Hot as Hades Tour: SHOPPING!!!!!

Who doesn't love to do a little shopping in a foreign country. Those of you that know me, know that this is one of my favorite things to do...no matter where I am. :-) I do try and contain myself and stick to items that are relevant to the country and our "chosen" souvenir.

After talking with other avid travelers we decided early on, unfortunately after we had already traveled a few times, that we needed to have a common themed souvenir that we would try and look for in each new location. This was two fold. First of all, it deterred from the kids asking for every thing that they saw with the name of the place we were in and secondly, it made for a nice collection, rather than random souvenirs. We don't always find our particular type souvenir in each new place, but that is par for the course.

Chad's "chosen" souvenir is probably the hardest to find and mine coming in at a close second. The kids have "chosen" wisely as theirs are found in just about every spot. Chad has decided to get a souvenir Hard Rock glass in each place that has a Hard Rock. He has racked up quite the collection and of different styles of glasses. This will all add to his "man cave" at some point. :-) I chose to collect watercolor scenes in hopes to have a "true" travel wall someday. Tanner decided on key chains and Ellie on snow globes. We also, sometimes, venture off our beaten path and get something that is unique to that country.

The fun thing about cruises is that you can accumulate quite the collection during all the different ports. Our first port was Messina, Italy on the Island of Sicily. We visited Mt. Etna and the village of Taormina. On our tour our guide mentioned that Sicily is often represented by a three-legged woman, known as the trinacria. The three legs symbolize the three coastlines of Sicily with a head at it's center. The three coastlines are considered as gorgeous as the legs of a beautiful woman.

The three-legged trinacria, here, is made in a Gaudi style. I actually collect figures in this style, so I was thrilled to see this. I have several from Spain, such as: Don Quixote, a flamenco dancer and a bull fighter. Whenever I see one in another place I scoop it up.

In Rick Steves' guides he usually includes a section on shopping and what items to look for in each area, but since we didn't have a Rick Steves guide for Sicily, we just stuck to our tried and true, key chain, globe and print.

In Athens we didn't have a whole lot of time to shop. Some of the authentic items that Rick Steves recommends in Athens include: jewelry, sandals, carpets, religious items and worry beads.

It is no secret that the tour guides in some locations are in cahoots with a local shop owner. In Athens, it was no different. During the tour, our guide passed around a piece of jewelry that was popular amongst tourists. It was a charm that had your name written in Greek on one side and in English (or your native language) on the backside. After the Acropolis our guide brought us directly to a "select" shop that sells these and guarantees to have them ready before the cruise ship disembarks that evening. I admit, we fell into this scheme. I knew I wouldn't wear anything like this, but the woman mentioned that they could turn them into key chains for the kids. Well, this was a super unique souvenir. We all agreed this was going to be their souvenir and they would have to fore go their traditional one. I found some great prints, but couldn't chose just one.

Staying on the theme of tour guides in cahoots with a local trade, was VERY apparent in Turkey. Our tour ended with a tour of a "traditional" Turkish Carpet shop. We were basically wined and dined and then the bargaining began. We already knew going into this location that we were NOT in the market for a Turkish Carpet. After speaking to some other passengers on the ship, it turns out that EVERY tour ended with one of these presentations at a Turkish Carpet spot. Rick Steves warns you of this in his book, so we were prepared to just walk away, which we did, but I do have to say the presentation was really interesting.

The story goes...Carpet making is a dying trade. These warehouses or family owned business/franchises or whatever you want to call them, provide woman in tiny villages with the training and supplies in order to keep this trade alive. Again, after talking with other passengers, this was the same story they got. Who knows if it is true or not. The materials that this particular shop used were wool, silk and cotton/wool blend. They did a small demonstration on the process of collecting the silk. Ellie thought this was fascinating because in her 2nd grade class, last year, they studied silk worms. Her class actually had a bunch of them, fed them, watched them build their cocoons and then turn into moths and fly away.

The cocoons are very tightly wound. There is no way you can pull the threads out of them. So they have to soak the cocoons in hot water first. Being so tightly wound, they still cannot find an end to the cocoon. They take a wooden broom looking thing and begin to tap down on the cocoons until the threads catch. They then thread those threads onto a wheel. This wheel would spin the silk threads into a much stronger thickness. It really was amazing.

They also demonstrated how the carpets are made. A woman at a loom was actually tying little knots of thread making the pattern and then she would shave off the pieces sticking up making the top of the carpet a smooth surface. It is said that Turkish carpets are made differently from rugs anywhere in the world. They are double knotted, making them sturdier and more durable. Rugs elsewhere are said to be tied with a single fiber per vertical thread. Who knows, but they were impressive. Now for the ultimate presentation...

The owner of the shop began rolling carpet after carpet out. Don't get me wrong, these things were incredibly beautiful and intricate. If I was rich beyond my wildest dreams I may have considered, but that is not the case. Plus, as Rick Steves states...there is no way you can come to Turkey and get a good deal on a rug in 4 hours. As added marketing, they got the kids involved. They had them take their shoes off and run all over the carpets. The kids were the perfect tool, they ooohhheed and aaahhhheeedd all over the rugs. This allowed the presenter to then go into how to clean the rugs with kids and yada yada yada. Our kids were in love with the rugs and would have chosen every single one if we let them. As soon as the presentation was over and they invited you to go through "those" doors and look at many more and talk with one of "their guys", we were out of there. We ran for the door. Just to give you an idea of the price tag. We turned over a rug that was 100% silk and was maybe a 3 foot x 5 foot size..it was $16,000. We didn't even stay to be offered a good price, but after talking to other passengers, they said that as soon as they walked away, the price dropped by 50%.

The other shopping experience in Turkey is their bazaar style shopping. We were told that you always bargain in Turkey. I hate this. I don't feel comfortable bargaining and I just don't care for the whole thing. Funny story...after leaving the ruins of Ephesus we were walking back to our bus. Between the point where you leave the ruins and the parking lot was a huge bazaar. There were vendors on either side and they are selling everything you might need from Turkey. They are also VERY aggressive. There is definitely not a "Just looking" response. Once you pick up something they start yelling out prices and I found it really uncomfortable. So, we found a spot that had globes and key chains. Chad decided that he was going to "bargain". All of this bargaining was going to be over about a euro or so. I am saying, "Are you kidding me". Ellie is always indecisive when it comes to her globe choice and she always T A K E S  F O R E V E R. This was causing me major stress here because the shop owners were hovering over us and every time she would pick one up to look at the owner would holler out a price. At this point I am like: Just pick one already and lets get the heck out of here. Well once we got back to the ship we unpacked the items and...

Look closely. Ummm....yeah...that is exactly what you think it is. Chad and I about died. Why on earth would this be on a globe of Turkey and Ephesus. Well it is what it is at this point and thankfully she hasn't really noticed. I just made sure it was turned the other direction on her shelf. HOLY COW!!!!

The Turkish evil eye was another symbol that we saw all over Turkey, and Greece, for that matter. These evil eye beads go back thousands of years. It is said to protect. We received a pin with an evil eye on it as part of our tour and Tanner picked a great key chain featuring the evil eye and the flag of Turkey, much more appropriate than his sister's choice.

Our stop on the Island of Crete was really a bust. We didn't find anything that fell into our categories. I did score some olive oil soap in one of the little villages we stopped at. They were only 1 euro a piece. I was thrilled.

Rome was a place to score a smorgasbord of trinkets. We were good and stuck to our usual's. Chad was able to get one of his glasses at Hard Rock as well.

Venice is where we fell off the wagon a bit. Hahaha. In the Shopping in Venice chapter of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports he says, "Long a city of aristocrats, luxury goods, and merchants, Venice was built to entice. While no one claims it's great for bargains, it has a shopping charm that makes paying too much strangely enjoyable. Carnevale masks, lace, glass, antique paper products, designer clothing, fancy accessories, and paintings are all popular with tourists visiting Venice." He wasn't kidding. We fell for the trap in a few places, but at the end of the day, we are happy with what we brought home.

Though you can probably buy Venetian Glass all over the world now, there was just something about going through the factory and drooling over all the beautiful pieces. We, obviously, weren't going home with one of their remarkable chandeliers, but we did want to leave with some nice pieces, that we could carry onto the airplane, I might add. We chose a beautiful pitcher and 8 glasses. We originally had 4 glasses (one we each picked out), but then the bargaining began. I was eyeing the pitcher and the salesman started lowering the price of the pitcher if we bought more glasses and then he gave us a package deal. Though, we are afraid to use them, for fear of one getting broken, we are excited with our Venetian luxury purchase.

This year is Chad and I's 15th Wedding Anniversary and though the traditional gift is crystal, we are going with Venetian Glass. :-)

One of the other "luxuries" I couldn't resist was a leather jacket. I had eyed one in Greece and then regretted not buying it for such a good price, so when I saw this one, in one of the many leather shops in Venice, I couldn't resist. I was told that I have to put it away until my birthday in September...Deal!

Honestly, normally, I wouldn't look at things like this, but as Rick Steves said...there is just something about Venice. :-)

The kids scored some pretty great items as well. Because we were such GREAT customers at the Glass Factory they threw in a couple of their glass signature pieces, the horses, free of charge. The kids were over the moon about this, while Chad and I were like, "They better give us a gift with purchase". Hahahaha. The kids also loved the masks, but we didn't think it was practical to have these super fancy masks that they couldn't really use, because they were too fancy. So, as we were walking through the cute little mask shop we saw plain ones that you could decorate yourself. Well this was right up our alley. They were cheap and the kids could make them whatever they wanted and not be afraid to actually use them. Win, win in my book. They were also able to find their usual's and Chad got his Venice Hard Rock glass. It was a good thing we were so good in all the other places because by the end of our Venice trip we were glad we had all the extra space in our suitcases.

Well, we certainly got some pretty nice souvenirs of our great vacation. I always hope that our choices are ones that we will be able to enjoy for a long time to come.

Hot as Hades Tour Port 4: Chania, Greece on the Island of Crete

Our last port before returning to Rome was Chania, Greece on the Island of Crete.

As you are well aware by now, I am an avid Rick Steves fan and I love, love all of his travel books. Unfortunately, in his book Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports he doesn't cover Chania, so I was going into this location completely blind with no direction and no idea what there was to see. When we booked our excursions through Royal Caribbean we did a package. It included an excursion for each location lumped into one deal, saving a little bit of money. The excursion for Crete was called Real Crete and I have to say I was a bit unimpressed. In hindsight, this would have been the location for the kids to stay on the boat for the day and take part in their beloved Adventure Ocean.

First, let me give you a little background on Crete. I, honestly, had not heard of this Island of Greece before the cruise. Greece has 6,000 islands scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, of which only 227 of those islands are inhabited. Crete is the largest island in Greece, and the fifth largest one in the Mediterranean Sea. During the cruise we saw many islands along the way. They were just beautiful.

Sitting on our balcony and enjoying all the scenery was certainly one of my favorite things to do during our down time.

Not sure what was going on with my hand...I think I was mid sneeze, but not sure. It is the only picture of me doing what I found so relaxing...so here it is...as unattractive as it might be. :-)

Okay...back on track...our guide on this excursion was, well, odd to say the least, but he was FULL of information. By this I mean he literally talked the ENTIRE trip...4+ hours of him talking and NEVER stopping. He did have some good pieces of info, but after while, holy cow, you just sort of naturally tuned him out. He did have some interesting Greek Mythology background for the island of Crete. I think ever since high school English class, where we read many books on Greek Mythology, it is always fun to here more up close and personal backgrounds regarding this. So here it goes.

In a cave in Crete, it is said, the goddess Rhea hid the newborn Zeus. In that cave, Zeus was brought up by the nymphs while the demonical Kouretes would strike their shields loudly so that Cronus may not hear the crying baby of Zeus and eat it. It was also to Crete that Zeus, disguised as a bull, took Europa (a Phoenician princess) so that they may enjoy their love together. Their union produced a son, Minos, who ruled Crete and turned it into a mighty island empire of the seas.

We left the port city of Chania to visit two little villages and then we were headed back the Chania for some shopping. I don't even know the names of the villages we stopped, but they were so cute. What I quickly became aware of on this particular island in Greece is just how self sustaining they are. The soil on this island is so fertile that they can grow just about anything. It was amazing to me to see just how fruitful, literally, they were. We saw, of course, olive trees, but also pomegranate trees, fig trees, grapevines and so much more. It was incredible.

We got about 45 minutes in the first village. We just strolled around and took in the beauty. If I ever come back to Greece I would much rather spend my time in a cute little village than in one of the bigger cities. It seemed so calm, quiet and heavenly and I could have spent hours just enjoying all those traits.

After our time was up we got back on the bus and drove to another quaint little town. This one was a touch more busy and was on the water. Our guide mentioned that whenever he came to this town his mother always sent him to buy bread from her favorite bakery...so naturally I tagged along with him to get me some bread.

Are you freakin kidding me...this place was so cute. This guy was slaving away around this hot oven moving bread in and out and all around. That pole was super long and we almost got hit with it a couple of times. Our guide just walked over to all those loaves and picked through until he found what he wanted and paid his 1,30 euro and was on his way. I just followed in his footsteps and did the same. I couldn't believe you could manhandle all the loaves, but when in Rome...or Greece...! I also might add, it was some of the most amazing bread we had ever had, and still warm. So fun.

Again, we had a little time here, but not enough to really enjoy it. And, again, I have no idea what the village is called...you see, this is why I need Rick Steves to guide me. :-) But, here are some of the photos of this cute little village.

We boarded the bus once again and headed to one of the fortresses located on the island of Crete.  After a little googling I did find some info on this location. We went to the ancient city of Aptera. Aptera is located above the entrance to the great harbor of Souda.

It is believed that Aptera was founded somewhere around the 7th century B.C. The town was abandoned after a major earthquake in the 7th century A.D., and was completely destroyed by the Arabs in A.D. 823. Again, due to time constraints we only had about 15 minutes here.

Our final destination on this excursion was the bustling port city of Chania, pronounced (Hanya), it is the second largest city of Crete. Honestly, I was unimpressed. It was busy, dirty and there were beggars everywhere. The beggars were not what you would expect. These beggars were none like I have ever seen. They were women with their small children (many actually with baby attached to breast, not nursing, just to make it look more pathetic) sitting in shady spots on the sidewalks. I found it disgusting. The public restrooms were just as disgusting. Literally, a hole in the ground with a door around it. Um...no thank you. The market that our guide took us to was definitely the location that every tourist bus dropped their load of tourists. It also appeared that no matter which tour you decided to do, you ended up here as the last stop. There were probably 40 buses in the bus parking lot waiting. Because of all the people, and remember, it was Hot as Hades, I was DONE! We strolled through the market looking for our souvenir and then just sat near a park until it was time to get back on the bus. Certainly not my favorite stop, but it is what it is. I didn't realize it at the time, but as I was getting ready to create a photo collage, I didn't take ANY pictures of Chania. This just further proves how unimpressed I was. :-(

I know this wasn't as exciting as our other days, but it was nice to get back on the boat and enjoy what the boat had to offer. The downfall of this location was that we had an earlier "back on board" time of 2:30 and it seemed that EVERY passenger arrived at the dock at the same time. It was the first time in all of our cruising ports that we had to wait to get back on...in the heat. :-)

After Chania we had a day at sea before arriving back in our starting point of Rome. We will continue our Hot as Hades tour with our excursion off the ship to Rome: the Vatican City, St. Peter's, Roman Forum, and the Colosseum and by far one of the hottest days I can recall.

Hot as Hades Tour Port 2: Athens, Greece

When you get to a port like Athens you just wish there was more time.  This is definitely the downfall of a cruise.  You only have about 6-8 hours in a port city, which makes it absolutely impossible to see all there is to see or even, really, to get a feel for a city.  On a cruise you are forced to see the touristy sites and go, usually at a pretty rushed pace.

Welcome to Greece

Athens was just a short drive from our port city of Piraeus.  The excursion we took was to see the Acropolis and limited sight-seeing through Athens.  The limited sight-seeing really just boiled down to the tour bus driving past other important monuments, but due to time constraints we were not able to get off and snap any photos.  I am sure many people have some idea about Athens, but here are some interesting facts.  Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world, with its recorded history going back around 3.400 years.  WOW!!!!!!  It is believed that Athens has actually been inhabited for at least 7,000 years.  Incredible. Athens, of course, was the location for the first modern Summer Olympic Games and has also held the games in 1906 and 2004. I am not sure if people realize this, but I had no idea, even today the Olympic Torch is lit several months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece and then after traveling a short time through Greece it makes its way to the host city.  I thought this was super interesting. Here is a picture of the Old Olympic Stadium in Athens.

This area was originally a natural hollow part of the ground between two hills and was transformed by Lykourgos into a stadium in 330-329 BC.  Between 140 and 144 AD Herodes Atticus restored the Stadium giving it the horseshoe construction with a track. This stadium is constructed with the same marble that constructed the Acropolis. It is believed to hold 50,000 - 60,000 spectators.  Again...amazing. I don't think it is used at all, except for tours, but I don't know that for sure.

Before we headed to the Olympic Stadium we actually rushed to the Acropolis to try and beat the crowds. Remember in my Port 1 post I mentioned that a 10 am dock time was rare...well this time we had to be up and ready for our excursion by 7:45 am.  I have not been able to find any reliable numbers on how many people visit the Acropolis each day or year, but Wikipedia states that "Greece attracts more than 17.5 million people each year" and I would assume that most of those people visit the Acropolis, but who knows, my point is...there were A LOT of people. :-)

The Acropolis of Athens is the most important ancient monument of Europe.  At the center of the Athens Acropolis, The Parthenon tower stands over the modern city of Athens as a reminder that Athens was once the greatest civilization ever.  The Acropolis and the white marble of the Parthenon's tower can be seen from almost every part of Athens...and it is quite impressive, I might add.

I know sometimes I give a brief history lesson, but I am not sure you can appreciate things like this if you do not understand a little background.  The Acropolis was first a military fortress because of its location.  From this vantage point you are able to see both towards the land and the sea.

It then became a religious center for worship of the goddess Athena.  It was also used as a residential area until the late 6th century BC.  During 450-330 BC three major important temples were erected: the Parthenon, the Erechteion and the Temple of Nike.  The Acropolis took the form it has today in 480 BC.

As we walked towards the Acropolis we saw what appeared to be some sort of performance venue that looked to still be in use today.  This venue is called the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.  Does that name sound familiar?  Herodes Atticus was also the man whom restored the Old Olympic Stadium.  He was a wealthy landowner, whom was a Greek with Roman citizenship. Though we might refer to this as a sort of Greek Theater, the Greeks use the term odeon, because it was used mainly for musical performances rather than theatrical ones.  Odeon comes from the same root as the English "ode", which is the Greek word for "song".  This large amphitheater built in Roman times seats 5,000 people.  The odeon was built in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus.

The Parthenon is the most important and most famous of the monuments at the Acropolis and even of all the Ancient Greek civilization.  This temple consisted of 8 columns on each of the narrow sides and 17 columns on each of the long sides.  Again...you cannot even begin to fathom construction like this until you are standing in front of it in awe of how something like this even came about so long ago in such a difficult location.

I don't know if you can tell, but the columns are actually formed by individual circular cuts...they almost look like bottlecaps. Here you can see it a little bit better.

The Erechteion is a Temple built on the part of the Acropolis that was considered the most sacred, for it was a sanctuary where the people worshiped the Gods, Athena, Poseidon and Erechtonius.  It is believed that in this very location a battle between Athena and Poseidon took place for the naming rights of the city...I think it is clear whom won that battle.  

There were three entrances to this temple.  The Porch of Caryatids (the six ladies), the north porch (behind the Erechtheion), and the east end (to the right of the caryatids). The Porch of the Caryatids is a balcony that has six beautiful maidens functioning as columns that support the roof.  All of the maidens nowadays are copies of the originals.  Four of the originals are housed in the Acropolis Museum and one was stolen in 1805 and the sixth is in France.  What amazes me about all of these monuments is the attention do detail.  All of the carvings and decorative borders are incredibly detailed.

The Temple of Athena Nike was built between 427-424 BC.  It is an almost square building consisting of 4 columns at both ends.  This temple used to house a statue of Athena holding a pomegranate, symbol of fertility, in her right hand and a helmet, symbol of war, in her left hand.  The term "Nike" in Greek means victory.  I somehow missed this temple going in, but caught it leaving, not aware at the time what it was.

I also didn't take a picture as we were entering the Acropolis through The Propylaea.  I did get one as we were leaving, but the entrance side is much more impressive with all the marble stairs leading up to the entrance.  We were with a guide and thousands of our closest friends on tours as well, so we were jammed in a tight group rushing to the Parthenon (to get the shaded spot...remember it was hot as Hades).  The entrance gate is called The Popylaea and is the monumental gateway of the Acropolis.The Propylaea was constructed in just 5 short years (437-432 BC).  Here is just a little of what I captured as we were leaving.

The Acropolis is incredibly old and with age (and war) comes deterioration and destruction.  Beginning in 1984 the renovation began on the Parthenon and some of the buildings surrounding it.  In many of my pictures you can see the modern day scaffolding and construction materials.  This renovation project first involves categorizing every single stone of the Parthenon.  Next, archaeologists hope to put the 70,000 piece puzzle back together again.  Whenever possible, original materials are being used.  New marble, cut from the same quarries, are being used to replace damaged and missing marble.  You can see is some of the pictures the "whiter" sections or patches.  With time these "patches" should age to become the same color as the old marble.

As you leave the Acropolis you leave through the Beule Gate.  This doorway was built by the Romans around 267 AD.  During Roman times this gate was the official entrance to the Acropolis, making the Propylaea entry even grander.

I also included a picture of an olive tree in this collage because Greece has more than 100 million of these trees. Olive trees are often called "the gift of Athena to Athens."

We were able to spend about 30 minutes in the little town of Plaka for souvenirs.  I will blog at the end about some of our finds along the way.  On our drive back to the boat I was able to just take in a bit of Athens.  I find that with each European city we visit I tend to notice little things quickly.  I found that Athens was quite clean and (in the areas we drove) lacked the graffiti that we see plastered on much of Madrid and other European cities.  There were also many Greek Orthodox churches.  Each church is a sight in itself. They were all ornate and beautiful with the quintessential dome adorning the tops of most if not all the churches. We were also able to get just a glimpse of the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.  According to Rick Steves, this is the largest temple in ancient Greece, which took 700 years to complete.  At completion, it was 360 feet by 145 feet, consisting of two rows of 20 columns on each of the long sides and three rows of eight columns along each end.  Though today, only 15 of the original 104 columns remain standing.

The beauty of having to get up early for an excursion allowed us to be back on the boat in time for a late lunch (though I was dying to find an authentic Greek gyro joint) and a little time for relaxation before we began cruising to our next destination: Kusadasi, Turkey, where we strolled the ancient Greek city of Ephesus and visited the House of the Virgin Mary.  And we thought the Acropolis of Athens was impressive...