LIVE from Viking Sky - Greek Odyssey cruise - Nov 26-Dec 6

[Australia08]

13 minutes ago, BaxCruiser said:

Thanks - gives me confidence my 14 flights a day ARE going to benefit me 🤪

 

I’m sure you’ll have no problems.  Bravo for 14 flights a day!!!!

[Australia08]

A combination of slow Internet and a busy day in Thessaloniki yesterday prevented me from posting.  We have a much needed sea day today with some scenic cruising around Mt. Athos.  Commentary will take place in Explorers’ but we plan to take it easy in our stateroom for most of this period.  They are piping through the commentary, if your television is set to the Bridge Cam with volume turned up.  

 

Back to yesterday in Thessaloniki.  Viking only provided two tours.  This was disappointing since I had really wanted to go to the UNESCO Phillip II tomb and associated archaeological museum there.  Once we got here, I found out that those tours are not given on Tuesdays because that is the day of the week that those sites are closed.  Oh well, I’ll just have to come again.  We again experienced cloudy weather and it was quite chilly, in the 50s.  We were fortunate that there was no wind so touring was quite manageable. Our first stop on the included tour was the White Tower.  This is located on the promenade that provides a walking/running path along the waterfront.  Originally built by the Byzantines, the present construction was built during the Ottoman period when it was used as part of the harbor fortification and later served as a prison, where it is said many prisoners were tortured.  The Greeks have since renovated it, painting the outside white.  We had a short walk along the promenade to view the largest (in Greece) free-standing sculpture of Alexander the Great on a rearing horse.  This rearing horse pose is difficult for the sculptor to balance so its size is particularly impressive.  After viewing the statue, it was on to the Archaeological Museum.  The first place we visited in the museum held the treasures of gold and other precious metals that were found in several Macedonian tombs.  Of particular interest was the golden chest that held human bones that was found in the tomb of Phillip II, Alexander the Great’s father.  The museum held many other items from ancient Macedonian civilization.  We spent about an hour and a half in the museum, much of that time guided by our extremely informative guide.  Following a short time on our own in the museum, we boarded the bus again to drive up to the high point of the old city, passing the old Roman Rotunda (a circular building in the center of downtown Thessaloniki originally constructed by Roman general Galerius circa 300 AD) and we viewed several old cemeteries along the way.  Here at the top was where an old caste had stood, and the city wall fortifications loomed around us.  We had a wonderful view back down on Thessaloniki spreading out along the waters of the bay.  If the skies had not been as cloudy, we would have been able to see Mt. Olympus from here.  We were able to see the lower base of the mountain, but again, just another reason to return to see Mt. Olympus in all its glory.  From this commanding position, we were also able to view the Church of Aghios Pavlos (Church of St. Paul).  This church was built just above the area in which St. Paul was said to have spoken when he visited Thessaloniki.  We were given a bit of time to wander around, have a coffee, or explore the massive wall and gates.  Then it was on to the Church of Agios Dimitrios.  This is considered to be the most important church in Thessaloniki because it dates back to the Byzantine times and it is said that it was built on the exact spot where St. Demetrios was martyred.  The present church dates from 634 AD.  The interior of the church held wonderful mosaics of Dimitrios and several partial frescos from this early era.  The bones of St. Dimitrios are held within a special side chapel.  

 

Following our church visit, we returned to the ship, enjoyed lunch, headed out for a quick shopping venture in the streets around the main Aristotle Square, then back to the ship for some well-deserved napping.  We had a 7:30 dinner at Chef’s Table, enjoying the Scandinavian Bistro menu.  My favorite parts of the meal — the Reindeer Consommé, especially the reindeer ravioli with lingonberry found at the bottom of the consommé cup; and the lingonberry infused salmon tartare on the pickled, sliced cucumber — lovely!

 

After dinner, we discovered that the dance floor had returned to Torshavn so we enjoyed a drink and several dances before returning to our cabin.

 

Finally, today, we are enjoying a sea day.  Normally, we book cruises with almost as many sea days as port days, because we like to enjoy the ship.  Today’s itinerary did include “Scenic cruising of Mt. Athos,” but as luck would have it, we were passing on the starboard side of the ship where our cabin in located, so we stayed in our robes, fixed a cup of coffee, and enjoyed the super-misty coastline with several somewhat distant monasteries visible from our stateroom.  If this was to be our only sea day, I didn’t plan on getting dressed and out early! 

 

The monasteries of Mt. Athos have been influential in the Christian tradition from early times.  When Mike and I were in Bulgaria this past September, many guides we encountered at religious sites would reference the monasteries of Mt. Athos. Mt. Athos itself is considered a holy mountain.  Some of the monasteries are located near the shoreline, some are perched high on the mountain tops.  Mt. Athos is a semi autonomous region, meaning it is basically self-governing.  Most of the monasteries are Greek Orthodox, but one is Russian Orthodox.  The Mt. Athos religious community began in 963 AD. There are several different orders of monastic communities found here. Each monastery is under the rule of is abbot. The monks spend at least 6 hours praying each day, most of those hours are during hours of darkness because they believe you are closer to God in the dark. Only men may visit the monasteries at Mt. Athos - one of the only regional areas of the world that is off limits to women.  There are presently some political concerns about the Russian Orthodox control of one of the monasteries since the Russian Orthodox patriarch is supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, while the patriarch recognized by the Greek Orthodox monasteries is against this war.  Greek politicians are particularly concerned about Russians who are, or might be, finding sanctuary in the Russian monastery.  I guess divisive politics are everywhere.

 

After listening to the commentary in our room, we decided it was time to get moving for the day.  We had coffee in Explorers’ since it was too late for breakfast elsewhere, played backgammon, attended trivia where as a team of two we did not win, had lunch, and now were back in our stateroom ready to continue our lazy day.  

Edited November 30, 2022 by Australia08

[Australia08]

The White Tower in Thessaloniki

[Australia08]

From the Thessaloniki Archaeology Museum:

 

The Derveni Tombs - 4th Century BCE were found in Thessaloniki in 1962 while digging during some public works project.  Two artifacts were of particular interest - the Derveni Papyrus, a very rare find for this area where the humidity usually prevents archaeologists from finding “paper” artifacts.  Since this was carbonized papyrus found as part of the remains of a funeral pyre on top of the covering slabs of the tomb, archeologists have been able to study the text (part of an Orphic Text) by using specialized photographic technology.

 

The second artifact of interest from the Derveni Tomb was a brine volute krater used to serve the wine/water mixture enjoyed by men during symposia.  The scene surrounding the krater demonstrates the true beauty of items these wealthy Macedonians used in their daily lives.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Australia08

[Australia08]

A gold medallion of Olympias, wife of Phillip II of Macedonia and mother of Alexander the Great, found near Alexandria, Egypt - a gift to the museum

[Australia08]

The first photo shows the remains of one of the oldest mosaics in the Church of St. Demetrios in Thessaloniki

 

The second photo shows the shrine of St. Demetrios with the reliquary holding the remains of the saint.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Australia08

[SEACRUZER]

We were on the Viking Sky from Barcelona to Roma (11/12 to 11/19).  We agree about Fatima in Manfredi's.  She was wonderful as were the bar tenders in the Living Room (Alex and Karen).  We found the rest of the food service a bit off.

 

I am also a bourbon drinker.  When I realized that there was only vodka and gin in the mini bar, I left a note for the room service to substitute bourbon for one of the mini bottles.  Evidently, they can't do that.  Instead, he would leave me a healthy pour of bourbon in a glass each night.

[Australia08]

10 minutes ago, SEACRUZER said:

We were on the Viking Sky from Barcelona to Roma (11/12 to 11/19).  We agree about Fatima in Manfredi's.  She was wonderful as were the bar tenders in the Living Room (Alex and Karen).  We found the rest of the food service a bit off.

 

I am also a bourbon drinker.  When I realized that there was only vodka and gin in the mini bar, I left a note for the room service to substitute bourbon for one of the mini bottles.  Evidently, they can't do that.  Instead, he would leave me a healthy pour of bourbon in a glass each night.

Interesting about the solution to your Bourbon dilemma. We have Silver Spirits so usually just have an after dinner libation at Torshavn or get one to bring back to the room. The thing that has me confused is that we’ve been on 6 previous Viking Cruises. In the PV minibar we always had 4 bottles of liquor. Usually a gin, a vodka, a rum, and a scotch. Now they only put in 2 bottles. Is this down-sizing or what?  I thought maybe it was just our cruise, but you said you only had 2 also. Is this the new normal on all the Viking ships?  Maybe someone can chime in with recent experience on one of the other ocean vessels. 
 

[Liz Masterson]

10 hours ago, Australia08 said:

A gold medallion of Olympias, wife of Phillip II of Macedonia and mother of Alexander the Great, found near Alexandria, Egypt - a gift to the museum

She is quite lovely! 

[Liz Masterson]

8 hours ago, Australia08 said:

… on 6 previous Viking Cruises. In the PV minibar we always had 4 bottles of liquor. Usually a gin, a vodka, a rum, and a scotch. Now they only put in 2 bottles. Is this down-sizing or what?  I thought maybe it was just our cruise, but you said you only had 2 also. Is this the new normal on all the Viking ships?  Maybe someone can chime in with recent experience on one of the other ocean vessels. 
 

I suspect this is a supply chain issue. If you  produce spirits it is certainly more time consuming to put them in the little bottles. 
 

I had a friend who made potions and lotions and she hated making the samples. Sometimes she’d just give you a full sized bottle as a gift to try… if you were a regular customer. 🙂

[Azulann]

I am loving your posts.

I have done the Corinth  canal and the Corinth ruins and museum.  Same  engineer who did the Suez Canal . It was a nice sea level passage.

 I love icons and am impressed with your excursions to the various monasteries and convent.  Love your pictures. 

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Liz Masterson said:

I suspect this is a supply chain issue.

There is a liquor bottle shortage. This article is from a year ago but is still true. Distillers are concentrating on the most popular sizes so small bottles are being squeezed.

Edited December 1, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[Mike981]

I remember reading that article when it came out. I also read about food products having a hard time keeping up with the bottle shortage.

[Australia08]

 It is late, but I want to post a quick update on the day´s activities. We arrived in Kusadasi to rainy skies.  Since we have been to Ephesus before, we opted to go on a tour to Miletus and Didyma.  Miletus is quite impressive.  There is a quite intact Roman theatre.  Behind it is a very expansive Roman city, with a populace of 150,000 people at one time. We saw the ruins of homes, a palace, Roman baths, an agora, a storehouse, a parliament building, the forum, and quite impressive ruins of Roman baths.  Our guide was quite knowledgeable and we actually stayed 40 minutes longer than usual at this site.  After our extensive visit of Miletus, we went to a small museum which provided context to the ruins we had seen, with exhibits of some of the artifacts that had been taken from the site.  I was most interested in the fact that one of the rather large facades from the Roman forum area was at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.  We had seen it previously, but now that we have visited the actual site, I would like to go there again.  The museum also gave us a preview of some of the statues that had been placed along the Sacred Way that led from Miletus to the Temple of Apollo at Didyma.  Next, we were off to Didyma to see the remains of that temple.  It was about a 20 minute drive.  Once we got near the Temple to Apollo, we saw the segment of the old Sacred Way that still runs toward the temple.  While the temple itself was never completed (only 72 of a planned 121 columns were completed), it was just a bit smaller than the Temple to Artemis that became one of the Wonders of the Ancient World.  Today, only 3 columns remain, but they are so impressive!  The site is quite large, with porticos, tunnels, and main sanctuary.  I will post some photos, but there is no way that they convey the size and and one time majesty of this site.  

 

We were quite lucky to avoid rain in Miletus and had only a light sprinkle at Didyma.  We hear the people who stayed in Kusadasi  or those who went to Ephesus had massive downpours.

 

Although our guide asked us to join him at a carpet shop for drinks and snacks, we headed back to the ship on our return.  We have done the carpet shop presentation before so decided that we could miss it this time.  We enjoyed our time back on ship a bit more.  

 

This evening, we went to Manfredi’s again and enjoyed some time dancing at the party on the pool deck (being well taken care of by our bartender, Bharat), then headed to Torshavn to visit with our other favorite bartender, Vladimir.

 

 

 

 

 

[Australia08]

The Roman Theatre at Miletus

[Australia08]

The tunnels under the Roman Theatre at Miletus

[Australia08]

The Frigidarium at the Roman Bath at Miletus

 

 

 

 

[Australia08]

The segment of the Sacred Way leading to the Temple of Apollo in Didyma

[Australia08]

The Temple to Apollo at Didyma

[Australia08]

Part of the Medusa frieze at Didyma

[Australia08]

All of the columns of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma had different decorative designs.

[LindaS272]

21 minutes ago, Australia08 said:

The Frigidarium at the Roman Bath at Miletus

 

 

 

 

The Cold Plunge?

[CocoLocomotion]

On 11/30/2022 at 11:41 AM, Australia08 said:

In the PV minibar we always had 4 bottles of liquor. Usually a gin, a vodka, a rum, and a scotch. Now they only put in 2 bottles. Is this down-sizing or what?  I thought maybe it was just our cruise, but you said you only had 2 also. Is this the new normal on all the Viking ships?  Maybe someone can chime in with recent experience on one of the other ocean vessels. 
 

We are currently on Viking Mars sailing Bangkok to Bali. Our PV mini-bar has 4 mini-bottles of alcohol. Our cabin steward Danika said that I could leave her a note requesting any combination of soft drinks and spirits. I asked for ginger ale and the next day 2 small bottles of ginger ale were added. No change from our previous PV experiences.

[busykymom]

Will be on this cruise next week (on the Viking Venus) so loving the preview!!!  Thanks!!  

[Australia08]

Here is a quick recap of yesterday (Friday, December 2) and today (December 3) will follow.  On Friday, we were in Rhodes.  We were greeted with fabulous sunshine and warm temps.  We packed in 2 excursions.  The first was the included walking tour of the city.  Our guide gave us a wonderful overview of the history of this island.  It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands.  It has extensive Medieval architecture, and the entire city is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Of particular interest was the Street of the Knights which included the honey-colored stone buildings many with the crests of the Medieval knights who once lived there.  The Hospital of the Knights now houses the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.  Of course, the Palace of the Grand Master is one of the symbols of Rhodes and next on the tour.  The original building constructed by the Knights of St. John in Medieval times was partially destroyed by an explosion of munitions stored in the nearby Church of St. John which was being used by the Ottomans as an arsenal in the 19th Century. What stands now is a beautiful palace rebuilt in the 20th Century when Italy controlled Rhodes, using materials from the earlier destroyed building. The new building maintained the original Gothic architecture of the original building.  Of particular interest in the Palace are beautiful floor mosaics of the late Hellenistic period which were moved from the Island of Kos during the Italian restoration.  Almost every floor within the Palace has these unique ancient mosaics.

 

After our morning tour, we returned to the ship which was docked right by the city walls to enjoy some lunch and prepare for our second tour.  Our first stop on this bus tour was the traditional village of Koskinou.  We walked through this charming old village, admiring the architecture of the simple homes.  In the village was a Traditional House Museum.  The house maintains the furnishings of the family that last lived there in 1902.  Plates adorned the walls. Our guide discussed all the elements of home life for the traditional Greek family, reminding us that this had been the home of a wealthy family as evidenced by the two rooms instead of the one room home of most of the populace.

 

Our next stop was in another traditional village, Archangelos.  Here we visited the home of a woman who was still living in her one room home. She, too, was very proud of her wall lined with plates.  In many ways, this home was quite similar to the museum home we visited earlier, except that she did have a kitchen in her courtyard.  She and her niece had prepared small mezzes for us - sliced tomatoes from her garden, traditional Greek cheese, salami, her own olives, bread that she had baked for us.  She did not speak English but our guide translated our questions and her responses.   

 

Our final stop was at a ceramics workshop.  After seeing the importance of ceramic plates in the decoration of one’s home, it seemed natural to see how these traditional plates were made.  I’m not into shopping stops, but I must say the demonstration of their clay techniques, along with watching one woman pull the embossed design onto the green ware, while another woman painted a plate following its first firing, was very impressive.  Yes, many tour members purchased some of the plates or vases, but it was definitely an educational “shopping” stop.  

 

After returning to the ship, we enjoyed a glass of wine on our balcony while we watched our sail away from Rhodes.  We had our usual before dinner cocktail, dinner in the Restaurant, and listened to some music in Torshavn before heading to the first floor computers to sign into My Viking Journey to book our Antarctica excursions.  I was a bit concerned about the slow internet we’ve experienced on board, but when 10:00 pm rolled around, we were able to log in and reserve everything we are allowed to reserve in advance.  With that chore completed, we headed back to Torshavn to chat with friends and enjoy a nightcap.