Historical Sites- Over 2000 to 2700 years Old

Hi all, Monday 21 May 2007 Mykonos, Greece

Wow, how do I catch up. Wednesday last, in Florence. Way too short, all we had was literally 5 hours to visit one of the most impressive cities in Italy. This is a 'come back' city. Saw Statue of David by Michelangelo, then walked this amazing city, the Duomo, the old bridge over the river built in 1360.. Yikes, no time to explore this amazing place.

Thursday it was on to Naples. We hopped a local train, about 1/2 hour and a thousand stops down to the city of Pompeii. A beautiful day out, a bit warm but nice for touring.
Pompeii was built over time starting several hundred years BC. By Roman times, it was a city of wealth..then in 60AD... bam!!!, Mt Vesuvius, looming close in the background, exploded and buried the city. So fast many people were trapped in their homes, quickly overcome by the ashes and explosion.

It was discovered in 17th century and had to be literally dug out revealing a snapshot in time of what life was like then. Beautiful paintings on walls, intricate frescoes and mosaics on the floors.
We got a special tour from a construction worker working on the renovation of one room. He held his finger to his mouth..shhhhh... he let us in the site he was working on, not open to the public. Beautiful place, incredible paintings on the walls over 2500 years old. He was of course after some lunch money..a small tip was well worth the private tour. Also here was one of the oldest examples of a Roman stadium. We stood where lions were slain by gladiators..wow

An express train back, and taxi to the ship..our home away from home, and off in the sunset.

On Sunday we had one of the best experiences of the trip. We toured the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey (Google it, check it out!) Just amazing mix of 3 major civilizations all in one place. And so well preserved because it had been flooded by an ancient river covering it in 40 or 50 feet of mud until the 1700's when it was discovered. Ephesus was the center of Greek society in this region, then later occupied by the Romans, then the Byzantines. There is stark evidence of all types of architecture, Greek Ionian column capitals, Roman Corinthian and then mixed ones for the later years. You can touch Greek writing on the marble dating over 2000 years. And a huge library building. Much of what you see has been restored and rebuilt by Turkish funding over the last several hundred years. Renovation/restoration is still continuing. An amazing place.
I'll post pictures in next few days. Our private guide, Onur, took us to the site, to a Turkish rug factory and home for a typical Turkish lunch in the country. We finished up at the museum where objects from the site were displayed.

Today we are in Mykonos, the upscale Greek Island that has been the playground over the years of the rich and famous. We took the city bus out to the local beach (beautiful, complete with nude sunbathers :) )
This is beautiful place, weather is outstanding an no wind!!

We will head for Athens tomorrow, and hope to visit the Acropolis and other sites in town.

We are off for now, see you in a few days.