Dubai, Egypt, Jordan, and Suez Canal Cruise in 50 days

In 50 days, I will board a beautiful ship in Barcelona that will visit Egypt, Jordan, Dubai, and pass thru the Suez Canal.  At the end of the cruise, I will spend 2 nights in Dubai.  Petra, Luxor, and Dubai will be new to me. 

Here is the itinerary of this 16-day, repositioning cruise:

16 nights departing October 26, 2012 on
Celebrity's Celebrity Solstice

ITINERARY

DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART Fri Oct 26 Barcelona, Spain 6:00pm Sat Oct 27 At Sea Sun Oct 28 At Sea Mon Oct 29 At Sea Tue Oct 30 Cairo / Giza (Alexandria), Egypt 6:00am Wed Oct 31 Cairo / Giza (Alexandria), Egypt 6:00pm Thu Nov 1 Suez Canal, Egypt (Cruising) 6:00am 8:00pm Fri Nov 2 Luxor (Safaga), Egypt 8:00am Sat Nov 3 Luxor (Safaga), Egypt 8:00pm Sun Nov 4 Petra (Aqaba), Jordan 7:00am 6:00pm Mon Nov 5 At Sea Tue Nov 6 At Sea Wed Nov 7 At Sea Thu Nov 8 At Sea Fri Nov 9 At Sea Sat Nov 10 At Sea Sun Nov 11 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 6:00am

Olympia, Greece-site of the ancient Olympic Games

Olympia Archeological Museum

posted on November 22, 2011

Today (11-23-11), our ship stopped in Katakolon, a small port located in southern Greece known for its proximity to the ancient site of Olympia—yes, THE Olympia where the ancient Olympics began in 776BC and lasted more than 1200 years. The games began as a tribute to Zeus and to celebrate character and balance of body and soul, as well as beauty and nobility.

At a time when incessant wars between city states were causing massive destruction and death, the King of Greece decided to call a truce and allow its best soldier athletes to fight on an athletic battlefield. Initially, the contests were divided into those in the nude and horseracing. The first nude races were footraces and gradually grew to include a pentathlon of sports of military skill in 706BC: javelin, discus thrower, jumping, wrestling, and foot racing. Later, boxing and chariot races were added.

Winners, who wore a wreath from the sacred olive tree, were transformed into virtual gods when they returned home, heralded as heroes for a lifetime. Strict rules governed participants requiring them to be Greek citizens, devoid of accusation of murder, and violation of game rules. In addition, judges, athletes’ trainers, and spectators followed a rigid set of requirements.
Women, who had their own competition before or after the games, were not allowed to be spectators.

We visited both the archeological site and the museum that houses artifacts excavated from the site.

On your mark, get set, go......!

The Archeological Site

Here we saw the gymnasiums, temples were prayers and sacrifices were offered, Olympic village, the race track, and more. We even took photos from the original footrace starting blocks.

Today, Olympic flame of the modern-day Olympic Games is lit by a reflection of the sunlight in a parabolic mirror at the restored stadium and then transported by torch to the place where the games are held. The first such torch was carried to Berlin in 1936. In 2012, the flame will be carried from this very spot to London.

The ancient Olympics ended 393AD when the Christian Emperor banned all form of pagan worship including these international games. Later, earthquakes, northern invaders, and flood damaged and eventually covered the site under 12 ft of silt. It is a wonder the site was excavated and rediscovered by a monomaniacal German archeological team beginning in 1875.

The modern Olympics were revived and were held for the 1st time in centuries in Athens in 1896 with 44 contests and 13 countries. Subsequent Olympics were held in Paris, St Louis, London, Stockholm, Antwerp, Amsterdam, LA, Helsinki, Melbourne, Rome, Tokyo, Mexico City, and so on.

The games were only stopped during WWI and WWII.

After we toured the site, we toured the impressive (nearby) archeological museum that houses hundreds of spectacular artifacts including statues, helmets, coins, terra cotta objects, and gold items.

Our visit ended with a stroll among the harbor front cafes and shops. Efharisto, parakalo, kalimera. I still remember a bit of Greek!

We had perfect sunny, cool weather for our tour with a knowledgeable, passionate, humorous guide.

I will certainly have special thoughts about the Olympics from now on………….

update Feb 2, 2012:

Ancient Greek Museum Attacked And Looted By Armed Robbers

Huffington Post UK First Posted: 17/02/2012 09:18 Updated: 17/02/2012 10:29

Robbers in Greece have stolen dozens of artefacts of "incalculable value" from a museum in Ancient Olympia.

Local officials said the Archaeological Museum of Olympia was attacked by armed robbers.

The museum, which is known as the birthplace of the Olympic games, was hit in a planned attack on Friday at around 7.30 am.

The thieves broke in using hammers, according to local media reports.

They tied up and gagged the one female guard present on site and stole up to 60 and 70 artefacts, according to police.

Local mayor Thymios Kotzias suggested two men in masks overpowered the one guard on duty, according to the BBC.

Culture minister Pavlos Geroulanos has apparently offered to resign over the incident, said Skai TV.

British officials are due at the museum on May 10 to light the Olympic torch ahead of this year's summer games in London.

Town of Katakolon, Greece

Queen Victoria in the port of Katakolon

Celebrity Cruises--What I like about them

Celebrity Cruises What I like:

Excellent customer service—they go above and beyond to:

--Add that extra touch (hand you cold towels in gym and when re-boarding from port visit, hand you sorbet by pool)

--Red carpet return to ship (hot chocolate, cold towels, cold beverages, hot soup etc) Pre-port visit coffee/pastries deck 4

--Resolve issues vs. defend and recite company policy

--They asked for feedback on how to improve service on THIS cruise before waiting till the end

Celebrity Equinox-Solarium

High energy, creative, variety of shipboard activities: wellness, enrichment, culinary, entertainment, lawn club, glass blowing show and more.  100s of activities on TA.  Passengers were fully engaged

Friendly, help staff. Everyone smiles and they all say hello

Spa Café-healthy dining

Solarium

Food is very good.  Nice presentation.  Seafood buffet. No need for steak knives here—meat is always tender.

Made to order stir-fry, pizza, eggs, pasta, burgers, Caesar salad, ice cream sundaes, crepes, fish, and more.

Officers interact with guests.  Pool volleyball contest, slot games, poker challenge, ping pong contests, dance contests, chefs cook-off etc.

Onboard future booking program-$100 deposit; 3 category upgrades, OBCs, fully refundable

Ship is beautiful elegant and clean.  (They are CONSTANTLY cleaning!)

Staff doesn’t point to things; they take you there.

Only 1 daily announcement, at noon, from captain

Not in your face trying to heavy sell

Passengers: happy, friendly, polite, well-traveled

Newspapers in multiple languages

Great free, contemp  movie choices and taped shows on TV.  MSNBC

Expanded room service menu

Decent exchange rate and no fees

The coffee

From my Celebrity Equinox Transatlantic and Easter Mediterranean (25-day) Back-to-back cruises April 16-May 11, 2012

Zumba Classes

Thriller Dance lessons and performances

Equinox cast in nightly shows

Port lectures

Games

Solarium

Spa Café

Stir Fry

The Food in main dining room

The ocean café

Aft Deck-outdoors-Ocean Café

Lawn Club

Swimming Pool

Interesting Loungers in pool area

Gym towels, Cold towels

Quasar

Karaoke

Comedian, Juggler, Magician and other entertainers

The friendly, helpful staff

Beautiful ship

Line Dancing, Ballroom dancing

Welcome back to the ship red carpet service

Glass elevator

Cookies

M&Ms on ice cream sundae bar

Room service menu

Cologne/perfume shop—little room off side

7-country, 12-night Russia & Scandinavia cruise on Aug 24-Sept 5, 2012:

In 50 days, I will take a 7-country, 12-night Russia & Scandinavia cruise.   Of note, I took this same cruise on NCL two years ago.  I will use the same great tour companies for visits to St Petersburg and Berlin.

12 nights departing August 24, 2012 on Celebrity's Celebrity Constellation
ITINERARY
DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART Fri Aug 24 Amsterdam, Holland 4:30pm Sat Aug 25 At Sea Sun Aug 26 Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany 9:30am Midnight Mon Aug 27 At Sea Tue Aug 28 Tallinn, Estonia 10:00am 5:00pm Wed Aug 29 St. Petersburg, Russia 7:00am Thu Aug 30 St. Petersburg, Russia 6:00pm Fri Aug 31 Helsinki, Finland 8:00am 5:00pm Sat Sep 1 Stockholm, Sweden 9:00am 4:00pm Sun Sep 2 At Sea Mon Sep 3 Copenhagen, Denmark 10:00am 6:00pm Tue Sep 4 At Sea Wed Sep 5 Amsterdam, Holland 5:00am

Istanbul

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Here I am with new friends

Istanbul

Karla and Ozlem (our tour guide)

I experienced one of the most wonderful visits to one of the most historically significant cities in the world.  I chocked as much into a day and a half as is possible and found every minute invigorating.  For 2 days, we visited Istanbul, the only city in the world, which straddles both Asia and Europe (split in two by the Bosporus Straights).

A special aspect of the visit was having spectacular views (from our ship) overlooking the Bosporus Straight (and Golden Horn) of key sites including Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and The Blue Mosque with its 6 minarets.  I had breakfast and dinner overlooking this spectacular water view.

Because Istanbul IS a port city, we had easy access from the ship.  Within minutes (or a short tram ride) a cruise passenger can enjoy major sites.  On our second day, I took the tram from Trophane to Eminonu, to begin my tour. I loved the frenetic energy of the city and felt comfortable touring around on my own, day 2.

Touring around, I felt the glory/power of this once mighty city that served as capital of two of the world’s most powerful empires Byzantine (for 900+ years) and Ottoman Empire (for 600+ years).  The Ottoman Empire was an economic, military, and religious powerhouse that ruled a huge chunk of the world spanning, Europe, Asia, and Africa from the 14^th till the 20^th century.

As we docked in Istanbul in the early morning, we were greeted by a robust and lively folk band of musicians dressed in traditional Turkish decorative uniforms.  I was able to zoom in and capture great close ups of them right from my private balcony.

I met my private tour group (of threee couples I met online) in our usual spot, across from the tour desk on deck 3.

We joined our tour guide, Ozlem (ozlemaydin33@gmail.com), who directed us to our bus, whose driver took us directly to the site-filled area: Sultanahmet.  Sultanahmet is the Old Town, where the city’s top landmarks are concentrated---including Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, The Blue Mosque, The Basilica Cisterns, Hippodrome Square, and the nearby The Grand Bazaar.

Here are some comments/reflections about my time in Istanbul:

We only used the bus twice: at the beginning and end of our day.  Traffic was very congested (a new James Bond movie was being filmed) and the Old Town is best explored on foot.

Sultanahmet Park, situated between the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, provides a great photo opp for both grand structures.

The Hagia Sophia is one of the most impressive buildings in the world and the crowning achievement of the Byzantine Empire.  Constructed by Emperor Justinian during the 6^th century, it remained the largest basilica in the world for centuries and the remains the worlds 4^th largest ever built.  It served as the Patriarchal church of Constantinople nearly a millennium until the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453.  Although the Ottoman Turks were Muslim, they were so captivated by the cathedral’s grand scale and beauty, they chose to preserve rather than destroy it.  Instead, they converted it to a mosque adding minarets, covering Christian mosaics and frescoes with Islamic artwork, and adding an imam’s pulpit and mihrab facing Mecca, among its many modifications.  After the secular Republic of Turkey was established, the Hagia Sophia was converted to a museum in 1936.  As a result, many (well-preserved), original Christian frescoes, which had been plastered over with whitewash, were uncovered and are now on display.  The eight iconic 24-ft wide leather medallions with Arabic calligraphy continue to dominate the apse, center and arches above the imperial gate. 

The Blue Mosque was the first mosque outside Mecca to have six minarets, likely a display of the Sultan’s wealth.  In order to avoid upstaging the central mosque in Mecca, which had six minarets, Sultan Ahmet I financed construction of a  seventh minaret there.  Construction of this mosque marks the beginning of the Ottoman Empire’s decline because it exhausted the treasury that was never restored due to a succession of wars and incompetent rulers.

I saw the famous Medusa heads in the underground Basilica Cistern (the vast, dimly-lit, former underground water reservoir, built in the 6^th century).

The Waterway intersection of The Golden Horn, Bosporus Straight, and Sea of Marmara is one of the busiest in the world.  There was a continuous flow of ferry, barge, commercial ship, cruise ship etc. traffic.  With its spectacular views, it’s no wonder that Sultan Mehmet The Conqueror chose to this prime location on which to build his Topkapi palace.

We had a delectable and inexpensive lunch at Buhara 93 (Nakilbend Caddesi 15-near the Hippodrome).  I ordered the chicken Kebab with rice and salad for 8 or 9TL.  They have open wood-fired ovens where you can watch men baking the famous lavas (flat bread).  (It really is mentioned in Rick Steve’s guide, as their sign says)

I found the vendors at the Grand Bazaar (and Spice market) to be in-your-face aggressive.  The whole experience can be a bit overwhelming at first, but, the loud, colorful, crowded covered malls grow on you after a while.  The opening line in Turkish bazaars is always, “Where are you from”?  I am always delighted when vendors cannot guess where I am from since they are generally skilled at discerning the heritage of tourists. My favorite line was, “How can I hassle you today?”.  My favorite sign was “Real Fake Watches Sold Here”. There are more than 4000 stalls in a maze of streets in the grand bazaar selling carpets, ceramics, jewelry (gold, silver, precious/semi-precious stone, byzantine replicas), textiles, copperware, mosaics, spices, Turkish handicrafts, clothing, water pipes, Turkish delights, Evil eye merchandise, and of course, souvenirs, and more. 

 

On my next visit, I will go to the bustling Taksim Square and Istikal Cadessi (Street) via the tram and funicular.