Merry Christmas from across the seven seas

Back in the Caribbean

Well were are back in the land of islands and beaches.

Today we were at one of my favorites, The Boatyard in Barbados.

It has all the things you want in a good beach spot.

Amazingly fine white sand, a good bar and restaurant, lots of stuff to do, and lot of fun people to hang out with.

I have been to the island around 10 times and I have been to that spot almost every time.

New Image for the blog

Thanks to Roy of http://roymarvelous.com for creating a image for me to go with my blog.

On Roy's site there are a lot of images he has created using mspaint including a few I have been burrowing to put on my blog as well.

Recently he has been making images to go with the other travel blogs he links to and this is the one he made for me.

Back on dry land

After 7 days at sea, we have finally arrived in the new world.

We were back in Florida for just one day, and it was busy as we had full crew immagration, and coast guard inspection. But both went smoothly, and I managed to get off the ship for a few hours.

Now we are off to the islands of the Caribbean.

But first another 2 days at sea, ugh.

Oh well, beaches and rum punch are in my future.

Image courtesy of roymarvelous.com

An unexpected stop in Gibraltar

Gibraltar was not a scheduled stop on our itinerary of the crossing, but there was a issue with the Portugal port.

But Gibraltar was a really cool port and I was happy for its inclusion.

The Rock of Gibraltar

Sailing away

Malaga, Spain

This was the second time I have been to Malaga.

The first time was 2 years ago, and I did a tour to a set of caves outside the city.

This time I did a city tour.

The old fort at the top of the city

View of the city from the fort.

Malaga Cathedral

Malta, the home port of the Constellation

Valletta, Malta is the home port of all the Celebrity ships.

Malta has a long history, and has been controlled by many different people, due to its very strategic spot in the middle of the Mediterranean.

The city of Valletta was built by the Knights of Malta, and its high walls surround the port.

Malta has two Cathedrals one in Valletta and the other in Mdina

Enjoying a Cisk, the local beer

Caesaria, Israel

I am going to try and go through some of my back-log of posts I have from the last couple of weeks. So the post will be short.

Caesaria was a town built by Harod the Great, around 25BC, and was also used as a crusader port.

A lot of remains of the city are still intact and in good shape.

The Hippodrome

The port walls, not entirely intact, but a lot of the foundation still remains.

The Aqueduct has a long stretch that is still intact.

The Theater

The Baha'i Gardens in Haifa.

Crossing the Pond second time around

So we are half way across the Atlantic, crossing from Europe to North America.

So far the weather has been good, and no rough seas to speak of, today it changed a bit and things are a little rocky.

Not to much else to say, just another 2.5 days at sea before we find dry land again.

Taking a dip in the Dead Sea

The second part of my tour that went to Masada went to the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is located at the lowest point below sea level at -1,237ft.

And it is also the saltiest body of water in the world, at 33.7% salt.

People who swim in the Dead Sea can float in just a few inches of water. And many people go to the sea for the health benefits that the minerals in the water provide.

I went swimming in the sea for a while, and it was really fun. And very interesting to see what different ways you can float.

floating the dead sea

The bottom of the sea is made up of salt that precipitates out of the water and feels like sand on the bottom. Some areas have large salt formations, and at the south part of the sea there are large reclamation pools that are used to harvest the minerals for export.

The weather was great when we were there, sunny, and warm, but not to hot, and the water not cold.

I was lucky to get on this tour. The day was great, and it was a very unique and interesting experience.

To the top of Masada

Masada is a former palace and stronghold built by Herod the Great.

The site was built upon a tall mesa near the Dead Sea, its cliffs are between 100-400m high above the floor of the surrounding area. Making it a very strong defensive point.

The palace included large baths, private residences for Herod, and huge storerooms for food, and supplies, and large cisterns for water and a very smart system of canals to collect rainwater from surrounding areas.

To get to the top of the site, there are two was to go. Similar to Santorini you can take the long hike, or you can take to cable car. We took the cable car.

When we got to the top we saw remains of the palace and administrative areas, as well as the roman baths.

What makes this site important and famous was that it was the last stronghold of the Jewish people after the revolt against the Romans in Jerusalem.

Many people fled to the site after the Romans retook Jerusalem.

Soon after they took up residence in Masada the Romans began a siege of the site.

Because it was well supplied and in a very strong defensive position it was able to resist the Romans for 3 years.

The Romans built a encircling and began a siege of Masada.

Remains of the many Roman legionaries camps can be seen all around the site.

Because Masada was so well supplied the siege took longer then the Romans expected, and their eventual solution to end the siege was an interesting one.

They decided to build a ramp up to the top of the cliffs.

The ramp was built of earth, and rose about 400ft from to the walls of Masada. When it was completed the Romans were able to break down the walls using a battering ram.

When the Romans entered Masada, they found almost everyone dead, with the exception of only a few woman and children who hid in the water cisterns.

The defenders chose to kill themselves and their families then face slavery as prisoners of the Romans.

Masada was a very amazing site, with a lot of very interesting history, and awesome views of the surrounding areas.

Tour to Acre

Last week I did a tour to Acre, which is a old city near Haifa.

Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. With people living there since around 1500BC.

It was also a major Crusader port, and their capital after they were driven out of Jerusalem.

The town was divided into many parts with each country that sent crusaders having a piece of the port.

And there were large forts to house the Knights and trading houses that are still intact today.

There are also a large network of tunnels underneath the city that were used to smuggle goods into the city to avoid import taxes.

This was an interesting tour to an area with lots of history.

Tour to Jerusalem

So we have arrived in the Holy Land.

I did a tour the first day to Jerusalem.

Home to holy sites to some of the big religions of the world, Jerusalem is a city with a long history.

Our tour guide

The city has been controlled by many different peoples in its time, and is currently part of Israel.

One our tour we went to the Israel Museum, which holds the Dead Sea Scrolls. Not all of them are displayed at one time, they rotate them out every few months.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside.

The dome that holds the dead sea scrolls.

After that we visited the old town of Jerusalem. We were able to see the Dome of the Rock, a mosque who's dome is painted with real gold.

Also we visited the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, which is the remains of the second temple of built by Herod the Great. It is a site of prayer for Jews, and there is a tradition of placing notes into the cracks of the wall.

It was a interesting day in Jerusalem. And very long. As it was a long way from where we docked to the city.

Lycian Tombs, and Marmaris highlights

Last week I went on a tour in Marmaris to the Lycian Tombs, and the surrounding area.

The Lycian's carved tombs into the cliff side all over the area of now Turkey. They look similar to what I think the ruins of Petra would be except smaller.

The area we went to had about 10 large tombs in one spot as well as some small opening cut into the cliff. The size would vary depending on how rich the person was.

We also went to an area that had ruins of of a old greek town.

We also saw a type of crab, called the blue crab, its claws have a large blue streak on them, we were able to buy crabs that they bbq for us, they were very tasty.

There are also large turtles that live in the river, and use the beach for laying their eggs which are protected by the government.

Then we went to the beach for a short swim. The water was a bit cold, as it was mid October, but still not to bad.

After that we went to lunch, and then back to the ship.

Basilica Cistern

The basilica cistern is one of many cisterns built by the Romans underneath the city of Istanbul.

This is the best and largest of them, and is located near the Hagia Sofia.

Built around 500ad the structure consists of over 336 10 meter high columns, and was capable of holding 80,000 cubic meters of water.

After the Turks took control of the city they fell out of use, and were unknown for hundreds of years until rediscovered.

They are currently a lesser known site then the many very famous ones about ground, but should not be missed as they were quite amazing.

They have been fitted with walkways to get around inside them, as there is still a few feet of water inside, and quite a lot of fish. Not sure what they eat, but some were quite large.

Also of interest are 2 Medusa heads that are located near the back of the cistern. One is upside down, and the other is on its side. It isn't known where they came from, or exactly why they are not right side up. But one idea is that it takes away the power of the statue.

A was able to get some really great pictures inside, using a starry night mode, as its quite dark inside.

Turkish Bath

photo courtesy of http://roymarvelous.com

On a tour in Bodrom I went to a Turkish Bath.

Traditional bath would have a person wearing just a towel, but here we wore bathing suits.

A funny comment from a guest was that on this tour we were going to be seeing a different kind of ancient ruins.

The baths are made up of a few separate rooms. The first being a kind of steam room/ sauna. That includes a large heated marble slab that you lie on. The idea is to get a sweat going that allows toxins to be expelled.

After that is a slightly less warm room, where you are scrubbed down to remove dead skin from the body.

After that they cover you in soap suds and give a combo massage and cleaning.

And of course to make the experience authentic its all done by a large hairy Turkish man. Or if your a female, then it's a large hairy Turkish woman.

At the bath we were at they offered other spa services like pedicure, manicure, hair and regular massages.

I opted for a 10 minute massage that was good for my bad shoulder/neck which I usually go to a chiropractor for, but this did the trick.

Overall the trip to a Turkish Bath was invigorating and a worthwhile experience.

Island of Delos

The island of Delos is a short ferry ride from Mykonos. And it is said to be the birthplace of Apollo.

We got to the island and according to the tour guide it hadn't rained in the area since May, but today it was raining like crazy.

When the ferry arrived there was a big downpour that caught the people first off the ship in a big wind and rainstorm.

But it soon tapered off, and for the first part of the tour, the weather was nice.

The island has extensive excavations all over the island, but we only saw the major areas.

One of the main sites are the lions of Delos, which are in decent shape after all these years.

That cant be said for all the island. As I witnessed when a large piece of marble fell over near us, but thankfully nobody was hurt.

Near the end of the tour the rain started again and we were all thankful to get back on the ferry. One thing was that the tour ended in the town on Mykonos not near the ship dock which is a bit further away. As I walked back to the shuttle bus area, the rain was getting worse, and rivers of water were pouring down the streets.

It was an interesting day, but I hope the rain can stay away next week.