Travels with Pat

After our ship docked in Haifa, our bus basically followed the footsteps of Jesus from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee and beyond.
The sleepy village of Nazareth 2000 years ago is now
wall-to-wall buildings with clogged traffic. We drove through the
Valley of Cana (where Jesus performed the miracle of changing
water into wine) and noted that road signs are in Arabic and
Hebrew.
Before lunch at a Kibbutz, we visited the Church of the Beatitudes where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount.. Then we stopped at the Loaves and Fishes Church on the rocky shore of the Galilee where Jesus shared a few loaves and fishes with a very large crowd.
Hundreds of supplicants were being baptized in the Jordan River at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee where we observed 2 Eastern Orthodox Priests standing at the top of a concrete ramp which sloped into the green water. Some people were clothed in white garments, women wore scarves over their heads and others just wore their daily clothes.
This fertile land produced groves of olives, figs, dates and bananas.

The Dardenelles, formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in NW Turkey connecting the Agean Sea to the Sea of Marmosa. Like the Bosporus, the Dardenelles Strait separates Europe from Asia and connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
Since we were both going ashore in Israel, we had to stand in line for a “face to face” interview with Israeli immigration officials.
Because of multiple sailings with Holland America, we were upgraded to a HUGE stateroom with a living room. bedroom and large bathroom.
Every night when we return from dinner, the room steward has turned down the covers and placed the next day’s schedule on our bed, a piece of chocolate on our pillow and ingeniously fashioned towel replicas of manta ray, crab and elephant shapes.

On our panoramic tour of Constanta, Romania, the historic home of Count Dracula, we learned that it has the largest harbor on the Black Sea.
Our first stop was St. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Cathedral with 2 chanting priests. Orthodox priests have to be married in order to consul married parishioners. Makes sense to me.
Back on the bus to see the Genoese Lighthouse, a statue of Ovid in front of the Archeological Museum and a 12 mile drive to a seaside resort with a large sandy beach.

Even though I signed up for a bus tour of Odessa, our group walked in the POURING rain along the Seaside Wall lined with Plane trees observing statues of founder Catherine the Great, Pushkin and the first Mayor of Odessa. Gogul and Checkov were also prominent natives of this city with 100 nationalities and 1 million population.
Back on the bus, we drove to Arcadia by the seaside and then back into the rain completely submerging my shoes in rushing gutter water on our way to a restaurant for tea.
When we arrived at the ship I was inspired to write 2 songs pertaining to the rain while Kathy took our soggy clothes to the ship’s drying machines.

We started our scenic Varna, Bulgaria, tourat the excavation of the Roman Baths built in the 2nd century not only for hygiene but also as a public meeting place.
At the Cathedral of the Assumption 4 priests joined in polyphonic singing which was very moving.
In the Ethnographic Museum we learned that Bulgaria was one of the first countries to produce wine. The museum also housed unique farming implements, traditional dress and decorated breads.
We ended our tour of Varna with a light lunch while we watched a folkloric show with enthusiastic young costumed dancers.

This morning we took a panoramic tour of Istanbul -starting on the European side and crossing a 1/2 mile toll bridge over the Bosporous Straits into Asia.
Istanbul with a population of 12 million residents is a cultural center and has served as Capital for the Roman and Ottoman Empires encompassing countries around the Black Sea as well as around the
Mediterranean including Egypt and Morocco.
After crossing back into the European section, we stopped to admire a Hippodrome (for horse racing) and waited with other tourists and pilgrims to climb the stairs to the Blue Mosque. After removing our shoes, we walked on carpeted floors to marvel at the interior.
The guide escorted us to the requisite rug buying place before he took the group into the old bazaar. I sat outside and chatted with several boat mates. Small world! A nearby tourist from a different ship heard me mention Chico and shared with me that she had just visited her granddaughter at the college.
Back to the ship for a late lunch. That evening we watched an amazing “Mysteriagic” show featuring a couple who were very accomplished at quick changes of costume.

In Pireaus, Greece, we waited so long to board our ship that free wine was served at dinner. Our stateroom was expansive with 2 beds, 4 closets, a sofa, desk and large bathroom.
While a special pilot guided our vessel through the Dardenelles, the crew supervised the mandatory life boat drill. Then, we filled out shore excursion forms which enabled us on Day 2 to visit old Istanbul, the largest port in Turkey.
The skyline of Istanbul, where Europe meets Asia, is dominated by spires and domes belonging to mosques and medieval palaces,

Miyama picked us up for our afternoon tour of the Livingstone Museum and a local village – the chief is paid by the tour company for visiting privileges.
From the evolution of Zambians from Neanderthal to the present and featuring Natural, Cultural and Political History sections, Kathy and I thought the presentation was excellent.
Felistus was our local guide for Mukuni Village, a compound containing the chief’s home (2 wives), family homes and a Butterfly thatched hut for disabled persons. The mud huts were round so that snakes couldn’t lurk in any corners and the people slept on the ground. No electricity or indoor plumbing – instead of walking 4 miles for water, the town had a new bore hole and pump.
A young woman with a 1 1/2 year old strapped to her back and a 3 year old helping her was scooping up some dried peanuts to store.
Our last visit was to the Family Carvers who had a display of masks, salad bowls and carved animals.

When we woke up there were three zebras grazing on the hotel lawn in addition to the omnipresent Vervet monkeys. After a buffet breakfast, Miyanda, our Tongan tour guide for only Kathy and me, drove us to the falls with a view of the Zambezi River rushing over the brink. This makes Victoria Falls one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World because of the 9 1/2 million liters per second (4 liters = 1 gallon which falls.
Miyanda had ponchos for Kathy and me to protect us from the spray as we walked down MANY steps. On the way back up we stopped at the statue of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume” when Stanley “discovered” Livingstone at Lake Tanganyika after Livingstone had been missing from London for 10 years.

Our Victoria Falls tour base was the Zambezi Sun Hotel situated on the brink of the East Cataract. The first afternoon we had a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River aboard the African Queen(think Hepburn and
Tracy).
Victoria Falls is called “Mosi-ou Tunya” ( Mighty Smoke That Thunders). Dinner was served in an open air dining room where monkeys sometimes joined the guests at meal times.