CRUISIN' THE BLACK, MARMARA & AEGEAN SEAS

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I’m going to save you from reading about 40,000 words with these photos of our amazing voyage to Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria & Greece. This was my “trip of a lifetime” (so far) which included the two places at the top of my travel list – the Acropolis & Ephesus. I’ll post some other thoughts in the next week or so regarding our flights, the cruise & the crazy ass jet lag that kicked our butts. So, without further ado, here is my photographic journey.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Our two week cruise of the Black, Marmara & Aegean Seas started & ended in Istanbul, Turkey, which is the 4^th largest city in the world with 11 million people. We were in (or off the coast of) Istanbul three times since we cruised back through the Bosphorus Strait midway through our trip. I’m combining photos from all of our time in Istanbul.

We set sail at 6 PM just as the sun was setting over the Bosphorus Strait. That's Europe on the left, Asia on the right & the bow of our ship in the lower left. Istanbul is the only city on two continents.

The Bosphorus Bridge as our ship, the Celebrity Constellation, passed beneath it while the sun set behind us.

The Blue Mosque is one of Istanbul's oldest landmarks. I dominates the shoreline of the old city but there are hundreds of mosques throughout the city.

The Blue Mosque on the left & the Hagia Sophia on the right.

The Hagia Sophia was a mosque, then a Christian church & is now a museum. It is an important monument from the Byzantine & Ottoman Empires.

The Galata Bridge crosses the Golden Horn, an estuary that shoots off from the Bosphorus Strait. The upper deck (for cars, trolleys & pedestrians) is constantly lined with fisherman & the lower deck houses shops & restaurants.

A ferry boat passing under the Galata Bridge with the Galata Tower in the distance. The ferry boats were plentiful & seemed to arrive every few minutes shuttling people between Asia & Europe.

SEVASTOPOL, UKRAINE

After our first day at sea, we arrived at the first of three ports in Ukraine. Sevastopol has a beautiful waterfront with lots & lots of monuments to all sorts of things. It is famous for the “Charge of the Light Brigade” which took place in the Balaclava Valley about a half hour drive from the port.

The harbor of Sevastopol, Ukraine, taken from our cruise ship in the early morning.

This is a former Soviet Union secret submarine base that was hidden in the hollow mountain behind this entrance. It is now totally inactivated & is located in Balaclava Harbor.

Balaclava Harbor is now a big resort area near Balaclava Valley which was the site of the "Charge of the Light Brigade".

YALTA, UKRAINE

Next up was Yalta, another town on the Crimean Peninsula. Since I am not even a little bit into wars & their history, I knew nothing about this but received a crash course from Lou. Apparently Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill & Joseph Stalin met three times at the end of World War II to divide up Europe. The Livadia Palace in Yalta was the site of the second of those conferences. Our tour took us to two palaces & a lovely drive along the coast.

Alupka Palace housed Winston Churchill during the Yalta Conference.

The Swallow's Nest was a castle built on a rock jutting into the Black Sea. The owner was cheap & only purchased the rock outcropping rather than flat land to build his home. Our excursion just viewed it from a distance so this is a really zoomed in photo.

Livadia Palace was the site of the actual conference as well as the residence for FDR since his limited mobility made travel more difficult. Stalin was housed at a third palace that we passed in the distance. Guess they couldn't all stay together.

A courtyard in Livadia Palace which was also the summer retreat of Czar Nicholas II & his family prior to the World War II conference.

ODESSA, UKRAINE

Lou’s grandmother was born in Odessa & came to the U.S. as a young girl of eleven. We were there for two days so Lou took a Jewish Heritage tour the first day while I climbed the Potemkin Steps from the seaport into the city & wandered the streets. After Lou returned we headed off into town on our own walking tour where I again climbed the 192 Potemkin Steps – got my exercise that day.

On day two, we took a tour of the Odessa Catacombs which were originally created by mining limestone for the city. The catacombs were later used by freedom fighters who thought they would be living in them for six months but it turned into three years – yikes!

The Potemkin Steps that lead from the edge of the seaport up to the town of Odessa, Ukraine.

A square celebrating Catherine the Great in downtown Odessa. The weather was dreary & overcast, exactly what comes to mind when you think of the former Soviet Union. They do like their monuments & statues, that's for sure.

Lou & I found this shopping mall which went up (about 6-7 levels) rather than spread out like ours. There were narrow walkways with a fairly low railing that was freaking me out when we were walking up high.

A downtown square that had a huge contingency of locals hanging out in the late afternoon. It was a really nice area with lots of shops & restaurants but not the touristy type. My impression is that Ukraine is still learning to become a tourist attraction.

This is a monument to the "Unknown Sailor". The tomb is "guarded" by high school students who change every 15 minutes & consider it a great honor to be chosen as one of the guards.

The Odessa Catacombs - this is one of the "bedrooms" that they created during their underground stay. They had kitchens, classrooms, libraries & most other "comforts" of home.

BURGAS, BULGARIA

Oddly enough, of all the places in the world to visit, we’ve visited Bulgaria twice. A few years ago we were a bit north of Burgas in the city of Varna, also on the Black Sea. This time we took a tour of Pomorie & Nessebar (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). This has nothing to do with our tour, but for some reason every time I think of Bulgaria, the muscle bound Olympic weight lifters come to mind.

Our first stop on the tour was St. George Monastery. The holy water in this room was said to heal people - but we both caught colds even though we touched the water & rubbed it on ourselves.

This display was part of the Salt Museum we visited. I'm not quite sure why they felt a museum was necessary to commemorate evaporating water & collecting the salt, but it was.

These Soviet era apartments are prevalent in many countries in the area. We've seen them on other trips but I could never get a good photo since we were zipping by in a bus. All of them have two things in common - laundry hanging from the balconies & satellite dishes.

The beautiful architecture of St. Stephen's Church in the little town of Nessebar. Our walking tour included several churches but not even 10 minutes for shopping. I'm not a hardcore shopper but would have loved to pick up some Bulgarian Rose Oil & spend a few minutes browsing the many shops.

MYKONOS, GREECE

The little island of Mykonos was one of my favorite stops. It has the typical white buildings with red or blue roofs that you see in all the pictures. The streets are really narrow, some nothing wider than a motorcycle could pass through. They were designed in a haphazard way so that invaders from the sea would get lost. It must have worked since we got lost a few times which is half the fun of being there. They say just keep wandering & you’ll find the water eventually. They were right.

I just love these photogenic scenes of boats & buildings that were abundant in Mykonos.

The windmills were once essential to the island's economy but are now merely decorations. They are famous landmarks & one of the musts for photographers. I couldn't believe I actually got this shot without any people!

This is a typical street in Mykonos. A few will accommodate cars but most, like this one, barely allow two people to pass easily. The main street the taxis drove down had only enough room for one car to pass, no bicycles or even people could share the road.

Part of the beautiful shoreline of this laid back Greek Isle. I definitely want to visit more Greek Islands in the future - seems like a nice way to relax & enjoy life.

ATHENS, GREECE

Wouldn’t you know it – the first day of real rain that we had started, literally, about an hour before our tour of the Acropolis. AND since the forecast was for mid 70s & NO rain, we weren’t totally prepared for it. Fortunately, Lou had our umbrellas in his backpack although we didn’t have jackets or ponchos with us. Unfortunately, when it started raining, we were in the New Acropolis Museum & his backpack was in the bus several blocks away!

The Acropolis was still fantastic even though we arrived soaked & looking like drowned rats. Taking photos with the rain coming down & our umbrellas whipping around in the wind was a bit of a challenge. Combine that with tons of people, scaffolding, cranes & other assorted unphotogenic paraphernalia to keep the Parthenon from crumbling any further & the pictures leave a lot to be desired. But I was there & saw it!

The Parthenon perched atop the Acropolis dominates the skyline of Athens & is visible all over the city. This was taken from a few miles away at the Old Olympic Stadium.

One of the original tiles that lined the top of the Parthenon. This is now protected in the museum. The tan ones are original & the white ones are recreations to show what it looked like years ago.

The Parthenon - in the rain with minimal scaffolding (thanks to Photoshop :-)) & no people. It was quite a feat to get this photo!

The most intact side of the beautiful monument. It was upsetting to learn that, built 500 years before Christ, it was basically intact until about 300 years ago when in 1697 it was blown up by the Venetians who attacked Athens. The statues & decorations were later looted by the British who still refuse to return them to Greece.

The Erechtheion, also located on the Acropolis, was much less crowded & far more photogenic.

This was partway down the hill from the Parthenon & I have yet to figure out what it is. I've googled every name on our map & none of them look like this one.

KUSADASI, TURKEY

The ruins of Miletos, Didyma & of course, Ephesus, turned out to be my favorite sights on this trip. It was pretty cool to save the best for last! Although we got some more rain this last day, it cleared up enough to make for some spectacular photo ops – the blue sky & puffy clouds made up for the lousy conditions in Athens the day before.

There really aren’t any words to describe the grandeur of these ancient cities so I won't even try. Ephesus actually EXCEEDED my expectations which was a really amazing treat. I would highly recommend visiting these sites if you get the opportunity.

Some of the ruins of the ancient city of Miletos located about an hour & a half drive from Ephesus. 

The Temple of Apollo in Didyma which was never completed.

Another part of the Temple of Apollo. The blue skies & clouds made for a gorgeous picture.

The Curetes Way in the city of Ephesus with the Library of Celsius in the distance. Can you imagine what this must have been like in its heyday with the hustle & bustle of life? Paul was preaching & writing his letter to the Ephesians that would be included in the Bible. Wow!

The communal toilet was said to be the place to hang out in the afternoon. Apparently pooping was quite the social activity for the Ephesians - maybe the Facebook of their day? Seems a little odd but to each his own.

The Library of Celsius is one of the major landmarks of the ancient city. It was first discovered in 1957. It's only been a little over 100 years since the first ruin was uncovered. There is still much left to unearth - maybe Charley or her children will get to see it all someday.

Looking to the right of the Library of Celsius made for an interesting photo. Ephesus only opened for tourism about 30 years ago & now 20 million people visit per year.

The Grand Theatre in Ephesus could seat 24,000 patrons. We were told that Antony & Cleopatra attended plays in this theatre at the end of Harbour Way.

This was an incredible journey full of amazing adventures to ancient sites & cities. These are only a few of the over 700 photos that I took. They are just the highlights of the destinations we explored. There were a few "adventures" or "misadventures", if you prefer, regarding our flights & cruise - nothing big, but I'll post another report on our shipboard life soon. 

AMERICA'S CUP

With the 34th America’s Cup, a worldwide yacht race dating back to 1851, being held in San Francisco Bay this year we had to check it out. Most of the prior races were held in open waters making this the best viewing ever for an America’s Cup competition.

The winner chooses the location & the type of boat for the next race a few years later. The previous winner, Oracle Team USA (sponsored by Oracle founder, Larry Ellison), brought the race to San Francisco & chose these huge catamaran style boats that cost many millions of dollars. This is definitely a rich man’s sport – extremely rich!

Our day began with a drive over the brand new San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge that just opened last week. The old span to the left will be torn down over the next several years.

Luckily, we found a free parking space in the front row of a makeshift lot near St. Francis Yacht Club & Chrissy Field. We could have literally watched from our car, but chose to walk the 1/3 mile to the America’s Cup Village.

The America's Cup Village - bleacher seats cost upwards of $100 for the finals. There are food booths, stores, activities & big screens to view the action up close.

This is Lou with one of the 72' long catamarans used in this years competition.

About 45 minutes before the first race began, we lucked out again! We found just enough room to squeeze in & sit on a retaining wall with an unobstructed view of the bay. 

Our front row seats on the retaining wall of San Francisco Bay. That's my hand on my camera in the lower left.

Our feet dangling a few feet above the water. We could hear the announcer just as well as the people in the $100 seats & I think we could see even better - especially short people like me.

The Emirates Team New Zealand boat warming up in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Oracle Team USA practicing prior to the start. These wing sails (the tall one) is the height of a 13 story building. The short sail is in the front so this one is sailing to the left in this photo.

We are total novices when it comes to yacht racing but it is still interesting. The format consists of two races per race day between the "defender" (Oracle Team USA) & the "challenger" (Emirates Team New Zealand). Each race consists of five legs around pylons that include downwind, upwind & crosswind conditions which test the crews both tactically & physically. The ultimate victor must win a total of 9 out of 17 races.

Both teams approaching the start. A few seconds after this photo they crossed the starting line simultaneously to get the approximately 10 mile race around the bay underway. 

The downwind leg with Oracle Team USA still leading Emirates Team New Zealand as they crossed in front of Alcatraz Island. At the next gate Emirates would take the lead on an Oracle mistake & never look back.

To increase their speed when going downwind the catamarans raise up on their hydrofoils. Emirates reached a record speed of 54 miles per hour during the race yesterday.

Oracle "on its foils" as it is called if you are in the know. The consensus by those in the know was that Oracle made a severe tactical error when rounding a pylon & their "tacking" was not nearly as strong as Emirates.

We were unable to see the actual finish line from our seat on the retaining wall but hopped up (with that being a relative term in my case J) & watched New Zealand cross the line way ahead of the U.S. on the big screen behind us.

The crew of Emirates Team New Zealand on the big screen crossing the finish line 65 seconds ahead of Oracle Team USA - a huge margin for an America's Cup race - to take a 4-0 lead!

Here is a two minute video of the race that Lou took & posted on YouTube: Americas Cup - September 10, 2013

We walked back to some free bleachers near our car to watch the second race & hoped the U.S. could get their act together. Each team has one “postponement card” they can use, normally for a mechanical issue. It's kind of like a "do over" or a mulligan. The U.S. elected to use it for the second race yesterday since they were well aware they were getting their ass waxed & needed to regroup. 

We’ll see if the hole they dug for themselves is too deep. One thing is for sure, if they come back to win the America’s Cup from this deficit, it will be an amazing victory! Go Oracle!!

TRAIN RIDE - Part Two

For the second time in less than a week, we found ourselves riding the rails. Lou has wanted to take the Niles Canyon Railway excursion train from Sunol to Niles for quite awhile now. Our schedules finally aligned with the limited train schedule & today we enjoyed another train ride, although this one was considerably shorter than our trip to Reno at just over an hour round trip.

The Niles Canyon Railway excursion train. The caboose is behind the engine because there are two cabooses so when they switch the engine for the return trip there is always a caboose at the end.

With Lou's long arms, we've been taking these pictures of ourselves for 12 years. Now, suddenly, they have a name for it - a "selfie".

Over 20 years ago, Darrin belonged to a model railroad club that had a huge layout in the basement of the Niles Depot. I spent a lot of time driving him back & forth to Niles. Fortunately, Darrin told me that several years ago they had moved the depot about ¼ mile from the location I knew it to be or I’d have been thinking I was going nuts.

The Niles Depot is now located in downtown & houses a museum of railroad artifacts. They are looking for volunteers to get the model railroad up & running again.

The old town of Niles is now a district in the city of Fremont. There are numerous antique stores, eateries & other quaint shops lining its main drag.

Lou & I had lunch at Bronco Billy's - I remember eating there several times with Darrin many, many years ago.

Silent film stars Charlie Chaplin & Bronco Billy Anderson made a lot of movies in Niles starting back in 1913. Anderson built a movie studio in town with a partner whose last name started with an “S” – hence the name of the studio, “Essanay” – for “S” and “A”.

The original Essanay Studio is long gone but there is a Silent Film Museum in the Edison Theater from the same era.

The Silent Film Museum has a fantastic collection of old movie cameras, projectors & posters. They continue to show silent movies on Saturday nights at the Edison Theater.

We were given a tour of the original projection room. It is lined with tin since old film was quite flammable & they didn't want to burn the theater down if it caught fire. The projector at the lower right is an old hand cranked model which still works.

More of the extensive camera & film projector collection.

After a couple of hours exploring Niles, we made the return train trip. Sunol is a tiny little town in the outskirts of the San Francisco Bay Area. I remember it being famous back in the 1980s for Bosco, a black Labrador & Rottweiler mix, who was elected mayor of the city. His name was put on the ballot as a joke & he beat two human candidates to become America’s first dog mayor!

A bronze statue of the Mayor of Sunol - Bosco, born in 1981 & died in 1994.

The cloud formations were beautiful today which, along with the gorgeous scenery, kept me occupied snapping lots of photos on our journey back to Sunol.

These wispy clouds were the perfect backdrop to the hills & trees in Niles Canyon.

Old redwood telegraph poles are no longer used but still dot the countryside along the tracks.

More of the crazy cloud formations. These looked like cotton.

I HEAR THE TRAIN A COMIN'

We are always looking for fun activities or places to see & there seems to be an abundance of little adventures just waiting for us to discover in our part of the country. Usually Lou is the one who comes up with things to do but this one was my idea for a change.

A couple of weeks ago we started researching taking the train for an overnight trip to Reno. Amtrak’s California Zephyr leaves Roseville (about 6 miles from our house) at 11:30 AM & arrives in Reno at 4:00 PM. Harrah’s Resort & Casino in the heart of Reno is literally across the street from the train station. There were great midweek rates for both the train & the hotel, so, of course, we booked it! We left yesterday & returned today.

Roseville Train Station - there were only about 12 people waiting for the train & it offers free overnight parking. What a deal!

That's me in the light green boarding the California Zephyr for Reno.

The train takes about twice as long as driving, 4-1/2 hours as opposed to a little over 2, but since there is nothing to do except enjoy the scenery, relax or read, it was nice to just kick back & ride the rails. Sure, we could eat & sleep, too, but we tried to keep that to a minimum.

Lou checking out Donner Lake from the observation car.

The Truckee River taken from the train.

One of the ways to pass the time is to experiment with artsy photos. :-)

The main street in downtown Truckee that Lou took when the train made a quick stop.

After checking into Harrah’s we wandered around a little only to discover that Reno is pretty much dead & deserted now, especially midweek. We surmised that the plentiful Indian casinos in California have really hurt the gambling business in Nevada. The entertainment choices are really limited, too.

Our hotel - Harrah's Resort & Casino on Center Street in Reno.

These "poker chips" were 2 - 3 feet across & stacked on the sidewalk as outdoor artwork.

This is a new outdoor rock climbing wall on Virginia Street which they claim is the tallest in the world at 164 feet. There is a climber a little over halfway up the narrow part of the route on the right.

The famous "Reno - The Biggest Little City in the World" sign. You can see the 16 story climbing wall behind the sign.

The gigantic Rim Fire burning near Yosemite is causing smoke all over Northern California & Nevada. This photo shows the blanket of smoke on the Reno horizon.

The only drawback was that the return train left Reno this morning at 8:30 AM. Since neither of us are big gamblers or late night party-ers that really wasn’t any big deal. We were back in the room by about 9:00 PM after a walk around town to digest our 2 for 1 buffet dinner. But the primary reason for this getaway was the train ride anyway.    

The night time view from our 17th floor room at Harrah's.

THE PLACER COUNTY HERITAGE TRAIL

My son, daughter-in-law & granddaughter live about 30 miles east of us in a tiny town that is just a few miles past Auburn, an historic gold rush town in the Sierra foothills. We have visited Auburn many times but it seems that we always stumble onto something new to explore.

Lou learned about an attraction in Auburn that railroad aficionados consider a must see, the Bloomer Cut. My daughter-in-law, Allison, told me about the Bernhard Museum, an old home open for tours, also in Auburn. This morning we headed out after breakfast to visit these two places expecting to spend a couple hours & be home for lunch.

After a short hike, we located the Bloomer Cut, a trench that was cut 63 feet deep & 800 feet long through solid rock. It was blasted out foot by foot by Chinese workers so the Transcontinental Railroad could be built.

The Bloomer Cut - these tracks are still used by Union Pacific & Amtrak.

While Lou hiked down to the tracks I occupied myself with photos of whatever was around. The background of this pine cone was pretty cool with all the colors.

At the Bernhard Mansion we discovered that this weekend is The Heritage Trail Museum Tour. There are 19 museums in Placer County from Roseville to Tahoe that are all open with free admission. There were special activities, a map to guide us & lots of places that are not normally open to the public. We decided to check out several of the museums then have lunch in Old Town Auburn.

The Bernhard Museum home in Auburn. We sampled hand-churned ice cream that was delicious!

The home is decorated with donated Victorian era furnishings even though this was a farmhouse.

Their state of the art "washing machine" - I'll keep my trusty Whirlpool washer & dryer, thank you very much!

Apparently there was a working winery on the farm.

Several of the museums were an easy walk from the courthouse in Old Town Auburn. We visited the Auburn Joss House Chinese Museum, the Gold Country Medical History Museum & the Benton Welty School Room.

This colorful altar inside the Joss House Chinese Museum dates back to the 1880s.

The Gold Country Medical Museum is located in the first hospital in Placer County. 

The Benton Welty School Room located in what is now Auburn's City Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The domed courthouse, perched above the town, houses the Placer County Museum.

There is a historical marker sign off of Interstate 80 for Griffith Quarry that we have seen numerous times. It turns out that Griffith Quarry Museum was one of the 19 museums open today so we stopped there on our drive home.

The office of Griffith Griffith (yes, that was his name) founder of the Griffith Quarry in Penryn, California.

Some of the granite rocks in the old 23-acre Griffith Quarry.