Random Photos

As I go through and write this blog, I really try to find pictures that show what the location was about and a bit of the historical, cultural events. I also shoot a lot of different things as well. Last year I did a lot with door knockers, and I have one here this year as well. I also love windows and flowers. I so wish I had the ability to do this at home, but I know it won't happen as our construction style in California does not lend itself to hanging real objects on the outside walls. Stucco looks nice, but it is just a bit of sand and cement spread over chicken wire with no ability to hold up an object with weight. Also there are the pictures that didn't turn out. I had one I wish really could have, but it just didn't. (No I did not waste cyber space by showing it here!)

As for the shots in this series, they are from throughout the trip. I will try and show their city/county of origin, but I may be wrong. I mean a rock in the dirt looks the same in Greece as it does in Italy or Turkey! So for my pleasure I present random photos of our trip of 2008. I hope you enjoy them.


A lot of our trip consisted of having a meal off ship. Tasting the local fare is one of my favorite things to do. Here is Cathy and David at our table in Florence. I bought a large messenger bag for me to carry my camera and things with before we left on this trip. Cathy called it my Man Purse and we stuffed a TON of things in it. Besides both our cameras, there were water bottles and the souvenirs we bought along the way. It was very handy and I look forward to using it in the future when traveling. In case you are wondering, that large canvas bag is my messenger bag.


I believe this is the only door knocker I shot this year. I was so good!


If there is anything that makes traveling in a tour bad, it is the number of people you are traveling with. Our ship had over 2000 people and there were TWO cruise ships at Ephesus on the day we were there, plus others. Yes, there were a lot of people!


I don't know why I find this amusing, but I do. After all I enjoy all types of foods and expect to find different cuisine in major cities as I travel, but to find a Sushi Bar in Bari, Italy was a bit beyond what I was expecting. But it is a port city and where better to get tuna but from the Mediterranean Sea. Yes they fish tuna there.


This is one of four wall murals on a building in Montecatini. They all dealt with urns and and I gathered that they used the urns for oil. the building is now a series of stores, but the murals remain.


The windows. I think it is the shutters, closed and painted, with the bright color of the flowers that attract me to them. The randomness of the placement and the utter disregard for shape, and letting the plants naturally to grow versus the Disneyland pruning that we do in the United States were everything needs to be cut, trimmed and tidy. Wow that sentence says a lot about me!


The heat. It was warm this summer. In all the cities and towns we were in, it was hot. I sweltered and sweat my days away. This is what I felt like after a few of the day trips:

Shade was at a premium, as is shown here in Croatia. This street is not more than 10 feet wide, yet the umbrellas are in full use.

Even this weary tourist in Pisa shows his sweat and tired stance for this picture.

Even the lizards in Greece tried to get cool and not warm. You know it is bad when the Lizards are looking for shade!


This is what was known as the Golden Horn in ancient Constantinople. It contained the home of the emperor and Haggai Sophia. It later was the home of the Sultan and now also contains the Blue Mosque. This is a view of the Golden Horn from where we had lunch.


So there ends my random pictures. I really tried to stay to my rule of one roll of film a day, that works out to 24 pictures a day. Sometimes the roll lasted two days, and sometimes I did use two rolls. But if I were to upload every picture I took, what would I bore you with when you come to visit me? Actually you are seeing here pictures that are cropped a bit, and they are the better shots of the roll. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and comments are welcome, even the ones about me removing you from my emailing notifications.

The day in Venice

Venice. It is an amazing city. This is the second time I have been to Venice, the first time was in 2001. That was the first time Cathy had been to Italy and we were there for September 11th. We spent an extra few days there, and the memories are not the best. This time was different and we had a good time. But first lets start with the last day of the trip.

Since we were disembarking from the ship in Venice, we had to have all our luggage and ourselves out of our cabins by 8AM. We had breakfast then waited in the theater to disembark. Upon disembarking, we had to find our luggage then walk to our bus. There we stored our luggage and took a short drive to board a boat with our tour guide. It was very hot in Venice and we really wanted a short walk, some lunch and sight seeing on our own. And we did just that. Dominic and Carol went with us and we had a wonderful lunch in Venice. It only cost $200.00, yes, only 50€ each. We thought we had been robbed, until we found out that some paid $125 for a not so great "frozen" pizza, ice cream and soda in San Marco Square, PER PERSON! At least we had a full meal and it was good.

So now for some pictures. The main church in Venice (though NOT the only one) is found in St. Mark's Square (Piazza di San Marco). The syymbol of the city, the lion with the book is the Christian symbol for St. Mark.


The city's symbol.


Of course the main symbol that everyone thinks of when they think of Venice, is the gondola. The rides are 80€ or $150 a ride. So here are pictures of OTHERS taking gondola rides.


This is what I called Gondola Central.


This is the tower that Galileo used to look at the skies with his telescope from. Why this tower? Well this is where the merchants would go to look for the incoming ships from the Middle East. When they saw which ship was coming in, they would then start bidding for the merchandise that was on that ship. Thus the need for a telescope, to see the ships before the others could and get the early bids in on the goods!


Street scenes.






And of course, illegal vendors. It is not only illegal to sell these goods (better known as knock offs) it is also illegal to buy and to be in possession of them. The reason from the white sheets on the ground is that the edges can be quickly picked up and bundled up into a sack as the police come walking past. After all, out of sight is out of mind, is the first stage of critical thinking!


From here, Venice, we boarded our bus for a short ride to the airport where we boarded our flight to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin at 2AM our time (1AM Dublin Time) cleared customs, got our luggage again, boarded a bus to the hotel, got our room and went quickly to bed as we needed to be at the airport no later than 8AM the next morning. Cathy and I took an early bus (the 7AM) to the airport, cleared all the hoops early and sat and waited for our flight patiently. Like we had a choice about waiting. We did clear US Immigration in Dublin. YES, we went through US Immigration in Dublin, so when we arrived in LAX, we did not have to do that, but we did have to wait for our luggage and then go through Customs (what a joke) and then onto a bus for a 5 hour drive home from LAX to Fresno. Bed never felt so good as it did that night! If you count, we handled our luggage 7 times in less than 24 hours, cleared 3 sets of customs officials, and two sets of Immigration officials. What a day!

So, what to expect next? Random shots that I liked from the trip and then on for some more boring writing of mine. It will take some time to pay this trip off and before we go again! Thanks for following along and I will answer any questions you may have....maybe not correctly, but I will answer them.

Croatia

Dubrovnik. Ok, I copy and pasted the name, and I will now refer to this city by the nation's name of Croatia. For a poor speller like myself, Croatia I can deal with!
Dubrovnik is a BEAUTIFUL city. We enjoyed the first part of the tour, and then slipped away from the crowd to see some things on our own. We had a great lunch (those pictures of lunch are Cathy's) and a great walk through the town. So, onto the pictures, that is really the only reason you are all here. This is taken from above the town, looking towards the north.


The main street is wide and clean. It is wonderful to see and when the sun is out, people cluster to the shaded side of the street. Great shops and lots of people.


The side streets are narrow and have a LOT of steps. It is a real workout getting around this town, but well worth the walking!


This is Cathy at the old entrance gate to town. It is actually a draw bridge, and the wall surrounding the city is really pretty. St Blaze is on the city wall. He is the patron of the town.


This is from the Dominican Monastery. It was the first stop on the tour. The picture I have is from the Courtyard.


This Dominic and I looking over our choices in the restaurant.
(Cathy's Photo)

This Cathy and I after a GREAT meal. You must ask me about this meal...it was..well GREAT! Notice we got the name of the place in the picture!
(photo done with Cathy's Camera)

Soon was time to head back to the ship, moored in the bay.



And sometimes I just can't help myself. I try not to do this, I really do try not to notice, but I have been collecting and owning this stuff for years, I think it is part of my blood now....


OK...there it is...next stop..and the last one, Venice.

Istanbul part two

No one ever said I was bright, I left my CD home instead of bringing it to Costco today. So, all of today's pictures are brought to you by Cathy! These are her pictures that she took. I will try and crop them to fit, but am not all that skilled with photobucket. I will do my best, but her pictures really don't need a lot of cropping. She has a great eye for people and framing a shot. And she doesn't take pictures of flowers instead of people!

Haggai Sophia, easily translates as Holy Wisdom. It was the Emperor's Church and the foundations of the church predate Constantine. It was here that the Eastern Roman Empire found its center. It was here and at St. Peter's in Rome, that the split between the Latin and the Greek Churches was played out. It was here that one of my favorites fathers of the Church was Bishop, John Chrysostom, and from where he was exiled. His bones were brought to Haggai Sophia after his death and burial elsewhere, and there they remained until the last Crusade, when they were brought to St. Peter's where they rest today. What a great gift it would be to return them to Haggai Sophia, where he so loved to preach. Also what a sign of unity between East and West, Latin and Greek, Orthodox and Catholic that return would be.
Here is the entrance to Haggai Sophia, it is the gift of the city (on the right) and the Church itself (on the left) being presented to Jesus and his Mother.


During the time of the Sultans, Haggai Sophia was turned into a Mosque. In the Islamic tradition, no images are allowed in a mosque. All the mosaics were covered in plaster and painted over. They were NOT destroyed. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1919 and the foundation of Turkey as a "secular" state under Ataturk, Haggai Sophia was turned into a museum, where both Islamic traditions and Christian traditions are still visible. These large disks (made of camel leather) bear the names of the sons of Mohamed.

These are the lights, they are suspended from the ceiling by a series of iron rods. They used to be oil lamps, but are today electric.


To light all the lamps vast amounts of oil was needed, and it was kept in these large urns. When the church became a mosque, they turned them into ablution basins for Muslims to wash before prayer. They have served well all these centuries!


From Haggai Sophia, we went to the Grand Bazaar. There was a lot there to see, and nothing really to buy. Of course if you were into hookahs, you would be overwhelmed.


From the Grand Bazaar we went to the Spice Market.


Well, other than a fine lunch on the waterfront, we were back onboard and off to a day at sea. A well deserved break after three days of on the go touring. Our next stop was in Croatia. And once I learn how to spell the name of the town, I'll let you know! Hope you enjoy these pictures and let Cathy know you liked them too!

Istanbul

Of all the surprises of this trip, Istanbul was maybe the most surprising of them all. Ephesus is in modern day Turkey. It is located near the port city of Izmir, and is nice, but upon entering the Bosporus Strait and docking in Istanbul, I was amazed, First at the activity of the water way and the way the city rises up from the coast. Istanbul, the city built by the Emperor Constantine (thus its first name, Constantinople) to the rise of the Byzantine Empire (its second name Byzantium) and then the rule of Islam and the Sultans (and its modern name, Istanbul) in the Ottoman Empire. Today, Istanbul is the second most important city in Turkey after the capital Ankara, built by the founder of the secular state of Turkey, Ataturk. The city is vast and modern. I do not have all my pictures yet, as Costco missed a CD and I need to get it burnt tomorrow. But what you will see today is the Blue Mosque and a quick glance at the port and one shot of Haggai Sophia. Enjoy these and I hope to have more for you tomorrow. Also Cathy has uploaded her pictures to photobucket too and I will be snagging a few of her pics soon in my recap of the vacation. We really do take different pictures of the same event.
WELCOME TO TURKEY! They are a proud people who fly their flag a lot about the city.

This is the port from the ship. Notice the amount of movement.

The entrance to the Blue Mosque.

The Blue Mosque as seen from Haggai Sophia. I did not crop much of this picture.

One of the five minarets that surround the Blue Mosque.

Inside the Blue Mosque.


And lastly, Haggai Sophia as seen from the exit of the Blue Mosque.

House of Mary & Ephesus

Well, let me start with my doubting remarks and go from there. It is "tradition" in the early Christian Church that John the Apostle took Mary (the mother of Jesus) under his patronage and looked after her until her death. It is known that John did go to Ephesus and later was exiled to Patmos but was returned to Ephesus before he died of old age. John is the only Apostle to die a natural death and his age is give by tradition to be close to one hundred years. So, is this really the house that John built for Mary? Is it in the right or correct location? It could be. It could be a nice and pious location that early Christians referred to as the "house of Mary". It could be a lot of things, but there is no "proof" other than what you choose to believe. If it helps you in your road to awareness, keep it and treasure it, if not, enjoy the tour, enjoy the location and be happy that you are there.
here is what the signs say:


And for those who constantly have nothing good to say about Islam, you should know that Mary is honored in the Koran, and is known as Miriam and that she gave a virginal birth to the prophet Jesus. A lot of respect is paid to her, more than to the mother of Mohamed! So for the Muslims who come to honor Mary here, they too have this:

Here is the building, built upon the foundation that was laid by John the Apostle, and is a small chapel of prayer.


From here we went back down to the valley area and into the heat of the day to visit Ephesus. Ephesus is one of the more important cities in early Christianity. It is here that John the Apostle, Peter, Paul and Barnabas all preached at one time or another. It is from here that the doctrine of Theotokos was proclaimed in the Council of Ephesus as well as where John Chrysostom was born, raised, and ordained a priest before his being called to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) to be the Bishop of Haggai Sophia. It is here that one of the great libraries of the ancient world once stood, but today is only a facade raised from the ruins.

It is a city built upon a hill that looked down on the sea coast. Today, the sea is far from the port and the city itself left to be dried in the sun. It was a burning hot day that we were there and we walked the length of most of the ancient city. As you can see, we did not walk it alone!


By the way, who is this man? Does ANYONE KNOW?*

As I said it was a VERY hot day. Cathy and I each finished a liter of water during the walk. Shade was at a premium, so much so that they were selling umbrellas on the ship. Cathy got one, and she found shade!


This is an ancient temple, followed by a detail of the inside of it.



On our way to the Library we passed the ancient public toilets.....OF COURSE I TOOK PICTURES!


It must have been a beautiful city in its zenith, as here is a mosaic walkway.


After a long HOT walk we reached the Library of Ephesus. I must say this for the tour, they started at the TOP of the hill and we walked our way DOWN the hill and out of the area.


Cathy and I at the Library steps:


And here are two shots of the theater of Ephesus. It is here that Paul preached and recently Luciano Pavarotti sang, well not too recently.


The road that is leading towards or away from the theater used to lead to the sea.
At least ONE creature was comfortable during the heat of the day!


*The gentleman in the picture was the father of the young man from Fresno Pacific who put this trip together. His name is Bob Bacci. This was his favorite thing to do, was to walk up when people were taking pictures and lean in. I have a few of him in my stack of prints as well as with Cathy.