Naples, Italy and so many choices

Naples as viewed from the ship

Naples as it appears on post cards

Naples, Napoli in Italian, is the third most-populated city in Italy and the biggest city in Southern Italy. They make great pizza but I am not a big fan of touring around this city. I know there is a lot to see, but I prefer to get out of the city and see some of the near by sites

Its close proximity to many interesting sites, such as Pompeii, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Positano, & Capri. So you will have to make your choice on what you want to do in this port. I have been in this area before on a different trip. There are some excellent choices for your time in Naples.

You can take a fast ferry to Capri, which is an all day trip, and very nice. I have been to Capri twice and loved it both times. It is a beautiful Island with lots of history. Well worth the trek on the High Speed ferry. Just make sure you catch the right ferry -- the regular ferry will take you twice as long to get there. 

You can take a short trip to Sorrento, which is lovely upscale town full of shops & restaurants and will give you a feel for this part of Italy. There are picturesque parks & gardens and the town is on a cliff overlooking the sea. This area is famous for Limoncello and other liquors -- that will help your digestion, they say. I don't know about the health benefits, but I can tell you the limoncello and other fruit flavored liquors are worth trying. You can easily spend a full day in Sorrento and not be disappointed. 

There is Pompeii, which, if this is your first trip to this area, I highly recommend. I have been to Pompeii. and it is at least a half day to get there, spend some time and see the sites. You might be able to do Pompeii & Sorrento in the time you have in port. Or you could do Pompeii, then come back to Naples, have some great pizza.

I wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast, and in particular Positano. I originally planned a private excursion and went on Cruise Critic, looking for 6 people to get us to 8. I wanted to spend time in Positano & do the Amalfi drive. Positano is a sentimental favorite of mine as my first trip to Italy ended in Positano and I just loved it. Anyway, one of the gals I had been chatting with already had a simular tour planned so we joined her group. It was a good tour, but they tried to cram too much in to the day. It is a bit of a drive to the Amlafi Coast line, so there is a lot of travel time involved. Our tour included, driving the coast line, Positano, Amalfi & Ravello. Lunch was included in the tour. This was probably a little too ambitious of an itinerary for the day. However, we still had a great time.

Off we went for our drive. If you have never seen the Amalfi Coast on TV or in a movie, it is this spectacular narrow road that runs along the coast line with little towns along the way. The view is stunning and the road way curvy and narrow. If you get car sick, do not do this drive or take dramamine . Otherwise, get ready for some of the most dramatic views you will ever see!

Positano, what can I say except I think this is the most charming town along the Amalfi Coast. So much so, that I highly recommend it if you are doing a land-based trip, rather than a cruise, that you end your trip here and stay a few days. From Positano you can take a ferry to Capri and you can take day trips to some of the other towns.

But for now, we are on a cruise, so our time in Positano is limited.

I mentioned Limoncello earlier in todays blog, and it was in Positano that I first tried this tasty digestive.  

If you eat lunch in most any restaurant, they should have Limoncello, so give it a try!

If you happen to find yourself in Positano, I recommend Buca di Bacco Hotel & their restaurant.  Our stop here was not long enough for us to enjoy a meal here this time, but the last time I was in Positano I ate dinner here 3 out of the 4 nights we stayed because the food is just that good and the service top notch!

Yes, that is a real Positano Lemon!

This is Stunning Positano

Positano photos by CJS

Alas our time in Positano was way too short and we were off to Amalfi - the town the drive is named after.  Amalfi is a much larger town than Positano, and there are more little streets, shops & cafes to explore.

In Amalfi, as in all the small towns along this coast, you will find the most fantastic ceramic art work. 

Seen in a bakery window! y

After our allotted time in Amalfi, we it was time for lunch and off we went to a little restaurant with an excellent view of the ocean and the coast line.

Lunch started with ceramic carafes of wine and tomato, mozzarella & basil with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.


And this was our view as we ate.....
Stunning!

 Entree's were either fish or pasta

Followed by an lemon ice cream cake & Limoncello!





Oh, and did I mention there was wine one the table?

our guide and one of the tour group

And of course, more limoncello!

Salute!

Ravello was also on the itinerary and it is a lovely town.  Again, just not enough time here to see much.  If you go, try and spend the day or at least a 1/2 day exploring.  The Villa Ruffello is worth seeing as is Villa Cimbrone.

Then it was just a race back to the ship.  It was a good day, but this particular tour guide tried to fit too much in to an approximate 10 hours.  If you are in this position, read up a little about the towns along the Amalfi coast, and pick just two and go there.  

DO THIS:     Get out of Naples!

TRY THIS:   Limoncello - ice cold!

HAVE YOUR CAMERA'S READY!  You are about to see a most beautiful part of Italy!

Bueno Sera

Until Next time,

Travel Safe!

Santorini

   Santorini is and Island with two picturesque towns siting on top of the  rocky island.

I'll try not to go too crazy with the pictures for this chapter, but it's going to be hard!  You'll see

This port of call is a Tender port.  If you have never cruised before - note- this is your only way to get to the Island.  And everyone will want to go into this port of call.  The trick here is to get up early and get on the first Tender.  You have to find out what time they are going to start handing out Tender Tickets and what time the first Tender is leaving.  For us, the day before Santorini, was a day at sea, so we went to bed at a reasonable time, had room service breakfast delivered and went to get our tickets at 7:15 for an 8 am Tender - the first of the day.   This is important because if you wait very long to go catch a tender, you will end up in several lines.

So you catch the Tender over and once you get to the island, you will have to make a decision on how to get to the top.  Here is my strong advice -- do not take the stairs, do not take a donkey - take the funicular.  By getting here on the first tender, we avoided the lines for the funicular and got up top quickly

Make sure you have water, sunscreen & a hat.  It can get very warm by mid day.  You can do Santorini on your own, no organized tour needed here.  Since there really is more to see and do than you can manage in just one day in port, you have to make the best of your time.  To do this, once we got to the top, we were in Fira.  We made our way to the Bus Station and caught a bus to Oia, which is a short bus ride to the northwest corner of Santorini

Oia is one of the most Photogenic and beautiful towns in Greece.  I has breathtaking views of the sea, of course the famous white washed building and the churches with the blue domes.  It is a photographers dream to visit here.  (not that I am a photographer, the majority of the pictures you see her were taken by ATP)

Ops, Sorry, I said I was going to take it easy on the pictures, it's just so darn hard to do!  We spent about half of our day in Oai and the other half in Fira.  It was a lovely day and we enjoyed exploring both towns.  There are many shops, restaurants, a windmill or two and numourse small alleyways that are fun to explore.  Be prepared with your camera, you will want to take pictures every where you look.  

After a lovely morning in Oia we headed back to Fira by bus.  The roads on the island are small and narrow.  We had one very interesting situation when two buses (one that we happened to be on) tried to pass each other on a narrow turn.  It was like a ballet dance with each bus inching forward & back, coming within a half inch of each other as they passed!  It was pretty amazing how these drivers worked it to pass each other on a road that probably was originally laid out for a couple of donkeys pulling a cart!  But we made it back safely, no problem.

We also found time to try out the local cuisine which was quite tasty!

 

Back in Fira we shopped, snacked, took even more photographs then faced the unavoidable long line to catch a cable car down.  Everyone of course wants to spend as long as possible in Fira before heading down to the ship, but at some point you have to get in line or you miss the last tender back to the ship.

The line can be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, so be careful about your timing.  Again make sure you have water when you get to the line.  You will be tired even though you may not realize it until you've been standing in line for 20 minutes or so.  You'll want to stay hydrated.

When you head back down to the ship you will still be taking pictures and talking about coming back to Santorini some day.

DO THIS:   Take the cable cars back & forth

DO NOT:     Be tempted to take the stairs back down at the end off the day.  These are the same stairs the donkeys use and can be difficult to traverse with the donkey 'offerings' left along the way

EAT THIS:   Baklava.  Go in to a little bakery and take a few pieces back to the ship with you.

Until Next time,
Travel Safe

Jump, Jump, by Alvin

Ephesus/Kusadasi, Turkey. An adventure in to ancient history

If you enjoy ancient history & ruins, you will love Ephesus.  I had been in Istanbul a few years ago and had heard of Ephesus and the ruins there and knew I wanted to go with a small tour.  When I was in Istanbul we had a great guide named Kagen (pronounced Khan) Kosagan.  I email Kagen and asked him if he did small tours in Ephesus.  He did but was not available for the date I wanted, but he had a guide for us that worked for him.  I got the details and we decided on a tour of 10 people.  I posted on Cruise Critic that I was looking for 8 people to join us for a private tour.  I had twice that amount contacting me wanting to join.  We ended up with 12 people total and I know of two other groups from the Cruise Critic boards that had private tours set up.  Of course, the ship runs excursions as well, but if you can get 10-12 people together, you can do it much cheaper, travel quicker, and have your own private guide.  Steal of a deal!

Yelda Celik, our fabulous guide

If you are going to Turkey -- here is the 4-1-1 on the best Tour & Travel services:
KSG www.toursinistanbul.com or www.tourguidesinturkey.com

Your ship will dock in Kusadasi.  You will need transportation to get to the ruins (20-25 minutes from the port) or really anywhere.  To maximize your short time, a private guide/small tour is the way to go.

A great tour guide in a place like Ephesus is really the key to your enjoyment of the day.  All the tours you see in your ships excursion guide or private tours you find on line will have the same basic itinerary:

• Ephesus
• Terrace Houses of Ephesus
• Museum of Ephesus
• Temple of Artemis
• House of Virgin Mary
• Visit to a local mosque
• The market of Kusadasi
and of course a stop at a carpet school!

One more plus about doing a small private tour is that you can get off the ship and get on the road before the large numbers of other passengers on motor coaches are even finished boarding!  You'll get a head start and this is important because of the crowds!  

Ephesus contains the largest collection of Roman ruins in the eastern Mediterranean. Only an estimated 15% has been excavated. The ruins that are visible give some idea of the city's original splendor.

The Library of Celsus, the façade of which has been carefully reconstructed from all original pieces, it was originally built c. 125 AD and once held nearly 12,000 scrolls. It looks like something out of an Indian Jones movie!

This is one of the main sites people come to see.  As you walk towards it, you can feel the history around you as well as a few thousand people......

Yes this is what we saw as we approached the library, and we got an early start.  I can not imagine what it is like in the middle of the day or in high season.  We were traveling in late September, so the tourist season was starting to wind down.  

It is so hard for me to describe the ruins and pictures just do not convey the wonder of walking down these centuries old streets. The Terrace houses are on one side, the Library straight ahead and all kinds of ruins on the  other side. And they say that only 15-20% of the area has been excavated to date.

Terrace Houses

You can go inside one of the terrace houses that has been discovered and is being restored, piece by piece.  There are many professionals and students of archeology working the site.  It looks like they are putting together a giant puzzle.  They are called Terrace houses because they are built going up a terrace and are multi-level apartment type units.  It is like being able to look back in time through a window.  

Odeon theater

Yelda was the perfect guide, walking us through the ruins, telling us the history of the excavation as well as the stories of the ruins.  While we were at the Odeon Theater she told us a story about how they used to do concerts in the theater until it was discovered that the amplified music was damaging the ruins.  So they put a stop to it.  However, the day we were there, they were setting up for some kind of performance and Yelda was not happy about that!  She has great respect for Ephesus.  We were very impressed with her and enjoyed all she had to tell us about the sight.  This was my favorite part of the day.  I did enjoy our other stops and I will admit that I did purchase a carpet (I wasn't planning on it, it just sort of happened!).  Everything was great, but I loved seeing the Library & Terrace Houses.  I am sorry to say pictures just do not do it justice.

Yelda made sure we had time to stop at a local place for lunch.  The food was phenomenal!  When we arrived they had a table for 13 set up for us out on a nice covered patio.  Yelda took us inside the restaurant where there was a large deli type case with food displayed.  She explained to us what every item was and translated for us.  We all gave our orders of what we wanted and then went back outside and took our seats.  We were brought our beverages -- I just love Turkish tea! And then the food started coming out.  We all ordered way too much and everyone started passing plates around family style, and filling our plates with a little of everything.  Very authentic turkish food! So yummy.  

Do this:      The Terrace houses & ruins at Ephesus. (and get there as early as you can)
Skip it:        House of the Virgin Mary (unless you are religious and want to experience it)
Drink this:  Turkish Tea with a cube of sugar.  Fantastic!
Beware:     The Carpet School.  It is fascinating, they will show you from start to finish how the beautiful Turkish carpets are made.  Then they will take you in a large room, serve you Turkish Tea or liquor, you sit down and they start the carpet show!  They will bring out carpets of all sizes and each one more beautiful then the last.  I say beware because before you know it, you will have bought yourself a carpet!  They make it very easy, they will ship it to your home, so you do not even need to worry about how to get it home!

Turkey is a beautiful country.  We were there from 8 am to 5 pm, and it just was not enough.  I will go back some day.  
Until tomorrow,
Travel Safe!