Greece, Turkey and Israel

Sunday, October 7th Rhodes, Greece
Since David and I had visited Rhodes before on other cruises, we decided to take a taxi into the old walled city to visit the Archeological Museum of Rhodes.  It was probably one of the most primitive of all museums I've ever visited with many antiquities sitting out in the open unidentified and unprepared.  Some were placed in small alcoves of the old hospital of the crusaders that was the site of the museum.  It was interesting to see but could have been so much more so if it were better managed and documented.  From the museum, we visited a couple of shops, bought a couple of souvenirs and gelato before walking back to the ship.

 

 

 

Monday, October 8th Alanya, Turkey
David and I decided not to take part in a tour while in Alanya.  Instead I spent a wonderful day having a couple of spa treatments and catching up on my email.  I even caught an afternoon nap that was much enjoyed!  David went to the top deck to take pictures of the ancient dockside with the red tower.  This was the port where the gigantic statue was known to have been erected standing with one foot on either side of the harbor.  It no longer exists but would have been something spectacular

to see.

 



Tuesday, October 9th Limassol, Cyprus
The island of Cyprus is one David and I have visited before and I was very intrigued about the Turkish takeover of the northern half of this island republic as recent as 1974.  This trip we took a different route visited first the Unesco site of Choirokoitia ("hero-kwoita") inhabited from 9000 BC to 7000 BC by a people who built small round huts of rock and mud topped with wooden roofs.  Huts were built in small groups together on a hill and surrounded by a low wall.

 



From Choirokoitia, we drove to see the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.  It was covered on all the inside surfaces with ancient frescos.  Next door at the government office, children were painting murals of religious symbols.  It was quite an interesting site.

Later we drove to Limassol and walked through some of the center of town, having a pizza snack at a small local diner before moving on to return to the ship.  Some of the group took a short hike down a center street to see the Turkish checkpoint at the greenline. 

Wednesday, October 10th Massada and the Dead Sea
I feel I must note that Israel is serious about security.  They are the only country to which we've cruised in the past where the immigration and security staff required a face-to-face interview with each passenger before allowing us to disembark in their country.  That process started for us at 7:15 am.  A few minutes later we boarded our bus from the port of Ashdod toward Qumran, a trip taking over 1 1/2 hours.  We had a great guide named Shai ("Shy") who spoke perfect English and was
very knowledgeable on the region.  In Qumran, we visited the ruins of the Essenes, a jewish sect of only men revolting from the religious persecution of the 1st century BC.  These men practices ritualistic bathing frequently throughout the day but their most important legacy is that of writing and storing the Dead Sea Scrolls in a cave that has since been excavated. 

The cave where many of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found is shown here.

Our bus then traveled on to Massada, a site built under the direction of King Herod high on a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea.  The ruins have been partially restored showing the advanced aqueduct system and massive storerooms meant to sustain a large palace for an extended siege.  Unfortunately, they were overrun by the Romans and the theory is that all those remaining at the conquest committed suicide rather than become slaves to the Romans.  This tour on the extremely hot and dry mountain top took over an hour and we were all exhausted from the heat.

 

The next leg of this day's tour was to travel a few miles down the road to a resort named Hotel Lot on the Dead Sea (the artifically extended portion of the sea). We dined at a buffet lunch then allowed to swim in the Dead Sea or just relax at the resort for several hours before returning to the ship.

Tonight I'm looking forward to skyping with my son and his family.  I miss all my family so much including the 4 legged members.