Valencia

Valencia, Spain!  What  glorious city on a glorious day!

Beautiful architecture and artistry wherever  you looked from Roman to Gothic to modern. First we visited the Valencia Cathedral, built over several centuries beginning in the 13th century and ending with the 18th century entry to the basilica.   The Santo Cáliz Chapel (1674) has a vaulted ceiling with star motifs, an image of heaven with the 12 apostles and the coronation of the Virgin Mary with a rich blue background that the picture below only begins to capture.  The dome of the cathedral is beautiful carved alabaster -- letting light in through its lacy openings.


Not to be missed in the side chapel pictured below is a relic of the Holy Grail, from the 1st century AD which, tradition has it, Jesus used to institute the Holy Eucharist.

At the other end of the old river bed that runs through the city, which is now filled with parks, playgrounds and museums, are the newest buildings in the city -- buildings conceived by the world-renowned (and city-born) architect Santiago Calatrava. He produced the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències), which contains an opera house/performing arts centre, a science museum, an IMAX cinema/planetarium, an oceanographic park and other structures such as the long covered walkway where George and I took a picture.

Not to be missed on a tour of this city, are the buildings dedicated to the America's Cup sailing vessels, which Valencia hosted in 2007. Pictured below is the Oracle/BMW building which sponsored San Francisco's entry to the 2007 races. People were hard at work at the major buildings, making preparations for the 2010 America's Cup. Wouldn't it be nice to be here for that!

Monte Carlo

From the mountaintop Monte Carlo Golf Club, George took a picture of the Crystal Serenity in the harbor so far below.   He played a nice round of golf (91) on the hilly par 72 course with his two partners Jim and Vincent.   He took a few golf lessons on the boat and is looking forward to spending some time on the golf course when we return home (sigh). It was a beautiful day and evening here, viewing the outstanding yachts in the harbor and walking through the beautiful city.

Roma

We only had a day to spend in Rome -- and it was again a beautiful spring day! So we started off with a stop at the Spanish Steps and then continued on to the Trevi Fountain to toss in a coin -- and wish for more time the next time we are here!

Rome on a 3 day weekend was crawling with people, so we saw all of our favorite places from the second level of the Big Red Bus!   We finished up at St. Peter's in time for 5 PM Mass in the Basilica -- what a beautiful way to end the day.

The ship hosted a wonderful dinner that evening at Santo Spirito, a 14th century hospital, just steps away from the Vatican.  We had a great dinner with lots of wine and were entertained by a harp quartet followed by a superb performance by two tenors and a soprano from St. Cecilia Institute of Music!

Capri

After a morning arrival in Naples, George and I were off again.  A short 45 minute hydrofoil to the Isle of Capri and we were in a little bit of paradise.  A harrowing bus ride up to the top of the mountain (Italian bus drivers!) and we arrived at Anacapri (Above Capri) with narrow winding walking streets with plenty of shops!  After a short bus ride back to the midpoint of Capri town, we stopped for more walking, plenty of great views, great shopping and a wonderful lunch.

This stunning view was from the front of this little hotel off the beaten path (here's the website for future reference www.capri.net/en/c/la-scalinatella).   Several golf carts passed us on the walkway with luggage for those staying overnight.  I was only a little bit jealous!

Soo... We really haven't done any pictures of food on our vacation (though we have eaten like royalty),  George and I shared this amazing Italian cheesecake that our waiter insisted we would like!  It was delicious.  Our restaurant was Villa Verde in Capri just a bit past another hotel called Hotel La Palma. Another fabulous day!

Crete

After all of our travels through Southeast Asia and Egypt, it certainly was nice to be welcomed back to Western Civilization in Aghios Nikolaos, Crete.  We enjoyed a wonderful spring day traveling into the mountains and visiting the Lassithi Plateau.

But first on our journey high in the mountains of Crete, we visited the tiny 14th century Monastery of Panayia Kera which had been the home of the icon of Our Lady of Prompt Succor or Our Lady of Perpetual Help many centuries ago. Unfortunately, the legend goes that when Crete was occupied by the Venetians the icon was brought to Italy via a prosperous merchant who died while trying to have it displayed so all could venerate it.  The icon was placed in the care of the Augustinians in Rome and was rediscovered by Pope Pius IX  who took an interest in it, for he had remembered praying before it as a young boy.

We visited the villages of the plateau and enjoyed a wonderful peasant lunch complete with traditional Greek dancing and Raki or Tsipouro, a home-brewed, clear drink similar to ouzo.

Cairo

Did you know that camels aren't really that common to Egypt?  But you find lots of them at the Pyramids... and so here's the classic picture.  George couldn't resist.  He wanted to take a camel ride but the stories of camel drivers taking advantage of tourists once they were on the camel led him to take a more cautionary approach!

Another classic -- we made it to see the Sphinx!  We were very close -- along with a thousand of our closest friends!  Did you know that the city of Giza is built up to within a half mile of the Sphinx and the Pyramids? In fact there is a KFC with a beautiful view! Thank God, the Sahara dessert is on the other side of these great monuments.

After the Pyramids and the Sphinx (and purchasing some papyrus), we had a wonderful lunch at The Minna House.  A wonderful historic palace famous for the opening ceremonies for the Suez Canal in the 1930s.  A beautiful place with rooms with a view of the Pyramids!

Our evening was spent on a dinner cruise up the Nile.  A beautiful waterfront and gorgeous night, we were entertained by the Whirling Dervish pictured above. He spun around for at least 20 minutes.  Back to the Four Seasons with even more beautiful views of the Nile from our balcony, and a well deserved rest!

Luxor

Can you believe it?  We are here in the Valley of the Kings! George and King Tut!  Everything is bigger and more vast than one can imagine.  

Here at the Temple of Ramesses III the hieroglyphics are everywhere... Each image carved into stone so precisely with vibrant colors so many thousands of years ago. Every cartouche conveys so much meaning.

The Nile River was unbelievably blue and right outside our window at the Steigenberger Hotel -- our balcony looked out on this scene with the Valley of the Kings in the background.

With so many pictures of both the Luxor Temple and Temple of Karnack it was impossible to choose -- so here we are at the entrance to Luxor Temple.