Cruisin' with the Chaplain

Sunday Dec. 9th – our itinerary has been altered a bit – no stop in Casablanca for security reasons so, no Rick’s Café. Instead we visited Cartagena, one of the post important ports in Spain.
1. The Town Hall is a beautifully restored modernist building.
2. The city was rich from silver mining and in the early 1900’s beautiful homes were built with graceful iron railings and glassed-in balconies.
3. Some ruins of Roman times have been unearthed – this Amphitheater (built between 5 BC and 1 AD) was just discovered in 1987 when a villa was been demolished!
4. “The Last Soldier” – commemorating the recent end of military conscription in Spain.

1. The streets were quiet until 11am before being filled to over-flowing with holiday shoppers and cruise ship passengers. Constitution Square had a really nice Nativity scene.
2. The Christmas Market in front of the Cathedral was fun to see – many of the booths held hundreds of tiny figurines for people to buy to add to Nativity scenes in their homes.
3. Las Ramblas is the main shopping street where you can buy a canary, a monkey or an orchid. Or you can be a statue – an interesting way to make a living.

1. We took a train from the port of Civitavecchia into Rome for an afternoon visit to Vatican City, a country. We walked around the whole outside wall, so I guess we walked around a whole country today!
2. The Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square being prepared for Christmas 2007.
3. Too beautiful and sad for words.
4. Slowing down the pace – with pizza and Chianti.

The Palace of Knossos, more than 3000 years old, the oldest parts as much as 4000 years. It was built by the ancient Minoans – think back to high school world history! This is the site of the myth of the Minotaur. The Minotaur was contained by Daedelus in the labyrinth and eventually slain by Thesus.
Colorful little fishing boats are tied up for the day.

Convoys of buses with police security brought us to Cairo from the port of Alexandria – a 2 ½ hour trip. We traveled through the desert to the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, the Mortuary Complex and the Valley Temple.
Police presence was high everywhere, sometimes with a casual but alert presence.
Our kissing camels and a memorable ride in the dessert with some of the ninety-eight pyramids in Egypt in the distance.
The streets of Cairo are congested with vehicles of every kind, with honking horns and daredevil drivers. Cars do outnumber donkeys, but that sturdy little animal is still used everywhere.