less common feature - it had a lawn on the top deck (with real grass that had to be mown) where guests could relax or play bowls etc.
We travelled Concierge Class in cabin 1043 at the aft, port side of the ship on Deck 10 (the ship had 15 decks plus an additional solstice deck).
Unexpectedly (based on our previous cruise experiences) we shared a table with 8 other British people. Not only that, 4 of them were local to us - we had Tony and Suzanne from Clitheroe(!!), Jeff and Barbara from Longton, Preston, John and Guy from Kent and Richard and Jean from Gloucester.
Santorini was our first port of call following a full day at sea.
It is an interesting island in the Aegean Sea about 120 miles south east of mainland Greece. Santorini is essentially what remains after an enormous volcanic explosion that destroyed the earliest settlements on a formerly single island, and created the current geological caldera. To get from the ship to the town of Thira there are three possibilities - cable car, walk or donkey ride. We decided to walk. That's not as easy as it seems. The walk involves going up a steep winding steps that lead to the top of the 1,000 ft cliffs. In the heat of the sun that is by no means a leisurely stroll.That's why lots of people choose to go up by donkey. The donkeys know their way up the path and have no manners! Therefore, as a walker, you need to be constantly on the look out for donkeys coming up from behind you or rushing towards you from the front. You are also hit by the pungent smell of donkey manure which is literally everywhere! We opted for the cable car on the downward journey!!
After another day at sea we reached Istanbul which was the farthest most point of our cruise.
It was a brilliant experience visiting this truly historical city. It has many sights to see and tastes and smells to savour. There is the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia (originally a Christian Church dating from the time of the Emperor Justinian and the world's largest cathedral for around 1,000 years), the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, the Basillica Cistern, the Topkapi Palace (the home of the Sultans of the Otterman Empire prior the forming of the modern day republic) etc, etc.We spent two days in Istanbul and so rather than dine on board ship in the evening of the first day, we took the tram into the centre of the city and dined out with Jeff and Barbara, and Tony and Suzanne.
The first photo below is of the Blue Mosque, followed by the Hagia Sohia and then a view of them both together.
Ephesus was as fabulous as we had imagined! It lies near Selcuk, Izmir in Turkey and was the sight of one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World - the Temple of Artemis (or Diana). It is also well-known from the Bible as it is the sight of one of the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelations as well as being a place visited by the Apostle Paul as recounted in the Book of Acts. Not to mention, of course, Paul's Letter to the Ephesians.
The most magnificent edifice left standing is the Library of Celsus which you can see in my first photo.
We visited Ephesus in the morning and also took the opportunity of visiting the ruined theatre at Miletus as well as the Temple of Apollo at Didyma.
The Greek island of Mykonos was our next port of call. Here we just had a relaxing stroll into town (after a short shuttle-bus transfer from the ship), looked round the shops and the windmills and then returned to our ship.
Athens
Our next main destination was Athens. Or at least it should have been - Pat and I were taken ill in the early hours of the day of our arrival and after reporting our condition to the medical authorities on board ship we were confined in isolation for 24 hours and fed, or so it seemed to us, prison food of soup, rice and chicken. Pat wasn't even allowed to have a cup of tea! So we didn't actually get to see Athens until we sailed away!. We did then get to see the Acropolis (and the Parthenon which stands on it) through binoculars at a distance of around 10 miles! Anyway, I put my best telephoto lens on my camera and took the following photo which at least proves that we were there!
Our final stop was in Naples from where we visited Herculaneum. This city, together with Pompeii, is a well-known victim of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. It differs from Pompeii in two principal ways. First, it was not covered by volcanic ash, but rather by a mudslide and therefore many wooden structures, including doors, and some of the roofs have been preserved. Secondly, the excavations are much less complete than Pompeii and the site is therefore much smaller (about one-tenth the size of those in Pompeii). This is largely due to the fact that many modern buildings are built directly on top of the site of the original city of Herculaneum.
Although it now lies around 500 metres from the coast, at the time of the eruption, Herculaneum served as a beach resort for the wealthy. In the first photograph you can see an area of grass infront of a row of arches. This is where the beach was at that time. The land to the right-hand side of that grassed area and from where I took the photo is the solidified mud that covered the city following the volcanic eruption - you can see how deep the city was buried! In the second photograph there is a close up of the arches within which were found many human skeletons - undoubtedly the remains of people who had tried to seek shelter down at the beach.
The final photograph is a mosaic on the wall in one of the houses. I think you will agree that it is in remarkable condition following its burial nearly 2,000 years ago!
