Said good-bye to the group and shopped our way up to the Spanish Steps(which is right in front of the oldest and largest French church in Rome....so why aren't they they French steps???...actually they are across tithe street from the Spanish Embassy, which is the oldest continuously operating embassy in Rome) and then caught a cab back to the Albani.
We had our own farewell dinner (about 8 of us) down at Setso Pizza Y Cucina where Bill and I ate on our first night in Rome. We will see one of these couples, Sharon and Graeme, on our cruise ship as they are doing a long vacation, like us.
The next morning we had breakfast with the people whose planes didn't leave at 6:00 a.m. And while they were off to the airport, we were off to the Cavilieri Waldorf Astoria, which is high on a hill behind Vatican City.
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We arrived early and the room was not ready, but they upgraded Bill and so we sat in the Imperial lounge on the 7th floor, drank champagne and looked out over Rome. It was pretty smoggy that day but it was still a beautiful view. Our room was lovely, big balcony overlooking the grounds and they gave us access to the Imperial Lounge, which serves three meals a day and has a full bar. That's when we decided we were not leaving the hotel until we left for the cruise. It gave us an opportunity to unpack, sort, do laundry and repack before Monday morning,as the same time that we got a little pampering from some wonderful staff. Bill got some great shots of the Vatican and of the City during both day and evening.
The grounds are beautiful with a pride of bronze lions on the hillside, flowers everywhere and a beautiful pool.
There was a wedding reception in the courtyard of the hotel Sunday night and there was fireworks for the bride and groom. We pretended they were our fireworks to celebrate starting our cruise in the morning.
The next morning were were off in the shuttle, which picked up a French couple at another hotel, and two U.S. Servicemen, who were in Rome on vacation but are stationed in Nuremberg. One is very short, home in two weeks and very glad to be going. The other has four more years and is slated to go to Afghanistan the first of the year. We'll light a candle for him when we get back to Rome. We dropped all four of them at the Rome airport and drove another hour to the cruise port terminal in Civitevecchia, which means “Old City.” The check in at Celebrity was pretty smooth and we were in our cabin by 2:00 p.m. Dumped our hand luggage and sent off to explore the Solstice (which we are still doing) because it is so large. We got back in the cabin at 3:30 and unpacked our bags and met our cabin steward before the lifeboat drill. Managed to get through that and find our table in the dining room. Had dinner after sail away from Rome. We didn't stay up late (sorry Patty, no shows that night) but were kept up anyway by the people to the right of our cabin, who sat up until 3 on the veranda, talking very loudly. We haven't heard a peep out of them since and the “Do not disturb” sign has not left their door handle.
Day two was a sea day, so more exploring. We went to the gym in the a.m. And sighed as we ate our oatmeal and fruit. Breakfast in this buffet was overwhelming and since it goes for nearly 24 hours, you could just stay in the ocean view face for the whole voyage. Not us, of course because after eating our way through Spain and Italy I was worried about fitting into the sparkly dress for formal night(good thing we did a lot of walking because it fit). We went to a lecture in the morning on the connections between the Etruscans, the Greeks and the Romans given by a woman who has lived and taught in Italy for almost 50 years. We slept, sat on our patio and wandered. We had dinner that night in one of the specialty restaurants called “The Tuscan Grill” which was wonderful but honestly on my best day I could not do six courses.
We did two courses and shared dessert and could not finish our steaks. Do not know what it takes to provision this ship, which carries 2800 people and 1400 crew, I think. The people working on this ship are from all over the world, and so far we have met crew from Romania, Macedonia, South Africa, Greece, Croatia and the U.S. No show this night either because we are getting off the boat tomorrow to see the small town of Santorini. Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands in the Southern Aegean Sea.
It's essentially what remains today of a huge volcanic explosion. It was first settled in 3,000 B.C. But this civilzation disappeared when the island was engulfed by the eruption, which left it uninhabited for centuries. It was resettled by the Phoenicians around 1,000 B.C. The volcanic eruption produced a tidal wave over 800 feet high, which completely destroyed the entire Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 75 miles away. Fira (also called Thera) is the main town on Santorini and is reached either by funicular (cable car), donkey or by climbing 600 steps....which the donkeys have been climbing over...for many years...it's very slippery.
The ship was not in Santorini for long (docked at 2 p.m. And sailed away at 10:00 p.m.) and even though we lined up early for tender tickets (this ship is so large it had to be buoyed out) we were on boat#21. Didn't arrive until about 3 and waited for an hour in 90 degree heat to take the cable car up to the top of the cliff,where the town is, as opposed to riding up one of the little donkeys or walking up the 600 steps up the cliff (which is the same steps the donkeys use, so a little slippery). We were within ten feet of getting on the funicular when it broke down. We waited...they tried the easy fix, which did not work, and said they did not know when it would work again.
This is the point at which Bill and I looked at each other, looked at the blue, blue, blue Mediterranean, and looked at the beautiful little whitewashed taverna right on the water. We had a beer there, visited with a Ford dealer and his wife from Missouri and did a little shopping at the harbor and tendered back out to the ship, which left a little later than planned that night, because of the broken cable car. No problem really, because Mykonos is only 96 nautical miles away, just a hop, skip and jump for a ship this large.
We are still trying to take in how big the ship is, the dining room has two levels, as does the theater. There is both an indoor and an outdoor pool, a basketball court, a putting green with real grass, four specialty restaurants, and 11 bars. There is a huge spa and beauty salon, a big fitness center with the most up-to-date equipment there is as well as a large room for yoga and pilates classes. There are a large number of shops, a library,a card room, a casino and an art gallery. We are on the starboard side of the ship and still have to think each time we get off the elevators, which way we are turning.
We had been told we would tender out again at Mykonos, another small island, but awoke at 5:45 a.m. To find that we were tied at the pier. We had an early tour to Delos and so we were at the buffet bright and early for more oatmeal and surprisingly good coffee. This time we were a little closer to the front of the tour line to pick up our tour# (#3). All the participants wait in the theater until their number is called, then file off the ship and are met by a local tour guide. In this case, our guide Elena, was French but lived on Mykonos.
We all boarded the “Orca” and were off through very choppy seas for a 30 minute ride to one of the prime UNESCO Heritage sites in the world, Delos. Both Bill and I were very excited to take this tour. We both love history and there is something about walking through places like this that fascinates us and connects us to the past in such a visceral way. That is not to say we don't admire the beautiful setting (whitewashed buildings, blue roofs and bougainvillea blooming everywhere) but we really love the history.
Mykonos is part of the Cyclades, lying between Trinos, Siros, Paros and Naxos. It is really beautiful because while people used to white wash their stucco homes using lye-based washes for health reasons, it has become a trademark here and now by law you cannot paint your house a different color.
Delos is an uninhabited island about 30 minutes offshore and it is considered the birthplace of the God Apollo.
The ruins on this island date back to the third millenia B.C. The first real inhabitants were the Carians from Asia Minor and they were followed by the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Cretians and Ionians but Delos really flourished under the Romans (2nd thru 1st Century B.C.) because they were only interested in the harbor and the taxes it produced. This picture comes from the most early times of Delos.
Delos became a huge trading center, grain, spices and the slave trade provided the gold that enhanced it's growth. It was a harmonious group with Roman and Greek gods existing alongside each other and temples everywhere. According to Elena this is the only found from this time period that still exists. French and Greek archaeologists have been working together at this site since the late 1800s. There are still little houses there that are home to all the archaeologists, as well as the ruins and a museum. We saw the Temple of Apollo, the dried lake where he was supposedly born, the marble lions of Delos, the terrace of the foreign gods a really large amphitheater and the remains of “mansions” with incredible mosaics on the floors.
The museum also contained this "David" like statue of Dionysous, who was the greek god of pleasure and wine. This was created long before Michelangelo created David. One wonders if he had seen it at an earlier time. 
It's a good thing there was a really stiff wind or I think we would have roasted. The only tree on the whole island is the “miracle” palm tree in the middle of the dry lake. Of course, that same stiff wind created a very rough ride home through big waves. The boat dropped us in the town of Mykonos where we made our way back to the ship without buying a single t-shirt with “Mykonos” spelled out in glitter, or caps, etc. But we did find this beautiful church and just had to spend a minute here.
We will leave Mykonos at 5,hopefully with everyone on board and tomorrow we will be in Istanbul for two nights. Bill and I are looking forward to the tour there. We are skipping the belly dancing dinner to see the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar.
What a gorgeous picture you took of the little church on Mykonos! It looks like it's made of sugar or packed snow :-).
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