Sailing the Suez and beyond

We sailed from Rome's Civitavecchia cruise terminal aboard the Celebrity Constellation. We stopped first in Messina, Sicily and then Athens, Greece before heading south towards the Middle East.

In Messina we took the hop-on hop-off bus and in Athens we took a taxi from the dock to the city and enjoyed a few hours just wandering through the Plaka.

 

The Messina Cathedral, built in the 12th Century and restored in 1920 following an earthquake in 1908. We arrived just in time for the noon 'performance' from the belltower, which tells the local history in music and dancing.

 

 

Other scenes around Messina

 

 

The Acropolis from the Plaka

 

Medieval church in the Plaka

 

Coffee with the Grays at Ydria, a taverna Jim and Penny found on their last trip to Athens

 

 

One of many beautiful churches in Athens

 

Parliament House in Athens with its iconic guards

 

We began our sail through the Suez, unaware of just how fascinating it would be; to our right civilisation, and to our left sand, and lots of it. We passed small military outposts, villages and large towns which stretched inland for many kilometres, mixed with hundreds of palm groves and the odd resort or two. A high fence stretched the whole way along the canal and there were guard towers every few hundred metres. Our 'crossing' along with 26 other ships in convoy took about 15 hours.

These are barges which can be linked together to form a bridge across the canal when needed

Plantations

 

One of many gigantic container ships which formed part of our convoy

 

We arrived in Aqaba, Jordan early the next morning and joined our bus tour to the ancient city of Petra. It was fascinating to finally see the desert up close - lots of sand, rock, cement (buildings) and palm trees, but not a blade of grass in sight. All buildings have small water tanks on their roofs and residents can only access their water twice each week. Jordan is the second driest country on Earth.

From the gates of Petra we walked down towards the old city for a couple of hours. The high cliffs on either side of the well worn path were littered with holes; burial sites for the ancient peoples. And we were on constant watch for horse-drawn vehicles and camels! It was through these cliffs that threatened to close us in entirely, that we finally glimpsed the magnificent 'Treasury' synonymous with Petra. But the city spread even further down and so we ventured on.

 

 

 

Soldiers dressed in authentic ancient uniform

 

What goes down must come up... as we found out on the two hour walk back UP the hill to the modern town, where we enjoyed a delicious buffet luncheon at the Petra Palace Hotel

 

 

For four days, whilst the ship was passing through the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen, we were on pirate alert. Passengers were trained on what to do in the unlikely event of a pirate incursion, our cabin curtains had to remain closed and LOVE (Lights Out Virtually Everywhere) was applied each evening at 6pm until 6am the following morning. This certainly added some excitement to the journey.

Our next port of call was Muscat, Oman, a very old city with a modern 'feel' (free internet). The souk (market) down by the waterfront kept us busy for a couple of hours as we wandered past the overcrowded stalls and tried to avoid hawkers as they thrust pashmina scarves in our faces. We did buy one souvenir - a jewel encrusted golden camel - he's fake of course, but beautiful anyway. After a walk through the backstreets we lunched with the Grays at a local café and enjoyed delicious chicken kebabs with salad and the best hommus we've ever tasted.

 

Muscat, Oman

 

The Souk

 

'Modern' shopping mall

 

Renovations: this gentleman was using a large mallet to break up the concrete on the roof of this building and cast it into the street just metres from passing pedestrians... including us!

 

And now our journey takes us to adventures in the United Arab Emirates!

 

 

 

Ravishing Rome, Astounding Assisi

Following a very comfortable coach ride to Rome, we arrived at our hotel, checked in and decided to give the pizza and pasta a miss for a change. We opted for good old fashioned British food at the Scholars Lounge, an Irish pub in the middle of Rome that we found on our last trip there. It was only a short walk from our hotel, and we passed the brilliant Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II, known affectionately as 'The Typewriter'.

The following day we walked – Penny navigated with her ever present map - and passed by the beautiful Trevi Fountain. Close by we discovered a wonderful archaeological site - The City of Water - which is part of a labyrinth of underground passages beneath the Trevi district. This site includes rooms of a house and the pottery and statues recovered during renovation works above. Fascinating.

We then visited the stunning Pantheon and listened to live music in the piazza whilst enjoying coffee and croissant in one of the cafes.

One of the many churches we passed along the way...

The Pantheon

On to Piazza Navona with its wonderful fountains with lunch at a trattoria that served delicious pesto pasta and Penny’s favourite Aperol Spritz. That night we wandered out to see the Forum alight in myriad colours along the Via del Corso.

Assisi was on our must-see list after a brief stop there six years ago. This time we took a day trip by coach which started with a funicular ride up to the ancient medieval hilltop town of Orvieto where we visited a cathedral almost identical to Siena’s – on the outside - but sparsely decorated inside except for one magnificent room covered with frescos depicting Christ’s last days.

We lunched at a guest house along the way and dined on hors d’oeuvres, red wine and a three course meal of pasta, veal and Italian cakes. Then we continued on to Assisi.

At Assisi we walked through the old town from top to bottom along cobblestone streets lined with interesting shops and cafes, and finished at the magnificent Cathedral of St Francis. This two-story church has beautiful frescoes and is the last resting place of the Saint. 

 

Most of the buildings have 'clamps' like these above, to hold them together during earth tremors

 

 

 

The Cathedral of St Francis

Our guide also took us to the church of Santa Maria Degli Angeli in the new town of Assisi where, in a chapel in the midst of the cathedral, St Francis came regularly to pray, and another chapel where he spent his last days and finally died. It was wonderful to see Assisi again and to spend several hours within this beautiful quaint village.

Back in Rome, we came across another archaeological site, this one only discovered several years ago, but important as the location where Julius Caesar was murdered!

 

Julius Caesar was allegedly murdered at the base of this tree

Jim led the walk that night, without a map, and somehow managed to find the famous Spanish Steps (by accident of course). The area was packed full of tourists and police and there was such a vibrant feel. Penny wanted to buy a Pinocchio - he and his creator Gepetto are famous in Italy - so we visited a shop where a local man carves the little toys, and she is now the proud owner of ‘Pino’.

That night we met our friends Irene and Andrew Gray (from Hobart) for dinner. They had flown in from a holiday in the Holy Land to join us on our cruise through the Suez Canal and we were looking forward to our adventures with them on the high seas.

Rome, as always, was magnificent in its history, art, architecture and of course… food!