After completing a “bucket list” voyage to Egypt, Ray and Traci decided to return to the Mediterranean and visit the beautiful country of Croatia. Their adventure started on Alaska Airlines' new non-stop 787 service from Seattle to Rome. Alaska departed on time at 5:30 pm and arrived in Italy at 1:15 pm local time. No stops and a 10-hour overnight flight provided some rest in the air. Once in Rome, Alaska Air passengers had to take a shuttle bus from the gate to immigration and then wait in a lengthy line at the new automated border control system. It took Ray and Traci about 80 minutes to leave the airplane and meet their pre-arranged car service. The European Union has been notorious for lengthy delays at immigration so Ray and Traci’s experience was fortunate compared to some other reports.
After a 1 hour ride, Ray and Traci were dropped off in the heart of the city at the Hilton Garden Inn - Rome Colosseum. The hotel was next to the Manzoni metro train stop, and was walking distance to the Colosseum. Also, using Hilton Points earned from his stays working in the Yakima NICU, 2 nights were free! Check-in was easy, and they found their 5th-floor room to be a bit small but in great condition (the hotel was recently renovated and renamed from a Best Western to a Hilton Garden Inn). Dinner was at an Italian restaurant across the street called “Ristorante Feelsgood” which prepared some nice al dente pasta for the tired couple.
Ray and Traci found themselves in the middle of a record European heat wave as they walked from their hotel to one of the ancient world’s greatest landmarks – the Colosseum.
Built between 70-80 AD, the nearly 2500 year old stadium attracts visitors from around the globe. On this visit, Ray and Traci were able to score some hard-to-get tickets to the Colosseum attic – the 3rd and 4th levels of the stadium. During their February 2011 visit to Rome, the visitors made a quick jaunt into the Colosseum due to time constraints. This time, they were able to enjoy stunning views from all around the upper levels of the famed Roman attraction.
As with the Egyptian Pyramids, the Colosseum represents one of the greatest architectural achievements of ancient civilizations.
After the Colosseum, Ray and Traci visited the nearby Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. The Forum was the center of ancient Roman life and included government buildings such as the Senate’s Curia (office), temples, and landmarks. Palatine Hill overlooks the Forum and boasts Imperial Palaces first constructed by Emperor Augustus. The various structures vary in level of intactness but visitors gain quite a perspective on Roman life.
The extravagance and hubris gave insight as to what led to the empire’s demise. With the 96 degree heat, the longest lines were outside of free water fountains used by tourists to fill their much needed water bottles. Surprisingly, the entire complex has no concession vendors and only unofficial entrepreneurs hawked water and cooling devices like fans. After tolerating the scorching heat, Ray and Traci decided to visit the National Roman Museum – Palazzo and Massimo Baths of Diocletian. These air-conditioned museums housed many archaeological artifacts from ancient Rome. For lunch, Ray and Traci decided to pick up ham and cheese paninis on their way home. Despite 96 degree temperatures, a hailstorm hit Rome with large ice balls pelting cars and people for about 30 minutes. Later in the evening they enjoyed a light dinner at the nearby “Ristorante Pho1.”
On Thursday, Ray and Traci planned to take a day trip away from the “Eternal City.” They first considered taking high speed rail to Venice but the 7 hour round trip travel time made this impractical. They decided instead to visit Tivoli, a town 45 minutes away from Rome which turned out to be a wonderful tour. On the travel website Viator, the couple booked a tour which met at the Castro Pretorio metro station – from their hotel, it was quite easy to get to the station on the metro. A representative checked in the 27 members of the tour group, who boarded a bus and headed to Tivoli. The first stop was at Hadrian’s Villa. Hadrian was a Roman Emperor who decided he wanted to build his primary palace outside Rome in a suburb called Tivoli. Despite the incredible resources used to build the palace, bath complexes, fountains and even underground passages for the slaves to move around out of sight, subsequent Emperors used the complex as more of a Roman “Camp David” – a weekend retreat from Rome.
Over 30 buildings, many of which tested the limits of Roman construction technology, are found in the 1-kilometer-square site.
After a lunch break in the town of Tivoli, the tour group walked to Villa d’Este located in the heart of the town. Villa d’Este was built in the 16th century on behalf of Cardinal Ippolito II. While the very politically connected Cardinal never got to be elected Pope, he somehow leveraged his wealth and influence in building the complex, which rivals France’s Versailles in beauty and opulence.
Dominating the lowest terrace, it features massive water jets that spray high into the air, feeding into large fish ponds. Up the hill from the Fountain of Neptune, one finds the incredible 16th-century water organ - the world's first water-powered organ, generating Renaissance music using only pure water pressure and gravity to drive air through its pipes.
Ray and Traci left Villa d’Este thankful they were able to visit such incredible sites so close to Rome and highly recommend the Tivoli visit to any Rome travelers. The exhausted couple decided to just enjoy some food from the Hilton lobby bar – Ray had a Caesar salad and Traci had a chicken with vegetable dish.
Friday was embarkation day for their cruise on the Celebrity Ascent. A pre-arranged car service brought Ray and Traci to the Civitavecchia port about an hour from Rome. The couple was surprised how short the lines were for this sailing with 3500 passengers. The Ascent left Rome and made its way to Greece in very calm seas, passing Stromboli, a beautiful active volcano. The hot weather made the pools very popular during this cruise.
On Sunday, the Celebrity Ascent reached Greece, stopping at the island of Corfu. Corcyra was the original ancient city on Corfu, which was destroyed by the Goths in a 6th-century invasion. The surviving residents built fortifications on high ground and developed a fortress protecting the new city of Corfu. In 1386 the Corfu residents joined the Venetian empire. Ray and Traci decided to do some independent exploration of the small town and took the cruise line’s shuttle into Corfu. Because of the extremely hot weather, they decided to head to the Old Fortress of Corfu first to take advantage of the morning temperature.
A 15 minute walk brought them to the entrance of the impressive fortress. A moat converted into a canal filled with boats greeted visitors who traversed a bridge after buying 10 euro tickets. The site has quite the history – the Ottoman empire laid siege three times in unsuccessful attempts at capturing the fort. The Nazi empire used the Fortress for imprisoning people of Jewish decent before deporting them to Birkenau. In more recent times 007 actor Roger Moore pushed an evildoer off the cliff in the movie “For Your Eyes Only.” Ray and Traci climbed toward to the top of the fortress, admiring the beautiful views of Corfu and the Mediterranean Sea. A still-working lighthouse completed in 1824 is found. An adjacent metal cross was built in the 1840s to aid in communication with ships. The beautiful Church of Saint George is located within the walled fortress. It was built in 1840 by the British for their troops. In 1864 the island was ceded to Greece and the church became a Greek Orthodox Church which still operates today for special events. From the Old Fortress, Ray and Traci walked up the coast to the nearby Archeologic Museum. Initially the travelers thought it was primarily a cooling stop, but they found the 10 euro admission ticket well worth it in the quality and quantity of the antiquities in the 2-story museum. 3000 year old silver coins, 2800-year-old water supply pipes, and remarkably intact sculptures of Greek Gods populate the exhibits. A concentration of artifacts of Artemis, the Greek Goddess of hunting and the wilderness, were found at Corfu. Today, Artemis is the name given to American’s space program tasked with returning to the moon. Ray and Traci’s final Corfu stop was at the New Fortress. Built a mere 1000 years ago, this complex was built by the British 1815-1863 during their rule of the island. While the outside temperature continued to climb, the visitors found the fortress cool and pleasant. Certainly, the history and views were less impressive than the Old Fortress but still worth visiting. The travelers enjoyed their tour of Corfu which included walking along the coast and visiting the narrow streets of old town along with the major attractions. A short return bus ride brought them back to the Celebrity Ascent for lunch and a relaxing afternoon.
On Monday, the new week started in the harbor of Katakolon, Greece. Due a last minute itinerary change, passengers had to “tender” (take a shuttle boat) from the Ascent to the cruise dock. Ray and Traci took a ship-arranged tour to Olympia, the home of the Olympic Games in 776 BC. A 40 minute bus ride brought their tour group to Olympia. While time has ravaged much of the site, excavation of the site found the city with its Olympic venues including the ruins of the original gymnasium.
Today, a ceremony is held in advance of every Olympics where the torch is lit from a solar powered igniter and then brought by land, sea and air by various torch bearers, ultimately ending at the site of the games. The original Olympic stadium is surrounded by grass berms which originally hosted 45,000 spectators.
After leaving the city, the group entered the archeologic museum which hosted many relics of the area. 2500 year old toys along with impressive statues of Hermes – the Olympian god of athletes, and Nike – the ancient goddess of victory greet tourists. After returning on the tender boat back to the Ascent, Ray and Traci moved on to their next stop – Bar, Montenegro.
Tuesday morning in Bar started out with scorching temperatures – 91 degrees at 8 o’clock in the morning! Montenegro is a small country, the land area is similar to the US State of Connecticut and the population of 620,000 is about 25% less than the population of Seattle. A very large and technologically advanced sailboat called the Black Oyster was docked across from the Ascent – it was previously owned by a Russian Oligarch but now can be rented for $1 million per week (somebody could have saved a lot of money by just buying a cruise ship ticket). Ray and Traci left the port and walked along the coast, stopping at the Greek Orthodox Church of St. John Vladimir. The beautiful architecture with golden domes was matched with stunning colorful interiors. Gorgeous décor was accompanied by ritual chanting, an ancient tradition practiced to elevate words to a divine reality and prevent bias by keeping personal emotion out of readings.
From this iconic house of worship, Ray and Traci walked by Bar’s sports complex including a basketball arena and outdoor football (soccer) field. Along the waterfront they encountered the Bar Royal Palace, a large yellow residence used by the Royal Family as a summer residence. Currently the palace serves as the city museum of Bar, unfortunately it was closed for renovation during the visit. After choosing a Montenegro refrigerator magnet from one of the many street vendors, the couple took the shuttle bus back to the Ascent and spent a relaxing and toasty afternoon on the ship.
When the calendar turned to July, the Celebrity Ascent spent the first two days of the new month in Croatia. Wednesday turned into a perfect day to visit Dubrovnik, as the European heat wave took a break and temperature stayed in the 80s. Ray and Traci started the day with a tour of the walls surrounding Dubrovnik – built over the 13-17th centuries, the walls protect the city with an elevated barrier to fight off attackers. In some places the height reaches 82 feet. Three gates allow access to the walled city. Below the walls on three sides, rests the Adriatic sea.
The tour took a couple of hours to walk on top of the walls which extended about 6200 feet and required climbing 1100 steps. Within the walled city one finds many red roofs covering residences, businesses, and government offices. Several churches and even a monastery are also located inside the walls. After the wall tour, Ray and Traci decided to ride a gondola which ascends 1350 feet up Mount Srd, where spectacular views of the walled city and coast are found. While the 60 euro round trip gondola ride brings you to an upper station with great views, the best perch is from observation platforms that cost an addition 3 euros to enter. The couple descended on the gondola and walked thru the walled city to meet up with their next tour. The HBO series “Game of Thrones” (GOT) filmed much of their 8 seasons in Croatia. The popularity of the show created a whole industry in Croatia. The most popular tours focus on the filming locations used by the show. Ray and Traci used the travel website Viator to book “Dubrovnik: Game of Thrones Walking Tour” operated by Dubrovnik Walks. While both Ray and Traci were fans of the show, their tour leader Branka was a self described GOT nerd. Several of their tourmates were also quite devoted fans of the show. The tour started with entering Lovrjenac Fortress which was used to film many of the “Red Keep” scenes in the “King’s Landing”
Branka proceeded to demonstrate not only extensive knowledge of GOT that would impress the show’s writers, he also described the methods used and challenges overcome of filming. He used to run kayak tours and talked about his experiences with the cast which he not only led on private excursions but also interacted with in the town. While Ray only considered himself a casual fan of the show, the enthusiasm and first hand stories intrigued him. Both Ray and Traci considered Branka one of their very best guides in their travel experiences. From the “Red Keep,” the group headed into the city and visited some extremely famous locations in the show such as Cersei Lannister’s “Walk of Shame.” Branka described the many details required to organize the filming in a public area. The amazing tour ended with the members of the group taking pictures on an Iron Throne replica. The exhausted tourists returned to the ship after a wonderful day in Dubrovnik for the 100 mile sailing to Split.
Thursday started with a run in 80 degree weather at 6AM. One of the hardest part of this itinerary was working in some exercise with the morning tours and 90+ degree weather making afternoon outdoor workout torture. The Ascent has a nice 1/5 mile running track as well as a quite long 25 yard swimming pool. The gym was also very well equipped with weight machines and cardio equipment. The ship arrived in Split, Croatia and Ray and Traci joined their tour group for a bus ride to Klis Fortress. Located in the hills above Split, the fortress protected the city against invasions thru the mountain pass over its 2000 year history. Despite the views, it was a seldom visited tourist attraction until it was used as the city of Meereen in GOT. Unfortunately, their Split guide was not a GOT expert, and mostly showed photos of cuts from the show when visiting various areas in the fortress. A frontal view of the fortress showed ascending paths ending in the fortress gate.
After climbing steps to the upper levels of the wall, a small outhouse built into the wall is where inhabitants could relieve themselves. From the Fortress of Klis, the group traveled back to Split and entered the very busy Diocletian’s Palace. Constructed at the end of the 3rd century, Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered the palace built for his retirement residence. About half of the palace was for the Emperor, the other half to house a military garrison. During the 4th season of GOT, the palace was used to film scenes such as Daenerys training her dragons Rhaegal and Viserion. The palace also contains a genuine 3500 year old Egyptian sphinx granite statue imported from Egypt during Roman times, symbolizing protection and reflecting the palace's rich cultural heritage.
Despite the hot weather, the palace was surprisingly cool due to the thick limestone construction and windows strategically placed to promote flow of air. Ray and Traci grew weary of the large number of visitors inside the palace and returned to the ship as soon as the somewhat disappointing tour ended.
After a full day at sea, the ship made port in Messina, Italy, located on the island of Sicily. A narrow channel less than 2 miles wide separates mainland Italy from the island. Forgoing a “Godfather” tour, Ray and Traci did a more traditional excursion to the town of Taormina. Located 45 minutes or so from the Messina Port, this very traditional Italian town is a frequent destination of A-listers and was the filming location for season 2 of HBO’s The White Lotus. With a plethora of beachfront resorts, visitors from all over the world travel by plane or by yacht to vacation. Their guide brought the group through the main city gate and they walked through a narrow street with designer stores selling everything from clothes to handbags to watches. From the shopping area, the tour continued in the Public Gardens with its diverse vegetation and nice views. Above the town, the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace where White Lotus was shot, was seen. While the guide took the group back to the shopping area for a snack, Ray and Traci went to the much-acclaimed Teatro Antico di Taormina. Built by the Greeks in the 3rd century BC, this amphitheater has stunning panoramic views of Mount Etna and the Ionian Sea.
As the modern stage equipment shows, it is still in use for concerts, operas, and the Taormina Film Festival. Ray thought going to Taormina and not seeing the theater would be like going to Rome and not visiting the Colosseum. Happy that they saw this impressive landmark, Ray and Traci rejoined the tour for the ride back to Messina. Back in port, the travelers stopped at the Cathedral of Messina and its adjoining clock tower. This astronomical clock was built in 1933 and puts on quite a daily show in addition to regular chimes. 54 animated bronze statues circle around synchronized to Schubert’s Ave Maria at noon daily. In addition to the clock, it has a dial for a perpetual calendar and a phase of the moon display. While they couldn’t see the 12:00 noon show, they did climb the clock tower to see the complex machinery that runs the astronomic clock. After a long day in the Italian heat, Ray and Traci were happy to return to the ship.
Sunday was the last cruise port visit, this time in Naples, Italy. Ray and Traci previously visited Naples and toured the legendary frozen-in-time city of Pompeii. This time, the couple planned a tour of Herculaneum, a much less publicized victim of the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The former Roman town was covered with hot mud (unlike Pompeii, which was blanketed with hot ash). Excavations have opened up 30% of the area for tourism. An excellent tour leader, Luigi, led the group through the town. The hot mud caused wooden features to turn into charcoal, not burn up like in Pompeii. Luigi pointed out the fascinating features of the homes such as “rain catchers” that allowed citizens to recycle rainwater in addition to aqueduct supplied water. Features of homes such as artwork remained intact. Ray and Traci ventured to the marina district where 300 skeletons were recovered – It was thought that most of the inhabitants were able to escape the flowing mud, limiting the loss of life from the disaster.
At the end of this fascinating tour, Ray and Traci decided to escape the scorching Italian heat and spent their final afternoon relaxing on the Ascent.
After their 10-day Mediterranean sailing, Ray and Traci felt fortunate that the record heat was manageable and they were able to complete all of their plans. A bus ride to the airport brought them to their Alaska Airlines flight and a return to Seattle in the middle of the US National Team’s World Cup Football (soccer) match at Seattle’s Lumen Field.
