In the latter part off 2022, Denise’s brother wrote that he and his wife were going to take a repositioning cruise from Lisbon to Miami and then continue to make a circuit of some of the lessor known Caribbean ports. Would we like to meet them in Miami or join them for some or all of the trip? Didn’t take long for us to decide that we were hooked. So, in early November 2022, we boarded a flight to Lisbon, via Zurich. The day after our arrival in Lisbon, we were off to Porto in the north, via a stop over at the Shrine of Fatima. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_of_Fátima

Arriving in Porto, we checked into an amazing hotel. The bad news is that it is on a pedestrian street, so we had to schlep our suitcases over the cobbles, the good news was that the hotel is a repurposed 16 th century townhouse/palace, with a new, modern building on the rear. So the public areas had parts that even included Roman constructions, while the hotel rooms were completely modern.

We were lucky to have superb guide. A former air traffic controller with the Portuguese Air Force, his English was better than ours. We started wth a visit to a port warehouse.

We stopped at the Pacheca winery for a tasting and a fabulous, multi-course lunch with a different wine for each course. (The Pacheca Winery is spelled “Pacheca” and not Pacheco as it is woman owned.) For those of us who don’t usually drink port, it was fun to discover a new variety of wine. (https://quintadapacheca.com/)

Leaving Porto, we drove back to Lisbon, stopping in Coimbra to sample pastel de nata, custard pastries which were developed by nuns with too many eggs and are simply delicious.

After a quick windshield tour of Lisbon, [we will have to return,] we arrived at the pier just as Trevor and Sheila pulled up from their flight from UK. Check in/boarding is instantaneous, other than Fred having a momentary panic that he had lost his phone – found to be in his hand. (!!) Our actual sailing was delayed due to a heavy swell at the mouth of the river.

The next morning we plowed into the mid Atlantic swell and settled into shipboard life. We much much prefer longer crossings to daily visits to ports packed with duty “free” shops and other tourist traps. The ship was simply lovely and we quickly discovered that every day had to begin with a visit to the gym if we were to still fit into our clothes.

Our first stop was Funchal on the island of Madeira. Madeira is one of the rare islands with a self sustaining economy. That said, it also owes much to the transatlantic trade, all the way back to the 1500’s. Because of the prevailing winds and its westward location, it was a crucial provisioning point for ships sailing west. We started our visit at the market.

We enjoyed a cable car ascent, and visiting the market, glorious gardens, and a drug store for some essentials.

We left Funchal at sunset and set out for Miami.

The crossing was wonderful and we soon arrived in Miami for the turnaround for the Caribbean part of the trip.

First up was Puerto Rico and here we felt most at home. Not surprisingly Puerto Rico feels much like Ecuador, Venezuela, or any other former Spanish colony.

Our next island visit was to Antigua and again we chartered a taxi and visited the famous Nelson’s Dockyard. The dockyard has been rebuilt as a tourist attraction, but has several reasonable exhibits on Napoleonic era sailing and naval operations.

Nelson? Well, it is called Nelson’s Dockyard today, but he was roundly disliked by the Antiguans, who resented his upholding the Navigation Acts which prohibited trade with the new United States. They even held up his promotion for years. In return, he dismissed them as worse than the American rebels. Still worth a visit.

The sugar trade, especially, made the Caribbean Islands as valuable as any gold mine or oil well for hundreds of years and most changed hands many, many times following bloody raids and sieges. Hence the proliferation of forts you can visit. Like many other islands, Antigua’s list of resident/vacation home owners is a real who’s who of Anglo-American actors, musicians, and other personalities. You might be hard pressed to name one who doesn’t have a place on Antigua.

St. Kitts is about as small as they come. Traveling around the island you are struck by the use of the singular; there is often only one of a facility on the whole island – “This is our …” Bank, hospital, car dealer, etc. Note that this is emphatically NOT the case with churches; here the quantity and variety is infinite. At the end of the 19th century the sugar trade was dying out and the plantation owners were eager to cut their costs. One solution was to build a narrow gauge railroad to link all of the major plantations and allow them to consolidate their harvests at one, modern sugar mill, as opposed to using windmills at each plantation to crush the harvest. In the end, it didn’t work, and today the bumpy tracks are used to to tourists around the island at the blazing speed of ten miles per hour. And even that is rough! But lots of fun.

From St. Kitts we sailed back to Miami via the British Virgin Islands and flew home.

Heading down the Rhine, we enjoyed the many castles perched on crags and of course, the Lorelei Rock. 

Interesting trivia. During WWII the Allies generally tried to avoid bombing churches or old castles. So, suddenly, lots of railroad tunnel mouths and other points got converted into “churches.” And so they remain to this day, with trains running through them every day.

 

 

 

 

 

Passing on to the Moselle River, we stopped at Cochem, where the highlight of our visit was the eleventh century Reichsburg Castle high on a hill, overlooking the town. https://www.reichsburg-cochem.de/index.php?id=4&L=1

The final highlight of our tour and one that was totally unexpected was our visit to the city of Luxembourg.  We began at the American Military Cemetery just outside town and were much moved by the simplicity and yet emotion inspired by the rows of white crosses.  More than 5,000 US Servicemen are buried there including General Patton. (https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/luxembourg-american-cemetery#.W6KwTS-ZOEI) 

After this visit, we headed into town, where we explored on a walking tour the Chemin de la Corniche with its spectacular view of the 17^thcentury wall and city, the main market area and the Notre Dame Cathedral.  

 

 

We returned to the Cathedral for a wonderful, thirty-minute organ recital. You can see and hear a bit here. (Hint: Crank up the volume!)    

 

And having left our boat, we headed to Paris by bus.  Once there, we visited a Moroccan restaurant near our hotel which we knew from previous visits had a long lunch the following day with a friend from Bangui. Then back to the US after a great trip.

In May of 2017, we were temporarily without a camper, and Denise decided that she needed a trip somewhere! So, as we are loyal PBS viewers and as several friends had enjoyed a Viking River cruise in Europe, we made a last minute decision to cruise with Viking on their Prague to Paris jaunt. We gave Viking only about three weeks notice, but we were pleasantly surprised that they managed to fit us in with a minimum of fuss and bother, both on the cruise, and on our various flights. We first flew, via Amsterdam, to Prague, a city that Denise had always wanted to visit. We were greeted with lovely sunny weather and thoroughly enjoyed our ramble around the city on the afternoon of our arrival. It was such a lovely day, we just had to have cake and espresso! It was at this point that we discovered that, despite being in the EU, the Czech Republic is not a Euro country. Worse, most ATM’s in Prague only accept local cards! Finally we were able to exchange US$ cash for sufficient local currency and the coffee and goodies were ours. The moral of the story is that it is always a good idea to have some local currency on hand! Not all of Prague was dignified and classic, we enjoyed several oddball sights as well: Being quite tired, we had dinner in a restaurant in our hotel, which served local specialties. The “queen” of Czech cooking is said to be roast beef with cream sauce, Svíčková. Certainly the dish we had was out of this world. When we looked it up in our European cookbook, we realized that the book dated from the Cold War and noted that this dish, along with the famous Prague Ham, was unavailable locally. Reminded us of Cuba – Cubans would look at a Cuban cookbook from Miami and comment, “Yeah, my mother would talk about those dishes.” How times change!  We found a recipe in a cookbook on our riverboat and photographed it!  You can also find various recipes on the Internet: https://www.eatingeurope.com/svickova-braised-beef-recipe/ A tour the next morning showed us some of the city’s highlights, including the Prague Castle with its spectacular views and interesting history. (See photo at top of post.)  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Castle) Parts of the Prague Castle as still used as government offices. (We had flashbacks was we watched a motorcade arrive!) Then we simply joined the crowds to enjoy the spectacle of the ceremonial changing of the guard. Prague, like many medieval cities sits astride a river. One way to cross the river is the Charles Bridge, famous for its many statues. Two are especially interesting. It is a crucifixion scene, labeled in Hebrew – an incentive for Jews to convert. (We were to see more of this theme.) And if you weren’t ready to convert, there is a statue on the spot where John of Nepomuk is said to have been martyred by being thrown off the bridge. Notice that the image of the saint and the cross are shiny – you touch them for luck. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Nepomuk) Both were reminders that history has its rough side. The bridge is named for Charles IV: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IV,_Holy_Roman_Emperor Once back in the city center, we chose to leave the tour and enjoy a quiet lunch a little off the beaten track. We duly admired the famous clock striking the hour off the Market Square. In addition to telling the time and various astronomical data, it features saints and apostles appearing at the windows. Of course, you need a degree to understand all of the data presented – and this thing was built in the 1400’s! Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_astronomical_clock And we tried the local delicacy of Tredelnik, a charcoal roasted pastry. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trdeln%C3%ADk) Keeping up with the times, it is now available filled with soft ice cream. A divine mess! And another famous street food, Prague Ham. The pastry/Ice cream fix accomplished, we had to find a horse carriage for the obligatory tour. That night, we went to a tourist dinner with local dishes and traditional dancing.  The music was great, the dancing was fun, and the costumes lovely, but the food at our hotel was better! The next morning we headed off by bus to Germany to board the Viking Alsvin. We spent the first night tied up to an industrial dock at Bamberg.

A visit to the island of Malta was also on our “Must Visit List” as Denise had spent a month there with her family when she was twelve and she was keen to see how much she recognized. In fact, Floreana and Valletta had not changed much at all but most of the old decorated buses with crucifixes hanging from the rear view mirrors were nowhere to be seen, only a few preserved as tourist attractions. The island’s history is long and varied. Held by the Arabs from 870 AD, it was given to the Knights of St. John in 1530 by the Holy Roman Emperor.  Charles V. Napoleon captured it in 1798 but left in 1800 after British involvement. It was an important British naval base during World War II and British influence continued until independence in 1964. You can read more of Malta’s amazing history here: http://www.maltauncovered.com/malta-history/

The day dawned cool and cloudy and we watched as the island came into view. We took on the pilot and then approached the breakwater. The Queen Elizabeth maneuvered slowly into the port and made a compete 180 degree turn to her docking space. Valletta is a challenging port to enter with hard turns and minimal clearance. Fortunately, the winds were low. I grew up traveling by sea and later served briefly as a Midshipman. Put bluntly, the maneuverability of modern passenger ships, equipped with pods and thrusters is amazing. And it is generally all done without tugs.

Armed with our sweatshirts, we set off to Mdina, along with the rest of an organized tour. Mdina flourished under the Romans, and was held by the Saracens until the Normans took over in 1090.

We liked Mdina with its curved streets and small squares and escaped from the group for a short wander around.

The doors of the traditional houses were fascinating. Each door, with its individual lock and knocker, almost certainly led into a lovely and unseen courtyard. Some were in better shape than others but all were interesting.

We also came across a lovely little church with ornately painted ceilings and paintings.

It has been written that some church ceilings were intended to be literal representations of looking up to heaven – this church certainly reflected that image – the Virgin, the Christ, and the angels were looking right down on us.

We then returned to Valletta where we were shown the main street, the new outdoor theater and we visited St. John’s Co-Cathedral. The Cathedral was completed in 1577 and was dedicated to the patron saint of the Knights of Saint John and linked to the Cathedral in Mdina. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_John%27s_Co-Cathedral) The interior is incredibly ornate and there are many great works of art.

 

 

We then seized the opportunity to escape from the tour and set out to find lunch. We ate al fresco (and it was windy and chilly) in a small restaurant behind the Cathedral. Lunch was excellent, Denise’s swordfish was fresh and Fred’s ravioli with Maltese sausage was tasty.

We noted that the sun was finally breaking through so we decided it was time to head out. As always we did a little shopping and then we headed for the Lascaris War Rooms 40 meters underground.

We had heard that the War Rooms had recently been restored and opened to visitors and, naturally, Fred was keen to see them, having seen them in any number of WWII movies.

The War Rooms are located in a network of tunnels and chambers, which housed Britain’s War headquarters in Malta. Operations rooms for the Air Force; for Anti Aircraft Gun Operations, for Cyphers and Code Encryptions etc. can all be seen. The War Rooms were used by General Eisenhower and his team during the Allied advance on Sicily and they remained in use throughout the Cold War until 1977.

We received directions towards the port and set off through a Government ministry to the street. The offices were all open to a wide verandah through which we walked, which felt rather odd but no one seemed to mind! One advantage of Valletta is that ships dock very close to the city and no transportation is needed to return to our ship. We had planned to take the Barrakka Lift to carry us down the cliff but we emerged much further down than we had expected so we went for a cup of coffee and an ice cream instead in a little café beside the water.

We then returned to the ship on foot.

Denise had  visited Athens in 1964 and had memories of a coach tour to the Acropolis with Beatles songs playing in the background. Remember Eight Days a Week?!!

We chose to join a Cunard tour here and while we are now sure that we are not big tour people, in Athens this worked, as viewing the Akropolis was part of a group effort with at least 25 tour guides and buses at the same time. No way to get far from the madding crowd. Also Athens was basically closed for the Orthodox Easter weekend, so options were limited anyway.

We stopped first at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Our first view of the Acropolis.

We fought our way up onto the hill in company with all the other tour guides speaking various languages and bus loads of tourists from all over the world. All seemed to concentrate on the Parthenon and it was impossible to hear anything! The Parthenon was finished in 432BC and dedicated to the goddess Athena, the patron of Athens. Considerable renovation is being undertaken on the site to stabilize it and give a better idea of how it looked. It is fascinating to see the new column pieces waiting to be put into place.

 

We managed to escape the crowds on the rear side, where there is a view over the city of Athens towards the port of Piraeus. We could admire the Queen Elizabeth in the distance.

We also managed some photos without the hordes near the Erectheion, an ancient temple to Athena and Poseidon built around 406 BC. Supporting part of the roof are the famous Caryatids, or female figures as supporting columns. All are replicas as the originals are kept away from the corrosive air of Athens in the Acropolis Museum. One original can be seen in the British Museum, as it was appropriated by Lord Elgin, along with the Parthenon marbles, back in the 19^th century.

We then took advantage of free time and wandered the streets before finding a café, where we could sit outside and enjoy a sandwich.

A little more wandering and then back to the ship.

Unfortunately the weather was dull and overcast as we passed through the Dardanelles but the sun came out as we reached Istanbul. We were going to have a beautiful day in one of the most spectacular cities on earth!

Istanbul’s two most famous mosques as the sun rises.

Denise had visited Istanbul in 1964 and had really enjoyed her visit. So we splurged and ordered a private vehicle and guide so that we could see as much as possible and not be constrained by a coach tour. And it proved to be an excellent choice as we were able to add an extra visit to our day.

We started our visit by walking up the Hippodrome to the Blue Mosque. Another “Ben-Hur” moment. Byzantium was famous for chariot racing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot_racing

The Blue Mosque is everything you expect; simply stunning. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque)

We passed muster with the guards at the entrance and Denise was not required to add a long skirt to her outfit though she did cover her head. Part of the interior is reserved for Moslem men, of course, but there is a large area for tourists and the beautiful mosaics of the interior can be admired.

We then headed to the Hagia Sophia, which was built as a Christian church, then used as a  mosque, and is now a museum and under extensive renovation. It is simply huge. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia)

Almost nothing can prepare you for the sheer volume of Hagia Sophia. Expand this image and take in the size.

It is also interesting in that the Turks are removing some of the Moslem frescos, which had been placed over the Christian mosaics to hide them so that you can see the building in two styles. Quite fascinating.

We wandered through and also climbed the stairs to the upstairs balcony for the best views.

Finally, we came to this, the cenotaph of Henricus Danolo.Henricus Danolo was the Doge of Venice who directed the sacking of Constantinople in 1204. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Dandolo) Ironic that despite all of the conflict between Christians and Muslims, it was the conflict between Christians themselves which caused the greatest damage. (And, of course, made it possible for the Muslims to take Constantinople.)

And, for a bit of human (and bird) scale:

Our next stop was the Cistern. Denise had not visited this previously so neither of us knew of it and we added it to our itinerary. A most interesting part of the former water system for the Topkapi Palace, it is no longer in use except as a tourist site. Fascinating to visit and see the carp swimming in the water in the dark. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern)

 

And on to the Topkapi Palace Museum. Here we saw various exhibits of life under the sultans and grabbed a sandwich at the snack bar. The views over the Bosporus were amazing, but we found the palace itself a bit flat.

 

Apparently the tulip beds are famous but we were a little too late to enjoy them. One shady bed at Topkapi was still in flower so we appreciated that!

Finally, after a quick visit to the souk, we returned to the ship.

The weather was perfect, we had an excellent guide and had enjoyed an excellent visit.

One of our reasons for returning by sea was the itinerary of the Cunard liner, Queen Elizabeth, which included calls at Istanbul, Athens, and Malta, all of  which Denise had visited as a teenager and wanted to revisit. (Cunard was also offering a really good rate so we had made arrangements with Cunard to join the Queen Elizabeth at Aqaba.)

After living in Panamá, we were really looking forward to a transit of the the Suez Canal. We started our transit early in the morning, following the Europa II (which we had seen in Aqaba) and the Queen Mary 2, which we would join in Southhampton.

Line ahead through the Canal. Note the tugs close by in the event that the side winds cause problems. (The winds can be so strong that the ships actually “crab” just like airplanes.)

As ships cannot pass in much of the Canal, ships are grouped in convoys and timed to pass in the lakes or the new double section of the Canal. In the early days, ships tied up to piers on the banks in order to pass. We had 24 ships in our convoy, beginning with three liners of which we were the third. The entire length of the transit we were greeted with cheers, whistles, and a cacophony of horns. Three liners in a row, two of the from Cunard, was quite a spectacle and the folks loved it.

There was plenty to see. Various monuments, security outposts, ferries crossing the canal and lots of towns, all with trees and green plants in contrast to the desert elsewhere.

At one point ships were travelling south on a different channel and their stacks and containers could be seen through the sand dunes. Quite an interesting sight as there was no water to be seen!

In addition to  opening the second lane, there is constant maintenance all along the Canal. The sheer amount of sand is impressive. Not the mountains of Panamá, perhaps, but still a lot of work.

The lakes were full of ships.

Never one to miss a photo opportunity, we maneuvered with the Queen Mary 2 after we left the Canal.

 

After the transit, we headed for the Dardanelles and Istanbul.

 

After leaving Petra, we headed for Wadi Rum, a desert area with spectacular scenery made famous by Lawrence of Arabia, the man and the movie, and by filming for various other films including the recent “The Martian”. Fred was skeptical – “We’ve done the Sahara, the Kalahari, and even the Great American Desert. Why do you want to go to the Valley of the Moon?” Denise held firm and we had wonderful time! (http://wadirum.jo)

Everyone goes to Wadi Rum to see the desert. But, in fact, the Bedu have stayed at Wadi Rum over the years because there is so much water. You won’t see it immediately, but once your eye gets trained, the signs of water are everywhere.

We stayed in a luxury Bedouin camp (or tented hotel) novel and quite comfortable. We arrived rather early and found the place deserted. Probably should have made a stop en route but we were a little short on information at that point. A little more Arabic would have been useful at times!

However, once we sorted out what was happening, we crashed a party of Italian tourists and enjoyed a great buffet lunch of salads with chicken and rice. The meal was cooked traditionally – buried in the sand with a wood fire on top.  This, of course, made for great photo ops. The meal was further enhanced by a dancing waiter! We then relaxed for the early part of the afternoon in the shaded divan with the desert coolers running.

As the temperature began to cool, our driver arrived to take us on a tour of the desert. We made ourselves comfortable in the back of the pickup truck and headed out to our first stop; the site of the filming for the “base camp” in the movie “The Martian”. Our guide had been present at some of the filming so was very enthusiastic about it all.

Site of Matt Damon’s base camp

We also saw several sites relating to Lawrence of Arabia (the person, not the movie) along with scenic sites like a natural rock bridge.

Our guide stopped just before sundown and made us tea in the desert before our return to the camp just after sunset.

Dinner was a traditional meal called sarb, cooked in a fire pit in the ground. We were served an excellent chicken and mutton with assorted vegetables and pilafs. The temperature was starting to drop so we headed back to our tent for the night.

 

After an excellent Arab style breakfast with hard boiled eggs, bread, foule and toppings, we headed out. We made a stop along the way at the historic train station of the Hejaz Railway where  old carriages and a locomotive could be seen. The Hejaz Railway was an engineering marvel. It was a tragedy that it was never really rebuilt following the First World War. And, in today’s political climate, it probably never will be. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hejaz_Railway)

A modern train still runs, carrying potash, we saw it several times as the camp is close to the main line.

And on to Aqaba where we hope the Queen Elizabeth awaits us! Our driver had arranged access to the port and he left us right beside the ship. Other than the fact that we were trying to go up the gangway while thousands of passengers were coming down, it was the easiest ship boarding we have ever had. We were greeted by the Purser’s office and escorted on board to our cabin. We had hoped to visit Aqaba a little before boarding but we seized the moment and a nearly empty ship to do laundry and settle in.