World Cruise 2012: April 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Koper, Slovenia

It’s not like Slovenia hasn’t been around a while, I just didn’t recognize it by its “new/old” name. This is another of the countries that used to be a part of Yugoslavia. This place dates back to 2000 B.C. when the in habitants were known to have built their homes on stilts. Supposedly the fertile ground and mild climate has made it popular ever since. The coastal towns look similar to Croatia, but not quite as nice. Not knowing what there was to do in Koper, we went to the ”legendary” Lipca Stud Farm and horse show. They have been breeding Lipizzaner horses for over four centuries, so I think they have it down. Interestingly enough, these horses are born black and turn white as they mature. They had a great show where the stallions performed haute ecole classical dressage. I couldn’t help thinking how much Courtney would have enjoyed the show as she did dressage for a few years. I have to say the horse show in Cut and Shoot, Texas didn’t do half bad but this was something else. Their most amazing “trick” was the “Airs Above the Ground”. I “sort of” caught a picture of it, but it’s not very crisp. It is amazing to watch how they can get those huge horses to do “ballet”. I was expecting more aerobatics but it was more like synchronized dancing. It was also fun to tour the stables and the farm. They are justifiably proud of their riding academy. It was fun visit. We went to a 15th Century Church, in Hirastolvje, known for its frescoes depicting the “Danse Macabre”. The church is pictured above but it looks more like a fort. The inside was fascinating – walls and ceilings are all covered with frescos. “The Dance of Death” was covered with plaster until 1949 when they uncovered this rather creepy work of art. Then it was back to the ship for the final “sail away”. It is difficult to believe that we have been on this ship since January and the next stop is the last stop. I will have no way to send anything from Venice, but everyone knows Venice -gondolas, San Marcos Square, the Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. At least we are ending on a high note – Venice. I loved this city when we lived in Italy. Now they say San Marcos Square floods at high tide and the days of good, cheap wine and food are gone but I am hoping it still holds a certain romance. After a couple days in Venice, we wing our way home. At least we are Business/First class for that awful flight, thank god for frequent flyer miles! We brought some cash with us and I believe we are going to end up with just about enough left for cab fare home! Actually, we may need to make a stop for Mexican food on the way home – I have gone way too long without a Mexican combo plate. Then it is time to file taxes, fix the air conditioner, and jury duty. You know – back to real life. I can feel myself moving out of that wonderful vacation mode that became a way of life for a few months. For those who hung in until the bitter end, I will do a final wrap up when I get to Houston – but it probably won’t be for a week or so by the time we “do” Venice, fly home and I recover enough to type a coherent sentence on the page. So …Italy here we come – Ciao y’all.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Dubrovnik, Croatia

What a pleasant surprise! We passed town after town with white stucco houses topped with colorful red tiled roofs. The cottages looked as if they had been sprinkled down the lush green mountainsides. I wasn’t expecting this, even though some people said the Dalmatian Coast was one of the most picturesque coasts in the whole area. Their brochures call the Croatian coast the “Pearl of the Adriatic”. I thought, yeah, probably about like the places in Asia that called themselves the “Venice of the East”. We decided on a trip to Cavtat, a seaside resort popular with the yachting crowd. It was absolutely lovely. England’s Edward VIII and Wallace Simpson chose to spend their honeymoon here. I can see why. It has some exceptionally appealing scenery - but then I am a sucker for cliffs and crystal clear water. By lunch time Jim and I were talking about the possibility of coming back sometime and renting a place for a month. We soon found that we were not the only ones to “discover” this place. The Sultan of Oman is vacationing here in his, third largest yacht in the world. (Pictured above). The one beside it is his too – notice it has two helicopters aboard, among other niceties. He paid for them to clear out one whole floor of the hospital in case anyone in his party needed care. He rented 80 rooms in 5 star hotels for the friends and family traveling with him, while he roughed it onboard his yacht. I was amazed to hear that Dubrovnik also had 90 flights a day into this little place! Maybe I am the only one that didn’t know what a little gem this place was. Anyway, from there we went to a charming old mill. They offered fig and brandy tasting. I did more tasting of the brandy than the figs - although the sugared almonds and orange rinds were yummy. It was a beautiful area to wander around with its miles of aqueducts that were built by the Greeks over 2000 years ago. Then onward to the walled city. As we were driving back, someone asked why they had a checker board on Croatia‘s flag. It turns out that the Tatars wanted to go to war to gain Croatia. The King of Croatia suggested that instead of killing people, why didn’t they play a game of chess and the winner got the country. He won and retained the country without a battle. I sure wish our politicians today could come up with a less bloody way to resolve conflicts! Then we hit old Dubrovnik. It had white marble walls surrounding the city that contrasted beautifully with the blue waters of the Adriatic Sea. This small, old-fashioned city has a maze of cobblestoned streets within its 13th century walls. You can actually walk on top of the walls if you feel up to a 1.2 mile stroll. Chicken feed compared to some of the hikes we have taken lately. However, we decided not to walk the wall, instead we had lunch and a beer at a little sidewalk café. It was fun to eat, people watch and be serenaded by a trio playing classical music. The whole city had a festival feel. The day was cool and sunny and after lunch we ambled around the city then toured the Cathedral. I had low to no expectations for this port. I thought maybe it was basically just a refueling stop. Instead it turned out to be one of the most delightfully picturesque stops we have made since leaving the South Pacific!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Places People Call Home Around the World

Tomorrow Dubrovnik.

Alexandria, Egypt (The Pyramids)

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Entry into Alexandria was unusual. They had over a dozen large war ships anchored in port. Their port looked like a graveyard for half sunken ships. It was a little like playing dodge um’ cars just getting to our dock. I found it strange that they wouldn’t at least try to salvage some of the large sunken tankers. That was our welcome to Alexandria, which was named for Alexander the Great who never actually lived here but was buried here. I am not going to even try to do a history recap here – when it starts prehistoric, it is more than I can condense in a paragraph. All I know is I have been awaiting this stop. This is the jumping off point for Cairo and the Pyramids, Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum. I hated the seven hours in a “motor coach” but it was worth it. Let’s start with the small stuff. On the drive to Giza I was fascinated with these “pigeon palaces”. They have these domed pigeon houses everywhere. They serve squab for most festive occasions and the more pigeon houses you have the richer you are. They are a status symbol here. All the shops were closed this morning. Why? Well, because shopping hours are from noon to midnight. On the ride to Giza, the guide was telling us army service in Egypt is based on education - one year if college educated to five years if illiterate. The women are supposed to do one year of social service. What she also told us, which we hadn’t realized, was that this was the first time cruise ships have been back to Alexandria since the riots in Cairo a year ago. We went to the square where the riots were and saw the burned buildings and some of the damage from the riots. The museum was right in this square. She said there was suppose to be a demonstration today, “but just ignore them.” We finally arrived in Giza where there are a couple of the wonders of the ancient world, the Sphinx and the Pyramids. The Great Pyramid of Cheops alone covers 13 acres. It is hard to comprehend the size of this thing from pictures. It is said there are enough stones in this one Pyramid to build a 10 ft. wall all the way around France. There are two thirds of a million limestone blocks, ranging in weight from one ton to 50 tons with the average stone weighing about two and one half tons. When you look at the picture try to imagine that each of those “bricks” weighing more than two tons. It is about fifty stories tall. Now that’s what I call a tombstone! It took over 100,000 workers. It was thought for a long time that the pyramids were built totally by slave labor. Fairly recently they uncovered graves of pyramid workers and now they believe that many of the workers were paid, skilled labors. The size of each pyramid depended on how long the king ruled. The Giza Pyramids dates back to a couple of thousand years B.C. It is just amazingly that these the pyramids are still standing and in relatively good shape after over 4,000 years! The outside of these things were originally coated with a substance to make them smooth and protect from them from sandstorms and erosion. The top was capped with gold. There is no gold left and not much of the protective layer except that white looking stuff you see at the top. They say only about 25% of the tombs and pyramids have been uncovered. I would have to say seeing the pyramids was a monumental experience. I was surprised that the pyramids are almost in the suburbs of Cairo. Then, just east of the Pyramid of Chephren is the Sphinx. The Sphinx has the body of a lion and the head of a human carved out of granite. It was believed to be modeled after the Pharaoh Chephren and is suppose to be the guardian of his tomb. We have seen some impressive burial sites lately. Then it was time for lunch and a drive through Cairo to see the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. With 107 rooms and 120,000 objects, needless to say we didn’t see it properly, but we did hit the highlights. The King Tut exhibit was impressive – the gold mask was exquisite. Unbelievable gold and mosaic work on his sarcophagus. The mummies were interesting. What was amazing to me was whether you were talking about sarcophagi or papyrus drawings, the colors were still vivid after over four thousand years. How come now they can’t make a blouse that doesn’t fad after the first washing? I learned that to tell a boy sarcophagus from a girl’s sarcophagus – you aren’t going to guess how. They show the ears of boys and cover the girl’s ears. Also, who knew the Rossetti Stone was a thank you note for lowing taxes. Well, I guess anyone who has read up on it – which obviously wasn’t me. You hardly knew where to start in this museum it had everything from Prehistoric Egypt exhibits to the Roman era to the fantastic gold and inlayed stone artifacts from King Tut’s tomb. It was an exceptional day. The drive home seemed endless but we finally crawled back to our stateroom after about twelve hours of sightseeing - another of my bucket list items successfully checked off!