Trip Report - E. Med. on Celebrity Equinox – summer 2012 w/ lots of pictures

[wismergirl]

Excellent start.

 

Thank you! I'll keep posting!

[wismergirl]

July 23, 2012 (Day 8) – Rome to Civitavecchia (Cruise Port)

 

It was the first rainy day of our trip. Luckily we didn’t have to use public transport as we booked a van through Rome Shuttle Limousine (€165 for 8 people - €15 cheaper than Rome Cab) to pick us up at St. Regis to go to the cruise port. We used Cruise Critic Roll Call to form this group of 8. As 6 of us stayed at St. Regis, and 2 just walked to St. Regis from the nearby Hotel Quirinale, the van didn’t have to stop at different hotels to pick up passengers, otherwise we had to pay €5 for each extra stop. The ride took about 1½ hours and check-in was easy. Celebrity collected all our passports so we didn’t have to worry about going through immigration at any of the ports. We were given a receipt to claim the passports on the last sea day. I heard that some people refused to turn in their passports so they had to wake up super early and cut short their excursion time in order to complete the immigration process at the ports.

 

Although it was our 1st time cruising with Celebrity, we were able to transfer our Diamond status from Royal Caribbean to Celebrity’s Captain’s Club Elite, so we received many perks like priority embarkation, complimentary pressing of 2 garment items, one complimentary bag of laundry (wash, dry, fold), complimentary dry cleaning of 1 garment item, complimentary 90-minute Internet package, access to the Captain's Club Lounge for coffeehouse style breakfast and evening social hour with free drinks and invitations to attend the Senior Officer's Cocktail Party and the Elegant Tea Service event. The above were just the ones that we used and there were also many others that we did not use. For example, complimentary access to Persian Garden…who wants to lie on the hot stone when we were already boiling hot? We found that just having the free drinks before and after dinner saved us $$$. Since there were 2 of us, the above perks came in double so we could send in 2 bags of free laundry and got 180 minutes of free internet.

 

As we already got free alcoholic drinks from the Elite Happy Hours, we found it good enough to prepay for a premium non-alcoholic package of $18 per day which included canned and fountain soft drinks, Evian, Perrier & San Pellegrino water, specialty coffees and teas, frozen drinks & smoothies. The best for that package was we could get an ice-cold bottle of flavoured Vitamin Water on every port day. That proved to be extremely soothing while we were on excursions in extreme heat. Having bought the beverage package, I didn’t bother to ask if Pellegrino water was free while dining at Blu. We just ordered a few bottles for every dinner, regardless of the dining venues. During the whole cruise, I spent over $350 on drinks and DH spent close to $500, so it's great to just pay $200 each for the package.

 

After a quick lunch at the Oceanview Café (the food was actually not bad for a buffet), we went to our Aqua Class stateroom #1535 on Penthouse Deck 11. The room was just an average-size balcony room.

 

With added amenities like daily fresh fruit, fresh-cut flowers and different types of tea ( prepared fresh daily with choices of raspberry, jasmine, herbal, green, etc.)

 

We chose our room with great care and made sure that they were not directly below the pool with deck chairs scratching the ground or below the fitness centre with people dropping weights. Our room #1535 was on the port side below the acupuncture rooms and my colleague’s #1540 was on the starboard side below the hair salon. We thought it was very important to get quiet rooms for good night sleeps when we had a port intensive cruise. Both rooms proved to be very quiet throughout the day and at night.

 

When we were unpacking, Celebrity sent us complimentary champagne and flowers.

 

I thought all Aqua guests got the free champagne but not the rose, so the flowers might be for our silver anniversary??? Since we booked the Aqua rooms for the special spa services Celebrity offered, we did a spa tour and decided to start our relaxation in the spa that very 1st afternoon. I did a facial and a massage and DH had a massage. All services were professional and both of us had a wonderful time there before the sailaway. My colleague & I also made our hair appointments for the 1st formal night and booked a few other spa treatments. I particularly liked the private access for Aqua guests to the Deck 12 spa area using the spiral staircase. It’s very convenient without getting out to the main elevator lobby. We could just wear our bath robes to go upstairs for the spa treatments and didn’t have to bother to change.

 

Being Aqua guests, we could use the Relaxation Lounge (also the waiting area for spa guests) with very comfortable day beds and since it’s located at Deck 11 Forward, being very close to our rooms, we spent some time after the spa to watch the sailaway but the heavy rain blocked a lot of the view. While we were in the Relaxation Lounge, I met another Canadian teacher couple, what a small world! We spent the time before the Emergency & Lifeboat Drill chatting and enjoying ourselves in the lounge.

 

As a Captain’s Club Elite member, I received an email a few months before the cruise, offering me a 20% discount for dinner at Murano (reg. $35 per person) on the first night, so I prepaid and the 4 of us had a lovely meal there with above average food, service and atmosphere.

 

The Filet Mignon I ordered was tender and juicy

 

And the Crepe Balon Rouge prepared tableside was delicious

 

Then we went to the “Opening Night Show” at 9:30 p.m.

[wismergirl]

July 24, 2012 (Day 9) – At sea (1st formal night)

 

We had a very busy morning. First we went to Cellar Masters on Deck 4 for the Meet & Mingle at 10 a.m. It’s great to meet the CC friends whom we chatted for so long before the cruise. We also met our private tours’ travel buddies there. Then Celebrity invited us to join the ship’s Honeymoon and Anniversary Celebration at the Sky Observation Lounge (Deck 14 Forward) at 11:15 a.m. The ship’s photographers went around the lounge to take pictures while we danced, ate, drank and socialized. They made a beautiful cake for each couple to pose & take photographs.

 

In order to get ALL the hard copies of our pictures taken by Equinox’s photographers, we decided to buy the ship’s All inclusive picture package for $299.95. After paying for the package, the photo staff set up some envelopes for us at the photo gallery and we took all hard copies of our pictures displayed on the shelves to the counter for the sales rep to store them in the labelled envelopes. We would claim the envelopes when we picked up our photo CD. It was a super good move as Celebrity did not have room to post all photos up so cruise guests had to go through piles of photos that were displayed but were removed from the shelves to allow room for new ones. All pics on the CD were very neatly grouped into folders by photo stations & tourist attractions. The quality was not the best but they were just good memories, especially those that were taken on tender boats, at ports and attractions like the Acropolis. Since I got a lot of group pictures at the same location but with different poses, I could also give my travel buddies some of those pictures from my collection. We took home close to 200 8x10 and some 5x7 pictures which worked out to be less than $1.50 for each photo instead of the regular $19.99. We also got a deal to buy 3 DVD’s for $34.95 (Cruise-in-Review, Ports of Call: Mediterranean and the Birth of Equinox).

 

As we were socializing in the Sky Lounge, the Celebrity Life Activity Host announced that there was a couple from Canada who was celebrating their 50th anniversary. As DH & I went to congratulate them, we realized that the lady was a teacher who worked with my husband when he was vice-principal at an Education Centre. What a small world that we met her again after 15 years…not in Canada but in Europe :) !

 

We were late for Trivia so we did not win Progressive Round 1, even though we had 100% accuracy. We were not big fans of buffet so we had lunch in the Silhouette Dining Room. Since we were Aqua guests we always ate at the private restaurant Blu and other specialty restaurants so we did not eat dinner in the main dining room at all. Food quality at lunch was average.

 

We had a lovely afternoon nap before going to scrapbooking at 4 p.m., followed by my hair appointment at the salon at 4:45. The hairdresser was professional, quick and meticulous. She asked about the colour and style of the gown I would be wearing for formal night and matched my hairstyle perfectly to the dress. DH & I took lots of nice pictures from station to station.

 

Before changing into our formal attire, DH & I enjoyed our complimentary daily tea and hors d'oeuvres on our balcony.

 

We went to Blu (the open seating restaurant exclusively for Aqua and suite guests) for dinner. I really liked the “Rose” theme. The walls were lovely.

 

Even the butter was in the shape of a rose

 

The food at Blu was very good (almost as good as Murano’s the night before). The service was impeccable. As I heard from some CC friends that sometimes Tuscan Grille would offer a 2-for-1 dinner, I went nextdoor to enquire about the availability. Unfortunately Tuscan Grille said they were quite booked up for this sailing and was not able to honour that offer. When the manager at Blu knew about this, he was kind enough to offer us a 25% off at Tuscan Grille for the night we’re back from Santorini, saying that the sunset view of Santorini from Tuscan Grille would be most beautiful. We gladly accepted his kind act.

 

After dinner, we went around the ship to take more pictures and the Ensemble Lounge on Deck 5 next to the specialty restaurants was one of our favourite venues on board.

 

The show Limelight: The Broadway Dream was better than the one on the 1st night, though it’s nothing comparable to any of the real Broadway shows. Then we went to Quasar to sing Karaoke for an hour before retiring to bed. My friend was very happy about the wide selection of Italian songs there.

[wismergirl]

July 25, 2012 (Day 10) – Santorini

 

I was very excited about this first port day in Santorini! We had a beautiful view of Santorini from our balcony.

 

Breakfast was at Blu and I really liked their smoothies. They were free for Aqua guests during breakfast time. The best thing about Blu was the open seating and we could go there any time we wanted and there was always a table for us. The only time I had to make a reservation was when we were eating with 4 of our tour buddies for a table of 8.

 

As we checked http://www.cruisetimetables.com (a very important & useful site, check and plan accordingly!!) and knew that there were 3 other cruise ships docking there on the same day, we decided to join the ship excursion SO01 (CA$79.75 per person) - Village of Oia and Santorini Island - to take advantage of visiting Oia first, instead of taking the cable car or donkey to Fira with the crowds. Besides, there was no need to queue up early for the tendering tickets. Some of our friends told us that since all early tenders were for cruisers that had booked ship’s excursions, they waited for a couple of hours to get on a tender, and they could only have time to visit Fira but not Oia. IMO, Oia was more beautiful than the well-known capital, Fira. I was so glad that we booked the ship’s excursion though big group tours were definitely not our cup of tea! Our instruction from Celebrity was that 1 person from our group would go to the Equinox Theatre and get the tender tickets for the whole group from a staff member on the stage, and the rest of us just waited in the Theatre for our tender number to be called. We got Tender #7 and we were called after about a 15-min wait in the theatre.

 

The tender was big and beautiful, like an ancient fishing boat.

 

Partial view of the tender boat

 

As we got the front seats on the tender, Celebrity’s videographer was there and filmed us waving at him so we could see ourselves on the Cruise-in-Review DVD. After about 10 minutes, we got off the tender and boarded the #7 coach (same as the tender #). It was very well-organized as there were so many coaches waiting there. We were taken to Oia’s Santo Winery to enjoy a few glasses of wine and the beautiful scenery.

 

Wine tasting

 

Wow! What a view!

[Waihekean]

Thank you for this review, I have so far devoured it and will have to go through it again much slower with DH.

 

We are doing a very similar trip this year and it is the first cruise and first time to the Med for my DH, so it is super exciting!

 

Our trip starts 3 days in Venice, then 2 days in Florence, then 11 night cruise Greece, Turkey & Italy with 4 days in Rome to finish. Wow:D

 

Think I can learn a lot from your review.

[wismergirl]

July 25, 2012 (Day 10 con’t) – Oia, Santorini

 

We were given some time to explore Oia on our own and DH took lots of amazing photos. It’s so true to say that if you can’t take a beautiful picture in Santorini, it’s because you don’t have a camera.

 

This is the landmark of our meeting place after our own walkaround, from there we had to walk back to the parking lot nearby where the coach was waiting.

 

The reds and pinks stood out so much amidst the whites and blues

 

No one could miss this most-photographed sight

 

We bought quite a few Greek souvenirs

 

Bye to the breathtaking view of Oia

[wismergirl]

Thank you for this review, I have so far devoured it and will have to go through it again much slower with DH.

 

We are doing a very similar trip this year and it is the first cruise and first time to the Med for my DH, so it is super exciting!

 

Our trip starts 3 days in Venice, then 2 days in Florence, then 11 night cruise Greece, Turkey & Italy with 4 days in Rome to finish. Wow:D

 

Think I can learn a lot from your review.

 

Yes, indeed your trip sounded very similar to ours. Great minds think alike!!:D

 

How are you going to Venice? Lots of Luggage? Refer to my Venice posts. That was the city I spent most time to plan on and I still feel my planning was below par. :(

 

Post again if you need further help from me as your planning goes on.

[wismergirl]

July 25, 2012 (Day 10 con’t) – Fira, Santorini

 

It’s so important to be on time when you’re with the big tour as the coach would just leave without having everyone on board. Luckily the “late” couple was picked up as we drove past them, otherwise they would have to find their own transportation to Fira (though not far away) and they would have missed the giving out of the cable car tickets in Fira.

 

Our tour basically finished as soon as we arrived at Fira, the capital of Santorini. The tour guide gave out our cable car tickets so we could return to the ship on our own. It was fortunate that since our ship had a late departure, 2 of the cruiseships docked at Santorini had already left, so the wait time for the cable car was only about 30 minutes. We found a map of Fira on our way:

 

Then we split up with my colleague who could not walk far with a broken toe and we started exploring on our own. Without the motor coach now it’s MY turn to transport DH’s tripod from one end to the other end of the town while he carried his camera bag containing his Canon T3i camera and a few lenses. He is not a professional photographer but he just likes taking pictures.

 

The view of Fira

 

The donkey station where people walked up and down with the donkeys (they were actually mules)

 

Some parts of the donkey path were not very wide so it’s not easy to walk down to the shore with the donkeys.

 

We could see our ship from Fira

 

I’m not advertising for the hotel, I just liked the ship seen from the arch!

[wismergirl]

July 25, 2012 (Day 10 con’t) – Fira, Santorini

 

Equinox looked beautiful from the top of the cliff

 

Having spent a couple of hours in Fira, we went to the cable car station to meet up with our friends. Each cable car could hold 6 people max and there was a set of 6 cars that moved together. The journey from the top of the cliff to the port took 3 minutes.

 

It’s a pity that we missed the beautiful sunset while waiting in line inside the cable car building and the sun set too quickly to allow us to take sunset pictures while at port or on the tender. This was one of the very few we got:

 

When we got back, we quickly changed for dinner at Tuscan Grille. Since we got the 25% off, we only paid $90 for the 4 of us. This proved to be the best dinner on board.

 

Best Filet Mignon on board

 

Yummy Crème Brulee

 

After dinner, we went to watch the magic show by Neal Austin, it was quite funny.

[wismergirl]

July 26, 2012 (Day 11) – At sea

 

We spent a very relaxing day at sea. As we woke up very late, we had “brunch” at the Silhouette Dining Room. DH swam at the pool and took a nap by the pool on the lounger. I hemmed the pants of the new suit DH bought in Milan and sent them to be ironed so he could wear the suit on the 2nd formal night.

 

DH got a lovely shot of a sailboat from our balcony

 

We went to the Senior Officers’ Social exclusively for Captain’s Club members, had a drink at Michael’s Club before dinner at Blu, then watched the A Capella quartet performing at the Entertainment Court. Some of the songs sung by the quartet were good but many times they were out of tune and the balance was not desirable, especially when the harmony was louder than the melody.

[wismergirl]

July 27, 2012 (Day 12) – Istanbul, Turkey (Day 1 of 2)

 

Celebrity Equinox’s itinerary with 1.5 days in Istanbul and 1 full day in Ephesus was one major reason why we booked the cruise. DH & I had always wanted to visit Istanbul, the only city in the world that lies in both Asia and Europe. I booked Tour #4 (1.5 days Private Istanbul Tour) for 10 people with Ephesus Shuttle. Each paid US$116. I communicated with Fevzi from Ephesus Shuttle and his responses were always prompt and helpful. I highly recommended Ephesus Shuttle for private tours in Istanbul and Ephesus. Lots of CC cruisers used them and were all happy about their service. The best about Ephesus Shuttle was we could pay for our own tours at their office in Ephesus using different forms of payment not before but after the tours. For those not going to Ephesus could pay the guide after the Istanbul City Tour without going to the office. As the one who started the booking, I was only responsible for the confirmation of the group itinerary but not for others’ payment.

 

Omar from Ephesus Shuttle was our guide and he met us at the Istanbul port on time at 8:15 a.m. He had been in the profession for over 20 years and knew all the tricks of how to see the most in the shortest time…that’s exactly our travel style! His English was excellent and he was very humorous. We first went to the Hippodrome Square where chariot races and riots took place in the olden days. We saw sellers carrying buns or donuts or burgers on their heads:

 

Then we walked to the Blue Mosque nearby and had to cover our hair and shoulders using our scarves. The mosque provided big squares of covering for those who didn’t bring their own. We had to take our shoes off and put them in a plastic bag at the entrance. We had to carry the shoes ourselves while we’re in the mosque.

 

Blue Mosque with 6 minarets

 

 

Inside the Blue Mosque

 

Beautiful Iznik tiles in different shades of blue

 

Exiting the Blue Mosque

[wismergirl]

July 27, 2012 (Day 12 con’t) – Istanbul, Turkey (Day 1 of 2)

 

We continued to walk to Hagia Sophia built in 532 AD which, IMO, was more elegant and well-decorated than Blue Mosque.

 

It used to be a Christian Church but now it’s a museum with Muslim calligraphy.

 

 

The next attraction was the Topkapi Palace which used to be the residence of the Ottoman Sultans.

 

There was a long line to view the treasury, but with Omar’s help we were able to enter as a group at a much faster pace.

 

Beautiful view of Istanbul from Topkapi Palace

[wismergirl]

July 27, 2012 (Day 12 con’t) – Istanbul, Turkey (Day 1 of 2)

 

Our driver was late picking us up for lunch, so after a 20-minute wait, we decided to walk to our lunch place. There was quite a bit of uphill walk but we got there in about 15 minutes and had a good local lunch at Sefa Restaurant.

 

We went to the food counter where the lunch dishes were on display to order and pay for our own lunch. Our dishes were brought to us after they were heated.

 

DH ordered eggplant with veggie & rice

 

I had chicken and veggie

 

The food tasted OK and it’s just different than what we normally eat. After lunch, we continued to walk to the Grand Bazaar but were brought to a carpet store to watch a presentation.

 

The salesmen put out over 50 big and small carpets for us to choose.

 

We almost bought one but found that the pattern was not very symmetrical, so we didn’t buy it at the end. Nevertheless, the apple tea they offered us was very refreshing.

[wismergirl]

July 27, 2012 (Day 12 con’t) – Istanbul, Turkey (Day 1 of 2)

 

We were given over 2 hours to spend at the Grand Bazaar which is one of the oldest and biggest covered markets in the world.

 

The entrance to the Grand Bazaar

 

 

There were close to 60 covered streets. This was the main street which was quite wide.

 

 

This was one that was narrower

 

 

We took a photograph of the map of Grand Bazaar, just in case we were lost & couldn’t find the way out.

 

 

We spent a lot of time at this store to buy many of those ceramic Turkish dishes, kept bargaining until we got 8 small (2”) ones for US$10.

 

 

Then I bought some silk book marks with Turkish patterns or attractions on for US$1 each. There were lots of stores that sold Turkish costumes like these bra and belt sets.

 

 

My colleague bought a black and gold belt to wear for the Turkish Night Out and she also spent a long time at one leather jacket store. They could do instant fixing to the 2 leather jackets that she bought and made them fit perfectly.

 

At 4:30 we made our way back to the carpet store where the van was waiting to take us back to the ship. Arriving at the port, Equinox staff greeted us with ice-cold towels and refreshing cold water and juice. This was a kind act that Equinox did at every single port and we were so thankful to them, especially after a hot, humid and exhausting day ashore.

[wismergirl]

July 27, 2012 (Day 12 con’t) – Istanbul, Turkey (Day 1 of 2)

 

One of the cruise highlights for our husbands was the Turkish Night Out where they could watch different belly dancers dance. I paid US$80 per person for Ephesus Shuttle to pick us up at 8 p.m. from the ship for a Turkish Night Out and they took us to Kervansaray Restaurant & Night Club. The food was below average from a fixed menu (everyone there attending the show had the same food).

 

 

The female singer was not up to par, but the belly dancers were very good and they even claimed to have the #1 belly dancer in Istanbul.

 

 

The show with the knives was amazing.

 

We left the restaurant at 11 p.m. and took some night shots of the port before boarding the ship.

 

This is the famous Bosphorus Bridge connecting Europe & Asia.

[wismergirl]

July 28, 2012 (Day 13) – Istanbul, Turkey (Day 2 of 2)

 

Our ½ day city tour of Istanbul with Ephesus Shuttle began at 8:30 a.m. today. Omar met us at the pier on time and took us to Suleymaniye Mosque without delay. The mosque was well-kept with the most beautiful view of Istanbul.

 

The courtyard of Suleymaniye Mosque

 

 

Inside the mosque

 

 

From the Suleymaniye Mosque, we could see Equinox and the Bosphorus Bridge.

 

 

Our next stop was the Underground Cistern which was the largest underground water reservoir in Istanbul built by Justinian I.

 

 

There were lots of people inside the cistern.

 

 

Special lighting made the cistern even more beautiful and fascinating

[wismergirl]

July 28, 2012 (Day 13 con’t) – Istanbul, Turkey (Day 2 of 2)

 

Our last stop of the city tour was the Spice Market.

 

I bought three different kinds of tea: Love Tea, Apple Tea & Relax Tea. They’re all great and I’m still drinking some of them!

 

Inside the Spice Market

 

As we bought what we wanted to buy in the Spice Market, we went across the street to have a walkaround in the area. We saw lots of fishermen on the Galata Bridge.

 

The amazing view of Golden Horn (Istanbul’s deep, natural harbour) from Galata Bridge with the floating restaurants

 

Before going back to the ship, we bought some delicious Turkish Delight as souvenirs

 

Equinox staff once again greeted us with ice-cold towels and drinks at the port. After a shower, we went to Silhouette Dining Room for lunch and were seated at the Starboard side of the ship. For Istanbul, the Starboard Side had a better view both entering and leaving the Port. We enjoyed that view tremendously while eating lunch. To prepare for another long and hot day in Ephesus, we took an afternoon nap and woke up to enjoy ourselves with pre-dinner drinks at Michael’s Club. Since there were no other guests there, I was allowed to play the piano with some romantic relaxing music while DH had his brandy. Dinner was at Blu.

[wismergirl]

July 29, 2012 (Day 14) – Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

 

The travel agency that we booked our cruise with is an affiliate of Vacation.com. In mid-June (1 month before our sail date) we received an email saying that we would receive a free excursion in Ephesus through Vacation Vignettes. Other than the free excursion (regular value: $75) that included Ancient Ephesus and a free lunch in Kusadasi, there were also a private cocktail reception on board the Equinox and free Backstage and Galley Tour.

 

Since I had already made a private tour booking with Ephesus Shuttle, our dropping out would cause a lot of inconvenience to our travel buddies, plus Vacation Vignettes would not be visiting the Terrace Houses (I called Vacation Vignettes to see if I could pay extra to visit Terrace Houses while taking the free tour and their answer was a definite negative!!) which was our MUST-SEE in Ephesus, I decided to stick to my original booking and went with Ephesus Shuttle Tour #5. We each paid $75. My colleague with a broken toe & her husband attended this free tour since she could not walk on the uneven steps inside the Terrace Houses. They both said the Vacation Vignettes tour was very good and well organized. The lunch was especially good with an amazing view!

 

Anyway, back to our Ephesus Shuttle Tour #5…we met our guide at the Kusadasi Port at 10:15 a.m. and headed to the House of Virgin Mary. We passed by the bronze statue of Mary on our way to her house.

 

It was claimed that Mary went to Ephesus with St. John in 37 A.D. and lived there until her death in 48 A.D. We lined up to enter that very small house.

 

We exited after 5 minutes inside the house.

 

The “Wishing Wall” outside the House of Virgin Mary

 

Then the van took us to the highlight of our cruise – Ancient Ephesus.

[wismergirl]

July 29, 2012 (Day 14 con’t) – Ancient Ephesus

 

That day was an extremely hot day! Luckily I wore my hat and used my umbrella so I didn’t really feel the sun but just the heat. Here is the panoramic view of Ancient Ephesus:

 

As soon as we entered, we saw the Baths of the “State Agora”.

 

Then we passed by “The Bouleuterion” which housed the meetings of the Council as well as musical performances and contests, built around 100 A.D.

 

The Market Basilica was a 160-m long arcade, also built in the 1st century.

 

Memmius Monument

 

The Temple of Hadrian

[wismergirl]

July 29, 2012 (Day 14 con’t) – Ancient Ephesus

 

We continued to walk in the heat and finally arrived at Terrace Houses. This was what Terrace Houses looked like from the outside.

 

Our guide gave us the ticket to enter the site and it was amazing. The extra cost of $10 was so worth it.

 

Compared to the rest of Ancient Ephesus, these houses were way better preserved and the excavation only started in 1960’s. The Terrace Houses were located on the hill opposite the Temple of Hadrian and were also called “The Houses of the Rich”. There were 6 residential units on three terraces and now they’re covered with protective roofing. The mosaics on the floor were clearly visible and the frescos have been consolidated.

 

The heating system of the terrace houses were the same as that in the Turkish baths. Clay pipes beneath the floors (as seen on the top part of the picture) and behind the walls carried hot air through the houses. The houses also had cold and hot water.

 

The rooms had no window, only illuminated with light coming from the open hall, so that most of the rooms were dim.

 

We visited 2 of those 6 houses. It’s incredible to see what was excavated but it was very dusty and stuffy inside the enclosed space. One teenager in our group felt nauseous and one of our kind travel buddies cut short his own sightseeing time to take or carry her to the gate. We were relieved to see the teenager feel fine again when we finished our Ephesus tour.

 

The upper class Roman living style and their well-decorated houses

[wismergirl]

July 29, 2012 (Day 14 con’t) – Ancient Ephesus & Selcuk Museum

 

The Library of Celsus was another “must-see” in Ephesus

 

Next to it was the Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates, you could see me holding an umbrella to protect myself from the sun.

 

Near the Great Theatre,

 

we stood in the shade and watched a 5-minute presentation.

 

We went on to visit Selcuk Museum where many of the archaeological treasures, especially from Ephesus, were preserved.

 

Cult statue from Ephesus called the “Beautiful Artemis” (1st century A.D.)

[wismergirl]

July 29, 2012 (Day 14 con’t) – Ephesus

 

We had a pretty good lunch at this local restaurant

 

The Turkish pork and beef kebabs tasted quite delicious

 

After lunch, we drove to St. John’s Basilica. It’s believed that Jesus’ disciple, John, spent his last years in the region around Ephesus and was buried in the southern slope of Ayosolug Hill where the basilica was located.

 

When we stopped at the Temple of Artemis, it was so sad to see what used to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world had only 1½ columns left. DH stood in front of the half column to show how big the column base was.

 

On our way back to the port, we saw Equinox in a distance.

 

After we paid at the Ephesus Shuttle office, we were dropped off at the Grand Bazaar in Kusadasi to do some last-minute shopping. The prices were cheaper than Istanbul but the quality in general was not as good. I bought many Turkish bracelets with evil eyes on and they were only $1.00 each. Great souvenirs!

 

Bye Turkey! Off we sailed to Athens, Greece.

[Eddie's Girl]

Wismergirl, you are doing an outstanding job. The commentary with pictures is great. Gets me so excited for our October cruise with a similar itinerary. I can't wait for more but you really are working overtime on this one!

[wismergirl]

July 30, 2012 (Day 15) – Athens, Greece

 

We had a super early breakfast at the Oceanview Café in order to get ready for our 8 a.m. one day tour in Athens. We chose Nikos Loukas for his “Full Day in Athens (shore excursion)” at http://www.privategreecetours.com and he sent us detailed instructions of where to meet him at the Port of Athens (Piraeus) since there were 2 terminals there. The cost for 6-12 people on a minibus tour was €400. As there were 10 of us (basically the same group as our Ephesus tours), we each paid €40. I didn’t know that he would not be our guide while we were at the attractions so I was a bit lost when he just dropped us off at the Acropolis. On our way to the Acropolis, he did give us lots of info regarding Athens under the economic depression. However, we didn’t really see any riots or feel insecured. I guessed it’s because all the places we went to were tourist attractions and the travel industry was not affected as much.

 

Upon arrival at the Acropolis, Nikos gave us his phone number so we could call for his van when we're done and told us to buy our own tickets to visit the site. We followed the crowd to the ticket office and bought our tickets for €12 each. Although some local guides approached us for a guided tour of €10 per person, we declined the offers and just used Rick Steve’s audio guide on our iPads.

 

We saw the Acropolis Theatre while walking towards the Parthenon

 

Equinox’s photographer was at the Parthenon and he took a picture for our group (hope all my travel buddies wouldn’t mind me posting their picture here). I love them so much as we were like one big travelling family from Rome to Istanbul to Ephesus to Athens and finally to Capri.

 

It’s actually very good to be our travel buddies as DH took many pictures for them and we made them DVD’s with their own pics plus some of DH’s amateur yet beautiful photos of various attractions after the cruise. We’ll be on Norwegian’s Pride of America this summer on the sailing of July 20-27 to Hawaii. Right now our roll call has been really quiet…typical Hawaiian lay-back style…do join us there and say hi to Wismergirl.

 

The Erechtheum with the rebuilt of the famous “Porch of the Maidens”

 

After the Acropolis, Nikos drove us to the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.

 

The 1896 Old Olympic Stadium in Athens

 

Then we walked uphill for about 10 minutes to the top of Lycabettus Hill to get a panoramic view of Athens.

[wismergirl]

Wismergirl' date=' you are doing an outstanding job. The commentary with pictures is great. Gets me so excited for our October cruise with a similar itinerary. I can't wait for more but you really are working overtime on this one![/quote']

 

Glad you enjoy my review...indeed I'm working very hard on it...but it's OK since it's March Break and we teachers are mostly workaholics.