Europe Days 11-17: Cruise

Saturday, June 6:

This morning I found out that, last night after I went to bed, Kirsten went to the square by our apartment (where there is free wifi), and immediately was hit on by a persistent Italian boy.  She kept telling him no and go away, but he wouldn’t leave her alone.  She stopped going online and walked back to the apartment, and he followed her all the way to the door.   Creepy.  It’s as good a sign as any that it’s time to leave Rome. 

Friday night, I got no sleep.  It was the hottest day of our trip so far, and the room was very hot.  Plus, my nose had taken a cue from my neobladder and was leaking non-stop.  I would toss and turn, get up and go to the bathroom, blow my nose, and repeat.  I knew my restlessness was disturbing Jennifer on the (comparatively) small full-size bed we had, so I moved to the couch, continued to toss and turn and go to the bathroom, went back to bed, back to the couch, etc.  I watched the Roman sky gradually lighten with the approaching of dawn, gave up trying to sleep, went and took a hot shower, hoping the steam would help with my sinuses, then read until the alarms went off for everyone else.  We finished packing, traded texts with the owner of our rental apartment, who instead of coming over simply instructed us to leave the keys on the table, and went off to the Termini Station to catch our train to Venice.  It was just under a 4-hour ride, and we had to immediately go to the ship.  Sightseeing in Venice will have to wait until we get back. 

Our ship is the Norwegian Jade, an older ship built in the mid 90’s that was originally built to cruise around Hawaii.  About 10 or 12 years ago, NCL repositioned the ship to cruise in the Adriatic Sea, but was too cheap to redecorate the pervasive Hawaiian theme in the carpets, posters, paintings, and other décor.  It’s garish and glaringly out of place the first few times you see it, then it just becomes visual background noise.  I booked a balcony room for Jennifer and me, and an inside cabin directly across for the three kids. 

I told the kids that the cruise would be 7 days of them deciding whether they wanted to spend time with the rest of the family, or being on their own.  Aside from the sticking together for the four shore expeditions (Dubrovnik Croatia, Athens Greece, Izmir Turkey, and Split Croatia), they could sleep as late as they wanted, eat when they wanted, go to bed when they wanted, etc.  I booked this cruise both for the great itinerary, and as a sort of mid-vacation break from the 24/7 togetherness. 

NCL features freestyle dining, which is great since I don’t like the scheduled times and the dining room hokiness that other cruise lines have.  With NCL, you do what you want, when you want.  So far, we’ve found that the cafeteria-style food in the buffets are hit and miss, but you don’t need to eat it if you don’t like it.  When we boarded the ship, we were hungry after the 4-hour train ride, so we stowed our bags (all carry-on), changed into more comfortable clothes, then had a late lunch at the buffet.  Any familial tensions from our constant togetherness were quickly melting away. 

Jennifer and I made our way up to the spa, where NCL said it was running a promotion for discounted access to the spa for the length of the cruise for the first 40 passengers to sign up.  The spa is luxurious – gender-specific sauna, menthol steam room, hot tub, cold plunge, and waterfall-style showers.  There’s also a co-ed area that features a large hot tub with a ten-foot wide recliner with powerful bubble jets under it.  The co-ed area also has amazingly comfortable heated tile seats sculpted in a recliner position, with cushioned headrests.  Best of all, the spa was virtually empty.  We signed up on the spot, and spent the next hour there.  There’s nothing quite like sailing down the Grand Canal of Venice standing buck naked in a sauna, looking out of panoramic windows as the storied buildings of Venice pass by.  I later heard that, one deck above, more than 1000 passengers were jammed together, trying to hear the commentary by the cruise director.  I much preferred the quiet relaxation of the spa. 

In the steam room, I would breathe in and out through my nose, trying to loosen and clear my sinuses.  Alternating between the steam room, the cold plunge, the sauna, the cold plunge, the hot tub, the cold plunge, etc., seemed to help bleed out the symptoms of my cold. 

After a bit of soup, I was done for, and went to bed.  I actually managed to get about 5 hours of sleep, which for me is a better than average night’s rest, and luxurious compared to my sleeplessness of the night before.  Meanwhile, Jennifer and the kids went to the opening night’s show, which featured the typically earnest but bad song and dance act that mid-range cruise lines manage to stage, followed by a strange duo – he was a stylized circus clown and she was a super-cheerful assistant who juggled.  I can’t describe it any more than that since I wasn’t there, but the others agreed it was strange and occasionally entertaining. 

Sunday, July 7:

After my usual up-and-down routine, I arose from my restless state, slipped out of the cabin and walked up one flight for a light breakfast.  I think the time in the spa helped with my cold; my nose is not leaking as much.  When the spa opened at 8 am, I was the first one in, and spent another hour doing the same routine.  Jennifer joined me in the spa around 8:30 – I forgot to turn off the alarm on the cell phone that the kids had used to help them get up yesterday (oops) – and we spent a while in the spa.  I think the spa will be my favorite spot on the ship. 

We met up with the kids for their breakfast at 10, then Kirsten went to lay in the sun while the rest of us played card games.  We berthed in Dubrovnik at 2 pm, went to the old walled town and walked around that amazingly preserved city.  The damage from the 1990’s civil war that tore apart Yugoslavia and led to the current borders is completely repaired.  We walked the city walls, browsed through the streets so narrow you could touch the buildings on either side with your hands outstretched, bought some things, and people-watched.  I noticed several girls checking out Spencer, who responded in kind.  We were chased back to the ship by a looming thunderstorm, heralded by several cracks of thunder, and got in the taxi just as the rain started then quickly dissipated. 

After everyone got dinner on their own schedules, we met in the theater for an acrobatic show by a Polish husband and wife team.  They were former Cirque de Soliel performers well-trained in ballet, who did some remarkable things with lifts, suspended rings, ropes, and silk strands.  Talk about being in great shape, especially since she had a baby 18 months ago. 

At around midnight, Kirsten and Spencer went up the disco, where it was 70’s night.  I shudder at the thought. I couldn’t stand disco when I endured it in my teens the first time around, and now it’s kitsch.  I think that I’m the only person in my generation who has not watched Saturday Night Fever.  Any time I hear the BeeGee’s, I am motivated to terminate with extreme prejudice the source of the squealing.  But Kirsten said the disco was okay, except that there were a lot of middle-aged drunk Europeans trying to imitate John Travolta.  My eyes, my eyes!

Monday, July 8:

We lost an hour overnight as we continue to sail towards Greece.  I’m sure we’ll find it later in the week.  Today is a sea day, so the ship will be busy.  I told the kids to sleep in, do their own thing, and maybe we’d see them sometime during the day.  As usual, I was awake early, and spent a couple of hours in the spa.   Jennifer joined me, although we spent most of our time in the gender-specific sides.  Being in the steam room is really helping relieve the symptoms of my cold. 

I did some reading for tomorrow’s port call (Athens), since we had decided that we didn’t want to be captive to a scheduled tour.  Jennifer went back to the spa.  Eventually we met up with the kids; while Spencer took a nap, Kirsten and Jennifer went for a walk on the fitness track, Garrett and I played ping pong and shuffleboard, then Kirsten and I browsed the ridiculously high-priced shopping areas, then she tried her hand at shuffleboard.  Jennifer was the only one who wanted to go to the show – a band named 4Ever.  She discovered it was a group of Spanish men in their mid-30’s trying to be a boy band, and fled after 15 minutes because it was so loud and not well done.  

In the evening, Garrett went to bed early, while Kirsten and Spencer met up with some other young adults they had met.  Jennifer and I went to the spa again (our favorite place on the ship, we’ve decided), and they kicked us out 10 minutes after closing time.  We decided we were hungry and had a late dinner.  It’s nice to be able to have someone prepare food for you anytime you want it. 

Tuesday, July 8:

We arrived the Port of Piraeus at dawn, and by 7 am passengers were disembarking.  Since the ship was sailing at 5 pm, we knew we’d have to avoid our traditional 10 am or later starts.  We all agreed last night to be ready by 7 am.  Garrett took it upon himself to police everyone, waking up at 6 am and urging everyone to get up and see the sunrise.  His invitation was not well received by either his siblings or his parents. 

We walked out of the cruise ship terminal with the intention of walking to the Metro, a bit over a kilometer up the waterfront.  We were immediately set upon by a horde of persistent taxicab drivers, offering (and in some cases demanding) to take us on a full-day guided tour of Athens.  As expected, all refused to drive us to the Metro, instead awaiting the possibility of bigger fish behind us.  It was still early and not yet hot, so the walk was not bad.  We bought 10 tickets for the Metro at a nearby newsstand (5 in, 5 back) for 16 Euros, and seven stops later we were at Monastiraki, just north of the Acropolis.  We walked up the hill and arrived just before the tour buses for the Jade, carrying passengers who had paid $150 each for the same transportation, plus the privilege to follow a tour guide reciting the same information on the signs and in Mr. Steve’s book.  We moved at our own pace, lingered when things interested us, moved on when we were done. 

The Acropolis really is a remarkable place.  To have two year-round fresh water springs bubbling out of the rocky outcropping, forming a naturally defensive area with plenty of fertile land beneath, with close proximity to the ocean, is hard to duplicate elsewhere. Archeologists have found evidence of settlements there dating back to 6800 BC.  The Myceans first fortified the place in 1400 AD.  After the Athenians defeated the Persians in the sixth century BC, they collected tribute money from the surrounding kingdoms.  The Parthenon, with its remarkable design, proportions, and sculpture, was built in only 10 years, and the rest of the buildings on the Acropolis were finished soon thereafter, all built by free men, not slaves.  The visionary Pericles banned servitude and instituted the democratic principles that have guided the West ever since. 

Below the Acropolis, we walked through the Agora, which was the hub of Athenian life.  Socrates would frequently sit there, questioning his students and other passersby.  Diogenes would streak by occasionally, holding a lantern and looking for an honest man, or do more degenerate things in public.  By the third century BC, Athens was under Roman rule, although Rome had with a light hand since they were fond of the great contributions of Athens.  Romans made lots of improvements to the city.  The Apostle Paul showed up in about 55 AD and preached a sermon on Mars Hill, but was generally ignored, so he moved on to Corinth and found more believers. Early in the second century AD, invaders coming down from the Black Sea sacked and burned the city, and Athens languished as a backwater for hundreds of years.  The center of the Parthenon was blown up in 1690s when the Ottoman Turks stored gunpowder there, and the attacking Venetians hit the stash with a mortar shell.  In 1801, Lord Elgin appropriated the Parthenon carvings for the UK, and the Greeks are still holding their breath waiting for Britain to give them back.  Athens became relevant when Greece won its independence from the Ottomans in the 1830s and selected Athens to be the capital.  Now it’s a sprawling, dirty, polluted city of over 4 million that was spruced up early in the decade for the Olympics, but is now grinding through a deep recession with 25%+ unemployment.  End of history lesson. 

After we finished our walk through history, we walked through the Athens flea market, a sprawling collection of schlock interspersed with some junk, and occasional decent shops.  Kirsten haggled for some leather goods, Spencer bought a bowl, and everyone had fun browsing and declining offers of “my friend, my friend, come, come!”  We ate a huge lunch, then slowly made our way back to the Metro for the ride back to the port.  It was well over 90 degrees by then, so we found a taxi driver who was happy to cram all 5 of us in for the ride back to the ship for 5 Euros.  Where were you this morning, my friend?

Back on board, the kids promptly napped, and Jennifer and I – you guessed it – went to the spa.  This cruising stuff is hard work.  Later, we had a family dinner at one of the on-board specialty restaurants.  It was surprisingly good, several steps up from the regular buffet tables.  I read my book then went to bed early as everyone else went to the show (Motown songs with the audience voting which was the least worst; I was later informed it was almost as bad as I thought it would be).  The kids are making friends and are hanging out with them at night. 

Wednesday, July 9:

This morning the ship docked in Izmir, Turkey.  Anciently the city was known as Smyrna, and has been the launching site of millenniums of invasions of Asia Minor.  It was the home of one of the seven Christian churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation.  After the arrival of Muslims in the 8^th Century AD, the city was known as “Infidel Izmir” because it was the foothold of the crusaders, Venetians, and various other western empires.   At the end of World War I, the Greeks invaded Turkey through Izmir; in 1922, the Turks surrounded Izmir, then set fire to the non-Muslim parts of the city, burning it to the ground and killing thousands of non-Muslims, while hundreds of thousands of others huddled on the shore, where they eventually fled to other countries.  Izmir today is Turkey’s second largest city of over 4.5 million, and is a major port for exporting Turkish agricultural products. 

I had arranged a private tour of ancient Ephesus and whatever else we wanted to do. Spencer had stayed out late the night before, so he begged off today’s tour so he could sleep and relax.  The rest of us were met by our driver and tour guide. Ephesus is about 40 miles to the south of Izmir, and between 300 BC and 500 AD was the capital and economic center of Asia Minor.  It sits between two large hills, with the commercial center in the valley and the residences running up the sides of the hills.  The Romans built on the existing Greek city, and by 100 AD Ephesus had over 250,000 inhabitants.  Over time, the shallow harbor silted up, and the town was mostly destroyed by a massive earthquake in the 6^th Century AD.  Its remaining inhabitants went elsewhere, and over the next 1300 years, the ruins were completely covered by silt and mud flowing from the hills, and its location lost to memory.

In 1860, a British archeologist correctly deduced the location of Ephesus, started digging, and found the ruins bearing inscriptions with the city’s name.  Today, only 8% of the city has been excavated beneath more than 20 feet of dirt.  We walked from the upper end of the excavation site downhill through the main drag, past the ancient medical school and pharmacy (dating to 200 BC), looked at the restored Library of Celsus, and to the rebuilt amphitheater with a 25,000 person seating capacity.  It was the site of some of Paul's preaching, where he had a good deal of success.  Later, between about 250 AD and 324 AD, the amphitheater was used to kill Christians for the entertainment of the Roman citizens. 

From Ephesus, we wanted to go shopping for leather goods, so our guide took us to a factory outlet for Rossini, a high-end Italian fashion company.  We were given a private fashion show complete with pouty models strutting on the runway, while we rolled our eyes at each other.  This was not what we had in mind.  We browsed the showroom while the persistent salesman assured us that we should ignore the prices on the tags (starting at $1600 and going above $2000 for jackets), since their asking price was 60% off, and we could haggle from there.  The leather was supple and the garments were nice, but we were not about to spend $800 (or even half that) for a jacket.  It made for a good story, however.

At Jennifer’s request, we then stopped at a pottery factory, where we watched a master potter effortlessly throw a vase and lid.  Garrett wanted to try, so he put on an apron and started to pull a cylinder, doing well for his first time on a wheel.  Eventually it got out of center and collapsed, and we moved on to see the painters painstakingly finish the pieces before being fired.  We walked into the huge showroom and were overwhelmed by thousands of pieces of pottery, most intricately finished.  Jennifer selected a small plate, and I chose a tile, each with different depictions of the tree of life.

Our guide then took us to a restaurant for an excellent Turkish lunch, with an assortment of appetizers and meats.  We chatted with our guide, and learned he had graduated from college in tourism in 2000, and had been a professional guide ever since.  He was raised in Anarka, lived in Izmir, and did tours throughout Turkey.  When Jennifer asked if he had a family, he launched into a long story of how he was in the process of separating from his wife, who had moved out unannounced several weeks ago, and taken their 3 year old daughter with her.  Perhaps that’s why he seemed somewhat distracted and was frequently on the phone during parts of our tour. 

After lunch, Kirsten wanted to try Turkish Delight, so we went to a place that made nothing but that.  The owner set out bowls of more than 20 variations of the treat, and invited us to sample each flavor of small cubes.  We ended up buying two boxes, then wondered if we could carry it onto the ship, since outside food and drink was supposedly banned.  We ended up having no problems. 

Upon our return to the ship, we had to rest after another arduous day of vacation.  We met for dinner at the Japanese steakhouse, where a Filipino cook garbed in a Rising Sun chef hat sliced and diced and tossed surf and turf onto our plates.  Not bad stuff.  After another trip to the spa, Jennifer and I joined Garrett on the front row of the auditorium for the magician show.  The show started by us being subjected to 15 minutes of video telling us that this magician had been named Italy's magician of the year in 2012, which had the curious effect of both raising our expectations and turning us off at the sledgehammer repetitiveness.  As it turned out, the show wasn’t that good – virtually all of his tricks were straightforward, and relatively easy to figure out.  Capped with his arrogance (repeatedly gesturing to the audience to clap more, and more, and more), combined with the lackluster response from the crowd, and I think it’s safe to say that my opinion was shared by many. 

Thursday, July 11:

Today is a sea day, as we cruise south of the Poloponnise on our way back up the Aegean Sea.  As usual, I was awake early, and went upstairs for some breakfast and to await the opening of the spa at 8 am.  I was in the spa for nearly two hours, and had the whole place to myself.  It’s a wonderful oasis amid the teeming masses in other areas of the ship.  Jennifer found me in the library around 10, where I was reading more about tomorrow’s destination of Split.  She was on her way to the spa after having slept in.  Good for her.   We had a relatively quiet day, reading, napping, and playing card games with the kids.  Kirsten and Spencer have been staying out late into the night with others of their age, either in the disco or the hot tubs or some of the lounges.  They seem to be having a good time.

Friday July 12:

It was a relaxed morning, as I followed my usual routine:  up early, breakfast, and first one in the spa.  I also got early boarding passes for the tenders to today’s port of Split, Croatia, since there is no dock large enough to handle the ship.  Four tenders started running at 11 am, but two quickly developed engine trouble, slowing the passenger transfer to a crawl.  We finally got to shore at about 12:15 pm.  We spent most of the afternoon walking around the town that grew around and inside the former retirement home of the Roman Emperor Diocletan, who ruled the Empire from 284 to 305 AD, then spent the last few years at his massive palace.  Diocletan is most known for banning Christianity, and under his reign many were killed in the arenas.  Ironically, over his tomb is a Christian church built in the 6^th Century.  After the Romans retreated from what was then called Dalmatia early in the 5th Century, the locals moved into the palace and proceeded to subdivide it for the next 1500 years.  Today, you can make out the original palace walls and arches, filled in, new windows and doors created, and a warren of streets and houses with the original palace floor forming a uniform base.  Unfortunately, most of the shops offer the same schlocky tourist crap made in China.  I mainly looked at the architecture, while the rest of the family sorted through the chaff.  By 4 pm we were back on the ship.

I found myself a little melancholy as we came back on board.  I was getting a bit tired of being the planner and tour guide, and was feeling underappreciated by my kids.  Sometimes I feel like I am pulling them along, and they neither appreciate my efforts nor offer to help out.  Maybe I’ll turn Paris over to them and take a back seat. 

In the evening, we went to the final show, which was a strange combination of modern interpretive dance, a few magic tricks, and some gymnastics.  After a family dinner, we attended the chocolate lovers dessert spread, but I found little there to my liking.  More than anything, I felt ready to be done with the cruise.  Maybe I should have gone to the spa instead.  Alas, the spa is closed for the duration.  We disembark tomorrow morning back in Venice.