Marmaris, Turkey

OMG!  The ports get better and better.......this one is the major vacation destination in Turkey.  And I can see why.  It is a major yacht harbor with more huge sailing yachts than either of us have seen in one port, ever.  We arrived at 6PM, disembarked and had another lovely dinner portside as the lights were coming on and the sun was going down.  We toasted to" the good life"with some local Merlot and remembered again how lucky we are!  There is yet another fabulous shopping bazaar with over 2,000 stalls/shops open until midnight.  Bought some fun things.  Yesterday, we went on a tour to Turtle Beach, which is a nature conservation area, with the sea on one side and a lake on the other, connected by a very picturesque river with 10 foot high reeds, spotted by little fishing villages and restaurant areas.  This area is a refuge for giant loggerhead  sea turtles, with shells 3-4 feet wide, and their prey which are very large blue crabs.  We boarded a small launch and proceeded to the area where these turtles come at night from May-Sept to lay their eggs.  They return to the place of their birth each year, even though they may have gone to completely different areas, sometimes miles away,  to swim and feed. Science has not yet figured out how they find their way.  They go out on the sand by moonlight, dig a hole and lay 80-150 eggs.  Thee ones at the bottom of the nest, in the cold sand, come out girls and the ones at the top of the nest which has been warmed by the sun, come out boys........go figure!  Anyway, when these little critters are born, their little legs are too short to reach the ground so they kind of move side to side to transport themselves into the water.  This is a slow and arduous process, fraught with danger of being eaten by local feasting birds and foxes who come to the area for lunch.  Only about 10% of them make it.  The public is barred from the beach area during the nesting months, as well they should be.  We stopped our boat next to a local fisherman who was catching these blue crabs.  He passed one over to our boat where we saw them up close.  Their shells are 6-8" big and they have bright blue legs....they are stunning.  Our playful tour guide put the live crab around my neck like a necklace!  The fisherman then put a crab on a fishing line and dangled it in the water and sure enough a fabulous turtle began chasing it and fully surfaced in his pursuit.  It was thrilling!  Next the fisherman cooked some crabs and we dined on them......they were sweet and delicious.  On our way back to our starting point, looking at the mountains next to the river, we were treated once again to view more monuments and kings graves which were huge structures carved into the sandstone which have been there since 5,000BC.  Our guide explained that the elaborate ones were for kings and the less elaborate down to small holes in the rock were for less important people and finally more recent deaths where the bodies were cremated and the urns with ashes were in the smallest of holes.  When kings were buried they were mummified, put into boats and brought down the river, and then carried up wooden ladders high onto the mountain for their final resting point.  Today, traditionally, Muslims are buried without caskets, covered with only a piece of white cloth, placed on their right sides and buried facing Mecca.  Another magical experience, followed by more great shopping and another lovely dinner on shore.  Like I keep saying, don't anybody pinch me........we are now at sea, about to pull into another Turkish port called Fethiye and the adventure continues.

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Crete

Well, I have always wanted to go to Greece and now I am here! And it is everything I hoped it would be.  Chania, Crete is a darling little Mediterranean port, reminiscent of St Tropez with all of the little cafe's and bistros portside.  There are all of these quaint little cobblestone streets lined with shops of all kinds.  Did some fun shopping for all of you.......Last night we had a traditional Greek dinner with local wine, stuffed grape leaves and on and on for 21/2 hours.  We were with Lauren and Elsa so we were in good hands.  The girls had taken a local cooking class at an organic farm and picked, cooked and ate a delicious lunch.  Wilf and I began a 2 hour walking tour this morning with an English speaking guide but went off on our own about 1/2 into it.  So, this morning, back on shore and another lovely Greek salad for me while being serenaded by some local children playing very recognizable Greek music on their accordions.  It couldn't have been more perfect, unless you were all here to share this with us.  You would never know that there was anything unusual going on in Athens.  Everyone is cheerful and friendly and speaks enough English to make themselves understood.  I love it here!!!!! We sail for Turkey tonight.....and on to a new adventure.

Egypt 2

Well, yesterday was the day to drive 31/2 hours to Giza to see The Pyramids  and The Sphinx (The head of a man and the body of a Lion).  No matter how prepared one thinks one is to see these things that we have been admiring in books for years, it is in fact surreal to be standing next to them. How and by whom they were constructed is still a mystery.  We were offered the opportunity to actually go inside the Pyramid but it required crawling on your tummy for a distance and we decided to pass.

 

We then proceeded to The Mena House Oberoi Hotel for a lecture and lunch.  It is an old building which has been restored and is quite wonderful to see.  It is covered with marble and onyx and is dark but very grand with crystal chandeliers and high ceilings.  Many of the rooms look out over the pyramids.  In the evenings they do a light show which is highly touted but our timing wasn't right.

 

We then drove to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities which was no less than fascinating!  It houses the most important collection of Egyptian antiquities from 2700 BC to the 6th century AD  There were several original pieces from the tomb of the young king Tutankhamen, who became king at the age of 9 and ruled until he died at the age of 19.  The reason for his death has been explained by he fell from a carriage and bled to death or he was murdered or he died of Malaria or any number of other stories. Among his treasures is the original gold mask found on his mummy in a complete state of preservation.  The explanation as to why the gold is still shiny is that Egyptian gold is mixed with silver to insure it's non tarnished sheen.  We saw many tombs which were carved out of stone and inlaid with lapis lazuli and turquoise and other precious stones and others that were carved out of Cedar brought from Lebanon, which was also highly valued.  (Fascinating to me as I was born in a hospital named Cedars of Lebanon in Los Angeles.}  There were no diamonds, rubies, emeralds etc used in their vast collection of decorated items.  Those stones existed here but were not recognized.  There were also many real mummies which was a first for me.  In the beginning, bodies were mummified in a fetal position but later were outstretched on their backs.  Kings had their arms bent at the elbow and crossed over their chests  Queens had one arm bent at the elbow and placed over her chest but the other was at her side..  I also discovered that in the same time frame these clever Egyptians had invented hinges.  There were examples of folding beds and thrones that were transported to be used when traveling .  Remarkable!

 

On our trip back to The World we passed through many small towns where all of the female heads were covered, open carts pulled by horses were used for transport and goat herds were being fed in the very dirty and garbage strewn streets.  It was explained that the towers we saw next to houses that had a series of holes in them were for raising pigeons, which they eat.  These were all newly constructed because when the "bird flu" scare occurred the government destroyed all of the ones that existed.  It was represented to us that the Egyptian people are very angry with their government and that there is alot of unrest.  Back to the ship.....and no matter how fascinating the day has been I am always so happy to be back in our world!  We look forward to a day at sea and then on to Crete.

RE: Egypt

Linda,

Wow.  This is the area for the birth of life.  I realy enjoy the update.

Thanks,

erik

Egypt

Wow!  We have had a couple of incredible days of touring in Alexandria, Giza and Cairo.  When we arrived in Alexandria we headed straight for a catacomb which had been unearthed right in the center of town.  It is so odd to see these ruins surrounded by modern day life.  It causes one to believe, as the Egyptians do, that under all of these newer buildings and roads lie past civilizations.  Our tour director let us know with no uncertainty that Egypt is a Suni country, there are no Shia or Sufi here.  She also said that although 80% of the people are Muslim, 20% are Christian and that there was a large Jewish population who did a mass exit, mostly to Morroco and France and then eventually to the US in 1956 when Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Her estimate is that there are now approx. 150 Jews in Egypt, 35 of whom reside in Alexandria. She reminded us that the Muslim religion recognizes both Jesus and Moses as Prophets but, of course Mohammed is the one to whom they pray 5 times a day. 

 

A catacomb is a multi-person underground burial site.  We walked down a fairly tight winding shaft of 90 stairs to the burial area.  This was the site of an important, but not Royal man and his wife, buried on opposite sides of "a room" which was decorated with carvings. In adjoining rooms there were may empty compartments where the bodies of their servants had been placed, so they could continue to serve them in their next lives. All of the mummified bodies had long since been either stolen or removed to the museum.  It reminded me of the Asian tombs we had seen in China, where the rulers buried statues of whole armies to protect them in their next life (The Terracotta Warriors in Xien).  The similarity in beliefs, then and now, is much more striking to me than the differences.  To think of all of the spilt blood over these vagaries continues to mystify me.  As we were leaving the catacomb we were told that we had only visited the 1st floor of a 3 floor burial site.  The bottom 2 floors were flooded as the water table continues to rise.  I am sure that is one of the reasons for the urgency in unearthing all of these "treasures" while it is still possible to retrieve them.  We were told that we could use restrooms before we left the area.......there was an old woman selling toilet paper sheets outside the toilet area.  No money, no paper.  When I went inside and saw their disgustingly filthy toilets I decided to pass.....It did occur to me that unless your legs are strong enough to successfully "hover" over toilet bowls or holes you really should not be a world traveler.  Carrying tissues with you is also a good idea.

 

Our next stop was the famous Biblioteca of Alexandria.  This was a very modern Library structure housing thousands of books in several languages.  There is also a section for children and for the blind.  One real dichotomy that jumped out at me, was a woman completely covered in black garments, including her hands and face.  There must have been a translucent piece over her eyes because she was sitting, using a computer with her cel phone on the table in front of her. So, it is not possible to believe that these "poor" women don't know that they are dressing differently than the rest of the world.  They are either choosing this lifestyle or it is being forced on them by their families or husbands.  Which brings me to a very important observation. There was a photo of Sadat, maybe 30 years ago, giving a speech to an audience in a square and there was only 1 female head covered.  Today, I saw hundreds of Egyptian women and not 1 had an uncovered head.  When I discussed this with our friend on The World who was educated in Egypt, he said that I was absolutely correct.  There is a resurgence in the religious behavior of both young and older Muslim women and men in Egypt that he feels will continue for the next couple of generations.  That thought made me very uncomfortable.  

 The most interesting thing in this structure is the Sadat Library which housed his personal papers and belongings.  Among them were the uniform he wore when he was assassinated, replete with bullet holes and his still bloody watch and cummerbund holding his medals.  Nearby was a photo of the assassination scene.  The Army was marching by all of the dignitaries including Sadat and Mubarek among others in the front row.  Some of the troops opened machine gun fire on Sadat and his men, and low and behold, all were killed except Mubarek! (The current President!)  An odd coincidence.......The military was unhappy with Sadat for brokering peace with the Israelis. Fascinating!