How could I have forgotten a very significant fact about Malta in my last report? Let me add it now. This is the island the great St. Paul was shipwrecked on. Paul had been arrested and after being held prisoner for some two years exercised his right to be tried in Rome. He had left Alexandra by ship as a prisoner. After proceeding a distance on the voyage, and against Paul’s advice the captain decided not to wait out the…
Tuesday May 15th. I am sitting in the ship computer room looking out a window directly at the walled city of Valletta in Malta. There are two large domes of cathedrals and the twin towers of another one directly past the high stone walls and the palm trees along it. Several cruise ships are tied along piers in the harbor. We went to town taking the bus as recommended by the people here. The cost was one Euro and it…
Monday May 14, 2007. We are at sea traveling from Greece to Malta. The ocean is like a lake, thank goodness. Our last stop was at a Greek island at the port of Fiskardko where we anchored. The beautiful small town is located on the water with small fishing boats along a walk way that runs around the harbor and villiage. Shops and outdoor restaurants line the walk. Only small ships like ours would fit here. The island was devastated…
Saturday May 12, 2007. Greetings from Itea, Greece where the weather is warm, but not really hot and the seas are calm. This is the location of the Delphi and we are at the Port of Itea where there is a small town, but no reason to go there. We have had an incredible trip through the Corinth Canal to get here. The first attempt to dig this canal as a short cut, was begun by Nero in 67 AD…
We have arrived at the port of Piraeus, located about thirty minutes from Athens itself. The weather is pleasant and the seas were calm. Of course Athens is the place of the Panathenian Stadium built in 329 BC. It was the venue for the first Olympic games of 1896. The Acropolis is here some 230 feet above the city and is probably the most famous attraction in Athens. Athens was also the site of the 2004 Olympics and one sees…
We are in Mykonos, Greece. Last night, before leaving Turkey, there was a party at Ephesus for the passengers. Ephesus was one of the great Ionian cities and a leading seaport. The great St Paul went to Ephesus where he preached in the synagogues, but after causing protests preached to the gentiles. He was there for two years. He became the center of a controversy when the silversmiths of Ephesus rioted over the loss of work in creating Diana worship…
I endured the tuexdo dinner with the first engineer. Interesting people at the table. One couple have scheduled a 60 day cruise on this ship. The woman next to me was German and spoke no English. Another couple is from Vancouver, BC. Charlie and his wife are from South Carolina. The woman across from me is from England, but was born in France and tells a story about her family being held by the Germans when they occupied France. The…
We are crossing the Mediterranean from Alexandria to Turkey. The seas are calm and the weather warm. We’ve spent the night in Paris and then on to Cairo. In Paris there was a parade of WWII veterans celebrating the liberation of Paris from the Germans. There was a large building under construction and the front had been draped with canvas which had been painted to look like a building, but with wavy lines giving it a unique appearance. In Cairo,…
On Friday, May 4th we fly to Paris for the night on our way to Cairo, Egypt to start a cruise on the Seabourn Spirit leaving from Alexandria on May 7th. The Spirit was launched in 1989, but refurbished in 2005. She is a German made 440 foot vessel with a crew of 150 and only 208 total guest capacity. She is considered a five star luxury mega-yacht because of her small size and accommodations as compared to most cruise…
We never got off the cruise ship in Mazatlan. It was hot and the ship was tied up at a commercial dock some distance from the City so we decided to stay on board for the day. Our office staff took tours and enjoyed the day while we had Margarita’s, read and relaxed. In Puerta Vallarta we sat on our balcony where we had a view of all the small ships that take people out for a cruise around the…
