2004 Europe
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Europe 2004 - A Day At Sea
Diana and the Stromboli Volcano
May 10 – Got up bright and early to see the Stromboli Volcano. It’s a pretty impressive island but it was windy and there were compression clouds surrounding the peak the entire time we sailed around it. There are two villages on the island, one at each end. I’m not sure I’d like to live on an active volcano. This volcano has been active for all of recorded history. Sooner or later it’s going to blow. Later in the day we passed through the Straits of Messina. It’s a very narrow strait between mainland Italy and Sicily. At the narrowest point, where we entered, it did not appear much more than 1.5 miles across and maybe a little less. It was a little hard to judge how close we were to it because right at the entrance there is a tall power tower. It looks like the normal cross-country type, high power line but it isn’t. It’s about four times taller than the normal ones in the states. I have a picture of it and right near it is a tall lighthouse and the lighthouse looks like a matchstick next to the tower (Below). As we got closer I noticed a matching tower on mainland Italy. Apparently these towers are tall enough to let the largest ship and then some get through the straits under the power lines.
Spent the rest of the day lounging around and reading. Resting up for the next few days when we have port after port. The Noordam cast gave the evenings entertainment. We’d seen the show before, but the costumes are great and there’s always so much going on that you can see them several times and still be entertained. The show was ‘Personalities’ and the cast sang and wore the costumes of various famous singers, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Elvis, Patsy Cline and others. My favorite song was KC singing Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy’. That song really suits her voice and style.
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Europe 2004 - Dubrovnik, Croatia
Old City Dubrovnik, Croatia
May 11 – Dubrovnik, Croatia this AM. When Yugoslavia split up Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia were formed (reformed may be a better term as most had existed in the same place before Yugoslavia was put together and recognized as a nation in 1919). We are on a tour that heads out into the countryside. We’ll be going through a little strip of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It seems like way back when Dubrovnik was an independent republic they were bordered on the north by the Venetians and on the west by the Serbs. The Venetians were a very aggressive bunch and much more powerful than Dubrovnik. The Serbs were also powerful, but more peaceful and not as aggressive as the Venetians. So Dubrovnik gave the Serbs a little strip of land on their northern border that allowed the Serbs access to the ocean and provided a buffer zone against the Venetians for Dubrovnik. They knew the Venetians would not mess with the Serbs and they were correct. After Yugoslavia was broken up the Bosnians kept that little strip as part of their country. Pretty smart, huh?
This place is beautiful. It water is clear and clean. There’s no major industry anywhere near here. The coastline is a series of bays and coves, with several major islands just offshore. I didn’t get any pics of them but I got lots of video. We were headed to the Nevreta River and a river cruise on a small boat. The trip through Bosnia was a hoot. The border crossing stations are only about 2 miles apart. Guys in ties and blazers looking very relaxed staffed the Croatian checkpoint. People in military uniforms looking very official staffed the Bosnian checkpoint. The contrast was quite striking. The two checkpoints on each border were sort of like a highway tollbooth with about a 10-foot strip in between. The booths looked like two gas pumps at opposite ends of the same island in a filling station. Going out was the same thing but the opposite order of course. It was a hoot!! The ship gave us our passports just in case either party wanted to check them coming or going but no one seemed in the least bit interested.
The drive up the coast was spectacular. The little villages, coves, bays, islands dot the coastline. Think of an Aegean-style Washington coast. Just gorgeous! Easily the prettiest place we’ve been this trip. After we crossed a little chain of mountains we encountered a wide, very flat valley they call ‘Little California’. It really did look like parts of the Imperial or Central Valleys, lots of agriculture. It’s crisscrossed with a system of waterways that serve two purposes, irrigation and transportation. Most of the fields are not accessible by road. The farmers use a little skiff to get to the fields and transport their crops out. Their major crops are figs, tangerines, tomatoes, onions, grapes, apples and potatoes. They grow other things in small plots for local use. They are quite proud of their locally produced grape brandy.
We arrived at the Nevreta River and loaded on to two, curved sided, wide, shallow draft skiff style boats they call trupices, a larger version of the boat the farmers use. Each held about 20 people sitting along the gunnels. There was very little freeboard left when we got underway. Our pilot gave us some of the local brandy from a plastic water bottle. It tastes just like Italian grappa. He also gave us dried figs, tangerines and apples. The figs were a big hit, they tasted just like the middle of a Fig Newton but not quiet as sweet. Only a few people ate apples. I peeled and ate a tangerine. It was very good. It dawned on me that a good squeeze of tangerine juice might improve the flavor of the brandy so I squeezed some in and that produced a fairly smooth, citrus taste that was not all that bad.
The trip up the river was interesting. It was like Imperial Valley meets the Everglades. The river is lined with tall grass and has lily pads along the banks. Every now and then the grass parts and you can see the agricultural land along the banks. The river is very wide and flat and the passageways keep shifting. We traveled up the river for about 45 minutes when we arrived at our lunch spot, a restaurant only accessible by boat. We had a good lunch, either fish, with risotto fruti de mare or veal and mushrooms with spaghetti. Both came with salad and a flan like desert that was much thicker than the traditional flan and very good. I think the fish was some sort of perch. It was a white fish and it was delicious.
xxx
The trip back was a little adventure. The channels of the river change with the tides and we were no longer in one that would get us to where the bus was waiting. Our pilot tried to push his way through some grasses to get into the proper channel and the trupice got hung up. He powered forward and then back trying to get unstuck but he wasn’t having much luck. He had us move aft to take some of the weigh off the bow and after about 10 minutes of racing the engine back and forth we came loose. Problem was that the trupice would no longer go forward. He lifted the outboard motor up and found that the propeller was fouled with all sorts of grass and roots. He pulled most of it out and then lowered the motor and raced it full speed forward until finally it took off. The remainder of the trip back to the bus was uneventful.
The bus ride back retraced our steps along the coast until we got to the Ston peninsula, the second largest in Croatia. There we turned onto the peninsula to go to the village of Ston. It’s a medieval, walled seaport. Much of the wall is still intact so we climbed up it for a view over the city. It was very pretty. There was an interesting church on the square that had been badly damaged in an earthquake some years ago and has not yet been restored.
After that it was back on the bus to the ship. The sail-away from Dubrovnik was spectacular. The captain sailed out of the new harbor, around a little island there and then parallel to the coast right past the old walled city. It was fantastic. The city looks much as it did when Dubrovnik was an independent republic. The forts, monasteries and churches are all still looking very good. This made us late for dinner so we ate at the Lido buffet. A nice relaxing end to an excellent day. They had a seafood cocktail appetizer, a mixture of muscles, shrimp and calamari. I put on some of their tangy (horseradish) cocktail sauce. Yummmmmm! No Melissa not, Ick!)
We will lose another hour this evening as we head to Greece but we decided to stay up for the show anyway. It was a comedian, Dwayne Cunningham. He did observational humor about life and life on a cruise ship in specific. It was funny!
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Europe 2004 - Corfu, Greece
Rod & Diana with Mouse Island - Corfu, Greece
May 12 – Corfu, Greece today. Another bright sunny day. I decided to wear shorts ashore for the first time this trip. We aren't visiting any religious sites that require long pants and it's warm. We are headed to Achillion (Achilles) Palace and then lunch in a private villa in Corfu Town. Above is a picture of Diana and I in front of Pondikonissi (Mouse) Island. Surprise, surprise! Guess who our staff escort is for the tour, none other than the inestimable KC Cook.
As we drove through town to the palace the guide gave us its history. Empress Elizabeth of Austria built it. She was a tragic figure. She went with her older sister to visit the young emperor, Franz Joseph of Austria; her older sister was to marry. Unfortunately, he and Elizabeth fell in love at first sight and a year later they were married. A pretty good start that quickly deteriorated. Elizabeth had mother-in-law problems right from the beginning and after her eldest child died of an illness while the family was visiting Bulgaria; the mother-in-law used that as an excuse to take the rest of Elizabeth’s children from her. Elizabeth developed anorexia and became very ill. You can see how thin she was in the statue picture below. Her doctors advised her to travel and she did with a vengeance. She traveled all over Europe and when she visited Corfu, she loved it. Some years later when her youngest child tragically died she came to Corfu and built the palace as a place of seclusion to mourn her losses. Her life ended tragically as well. She was assassinated while visiting Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The assassin, Luigi Luccheni, originally wanted to kill the French Duke of Orleans but when he found out that the Duke had bodyguards he decided to kill Empress Elizabeth because she didn’t.
The palace is over 100 years old and is part museum, part restored residence. She slept in a very small bed but surrounded herself with fine art. In the chapel, over the altar, is a fresco of Christ being judged by Pilate (below). Beautiful colors!! On the main patio she had marble sculptures of the nine muses and the three graces. They were extremely well done. Amazingly the model for one of the graces was Benito Mussolini’s sister. Weird! In 1981 it was used as a set in the James Bond film ‘For Your Eyes Only with Roger Moore.
From there we did a short driving tour of Corfu Town and then went out to the villa for lunch. Two musicians and three dancers met us at the gate. They gave short performance and then, still playing, they led us back to the patio area for lunch. I lived on Crete for a year and a half so I was looking forward to some Greek home cooking. It met my every expectation. There was souvalki, meatballs, zedziki, dolmathes, mousaka, pasticcio, Greek salad, calamari, and a dozen other things I recognized but don’t remember their names. A Greek version of a potato pirogue, for example. It’s bad enough that I’ve misspelled the ones I did remember. No Greek dictionary on board to help me out and apparently MS Word doesn’t know any Greek either. I did take the picture of my plate piled high with food that you see below.
They played and danced for us while we ate and then invited us to join the dance when we were finished. Diana said I should dance so she could get some video, so I did. More footage for the cutting room floor! They have a beautiful home. The husband had a collection of pocket watches; there must have been about a hundred, each one unique in some way. From their porch I could see our ship across the bay. You could also see snow covered mountains in Albania. It was a great location. After a very pleasant day we headed back to the bus as the ship is leaving at 4PM today.
Our tablemates, Mary, Seldon and Father John are beginning to bond. Mary reminds me of what my friend Melissa might be like in 15 years or so. She’s very funny, but sometimes it seems I'm the only one who gets it. She usually has a little different spin on things.
Tomorrow, Valetta, Malta. We don’t get there until noon so it’s a chance to catch up on some things.
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Europe 2004 - Valetta, Malta
Old Valetta, Malta
May 13 - It’s windy today in Valletta, Malta but the sun is shining and it’s cool but not cold, at least by my standards. We’re headed into the city of Valletta, the current capital of Malta, and then over to Mdina, the first capital of Malta. Valletta is a fairly new city by local standards. Grand Master Jean de Valette founded it in 1566.
The Grand Master is the leader of the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, otherwise known as the Knights of Malta. They were founded in 1113 as an Order of crusading knights to give health care and lodging assistance to pilgrims and crusaders (They are also known as the Knights Hospitaller, from which we get our word hospital). In 1530 Hapsburg emperor Charles V granted the Maltese Islands to them as well as the port of Tripoli. In 1565 the Ottoman Turks besieged Malta and despite being hugely outnumbered the Christian Knights, assisted by the Maltese, outfought the Muslim invaders. This defeat probably saved all of Europe from being overrun by the Ottoman Empire. Just a few years later in the 1580s, the Ottoman Empire was in retreat eventually being driven out of Spain and all of Europe. The Knights attacked and defeated many Ottoman fortresses single-handedly and staged a relentless naval war against Ottoman shipping. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Knights of St. John are the main reason all of Europe is not Muslim today. In 1798, in a typical gesture of French ingratitude, Napoleon made such outrageous demands of Malta that they had to refuse and he used this as an excuse to land troops in Malta eventually ejecting the Knights from the island.
Oops, back to the present. The old city of Valletta is much as it was in the 1500s. The walls, fortresses and churches are still intact. Some reconstruction had to be done after WWII. The masterpiece of the city is the Co-Cathedral of St. John (below). It has the Co-Cathedral title because the local Bishop, whose seat was in Mdina, was allowed to use this church as an alternative see. This was the covenant church of the Order of St. John and its Grand Masters are buried in lavishly decorated crypts that line the walls. The church was consecrated in 1578. The exterior is quite austere, but the interior is very ornately decorated. The walls are richly carved and the floor made up of over 350 marble slabs, ornately decorated. Below each slab is the grave of a Knight of Malta. Every slab is inlaid with the name, dates and some history of the person beneath. They are all elaborately decorated, over six generations, with metaphorical and real figures representing the Knight, death, resurrection and other themes. It was too dark and no flash was allowed, but I got some great video of them. The entire Cathedral floor is mad up of them. It was amazing.
The Cathedral museum has some very fine oils by Michelangelo Merisi, known better as Caravaggio, a name he adopted so as not to be confused with the other artist of the same first name. The painting ‘The Beheading of St. John, his masterpiece and the only painting he ever signed is here. It’s an amazing work. His use of light and shadow, the placement of the figures, the colors, just terrific. It has an amazing feeling of depth.
After a walk through the city we boarded the bus to go to Mdina, the first capital of Malta. Mdina was founded in the late Bronze Age (1500 BC). The present walls of the city date from 400 AD. The Cathedral of St. Paul (below), designed by Lorenzo Gafa in the baroque style, is the burial place of the religious leaders of the islands. They lie under floor slabs similar to the Knights’ in Valletta, but with more religious symbolism. The cathedral is built on the site of the original Norman Cathedral that was destroyed by an earthquake. The records of the Norman cathedral say that it was built on the site of the residence of the patrician Publius who welcomed the Apostle Paul in Malta in Acts 28:7-8. It was a very odd feeling to stand there looking at the Cathedral, knowing that Paul was in this area just after they sailed, against his advice, from Crete. While I was in the Air Force I was stationed on Crete for a year and a half. In 1968 I visited Fair Havens, the site of Paul’s landing on Crete. Mdina is known as the quiet city because few cars are able to get into the narrow gates and you have to have a special permit to enter. We took a walking tour of the streets and stopped to go into the St. Paul’s Cathedral. The picture at the bottom is Diana and I in front of the Maltese Falcon shop in Mdina. Of course it had all sizes of Maltese Falcons on sale modeled after the prop used in the Humphrey Bogart move of the same name.
After that it was back to the ship just in time for dinner. I had a rack of veal that was absolutely delicious. After dinner the Noordam cast performed again. This time the show was ‘Hit the Deck’, a review of dance music from jumpin’ jive to disco to Riverdance. It was very good; it gave both the singers and the dancers an opportunity to show what they could do. KC had several songs and did them very well. They give her a break on the dancing as she is the primary singer but she does contribute to the group dancing numbers. In return, the dancers never sing solos.
Tomorrow Palermo, Sicily and then a much-needed day at sea. Yippee!
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Europe 2004 - Polermo, Sicily
Rod & Diana with Punic Altar in Salunto
May 14 – Palermo, Sicily is a big place with lots of traffic, quite different from the last two ports. The weather is sunny, warm and breezy. Once again we are headed out of town for smaller cities. One is still a city, Bagheria and the other is the site of an ancient Roman city, Solunto.
Our first stop was at Solunto. It’s at the top of Mt. Catalfano and of course vehicles cannot go up the hill so once again we hike up a mountain to see an old city. The Greeks built the first real city here. While the Romans occupied it, it was greatly expanded and most of the structures seen there today are Roman. The hike was the steepest and the longest on the trip so far and I was puffing pretty hard by the time we got to the city. It was made more difficult by the uneven stone road we walked up. I don’t think it has been maintained since the Phoenicians were here in 700BC. It became a Punic stronghold in the 4th century BC until they were conquered by the Syracusans who were later ejected by the Romans in the 3rd century BC. By the 3rd century AD the place was abandoned and no one is sure why. They had water cisterns (right) built at the top of the hill and these may have become inadequate as the city grew. Diana and I are standing by a Punic altar (above). Almost no reconstruction has been done here, just excavation and a little piling up of stones. You can still see some of the frescos on the walls of the homes and a few of the mosaic floors in the villas. Two of them are amazingly intact. The only large reconstruction I saw was three pillars in one corner of the Gymnasium had been righted and the capstones put across the top. Everything else was pretty much just there. You can still sit on the theater seats that are carved into the rock of the hillside. It was small by Roman standards, seating only 1,200. Nearby the floor of the Bouleuterion, where the local senate met, can be seen with some of its decorations and columns. At the edge of the city towards the sea the views over the surrounding area were great. I’ll include a pic of one. It was very hazy and I couldn't decide if it was water vapor or smog.
After the hike back down the hill we boarded the bus to drive to the nearby city of Bagheria. As we left the museum, I said, ‘Multo bella!’ to the security guard and he broke into a huge grin and said, ‘Grazi’. I know that I haven’t spelled either of these Italian phrases correctly but what can I say. I can barely spell in English.
In Bagheria we are visiting the Villa Gavina di Palagonia (right) also known as the Villa dei Mostri (Monsters Villa). It was built in the early 1700s. It has classical features and is built on an elliptical plan. The day we visited a tour group riding antique motorcycles was there. The bikes were great! They were mostly European bikes (BMW, Moto Guzzi, NSA, Nimbus) but there was one Harley-Davidson in the bunch. The most outstanding feature of the villa was the sculptures decorating the garden walls (below). There were several people there painting them in water colors. Some of the sculptures looked pretty normal, others were obviously fantasies or monsters. They are also unique in that in they face inward toward the villa rather than outward as was the custom of the period. The villa has not been restored on the inside. Only the wall decorations remain of what was once a beautiful home. The ballroom had mirrors lining the ceiling and parts of the walls. They were all slightly offset one way of another so the images would flow in erratic patterns as the dancers moved. The current owner’s grandson was there with some contractors who will attempt to restore it. He said the relative who built the villa was slightly nuts. I hope they do the restoration; it’s a great villa.
After that it was back to Palermo to see the Cathedral (below). The Cathedral was begun in 1184 by the Norman king William II and was added to in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The façade is a mixture of Gothic, Arabic, Catalan-Gothic and Norman styles. The south porch is in the Catalan-Gothic style and dates from the late 1400s. It is the best remaining example of this type of architecture. After that we drove through the city looking at the various markets and the Opera House, third largest in Europe and then back to the ship.
The entertainer tonight was a guitar player, Chris Nicholson. He played Spanish, Classical, Rock and Blues styles and was good at them all. Very enjoyable.
May 15 - Today is a much-needed ‘at sea’ day. Diana is having some problems with her allergies or has a cold and is feeling tired. She slept in late this morning and is now having a nap so I’m up in the Computer Center working on my pics and this narrative.
This afternoon we passed through the Bonifiacio Strait between Sardinia and Corsica. Of course we were on Spanish Corsica Thursday before last. We were to come through this strait on our way to Livorno, Italy but the weather was so bad that the captain elected to go around the top of Corsica and not through the strait. The weather today was perfect. Totally calm seas and very little breeze, unusual for this area. The Bonifiacio Straits are known for high winds and rough seas as several currents come together between the islands and the strait acts as a wind tunnel.
Corsica (France) is to the north and Sardinia (Italy) to the south, separated by about 7 miles of strait at the narrowest point. I’m estimating that by eye so it may be off a mile or two. (Ed Note: Apparently I have a pretty good eye. I’m home now and looked up the Strait, it’s exactly 7 miles wide at the narrowest point. See www.encyclopedia.com/html/B/Bonifaci.asp Yikes!!). Needless to say there has been a lot of conflict in this area in the past. We are heading to Minorca, Spain. We stopped there May 2 and the weather was cool, windy and cloudy. It will be interesting to see how much as changed in two weeks.
For lunch the Lido had a curry bar again and the made-to-order curry was a combo of scallops, shrimp and mussels. He made it very hot for me with extra coconut milk, Thai style. It was great!!
Woody, the comic magician is back on board and he did the same act as his first one on the last cruise. I thought it was funny again. He adlibs with the audience so much that the humor was very different although the illusions were the same.
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Europe 2004 - Mahon, Menorca, Spain - 2nd Visit
Mahon Stairs and Central Plaza, at the Top
May 16 – Back in Mahon (above) (Mao in Catalan, pronounced ‘mayo’ as in mayonnaise, which was invented here) today, on the island of Minorca (Menorca in Catalan). If you remember, last time I wrote about this island I spelled it both ways. The spell checker likes the Spanish form and the island’s maps use the Catalan form. The island is part of Catalonia, a province of Spain. The speak both Catalan and Spanish, but are proud to be Catalan and prefer to use it. We are visiting one new place, the old capital of Citudella. It’s amazing what a difference two weeks can make. Lot more wild flowers in bloom including a bright red poppy. The weather is warm and sunny. Citudella was the original capital of Minorca until the British moved the it from there to Mahon in the 1700s. It’s on the extreme west end of the island. Mahon, the current capital, is at the extreme east end.
First we went back to the city of Fornells. Since we’d been here before, Diana and I sat at a café on the plaza and had coffee and a traditional Menorcan pastry called an ensaimada (below). It was a spiral of soft bread, like a cinnamon roll, with powdered sugar on top. It looked sweet, but was only mildly so, much less sweet than a Danish or doughnut. Just the bread and the powdered sugar, no nuts, no cinnamon, no nothing. With the local coffee it was very good.
Then we drove through a seaside area that, for lack of a better description, looked like a very nice condominium association. It overlooked a small bay and was gorgeously maintained. It was called Fornells de la Playa. Might be a great place to retire.
We then continued directly across the middle of the island to the west end and the city of Citudella. It was founded very early in prehistory, but the present city was started during the Moorish era. Later the British greatly expanded it and many British colonial buildings are still in use. You can easily identify most of them as they are painted what the locals call ‘British Red’ (below). It was a beautiful city with a lot of amenities for tourists. Jet skis, windsurfers, boats, bikes, scooters and the like are available for rent. Minorca does not have large sandy beaches, but the few small sand beaches they do have are here or close by. We took a walking tour of the city. I stopped at the Cathedral of Menorca formally called ‘La Catedral Basilica de Menorca’ in Catalan. It was started in 1228 and was finished in 1300. In 1953 Pope Pius XII consecrated it as a Basilica and in 1987, on its 700 anniversary it was established as a Cathedral. It has a beautiful rose window. It was difficult to get a pic but I did get some video. It also had interesting Stations of the Cross, carved wooden frames with paintings depicting the station.
After that it was up Mt. Toro once again and then back to the ship. I had lunch downtown at the same restaurant of the infamous ‘Fried White Bait’. This time I had a traditional Menorcan lunch of eggs, fish, salad, fries, and little mashed potato hushpuppies (below) . It was very good. You guessed it; I took a pic!! I’m getting to like these food pics. (Evelyn, you inspired me.) Just wait ‘till Italy. Mama mia!!!
Tomorrow we will the in San Tropez. I wonder if I will see Bridgett Bardot. Guess I’ll have to keep my eyes open.
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Citudella Harbor with British Red Building
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Europe 2004 - St. Tropez, France
St. Tropez, France
May 17 – Our last port-of-call on the ms Noordam, St. Tropez, home of Brigitte Bardot and vacation site of many tres chic celebrities. I’m sort of surprised they let me get off the tender onto the pier! There’s a special celebration going on here today, Fête de la Bravade. They parade a statue of the Saint through the town in a big parade. The people dress in colonial costumes both military and civilian and follow along in the parade. Later in the day they fire salvos of muzzle loading rifles and canons on the town square. You can see the smoke from the salvos around the church tower in the picture above. A ‘Bravade’ is an ‘act of defiance’ and this celebration commemorates Saint Tropez, who was a Centurion in the Roman guard in the time of Nero. He became a Christian and was beheaded for his new faith. Nero had his head buried there in Rome but set his body adrift in a small boat. The boat made it across the Mediterranean Sea from Rome to what is now the Golfe de St Tropez and landed on the shore at the site where the city now stands.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. First thing we did was joining a tour to some of the Villages of Provence. We headed south out of St Tropez up into the mountains to the village of Ramatuelle. It’s a medieval village that once again is built at the top of a hill for defensive purposes and not accessible by car. So off the bus and up the hill one more time. It’s a small village where, other than interior upgrading of the lights and plumbing, not much has changed. The only irritating part about these medieval villages is that you can’t get far enough away from anything for decent photos even with a wide-angle lens. So I’m reduced to vertical building and narrow street shots. Some of the video may be decent. The Church of Our Lady was interesting. The main altar and every altar in the side chapels were packed with lilies (below). The fragrance in the church was wonderful. I took a pic of the main altar. It was very dark inside and the small flash on the camera couldn’t do much with it. However I’ll see if Photoshop can bring out some of the detail. The streets were the narrowest we’ve seen and that’s saying something. At places we had to walk single file to get through. This was also a defensive feature. It’s much easier to defend a small opening than a large one. The inhabitants were fierce and innovative in the defense of this city. During one battle they threw fully occupied beehives down on the heads of Royalist troops while trying to maintain their status as an independent city.
Next stop, Mairie de Gassin, another very old village also perched on a hill and, you guessed it, another hike up said hill. We walked through the city and it had two good viewpoints for seeing the surroundings. One let us look back on the Golfe de St Tropez and the city of Port Grimaud our next destination. We stopped to look at the city hall (below) and a large, beehive shaped structure that was built over a water cistern and allowed access to it. As we walked down from the city we passed a grove of Cork Pines. These special pine trees have a very thick bark that is harvested every 12 years to make corks for bottles. In 12 years, presto chango, the tree has a new coating of bark and your peel it again.
Our last stop, Port Grimaud is not old at all but is built to resemble an 1800’s seaport village of Provence. The homes are actually built in rows, like townhomes in the US (below). Every home has a boat slip behind it. The homes vary in size, design and color. It’s a very pleasant place. We took a boat tour of the various canals. The boaters have access to the Mediterranean Sea from the village canals. Some of the boats were quite modest, others multimillion dollar customs. After the boat ride Diana and I sat in a little café and ordered café au lait and a Coupe de Maison (below) to split. I’ll attach a pic. It was outstanding, large pieces of fruit (pear, peach, berries, apple) with ice cream on the top of the fruit and great, thick whipped cream over all that. It was topped off with three cylindrical sugar cookies and a little paper fan.
After this gastronomic adventure we headed back to St. Tropez. Diana and I walked around town for a while, looking at the locals in and out of their period costumes. It was very busy because of the celebration and lots of people to watch. The main color scheme for the celebration is red and white, the colors of the city flag (below). Notice that most of the patrons of the café are dressed in red and white. The costumes of the parade participants were from the colonial period, long dresses, stoles, hats and scarves for the women and French red, white and blue military uniforms for the men. We were to late to see the big parade; it had just ended. However, the participants were still milling about the main square or heading for home so we did get a good look at the various costumes. After this we went back to the ship to rest up a bit.
I went out on the deck sometime later and heard the sounds of more gunfire coming from the main square. Apparently they fire the salutes several times during the day. I looked toward the church square and I could see the smoke from the black powder rifles drifting up in front of the church tower. That’s when I took the picture at the beginning of the day.
The lido will offer an on deck BBQ tonight, so we’ll skip the dining room and eat out there. We’re not sailing out until midnight so it shouldn’t be too breezy on the aft deck.
Tomorrow is at sea. We rent a car in Rome and head for Positano on the Amalfi coast, south of Naples. I’m looking forward to mixing it up with all the Mario Andrettis over here.
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
St. Tropez Cafe
To continue the journey, go to the bottom Archives and click on October 2004.
(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger
Archives
June 2004 July 2004 September 2004 October 2004 October 2005
