Unwanted Hiking in Santorini

The last time I was in Santorini, there were a few other cruise ships in port. By the time I got off the ship the usual way to get up the cliff to the town, the cable car, had the longest line I have seen so far. Hundreds of people.

Not wanting to wait in line, I figured that it would be faster to walk up the trail. And it probably was, but was it worth it? I'm not sure.

The trail used to be the only way up before the cable car was built, and then it was used to get all supplies up to the town. Donkeys were used then for this task and they are still used, but only for tourists to ride.

As my friend and I started up the trail we were making good time, but it wasn't a cool day by any stretch. And it wasn't long before we were taking breaks at each shady spot we found. The total height to climb is 220 meters, and it takes the cable car a few minutes to do this. Not counting the time to wait in line and load and unload. We were able to make this climb in 29 minutes.

One in the town, we needed a long break. A cold drink and a gyro later didn't leave us with a lot of time to do much but wander around the town a bit.

When we wanted to go back down, a quick look at the line for the cable car saw that it was somewhat long, and in the past this line goes down very fast. So we went into a few souvenir shops and then upon exiting the line was past the shop and more then double the number of people.

This left us with the undesired option to walk all the way back down. But it was a much faster decent, only 15 minutes.

Walking the trail was something I wanted to do, but in my head i planned to wait for a cloudy day or something like that. Oh well, perhaps next time I will try taking a donkey.

Herculaneum, Pompeii's little brother

The most recent tour I went on was to Herculaneum.

Herculaneum is the Roman seaside town buried at the same time as Pompeii, in 79 AD.

Although smaller then Pompeii, it is in many ways much better preserved, because it was covered my a much deeper layer of mud, almost 7 meters.

Herculaneum was discovered a few years before Pompeii when a man was digging a well, and ended up digging into the theater.

The town gives you an idea of what life was like in the time of the Romans, and many of the houses are preserved including the floor mosaics, paintings, roofs of the buildings, and in some cases the original wood of the doors and shelves.

Compared to Pompeii there is almost nobody else around the entire town, only one outer tour and a few other people scattered around, so it was very easy to see all of the town without waiting for other people to clear out of an area.

Extra pics of Cinque Terre

Extra pics of Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

I did a tour that I have been looking foreword to since I found out I was going to Europe for my second contract.

Our ship had to dock at a different place then usually due to a scheduling mistake with the Italian port agents. But this worked out better for me as it was 60km closer to Cinque Terre then we would have been. This gave us lots more free time then we would have had.

Cinque Terre, or 5 Lands is a series of small towns build into the cliffs, and surrounded by terraced vineyards.

The walls of the terraces are all build by hand, and all the grapes are harvested and carried by people with no help, except recently some small monorails have been built in some areas to carry up the hills.

The towns haven't changed much in the last 100 years, and pictures from a long time ago and today look very similar.

Our tour took us from the town of Manarola, where we walked the path called Via dell'Amore, Lovers Trail. All five of the towns are connected by a long trail, but to talk it takes way longer then we had that day.

The other end of the trail is Riomaggiore from there we took the ferry to Vernazza.

Vernazza is the best preserved of the 5 towns. There is a small castle and watchtower, which I climbed to the top of.

The last place we went was Monterosso where we there was a nice beach, but unfortunately I didn't bring my bathing suit so I will have to leave that for next time.

The wine from the area isn't exported as there isn't enough produced, but it is supposed to be very unique. I wanted to find a place that I could do a tasting, but wasn't able to.

I hope to go back in September as that is the time they harvest the grapes.

I was the last in my family to get to this part of Italy, but it was a great day and worth the wait.

Barcelona

The last time I was in Barcelonaa few of us visited the Sagrata Famillia, the cathedral of Barceona. It was deigned by Gaudi, and had been under construction for the last 100 years and is still not finnised.

Each side is really different and surreal, its totally unique from any church that we see anywhere else in Europe.

Climbing the Leaning Tower

Today I did a tour to Pisa.

Thankfully the weather was much nicer then it had been the last few days where it was very hot and humid. Today was sunny but with a wind and not that hot.

The port town we dock at Liverno is only about 20km from Pisa. Once we got there we walked from the bus parking lot to the Field of Miracles, which is where the leaning tower is located, as well as the cathedral and baptistery.

The Leaning tower began construction in 1173 but was halted once it reached its 3rd floor, due to lack of money. If it has been built all at once it surely would have fallen over very quickly. The rest of the tower was built in stages, and various methods were used to try and correct the lean that began shortly after its first 3 floors were built.
The tower is slightly curved as builders tried to correct the lean by building one side higher then the other. When the towers7th floor was made it was built with a flat top to accomidate the bells.

Many attempts were made over the centuries to fix the lean, but almost all of them just made things worse, and in recent times the tower was in danger of falling over. The final attempt was one that actually worked, and has corrected the lean from around 5.5 meters to now 4 meters this was done by removing soil from under one side causing the tower to lean back the other way.

I was in Pisa in 2002 but those days people were not allowed to climb the tower as it was still being fixed. So I was happy that the tour I did included tickets to go up the tower.

After a tour around the area we had a quick stop to get some water then it was up the 296 step to the bell tower level. One thing you notice right away, besides the slanted entry door, is that the steps show the wear and tear of its nearly 1000 years and countless millions of feet who have been there before. The narrower steps at the top show this even more.

At the top of the tower the wind was whipping and there were a few people turning back once they got to the top and into the open. There is a central area were the bells were located and a few steps that went around the outside. I got a few pictures where i leaned out as far as i cold go and reached my camera out to see what you see at the leaning side. The view from the top was pretty cool, but as the top level is flat you dont feel like your going to slide off the end.



Once I was back at the bottom of the tower, I did what everyone does and get the super touristry picture of holding up the tower. I also took a few pics of the sea of people doing the same pose all along the field.

Another good tour, and no guests left behind.

Burrard Bridge

Hello everybody,

I noticed that the new bike lane on Burrard bridge in Vancouver is now up and running.
http://www.katkam.ca/
It seems that the lane that was taken from the cars is one that feeds out of Downtown. Seems to me that it would be less of a problem if it were the other way around. As it was slow getting on that bridge out of downtown before, must be way worse now.

Also I wonder what the problem would be just setting up the barriers on the existing sidewalks. This protects the bikers/walkers and doesn't lose a lane of traffic.

We are in Naples tomorrow, if they created a lane for bikes only, the cars, and vespas would still drive on it. Its survival of the fittest for anyone crossing the streets there for sure.

Moving again

Well I moved into my 3rd cabin in the month that I have been here.

I gained a window and a larger room. Bad part is that I also gained a roommate.

I knew that it was likely that I was going to end up in the cabin I am in now, as it is with the person the ITV Manager usually shares with, and it was only due to strange scheduling circumstances that I wasn't there after the handover ended and the person I replaced left. But I hoped to keep my own cabin as long as I could.

On the plus side the room is very large, and is comparable to guest cabins on the same deck. 2 beds, not bunk beds. A large washroom and shower (for a ship) I can actually move around a bit in the shower.

Also my roommate is my good friend from my first contract.

Now we will just have to see if the sun coming in the window screws up my sleeping-in schedule.

Athens and the Acropolis

The tour I was doing today was the Acropolis.

A very popular tour today, as we had 600 guests doing this tour in the morning. It being a Sunday the traffic on the streets of Athens was the emptiest I have seen. Good for us as we got into town very quickly.

We were not the only cruise ship in the port today, so it only made it busier at the acropolis. But i doubt its ever not busy. Climbing the hill with thousands of other people was slow going, but once we reached the top of the hill there was lots of room. Just not lots of shade, and it was getting hot.

The Acropolis is what they call the area at the top of the hill and includes a series of temples tat were built in the 5th century B.C. And this includes the most famous, the Parthenon.

The Parthenon survived its first 2000 years of life with little damage, but Greece was conquered by the Ottoman empire in the 1400's and then an attack by the Venetians in 1687, ignited ammunition stored inside, and a great amount of damage was done.
Then in 1806 much of the surviving marble statues were removed by the British and are now in the British Museum. Who refused to return them, the brand new acropolis museum has just opened at the base of the hill, and much of the original statues are held within, but the British won't return the works they have taken, as I think it will set a precedent that could force return of many other works, to other countries like Egypt, Iran, and turkey.

The Parthenon has been under Reconstruction since 1983, and still has a crane and scaffolding on one side.

We left before noon, but it was around 31 degrees by the time we were back on the bus.

We made a few more stops on the way back.

First at the Olympic stadium of 1896, the first modern Olympics.

And then a picture of a Greek army guy in the traditional uniform.

Swiming in Santorini

I have been keeping up with my tours. And have done one in each city.

In Santorini I did the Volcano climb, and hot springs swim.

Santorini is as I have said before a series of islands that was created when the volcano at its center erupted and created a bunch of smaller islands. At its center is the volcano, and its on e of the youngest islands in Europe, with rocks from 400-50 years old. The last eruption being in 1950.

Our tour took us from our ship to the island on a small sailing ship. The climb up the volcano was no nearly as long as the Mt. Vesuvius, but there were no clouds blocking the sun this day, and it there isn't a tree on the island, so no shade. But it was a nice hike and gave a great view of all the surrounding towns and islands.

After we got back to the boat we sailed around the island to one of the smaller islands, this is where the hot springs were. The hot springs are just at a small inlet of the island so the water is not that hot. More just warm. But the sea is already quite nice.

We anchored a short swim away from where the hot springs are. But short is a relative term for many of the guests. It was about a 5-10 minutes swim depending on how fast you are.The water once you reached the end of the inlet was definitely a lot warmer, and much less clear as the gas coming from the ground brought mud and stuff up from the bottom, making the water murky, but its the kind of thing they say has good properties for the skin etc.

Once i swam back to the boat I had some time to dive into the water off the ship, lots of fun. I found that the water was very buoyant, I could just stand in the water not kicking with my arms crossed and I still would easily keep my head above water. After we all made it back to the boat, they dropped us off at the town. I saw a friend in town and we went for some tasty gyros. And I had some time for some shopping and picture taking.

Pompeii and Mt Vesuivus.

Another day another early tour.

After going to the Canada Day crew party (we had poutine) and staying up late, for another night in a row, I had to get up for a tour that might not have been the best idea to do after a late party. Climbing a volcano.

Mt. Vesuvius was the volcano that erupted in 79 a.d. burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Preserving them in time.

Something I didn't know is that the volcano is still quite active, and erupted as recently as 1944. During that eruption the cable car that went from the base of to the top of the crater was destroyed, and was not rebuilt.
Our bus took us up a series of switchbacks up the mountain, but it was still up to us to climb the last 200 vertical meters.
We had a vulcanologist take us around the crater and explain about the volcano. One thing that was unfortunate this day was the low clouds that blocked the views from the top of the volcano. But it had the benefit of making it a lot less warm, as it was going to be a very hot day, and climbing a mountain in the summer heat wasn't going to be that fun.
Luckily the volcano gods were kind today, and we didn't have to run for our lives from a untimely eruption. Allowing us to walk back to our bus slowly and safely.

After we got back to the bus, we headed for Pompeii.

Pompeii was a thriving city during the roman times, home to more then 20,000 people, very large for that time. And now it is Italy's most visited tourist site, with around 10 million visitors a year.
The excavations of Pompeii have been going on since the mid 1700's and much has been uncovered over the years. Including the theater, the forums, store and houses, and bodies of the inhabitants that lost their lives that day in 79 A.D.
A lot of unintentional damage was done in the early years as archeology was new and undeveloped. But the city is still the best preserved roman city in the world, and gives great insight on what life was like back then.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so I can sleep in a bit hopefully.

Long day in Roma

I was a tour escort for the Eternal Rome tour.
The longest tour that we run, 10.5 hours. The ride into town took around 1.5 hours.

We stopped on the way in at a cafe, for a snack/restroom break. I got a really good espresso, to give me some energy for the day ahead.

Our first stop was the Colosseum.
One good thing about being in a tour group is that they have all the reservations to where we are going. So we can skip the lines and go right in. This is especially good as it is the busiest season.
I was last in the Colosseum in 2001, when I was on my high school Italy trip, which was also the pre digital camera days. Just like how the Colosseum didn't change much in the last few thousand years or so after it was no longer used by the Romans, it hasn't changed much in the last 7 since I was there last. Still amazing.

A cool thing that most tour groups seem to have these days are radio headsets that allow the tour guide to speak into a microphone and have it transmit to all the others on the tour. this allows everyone else to wander around a bit and still hear everything that is said. Very useful in a place like Italy where there is tons of tour guides all talking in different languages.

After the Colosseum we went for lunch at a place near the Vatican. It was a good lunch with a pasta course, a meat course, and a dessert, with wine, and coffee.

Next it was off to the Vatican Museum. The Vatican is a place that an entire day can be spent there and till not see all of it, so the short amount of time we had didn't allow us to see all that much of the exhibits.
But the one thing that everyone was there to see did not disappoint. The Sistine Chapel, home to the great works of Michelangelo. The ceiling, and the less well known, but in my opinion the greater, wall painting of the last judgement.
inside the Sistine Chapel there is a constant battle between the tourists trying to sneak a picture and the employees trying in vain to stop people from taking them. Many people don't bother with being sneaky about taking the pictures, but it doesn't matter much because its so packed with people that the Vatican employees don't have a chance to enforce to no picture rules. It must kind of suck for it to be you job to constantly say "No photos" all day long, all the while looking at hundreds of cameras pointing at the ceiling.

After the Museum we left through the exit that connects to St. Peters Basilica. The largest church in the world never disappoints. With its dome designed my Michelangelo, sculptures by many greats, and the throne of st peter.The front of the basilica has a large obelisk the came from Nero's palace. And two long arms of columns that form the border of the square of st peters.
I didn't get a chance to climb to the top of the dome, something that give a commanding view of the city, but its on the list for next time.

Then after that we had to head back to the bus, and back to the Ship. Not bad for a blitz of Rome, but it still leaves a good amount of stuff to see, and do next time.

Sedins sign with Vancouver

They left it to the last minute, but the Sedins are still Canucks.

Good thing too, because I don't know who the there is left to sign in the rest of the free agent pool.

Touring Rome for Canada Day

Hello eveyone,

I will be a tour escort for a Vatican City and Rome tour tomorrow.

Happy Canada Day everyone.

Breaking the bank at Monte Carlo

Who's bank is supposed to break, mine or the casinos?

Today we were in Villefranche, which is located between Nice, and Monaco in the south of France.

I was escorting my first tour since I started this contract. The tour was Monaco, Monte Carlo, and the Grand Casino.

Monaco is the second smallest country in the world, after The Vatican City. And is home to the worlds richest people. There are no income taxes in Monaco so all the rich people want to live there as a tax dodge. I was told that apartments are the most expensive in the world, at $100,000 per square meter. And you wont even be considered to be allowed to live there unless you make at least 4,000,000 euros per year.

Monaco is an area of the city, as well as its capital. It was the first part that was built upon, and is where the Royal palace is located. As well as the cathedral, and Monaco's Oceanographic Museum & Aquarium, where Jacques Cousteau was director from 1957.

Monte Carlo is a separate area of Monaco, and is where the grand casino is located.

The Grand Casino was built by the same architect as the Paris Opera House, and is very similar in style. The Casino is actually very small, and even the smaller casinos of Vancouver would be larger then this one. But what it lacks in size it makes up for it in over the top style, and very high table limits.

I played only the slot machines, and video poker, and I was up a few euros at one point, but it never lasts, and I didn't make any fortunes this day. I watched some of the high rollers play some roulette and blackjack, and one guy won a big amount of money on roulette and was paid out with those big rectangle chips.

The outside of the casino is where all the really expensive cars are parked, apparently you must pay the valet 50 euros to park you car for you.

We had to park our tour bus down a was in a underground car park. And we walked up along the path that hosts the Monaco Grand Prix, and also the first leg of this years Tour de France, which will start in a few days.

Taking the train to Florence

Today a group of us took the long trip into Florence. By shuttle bus, public bus, and train. It took us 2 hours to get into the city. But we had a good amount of time once we got there.
I still remember my way around the old town after 6 years since I was last there.
We went from the train station to the Duomo, Super busy with tourists and it will only get worse as the summer gets on. I wanted to climb to the top of the Duomo, but unfortunately it was closed until later in the day. I will have to leave that for next time.
After that we went to the City Hall building where the copies of the famous statues are kept, including Michelangelo's David. We didn't have enough time to go into the museums, and see the real ones.After that we went to the Ponto Vecchio, and walked across looking for lunch.

We found a place that was a little way of the main streets.I ordered a seafood pasta, that was very good.Once we were done, there wasn't much time left before we needed to be back at the train station, just enough time for a gelato.The train ride back was good for a quick nap. Then jaming ourselves onto a bus back to where our shuttle bus was wating to take us back to the ship. It was a lot of traveling and I appreciate traveling on a cruise ship so much more. So much effort to get to place to place, when all i do is go to sleep and wake up in a new city.