Tuesday, April 30th, Nicosia, Cyprus

Greetings!

The Cyprus Museum in Nicosia has one of the most extensive and impressive collection of Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Early-Middle-Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, Helenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archeological materials.  Pat and I spent two hours this morning, avoiding tourist groups and trying to listen to an audio guide in quieter corners.  We were amazed at the life-like figurines, incredibly useful tools, and artistic skill displayed by the objects presented.  Most photographed were at least 3,000 years old.

Demonstrating influences from all over the eastern Mediterranean for almost three thousand years, it is clear that Cyprus became a center of commerce and cultural interconnections.  Room after room we visited contained glass cases showcasing more and more treasures (with description, location, and period produced).  The audio guide added important insights into sources of materials and perspectives on scenes displayed or techniques used.

Exhausted, we returned to our apartment for lunch and battery charging (both us and our equipment). 

To see all of the many photos taken today, click on Tuesday, April 30th, Nicosio, Cyprus.

Monday, April 28th, Nicosia, Cyprus

Greetings!

Our walk through the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus went well today.  Not far away from our apartment, our passports were scanned at both the southern and northern edges of the Green Zone.  Plenty of tourists were exploring the narrow streets and shops which dot the two mile square area.  Unfortunately, every museum and mosque were also as closed as those in the south, and seemed to be using this time to undergo remodeling.

The Buyuk Han, one of Cyprus largest and best-preserved caravansarai which now houses craft artisans reminded us of those in Samarkand, Uzbekistan along the original Silk Road.  The ground floor has a mescit (islamic prayer room) balanced on six pillars over a fountain, in the middle of what once were stables for horses and camels.  Upstairs are rooms where merchants were housed much like we are currently.  This design is rare, and found only in two others in central Turkey.

We also got to visit the Tas Eserler Muzesi (lapidary Museum), exhibiting stonework including a varied collection of medieval era examples of column capitals, stelae, and a gothic window rescued from the Lusignan Palace that once stood near Ataturk Meydan.  As Pat continues to be annoyed at my mention, there is a connection to my ancestors here.  Guy of Lusignan purchased Cyprus from my 22nd great granduncle (Richard the Lion-hearted), who used the funds to pay for the Third Crusade to take back Jerusalem from Saladin. Earlier, traveling himself to Jerusalem, and becoming temporarily King of Jerusalem by marrying Queen Sybilla in 1186, Guy lost the Battle of Hattin, and was captured by Saladin and released a few years later. 

As I told Pat, like in quite a few of these buildings,  a slight variation of the coat of arms of my family prominently proclaims a connection to our lineage.  A rampant lion, the symbol of the Plantagenet monarchy, is an embarrassment in this case to all who acknowledge a family connection.  Saladin should have killed the asshole for his direction of Renaud de Chatillon, and his many military infidelities.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Monday, April 28th, Nicosia, Cyprus.    

 

Sunday, April 28th, Nicosia, Cyprus

Greetings!

Today (in the Eastern Gregorian Calendar) was Palm Sunday in Cyprus.  Just before we left the village of Arsos, we watched the town commemorate Christ's entry into Jerusalem.

We drove northeast through the rest of the Troodos Mountains to Nicosia, capital of the country.  For those unaware, Cyprus is divided by an illegal occupation by Turkey of the northern areas controlled by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.  Our route stayed just south of the Green Line, named after the color of the pen used to define the separation in the agreement reached in 1964.

I wish I could say that our entry into Nicosia was a pleasant one.  Our apartment hosts (and most in Europe) assumed that we understand the use of WhatsApp, and that we could retrieve and utilize the room access instructions.  All afternoon, we struggled to gain the key and code to open up the apartment door.  It was the most frustrating apartment access we have ever had.   You would think that a simple email with instructions would be the procedure.  Not here.  Or a phone number one could call.  Since we have a European Holafly Esim, including a phone number we could call has been the usual process.  Not here.  We finally got the agency which handles the apartment to include our number in their WhatsApp contacts, after which their video explaining (barely) a very elaborate drop box and power switch process.  Whew.  All we could do when we finally obtained entry was to fall into the bed exhausted and frustrated.

To see the two other photos of the Palm Sunday procession in Arsos, click on Sunday, April 28th, Nicosia, Cyprus.  And we hope your Sunday was better than ours.

Saturday, April 27th, Arso, Cyprus

Greetings!

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the Nea Paphos district of the city, and walked the Paphos Archeological Park,   The park is filled with large houses (the house of Thesus is 120 meters by 80 meters) with mosaic floors which are detailed and colorful, depicting mythical scenes.  The work excavating the site began in 1965, and continues today by Polish universities in Warsaw and Krakow. 

Though some sections of houses are covered, the majority are open with walkways rising above the rooms to better observe the floors.  

Begun by Nicocles in the 4th century BC,  the building accelerated 150 years later when the Ptolomies moved the capital of Cyprus from Salamis to Paphos.   For six hundred years, additions reflected late Helenistic and then Roman architectural and thematic influences.

Our main task today was to drive to our next night's stay in Arso in the Troodos Mountains inland.  But first, we wanted to visit a small popular village also in the hills (Omodos).  Known for its wine festival, monastery, weavers, and many restaurants, we killed several hours enjoying a couple of great tuna salads and smoothies while watching lots of tourists and cats. 

We drove the very narrow and winding streets from Omodos to Arso, and located our reserved night stay,  With parking at a premium, and Google Maps only marginal, it was a definite adventure.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Saturday, April 27th, Arso, Cyprus.

Friday, April 26th, Paphos, Cyprus

Greetings!

After breakfast in the hotel, we drove to the Paphos Archeological Museum,  Another in the many local treasures which showcase the materials produced and placed in burial caves in the area over the past 3.,000 years.  The main story gained from these ruin and museum visits is how many and how advanced the civilizations were which occupied this island long before Greece or Rome or anyone in the last 2,000 years lived here.  We've lately begun to ignore the work which represents the last thousand years in the museums or on the ground.  As beautiful and important as it is, it just doesn't compare.

In a few days, we'll be in the capital city of Cyprus, and we'll visit the national archeology museum.  I'm sure it will be the super-dazzle old world visit, but these local museums do a great job of helping tell the story of the history of the Cyprus.  Families whose merchant and political lives carved huge impacts on each city have donated their collections to private homes turned into museums.  Free entrance to residents and visitors, hosted by patient and informed guides, complete the experience.  

Not wanting to limit our Cyprus experience to ruins, museums, and coastal walks, we drove north up into the hill above Paphos to Polis to see the northern edge of the island.  Nearby is the Baths of Aphrodite, with a botanical garden leading up to it.  Thankfully not a long uphill walk, we joined a few others imagining the greek goddess spending a quiet time in the cool waterfall grotto hideaway.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Friday, April 26th, Paphos, Cyprus.

Thursday, April 25th, Paphos, Cyprus

Greetings!

After breakfast, we drove for about an hour from Limassol to our next two-night stay in Paphos.  We're still tackling our use of Pat's IPhone and my Google Pixel for directions, but we had the advantage of having driven part of the route yesterday on our way to Kourion.  Still, getting from our hotel to the main country circular highway through one-way streets was challenging.  Sure felt good to get to the open road between the two cities.  After checking into the Princess Vera Apartments on the Tombs of the Kings Row, we hiked from there, around the large coastal point to the Pathos Harbor.  

On our 3.3 km walk, we passed a family building a sandcastle near the tidepools (took a photo for Hollis Bewley (Director of the Stewards Tidepool Program) before finishing at the Pathos Castle.  It was a fortress built and rebuilt by the Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, Lusignans, Ottomans, and the British.as a result of invasions and earthquakes from 1080 to 1974.  

Lunching on forest and tropical smoothies at the harbor, we hailed a cab at 2pm back to the hotel.  We'll go out later for dinner at one of the neighborhood restaurants.

Before we went to dinner, we drove a few miles north to the Tomb of the Kings.  It was a great decision, and we almost let our exhaustion from the morning walk cause us to pass on it.  So glad we went.  These are burial grounds carved out of solid rock, between the 4th century BC and the 3rd century AD.  

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Thursday, April 25th, Paphos, Cyprus.  

Wednesday, April 24th, Limassol, Cyprus

Greetings!

On the second day in Limassol, we drove west to the Kourion Archeological Site (Ancient Kourion), and to the Sanctuary of Apollo (a little farther west).  We keep thinking that every place we se is the biggest, most well-preserved and presented set of ruins we've seen.  It's the same with museums.  The next one tops the previous in size or quality.  

And we're very impressed with how the country has protected the sites, and the signage.  It's like what we saw in Australia.  If you don't spend government funds on war, you can spend it on infrastructure.  

The Amphitheater here is particularly well-preserved, and acoustically designed.  From a single spot on the stage floor, the actors can be heard in all of the seats.  The site sits on the top of a hill overlooking the coast, making sure the city leaders could spot ships approaching from the west.

And just so you'll appreciate the importance of Kourion and its surrounding area, all that we saw was built after 325 BC (when Alexander the Great defeated the Persians empire,  A series of earthquakes over the next 300 years destroyed most of what he found, and the Romans subsequently re-built what we see now, only to have it also destroyed by subsequent invaders.

The really important value of Kourion is that it was founded a thousand years earlier by the Mycenaeans, who eventually gave us the Greek language (Linear B).

After we get back from our drive west, we're going to the Limassol Archeological Museum to see what was found here.  It may take a while to upload the photos, so do come back to see what was photographed inside the museum.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Wednesday, April 13th, Limassol, Cyprus.

Tuesday, April 23rd, Limassol, Cyprus

Greetings!

After breakfast at Hobo's Cafe, we retrieved luggage from the room, and walked over to the Church of St Lazuras parking lot, and retrieved our car.   Google Maps got us out of the City, and west to the little mountain town of Lefkaras.  

Lefkaras has been called (by the Tourist Bureau of Japan) one of the top 30 little beautiful cities in the world.  It's known for its lace and silver craft shops.  Atop a hill about 10 miles west of Limassol, we enjoyed its small streets and friendly shopkeepers very much.  I'd probably pass on the Museum of embroidery, however.  Not a lot there, and too many steps to get upstairs to it.  Better spend the time in the shops.  

Later, we stopped by Choirokotia.  And stop by is all we did.  After spending 30 minutes trying to find it, we took one look at the hill we'd have to climb on foot to get there, and decided to pass.  The site is clearly one of the great treasures of the Neolithic period, and we have seen many of the pieces of early art which were found there.   

We're now confortably snuggled into Limassol, the second largest city in Cyprus, in a large, beachfront hotel (Odysseia), and are too well-fed.  Tomorrow, we day-trip to Kourion and the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Tuesday, April 23rd, Limassol, Cyprus

Monday, April 22nd, Larnaca, Cyprus

Greetings!

Larnaca is like any southern California beach town, without the waves, surfers, and skimpy swimsuits.  While there's a huge Virgin Cruise ship a few hundred yards off the coast, and lots of umbrellas on the sand, most of the action is driving up the street in front of the hotels or sitting at the bars and restaurants.  

Today, we just went out for breakfast at a cafe recommended by our landlord (Hobo Cafe), and got the discount they negotiated with it.  Afterward, we walked the beach front until we got to a local prize museum.

I'm have difficulty uploading the many photos taken in the Pierides Family Museum, whose collection of pottery and glass from the period from 3900 BC to 300AD on Cyprus is one of the finest in the world.  Next to one in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, this family has acquired it all, and displays it so well. 

After walking through the town until about 2pm, we returned to our apartment for a late lunch of the leftovers from last night's dinner.  While Pat read, I then walked to where our car is parked, in order to avoid additional 2-Euro penalty charges (beyond 24-hrs).  I drove it out of the lot, around the long one-way streets, and back to the lot.  The charge is for 24-hours (2 Euros), but any hour beyond 24 is another 2 Euros.  That will cover us until tomorrow, when we drive west along the south coast to Limassol for another two-day stay.

Please stay tuned for the many additional photos from the Museum.  They are spectacular, and I'll find a means of overcoming this very slow internet.  

Got it.  To see some of the photos taken today, click on Monday, April 22nd, Larnaca, Cyprus.

Sunday, April 21st, Larnaca, Cyprus

Greetings!

We made it.  Still uploading two more photos, but the flight over was surprisingly accommodating.  Hardly any  delay or difficulty with either customs, check-in, or delay.  One of the most personalized lunch deliveries ever.  Flight crew turned into personalized chefs, and can't believe anyone else got served before we landed.

Staying right on the beach, surrounded by restaurants and bars of every stripe.  Had dinner last night at a great Greek out-of-the-way place, which provided more than we could eat for so cheap.  Took some of it home to have for lunch today.  Today is completely on our own time, and may just be relaxing.

Stay tuned to see if I can get the other two photos up.  Click on Sunday, April 21st, Larnaca, Cyprus.

Saturday, April 20th, Milan, Italy

Greetings!

What do you think would be the worst day to try to get into the Civic Archeology Museum in Milan, situated on the second floor of the City Hall?  Answer: the day in which the world famous, week-long "Design Milan" concludes with presentations inside the main hall of the building.   The line started three blocks away. 

Instead, we got very familiar with the M2 line of the Metro Subway, climbed up and down many stairs (and a few elevators and escalators), and walked to the Canal district.  Pat left her walking stick in the place we stayed in Verona.  She's been making due yesterday and today, as we keep an eye out for a hikig store.  Did you know that the canals were constructed to transport the stones which buit the Duomo?

We stopped at a market we found last night, and restocked breakfast items again.  

Tomorrow morning, we take the subway to a train to the airport to fly to Cyprus.  I doubt there will be a post until Monday in Lanarca.

To see the two other photos we took today, click on Saturday, April 20th, Milan, Italy.

Friday, April 19th, Milan, Italy

Greetings!

Trains, subways, busses, make believe tourist trains riding around in the City center, and lots of walking and stair-climbing and descending, that's what we did yesterday.  The best part of the day was the dinner at 7:30pm at the Zio Pesce.  An excellent, elegant, well-staffed spot just down the street from our 6th floor flat.  The worst part of the day - not being able to get engage the small elevator at our flat.  Thankfully, three young visitors from Switzerland and Amsterdam were coming down the stairs, and offered to carry our luggage all the way back up to the 6th floor.  We gave them our contact information at home, as one of them was planning on traveling to San Francisco this summer.  Welcome and thanks to Rachael.

To see the few photos taken today, click on Friday, April 19th, Milan, Italy.

Thursday, April 18th, Verona, Italy

Greetings!

Verona is halfway between Venice and Milan on the train.  It's where I discovered yesterday, after purchasing a ticket at the Vicenza Mestre station just outside Venice, that I had lost my wallet.  I actually know where I lost it.  I pulled out my wallet to get my VISA card, and put my wallet on my suitcase against the wall next to the kiosk.  Oops, big mistake.  Hurrying off to the platform to catch the train, it probably fell behind the suitcase as I grabbed the handle.

Three stops later, as we exited the Verona train station, I reached into the pocket it should have been in, and found only the Visa card.  Making our way to the apartment we had reserved (on the card and Pat's Euros), we searched everywhere, and finally concluded that we'd do two things: 1) I'd go back to the station and ask the lost and found; and 2) we'd start canceling the credit cards in it.  We failed on the first, and were only marginally successful on the second.  Last night, I went back to the Verona train station, bought a ticket back to Venice, waited for the 6:49pm train (and found out I was sitting on the right platform, but the wrong end of the train).  Few things more frustrating then running 100 yards to the closing doors of your reserved coach, and watching it speed away.  

We're also struggling to get our purchased ESim phone cards to let us make phone calls to International and U.S. phone numbers to cancel our credit cards.  best we can do so far is move my money into Pat's checking accounts for the debit cards, and send text messages and emails to everyone else.  One of them at least had an online "lock card" function.

In the meantime, we did get an email from one bank telling us of "unusual activity" on the card.  So someone probably is in possession of the wallet.  Nix the idea of trying another train ride to see if it ended up in the lost and found.

This morning, we walked from our perfectly-located Truly Verona apartment to the 13th Century city center.  Amphitheaters, and walled-in convents, parks, and tons of restaurants and shops are around us.  With Hop-on busses, taxis, and pedestrians (zillions of children), we feel very comforted.  Even without my wallet.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Thursday, April 18th, Verona, Italy.

Tuesday, April 16th, Venato, Italy

Greetings!

Today was the longest traveling leg of our tour.  We drove from Brixen to Venice.  The drive was easy, as it was from the mountains down the main north south road that we've discussed led from the Austro-Hungarian Empire (and Northern Europe) to Italy.  

On thee way, we visited Eliseo and his wife Diane, who farm 10 acres of apples in a small valley, which has been in his family for over a hundred years.  After walking us through his orchard, and answering lots of our questions, we stepped inside his barn just ahead of the hail,  There, he showed us his production equipment, and told us of the coop his father founded.

Diane then provided a wonderful meal topping any lunch we'd had, and included their apple juice and wine.  Again, their personal stories and memories of the way in which their valley had played a role in the international dramas of the first half of the 20th century impressed all of us.  As one of our group put it, "Americans have heard much about the Allies perspective, but little about life on the other side of the wars"

To see allof the photos taken today, click on Tuesday, April 16th, Venato, Italy.

Monday, April 15th, Brixen, Italy

 

Greetings!

Today is Dolomite Day.  What, you ask, is a Dolomite?  It's a calcium and magnesium filled rock layer, white/grey in color, on the south side of the Tyrolean Alps in Northern Italy.  

Let me tell you how it got there.  Sometime between 400 million and 500 million years ago, Earth's land was clustered at the South Pole, where water first appeared and seas originated.  Early tectonic upheavals resulted in erosion deposited on seafloors, as well as the shells of sea and seashore life.  The weight of the deposited materials in successive layers of sea floor created a thick impermeable section of rock now referred to as sedimentary.   

Over the next 200 million years, when the land from the South Pole spiraled north and broke up into the continents, the group which we know now as North America, Europe, and Africa rode up and over a giant super craton now under the Congo, Europe halted and Africa continued north into it.  The resulting 30 million year continental collision pushed up the mountain range which became the Alps and Atlas mountains, and split off the North American continent containing the Appalachian Mountains across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.  Before being released to continue northward, the seabed behind the Alps was forced upward to become the Dolomites and accompany Europe on its journey.

Our local guide, Evan, took eight hardy hikers on a mid-mountain trail for a couple of hours for better views of the Dolomites, while the others were bussed to a cafe at the trail's end.  Reunited, we all traveled to an 800-year old mountain farmhouse for a South Tyrolean lunch and one last view before the clouds covered the jagged peaks.

To see all of the photos taken today, Click on Monday, April 15th Brixen, Italy.

Sunday, April 14th, Brixen, Italy

Greetings!

Today, we walked downtown and boarded the train to Bolzano, the capital city of the Province of South Tyrol.  Bolzano is considered a bridge between Nothern Europe and Southern Europe due to the three spoken languages in South Tyrol (German, Italian, and Ladin., and the confluence of the Italian and German-Austrian culture.  After arriving in Bolzano, we were delighted to meet our two local guides, one who identifies as Italian, and the other as German.  They provided us with the history of South Tyrol, and made clear Mussolini's actions in the period from 1922 to 1942 to "Italianize" the German population. 

Francesco led us on a walk from the train station to the central area of Bolzano.  The streets were for the most part very easy for pedestrians, and shops were easily accessible.  The architecture reflected a more German design than we have found previously, as did the interior of the Gothic Cathedral Church which functions as the Duomo.  Begun in 1184, it was re-constructed twice before being completed in the 16th century.  

Most of us spent the bulk of the day at the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology.  It houses Otzi, the 5300 year old Ice Man, found high in the Dolomite Alps near here in 1991.  The materials displayed in the three full floors are extremely well-presented, and the story of Otzi reveals an enormous amount about life in the period when the Copper age Europeans struggled to exist.  It has been deduced that he was a high altitude shepherd, and that his diet consisted of goat and deer meat.  A wide range of herbs and grasses containing early medicines were found on him, and it is thought he might have been a shaman.  

He wore a cloak made of woven grass, and a coat, a belt, a pair of leggings, a loincloth, and shoes, all made of leather of different skins.  He also wore a bearskin cap, with a leather chin strap.  the shoes were waterproof and wide, seemingly for walking across the snow.  They were constructed using bearskin for the soles, deer hide for the top panels, and a netting made of tree bark.  Soft grass went around the foot and in the shoe, and functioned like modern socks.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Sunday, April 14th, Brixen, Italy.

Saturday, April 13th, Brixen, Italy

Greetings!

Another traveling day, this time to the first view of the Dolomites.  Up through the Val di Funes, a valley known for its steep peaks and alpine meadows. We stopped at wonderful high farmland restaurant (Fines), and took a walk up to a small picturesque church (Santa Magdalena) which always ends up in the bulk of the classic tourist photos of the signature Dolomite scenes.  

Gabriel Messner, a local snowboarder whose family runs the restaurant in Santa Magdalena, led us on a walk from the restaurant up to the church, and gifted us with local smoked meat  (Speck) and bread.while there.  We visited a two-flower rated farm, heard the resident peacock, and checked in on contented cows milked automatically four times a day.

Later, the family prepared a full lunch for us, and topped it off with local accordion musical presentation.  Before leaving the small valley, we trekked up to the spot where the best view of the razor-topped Dolomite mountains on the western edge of the huge range.  Across a meadow, yet another church was built to add to the foreground of the photos.

Traveling on to Brixen, our stop for the next three days, we took an hour's walk through the City after dropping off our bags at the Cavalino d'Oro.  Later, we ate dinner at the Grissino Restaurant (breadsticks).

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Saturday, April 13th, Brixen, Italy.

Friday, April 12th, Trento, Italy

Greetings!

This morning, our local guide (Martin) took us on a walk through Trento.  A 15th century walled city, it's central square is built over a 4th century roman burial crypt discovered in the 1960's.  As I mentioned yesterday, Trento is famous for the Catholic Council which responded to Martin Luther in the period from 1545 to 1561 by re-certifying the canons of its faith in its central Cathedral.  

But first, we visited the Castle.  Its facade (and windows in particular) showcasing the variety of dominant forces and architectural styles which occupied Trento.  As Martin described the City, the area stands at the crossroads of Italian and Austro-German cultures.  Each having an interest in controlling the roadway north out of Italy though the lowest, widest pass in the Alps.  The castle was the home of the representative of the Pope and the government of Emperor Charlemagne.

The Cathedral di San Vigilio (Duomo di Trento) construction was begun after razing an earlier church by Prince-Bishop Frederico Wanga in 1212 in the Lombard-Romanesque style.  Interrupted by his death in the Fifth Crusades, construction continued for centuries.  In 1508 Emperor Maximilian I was crowned in the Cathedral.  In 1739, a baroque alter and baldachin based on the work of Berni in Rome was built.  We had the pleasure of seeing the restored Roman burial site excavated in the 1960s under the Cathedral.

Ending the morning tour with Martin, Pat and I stopped into the Museo Diocesano Tridentino (Museum of Art near the Fountain of Neptune), and then had lunch at a local Subway.  Later, we returned to the hotel for a rest before contemplating going back out when the Italian siesta was over. 

To see all of the photos taken today, Click on Friday, April 12th, Trento, Italy