Ruins of Ephesus

On the second day we were in Turkey I did a tour to Ephesus, which was first a Greek town, then later a major Roman city, the capital of Asia Minor, and the second largest Roman settlement after Rome.

Ephesus lost its importance when its harbour became silted due to the river, and ships could no longer reach city.

Our tour was an early one and when we got into the ruins there were only a few other tour groups around. Our guide smartly said that we wouldn't stop at every site and rather pass by the first few sites like the Odeon which is a small theater, and was used by the senate.

As we moved on we passed other minor ruins like the Temple of Hadrian, and the Temple of Domitian, dedicated to Roman Emperors.

Just before we went to the main sites, we went into the ruins of the Roman communal toilets. The seats are made out of marble, and don't have much for privacy. But apparently this was a place to talk, like the bathhouses of those days.

After that we went to Library of Celsus, which was one of the largest library of ancient times. The front facade has been restored and has a lot of detail when seen up close. We were lucky to be the first group to reach this part of the city, and I was able to get many good pictures with only a few people in the area.

Leaving the Library we walked towards the theater, passing through the large marketplace, and then at the top of the harbour road we reached the theater.

The Theater of Ephesus is huge and has seating for 25,000+ people, and in recent times has still been used for concerts. But it is not used lately as it is being restored and areas around it are being excavated.

There are 66 rows of seats, which I climbed to the top of. The central stage is well preserved and you can hear the slight echo effect that gives the theater such good acoustics.

The tour of Ephesus was a short one that focused on the main Roman ruins. There are other areas that have other ruins of earlier times, including the site of one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, The Temple of Artemis. And also churches dedicated to St. John, and the Virgin Mary, who were supposed to have lived their final years in the area.

Ruins of Ephesus extra pictures

Columns near the entrance, with the Odeon in the background.

Columns around the outside of the marketplace.

The Theater

Me in front of the Library

The main street between the government part of town, and the trader part.

First day in Turkey

We arrived in Kusadasi Turkey, the other day, and it is our first of 3 times we will be here overnight.

A while ago a few of us decided to go to the waterpark in Kusadasi, which is the largest in Europe. The waterpark will be closed the next time we get here, so this was our only change to go.

We went by taxi to the waterpark and got there just after opening.

There was a good variety of slides, and even though they were not the best I have ever been on, it was a lot of fun. And there were a few types that I haven't been on before.

By midday a bunch more crew made it to the park. But as it was the end of the season, the park never got busy, and there were never any lines for the slides.

We spent all day going up the stairs, by the end of the day, we must have climbed thousands of stairs, and my feet were fairly sore.

The day was really fun, and well worth spending the day there.

The next day I went on a tour to the real reason our ship stops in Kusadasi: The ruins of Ephesus.

Arrival in Asia

Yesterday we arrived in Kusadasi Turkey, which is in Asia.

That means I have been in 5 continents in 11 months.

Africa is next, just a few months from now.

Last time in Santorini

Last week was our last time going to Santorini.

Santorini has been my favorite place to go in all of our itinerary.

A few of us rented ATVs and went around the island, with our final intended destination being the beach and a bar with a pool called Jojo's which is a place that a lot of the crew go to every time we are here. I went there the first time I was in Santorini, but haven't been back since, because there is a lot of other stuff I wanted to do.

We rented 2 ATVs and meandered towards the beach area.

As we got to the stretch of restaurants and bars that are next to the beach we got to where Jojo's was we see a empty bar blocked off by fencing. It had closed for the season.

We soon found that we were not the first to make this discovery, as across the road at the beach were a few other crew members who came earlier.

So we setup on the beach, which is probably a better deal in the end anyways. We lay on the beach chairs, and went swimming in the sea, which was still nice and warm.

It was also funny to watch the slow trickle of crew arriving at Jojo's only to find nothing there, everyone with the same expressions as us.

After a fun day at the beach we had to head back to town.
Yes we had helmets, just not pictured here

Once we were there there was just time for one last stop at our favorite gyro place.
We told Lucky, the owner that it was our last time here, and it was free beers for everyone.

Hopefully we will be back again soon.

Island of Capri

The last time I was in Naples, I went on a tour to the island of Capri, which is about a hour by ferry from the port of Naples.

The ferry was very busy that day, being the weekend, with lots of locals going to the island as well as the two tours we were sending.

When we got to off the ferry it was a crazy scene of taxis and buses and lots of people all crowded around the narrow streets.

We loaded onto some small buses and headed to the top of the island. The streets are very narrow, and driving along the road up the cliff, we were met with buses coming down the road, and we had to reverse back down the road, and other times, we passed by just inches from the vehicles going the other way, with a shear cliff on the other side of us.

At the town near the top of the mountain, we took a chairlift that took us to the very top of the island. The views from there are amazing. From one side we could see the small islands that hold the blue grotto. A large cave that can only be entered by small rowboats, and even then only in calm water, as you need to lie down as you enter. Sunlight enters from a opening underwater giving the water a blue reflection.
Unfortunately we didn't have time to go there today.

After we left the hilltop town, we went to the town of Capri, which is the largest town on the island. Once there we got to try lemoncello, a liqueur made from lemon rinds. The Naples region is well known for this drink, which I found very tasty.

After that we walked to the restaurant we were having lunch. The view from the restaurant was very good, as it looked out towards the small blue grotto islands, and the water.
Lunch was typical Italian, with a pasta starter, a meat main course, dessert, and lots of wine.

After some free time to shop around town, we took the funicular back down to the port, and then back on a ferry to Naples.

Back to Rome

It has been 3 months that I have been in the Med so far, and I have only done 1 tour to Rome so far.

The reason for this was that it is a long was to town, and it has been very hot during the summer, add to that all the large crowds and I was happy to stay away during the peak months.

But now that its into September, I have started doing tours to the big cities again.

The tour I did was a good one for me, as it was only a partially guided tour, and then the rest of the time was free time.

The day started near the Colosseum, first stopping at a church called St. Peter in Chains. Which is home to a marble statue of Moses, as well as a church relic of the chains that imprisoned St. Peter in Jerusalem.

After that we went to the Colosseum, but just around the outside, we didn't go in like I did last time.

After that we went to The Vatican City to tour St. Peters Basilica. There was a very long line to get in that day, it stretched all the way around the side columns and ended near the front of the square where the street is. That shows one of the good parts about being on a tour, as we were able to skip all the line. The Pope was going to be doing a sermon in the Basilica the next day, so most of the central parts were blocked off and filled with chairs. So only a path around the outside was open to the tourists. But this gave us a closer look at some parts of the Church that would normally be blocked off.

After the tour, we had 3 hours of time to do whatever we wanted.

I planned to see a lot of things so I started walking. The first place I stopped was Piazza Navona which has a marble fountain carved by Bernini called the Fountain of the Four Rivers. I had myself a paninni while sitting in the shadow of the obelisk on the top of the Fountain.

After that I went to the Pantheon, a temple dedicated to all of the gods. Built by the Romans around 30BC, and rebuilt in the second century AD. The dome was the largest in the world for over a thousand years, and remains the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world today at 142 feet tall.

After the Pantheon I got myself a gelato, and started walking towards the Trevi Fountain. Stopping along the way to view Trajan's Column. Which is a column built to commemorate the victory of the Romans in wars around 100AD. The column has a relief that depicts various scenes of Roman military battles.

After that I went to the Trevi Fountain, where its said that if you toss a coin into the fountain then you will return to Rome. Although since I'm going to be on the ship for another 2 months it seems fairly certain. I did get a good seat directly in front of the pool and took a video of myself throwing a coin in.

The last stop was the Spanish steps, which is a popular gathering place in Rome, and the streets around them are where the really expensive shops are.

Then I had to walk back to the meeting place at St. Peters Basilica, making it back just at the designated time. Good thing I didn't get lost along the way.

I liked this tour because of the free time it gives, and I will probably do this tour again, so I can do some of the other things that I want to do in Rome.

The Duff Brewery exists and it's in Europe

The last time I was in Florence I saw something right out of a Simpson's episode.

Yes it's the famous Duff beer.

Well a few of us went to Pisa the other day, and in one of the food stands just outside the leaning tower, there it was again, calling to us.



There was nothing else for it but to each buy a beer.
It turns out that Duff beer is not made in Springfield USA, but in Germany. At least according the the label on the bottle.

Thinking back on it I'm surprised that nobody else had come up with the idea before. Walking back towards the leaning tower we were stopped by a few excited people asking where we got the beer from.

Homer: "To alcohol, the cause of - and solution to - all of life's problems."

"Gimme one of those giant beer's I've heard so much about."


Here is me doing the classic leaning tower pose, with beer added.

Half way home

Today is my 3 month day. Just another 3 then I will be home.

Bus Tour, Barcelona

Barcelona is one of the ports that we debark/embark guests, and so we only go there once a month unlike other ports that we go to more often.

Because of that it is hard to see all of the things in the city, as we sail early in the afternoon.

So the last time we were there, a few of us bought tickets to the Hop-on/Hop-off bus tours that are popular in many cities.

The tour has a few different lines that intersect in the central part of the city, so you can do all of the city in a few hours.

The main things we wanted to see were Sagrada Familia, and Gaudi Parc. But there are many interesting stops along the way. But unfortunately we don't have much time in Barcelona before we need to be back on the ship. Its one of the earliest sailing times we have.

Some of the sites we just had to be content with seeing it as we passed by like the apartments designed by Gaudi.

The biggest attraction in Barcelona the Sagrada Familia, I had been to before, but I was happy to see it again, as it is a amazing church, totally unique to any other in the world.

Because everyone gets off the bus to see the church, the lines to get back on the buses were fairly long, but it goes fast as each bus will have many seats freeing up.

After the church we stopped at the Gaudi Parc, see the post below for that.

Not a great picture but, this is the Barcelona soccer stadium, the largest in all of Europe, seating over 100,000 people.

Unfortunately we had to skip part of the last section of the tour, as we had to be back on the ship, and we had to get off and get a taxi back to the port. Making it back just at the time of the crew all aboard time.

Parc Gaudi

As part of the Hop-on Hop-off Barcelona tour we did the other day, one of the main stops we went to was Gaudi Parc Guell.

The park was originally supposed to be a housing development but never found many buyers, it was later bought by Gaudi.

There are many works of art designed by Antonio Gaudi, who also designed the Sagrada Familia, and other works around the city.

The dragon is at the entrance to the park and is the best known symbol of the park.

The style is based around themes of nature, with arches designed like trees and birds nests.

The park is located at the top of a hill, and overlooks most of the city, and we could see our ship far in the distance to the right.

Specialty Restaurant

On one of the last days before my sister left the ship to go back home, we ate at the Normandy, the specialty restaurant of the ship.

Each of the Celebrity ships have one of these, and the names vary for each ship. They get their names based after old ocean liners.

The restaurant has a surcharge to eat there, but the food, and service is of very high quality.

I have eaten at the one on the Millennium before but not on the Summit.

While the menu was similar there are things that have changed slightly, which is nice as it makes it so things are not repetitive, even if I order the same things.

I couldn't resist getting the Surf and Turf, always a favorite.


Kelly with a after dinner latte.

My dessert being prepared.

The meal was very good as always, and we got to watch our ship sail away from Cannes as we dined.

Dinner at the Normandy, Specialty Restaurant

Here is a selection of the food we ordered for dinner.

Foie Gras

Goat Cheese Souffle

Escargot Ravioli

Surf and Turf: Fillet Mignon, and Lobster Tail


Duck Brest