Hopefully "Live" Ryndam Athens to Tampa 2014

[Mtn2Sea]

Today has been a restful sea day. After Egypt, we both enjoyed a day to do whatever. Tomorrow we'll be back in Greece, where we have our first private tour for this cruise. Here's today's program.

 

 

 

The show tonight was presented by Mariusz, who hails from Poland. He plays an electric cello, which is a skinny thing. Mariusz joked that he hopes he can save enough money to buy the rest of his cello someday. Most of his music is classical, but he also played some rock. His last number was a Led Zepplin song.

 

 

Until later.

[cruz chic]

Darn, no cats:D. I hope you enjoy your sea day.

[Mtn2Sea]

I attempted to post this message earlier, but things weren't working. It's now lunchtime.

 

We're currently an hour or so from docking at Katakolon, the gateway port for visitors to ancient Olympia. When we were here 8 years ago, we took a HAL excursion. Today we'll be taking a private excursion that was organized by one of our fellow roll call members. Here's today's program.

 

 

 

Until later.

[Mtn2Sea]

We had a bus ride of 35-40 minutes to Ancient Olympia. Our guide took us to the museum first, which was good since there was a model showing the grounds. Here's photos from the museum.

 

 

We then went to the ancient ruins.

 

 

Until later.

[1of4]

You have me dreaming! Thanks so much for sharing your adventure and including wonderful pictures (cats or no). It was +1 when I left for work this morning...loving seeing the sun!

[Mtn2Sea]

 

After we finished our walk around the ruins of Ancient Olympia, part of our group went to a restaurant for lunch. The remaining members of our group elected not to include lunch in their tour price, so they walked to the nearby town where they could shop and/or find a place to grab a bite to eat on their own. We elected to include the lunch, which included free wifi. The food, which was served buffet style, was very good. The lunch included wine as well as something similar to ouzo, but stronger. I chose to pass on the special drink and was the only one who didn't make a big face! During lunch, I was able to upload my photos and post my two previous updates. Our guide included 30 minutes in town for shopping and to allow us to regroup with the other half of our tour, which cut back on my free wifi time. As a result, I didn't have time to post the following photos. The first group of photos include some pics reflecting parts of the eastern frieze of the temple. The second photo shows the area where they have a ceremony to start the fire for the Olympic torch. This is done every two years (Summer as well as Winter Olympics) 30 days prior to the games. We're now back on the ship with a couple of hours until dinner.

 

 

 

Until later.

[Mtn2Sea]

You have me dreaming! Thanks so much for sharing your adventure and including wonderful pictures (cats or no). It was +1 when I left for work this morning...loving seeing the sun!

 

We've had perfect weather until today and it wasn't bad today, just a little cooler and overcast.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Mtn2Sea

[Mtn2Sea]

Tonight's show featured Ruben Vilagrand, who was billed as a comedic mime. He never uttered a single word and did generate laughter. His primary focus, however, was being a magician. I think most of the audience had seen the tricks performed at one time or another. His act nevertheless was a nice change of pace.

 

 

Until later.

[kent4489]

I'm enjoying your report and pictures. Thanks for sharing!

 

If I might ask a favor.... if you have a chance to inquire with the Neptunes that play in the Ocean Bar, I would like to know if the plan is to have the Neptunes on the Ryndam for the holdiay cruises, Christmas and New Years. (I realize the muscians could change, but wondering if the Neptune format will continue.) Also, if you could find out the current trio as well as if they know who will be on for the holidays if the same format continues. Thank you so much if you can find out this information.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise. It seems to be fabulous so far!

[Mtn2Sea]

We have docked at Corfu, Greece. Since we visited here in 2006 and took an excursion to the Anchillion Palace at that time (which we thoroughly enjoyed), we've decided to do something a little different. We'll be taking a hydrofoil to Albania, where we'll see some Roman ruins and have lunch. For now, here's today's program.

 

 

 

Until later.

[Mtn2Sea]

We really had no idea what to expect from our HAL excursion to Albania. When I looked at the reviews on HAL's website, they were basically so-so. We are so glad we chose to go! The only disappointing thing was the hydrofoil's cabin was pretty warm on both trips; however, the seas were calm all day, so the hydrofoil ride was very smooth. When we got to Sarande, we found a very clean and modern city that's obviously a tourist area. We had a bus ride of about 30 minutes to the Roman ruins of Butrint. For anyone thinking of visiting this area, keep in mind there's significant walking with quite a number of steps. With that said, I found the walk through these ruins to be quite serene. Unlike most of the ruins I've visited, these had quite a number of trees that provided a lot of shade along the way. Also, periodically you'd turn a corner and see beautiful water scenes. In fact, during this time of year you'll see a lot of water in and around the ruins. For instance, at the theater the stage area is a pool of water. Our guide said the land is sinking/the sea is rising, so the ground water level at the ruins is steadily rising. We only saw a small area of mosaics because they are keeping gravel on the floors to protect time, presumably until something can be done. Here's some photos that give a glimpse of what we saw today.

 

 

These photos show the Basilica area, including the small part of the mosaics they've left uncovered.

 

 

In this group of photos is one showing our guide at the lion's gate. In the carving above the entrance is a lion overcoming a bull. The photo below the guide shows part of the outside wall surrounding the city. The photo showing water with a mountain in the background was taken while standing next to the city wall.

 

 

Until later.

[Mtn2Sea]

Tonight's performer was Nick Page, who started with the music of Frankie Vallie and ended with a number by Paverotti. He also did two songs from Les Miserables. His performance was outstanding, as evidenced by the standing ovation he received.

 

 

Until later.

[shrimp56]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your voyage. I was particularly intrigued by your shorex to Albania.

[wandb]

I am really enjoying your review and the fabulous pictures. Appreciate all the time and work you are putting into this.

 

Might I ask a favor? Could you please include a few pics of the Ryndam? I'd especially love to see a few of the Atrium, MDR, and any others of your choice. Thanks so much!

[RuthC]

I'm continuing to enjoy your narrative, and very much enjoying the pictures.

 

I'm especially pleased that you are mentioning the entertainers by name, and a little something about them. For the rest of us, we may never take the same itinerary, or shore excursions, but we very well may run into the same entertainment. It's nice to have an idea what we'll be seeing.

Thank you.

[Viv0828]

Very interesting

 

 

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Edited October 28, 2014 by Viv0828

[Mtn2Sea]

We docked in Messina, Italy, around 9:39 AM. Since we've been here a couple of times, we're going to just walk around the town, looking for some wi-fi and maybe a little shopping. I noticed from our balcony that the clock tower has scaffolding around it - that seems to be par for the course for this trip. Here's todays's program.

 

 

 

Until later.

[Mtn2Sea]

We're sitting outside at a small cafe having coffee and taking advantage of free wi-fi! We wandered around town getting reacquainted with the town and making a few purchases. So far, we haven't seen any cats, only a pigeon or two. Here are some photos representative of Messina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until later.

[Mtn2Sea]

Really enjoying your report! Thanks. :)

 

I'm a "cat collector", too. They do so look as if they own the place! This is my Ephesian cat from 3 years ago - maybe the mama of yours.

 

 

I think your mama cat has been busy. There were a lot of cats at Ephesus!

[Mtn2Sea]

The first half of tonight's program at the Showroom at Sea was another electric cello performance by Mariusz, who we saw a few nights ago. He did four songs, beginning with the theme from the Mission Impossible movie and ending with a medley of songs from the James Bond movies. The second half of tonight's program was Nick Page using his golden voice to sing two contemporary songs followed by a medley of songs from Broadway musicals.

 

The Ryndam is currently circling the island of Stromboli, which is one of Italy's three active volcanoes. We stepped outside for a few minutes, but didn't see any eruptions. I'm sure the diehards will see something, but we didn't want to wait around for up to an hour on the chance we might see something. The lightning we saw, however, was impressive.

 

Until later.

[Mtn2Sea]

We're just now arriving to Naples where we, along with two other couples from the roll call, have hired a driver to take us along the Amalfi coast for the day. Hopefully, the weather continues to be nice for the trip and I can get some good photos. Here's today's program.

 

 

 

Until later.

[1of4]

Amalfi coast...can't wait for those pictures!!

 

It is 0 degress and snow predicted for Halloween night....

[Mtn2Sea]

We got off the ship along with the other couples going on our Amalfi adventure shortly after the ship cleared. Turns out another couple wanted to join our group and fortunately our guide was able to accommodate two extra people. We quickly got out of Naples traveling south. We had a quick photo stop at an overview of Sorrento. The early morning haze didn't make for good photos, but I was able to look back and get a photo of a hotel high up on the cliff overlooking Sorrento. The other two smaller photos in the following collage are close to our first real stop, which was the village of Positano. We walked around the town and ended up at the small beach. As many of the beaches in this part of the world, the beach is actually pebbles.

 

 

 

We had a quick stop at the Emerald Grotto. The following picture isn't great, but it gives you an idea of what we saw.

 

 

Our next stop, which was for two hours, was at the village of Amalfi. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe; I had pizza and DW had bean soup. The street was filled primarily with pedestrians, but an occasional car/truck or scooter came through. Our chairs were so close to the traffic that one member of our group used a side mirror of a car that had stopped to check his hair. We then began wandering down the street window shopping until we happened upon a gelato shop, which of course stopped our window shopping for a few minutes. After all, this is our last stop in Italy, so we had to get our last gelato. Here are a couple of photos of the town.

 

 

Our last stop was at the village of Ravello. We had an hour, but everyone was ready to go after about 30 minutes. We then took a faster route back to Naples and our floating home, arriving around 4:30 PM. All aboard was at 5:30, which gave me some wifi time in the terminal building. I purchased a large bottle of water for two euros, which allowed me to use the store's internet long enough to upload some photos. My last photo collage is in honor of tomorrow being Halloween (these are today's cat, so just imagine they're black).

 

 

Tonight's program is by the ship's cast and is the same production we saw the first week. We choose to go instead to the Wajang Theater to see the film Pompeii (we had a quick glimpse of the ruins as we drove down the highway).

 

Until later.

 

[Mtn2Sea]

Almost forgot to post photos of the beach area we visited.

 

 

Until later.

[kenevenpar]

Outstanding! Thank you so much for sharing.