Rosemary Claudy and I took the Holland America trip to Rome, Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Corfu, Olympia, Athens, Santorini, and Pompei on the ship Koningsdam, October 15-29, 2018. Kent Kauffman from Isings Travel led our group of 24. We got to see some wonderful places with beautiful weather, good food, and good company. The ship holds 2,650 passengers and over 1,000 crew but it operates very efficiently. I’m impressed with how well Holland America treats its customers and how good their tours are, with very good tour guides. Isings Travel makes trips even more comfortable. We travel more like a family with Kent making sure we are all well cared. Isings makes all the travel arrangements, including pick up and return to Galloway Ridge, pays tips, and provides lots of extras. Kent is a very good photographer and posts his photos on his website, including our trip.
A lot of the people, places, and stories I learned about in a Classics course my freshman year in college came to life. And I got to see the Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, Ionian, and Aegean Seas.
October 15: Pick up at Galloway Ridge was at noon. Our overnight Delta flight to Rome was comfortable, though I didn’t get much sleep.
October 16: We arrived in Rome, saw a bit of the city, checked in the Savoy Hotel, had a nice dinner (pasta with calamari and basil pesto, gilthead fish, tarimisu), and managed to stay awake until about 9 as we tried to adjust to the time change.
October 17: I skipped the morning walk to the Spanish Steps. We went to Trevi Fountain, the Coloseum, returned to the hotel for lunch, and then visited the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Square and Basilica. There was a lot of walking, a lot of stairs, and a lot of people, but we got to see so much in one day! We had wine before dinner on the roof of the Savoy Hotel to admire the view, and dinner at the Savoy (I had pasta with smoked ham, eggplant and tomatoes, veal, panna cotta).
Kent’s photo of our group.
Our guide took a panorama shot of us in St. Peter’s Square.
October 18: Check in and set sail on the Koningsdam. Isings picked an especially nice room for us – midship next to the elevator and we had an especially large veranda because the ship widened next to our room. Our group had three large tables for early dinners together. For other meals, we chose when and where we wanted to eat.
October 19: Cruising. We cruised between the boot toe and Sicily. Looking at Google maps and Wikipedia, I see there is a town of Scilla on that narrow passageway, that is the traditional site of the sea monster Scylla of Greek mythology.
October 20 we walked the streets of old Dubrovnik, Croatia. I didn’t recognize anything as Kings Landing in the Game of Thrones.
We had a late morning start and a nice ride to the Konavoski Dvori Restaurant where we had lunch with local wine in an old mill next to a pretty river.
At night, the lights looked pretty.
October 21: I was looking forward to the views as we traveled the long fjord to Kotor, Montenegro, but we were asleep. We did get some good views though for the first part of our journey back out of the fjord, just before dark.
View from the ship in the morning.
Our Lady of the Rock, a man-made island with a beautiful church.
Below, the ship is moving and we’re going out the fjord. Rosemary and I skipped dinner in the dining room opting for pizza on deck 9 instead where we could watch the scenery.
October 22: On Corfu, we visited Achillion Palace and saw the forts, mainly the old one, and walked a couple of miles from town back to the ship.
I liked the airstrip.
The old fort is in the background.
October 23: It was raining as we got off this ship but it stopped by the time we started walking. Olympia is bigger than I expected. There are lots of pillars and stones but it’s hard to visualize what it looked like before earthquakes, etc. destroyed so much of it. Our tour guide was especially good.
Bath tubs.
The spot where they start the Olympic flame.
Entrance to the stadium.
The stadium.
Kent’s photo of Rosemary.
The tunnel.
A Greek lunch, with wine and Ouzo and lots of dancing.
Rosemary joined the dancing.
The restaurant was unusual. Looks to me like they were growing herbs in the restaurant. Seems like an odd place for a refrigerator.
And an odd place for a large bed.
October 24: A lot of Athens looks like any other city, but mixed in are ancient relics. My tour was a bus trip with two stops. Rosemary took a different tour with more walking.
The remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
The marble 1896 Olympic Stadium.
The Acropolis.
Photos of Athens from the 14th deck of the ship.
Rosemary stumbled on a step during her excursion falling on her hand and breaking a bone. She did remarkably well functioning with one hand and eating with her left hand. She was well cared for.
October 25: Santorini is beautiful, with white buildings and blue church domes. The cliffs show layers of lava. We spent a little time exploring the village of Oia and stopped in a restaurant for bread with honey and coffee.
Kent’s photo of the wine tasting. Santorini produces some good wines, including a sweet wine that’s similar to a good sweet sherry.
We started in the morning at one port and the bus drove us up. The excursion ended with a cable car ride back down to a different port where the ship was waiting. This photo is looking back after getting out of the cable car.
Photo from our balcony.
Photo from the 14th deck.
October 26: Cruising.
Yesterday, I had a hot dog with fries and a beer for lunch while Rosemary was still walking in Athens. Today, Rosemary had the hot dog and fries and I had all my calories in a chocolate gelato shake.
October 27: Naples. Views of villages carved into the clifs were beautiful, but it was hard to get good photos through the bus windows. We went to beautiful little village, Positano, with charming shops and walked down a lot of steps. Rosemary and I didn’t make it all the way down, getting worried about being able to get back up all those steps without being late.
Kent’s photo in Positano.
We had a wonderful lunch in a hotel. Our group had the dining room to ourselves. This was the pasta course.
It was Rosemary’s Birthday. This cake was tiramisu. There was a more elaborate cake at dinner but I didn’t have my phone with me to get a photo.
This is Kent’s photo — better than mine.
Kent’s photo of the hotel and surrounding area.
Pompeii is much bigger than I expected. Our guide gave us lots of interesting info about what city life was like then. The streets were paved and had shops and homes.
There was a large theater with excellent acoustics.
These were clothes lockers in a bath.
I couldn’t stop long enough to get a good photo of paintings.
This was a fountain.
October 28-29: Our flight from Rome to JFK via Alitalia was not good. Something was wrong with our original plane and I think with a second plane. In any case, we were eventually transported to a plane that got us home safely, but the seats were very small. It was not a comfortable flight at all, though we arrived pretty much on schedule. We rode over to LaGuardia and spent the night at a hotel there and came home the next morning, as planned.
Towel Sculptures
Here are a few of the creatures we found in our room after dinner:
