Jeannie & Lee Cruzin

November 2012

I have been really remiss in keeping up with my blogs. As to the cruising:
We completed the B2B and had a great time. Thirty days what a blast. We were able to see a lot of Italy which was a country we had not seen before. We spent 3 days in Venice. Just lovely!

Then boarded the brand new Reflection and started the cruise. I am not sure after all this time I can remember all our stops but I believe our first stop was Dubrovnik Croatia. We had been there before but still enjoyed it immensely. We hired a cab to take us around the old city and up to the overlook. A gorgeous view!

Check us out! We were still walking with out canes. No more canes for us now but we may take along our hiking poles for balance on rough terrain.

Next stop was Ephesus. We had hooked up with different people on Cruise Critic.com and went on some truly awesome excursions at a fraction of the price. In Ephesus the highlight of course with The House of The Virgin Mary and the old city with the beautiful library.

Next stop, Athens. My third trip there, Lee's second but Athens never gets old. We both love the antiquities of Europe and never get tired of seeing them. Neither of us were physically able to climb up to the top of the Parthenon but we took pictures. We could do it now and hope to get the chance to do it again. The other picture was a shot of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. We were treated to a spectacular sunset on the way back to the ship.

Our next stop was Malta. Oh My Gosh! I can't say enough about Malta. What a beautiful old city. The first sight we were greeted by was the colorful buildings along the waterfront. Something to do about the days before people could read I don't know. Didn't make sense to me but that is what we heard somewhere along the line. In any case the doors, windows, and balconies are just fantastic.

Lee and I at some overlook. Wish I had done this posting long before this so I could remember it better. I am going to start doing better with my blogging and taking notes as I go along.

Beautiful boats in a little fishing village we visited. They have the "all seeing eye" painted on the bow.

The walled city of Medina. This was just lovely at sunset and into the evening but by the end of the day Lee and I were pretty tired.

If memory serves me correctly the next stop along the way would have been the Amalfi coast Where we went to Pompeii, Sorrento and Poisitano.

Pompeii: A city buried in Ash from Mt Vesuvius. It was amazing. I am quite surprised I was able to climb all those stairs at that time but I managed. I had heard of Pompeii all my life but never dreamed I would get to see it. Amazing, just Amazing that is all I can say.

The mold of a person who was uncovered. Many bodies were found along with all the pottery etc.

One of the colorful rooms of a wealthy inhabitant.

Positano and the Amalfi Coast:

Sorrento: Oddly enough I didn't take many pictures of Sorrento. All we did was walk around a bit and found this old ruin which was sunken right in the middle of the city

Ah Rome the Eternal City: Too much to see not enough room for all the great photo's we got. The Sistine Chapel was great but of course no pictures. St Peters Basilica.

The Pope's Balcony

St Peters Square

The Fountain of Trevi. Of course we tossed in a coin so we will be sure to go back sometime.

The Colosseum

And another beautiful sunset at the end of a perfect day!

And now onto Pisa, Florence and Tuscany.

The famous Leaning Tower of

The Cathedral and Baptistry

Trying to push it upright but it wouldn't budge.

Florence

The David. No I didn't take this picture my finger slipped accidentally and it just happened to focus on the David. No pictures allowed.

A little town in Tuscany where we stopped for lunch

Tuscany: So somewhere along the way the women in the front of the van said she would really love to see olives being pressed so the driver gets right on his phone and arranges for us to tour this marvelous little olive oil place.

What a wonderful day!

Next stop Palma de Mallorca:

Another beautiful old city on an Island off the coast of Spain. More old and beautiful buildings, narrow winding roads, Castles and of course Cathedral, Churches and Fortresses. Our first glimps was a welcome from the lighthouse.

We started our tour walking through the old town and the narrow streets.

Lee and I posed by a very old olive tree

And saw the Cathedral

On the bus we drove past olive groves and saw sheep

I think this is part of Valldemossa Where Fredrick Chopin and his lover George Sand spent some his last days. They rented a former monk's cell, planning to carry on their affair away from the gossip of Paris and hoping that the climate would benefit Chopin's health (he had tuberculosis).

Bust of Chopin

Back on the bus and a photo stop.

Don't remember what church this is but one of the many.

Then on to the train for a ride through the country side

Whoops! Wrong turn? Are we in Holland?

A fortress or Castle high on a hill

Here we sit on out balcony sipping wine and watching the people running running and running to get onto the ship before we sail.

And Good Bye Mallorca

We then stopped at Malaga where we did not have a tour. Apparently we didn't even get off the boat. I think by now we were getting pretty tire. Our health was not as good back then. Carrying too much weight around. Would love to do this trip again now that we are more healthy.

Our last stop was Toulon France where we visited Aix en Provence.

Didn't do much there. We walked around the town, visited the market place and of course a Cathedral!