This past week I have been doing some more research in port on the Venetian Empire - with exploration in Chania, Crete and Korcula, Croatia. We had an overnight in Trieste again, but rather than take a trip over to Venice, we are going to go in October for a few days. We will then train over to the western side, the Italian Riviera, to visit cousins and family. Plane and hotel booked - Bellissima!
Growing up in New Jersey we used to chuckle at all the historical places that said “George Washington slept here!” In a similar fashion, the winged lion, with (either open/closed) book, (raised/lowered/or non-existent) sword and possibly a halo, shows that the location was a part of the Venetian Empire at some point. There are lions everywhere, and it has been fun to look for them, as well as other Venetian legacies.
Port time this week has been balanced with some shopping (it’s summer sale time - yippee!), happy wandering, and seeing some sights I haven’t seen before. In Istanbul, I ended up shooting photos of little distant cousins of the lion. Here are some of the kitties - they all seemed to camouflage themselves well, especially the one on the police car.
Istanbul’s New Cruise Terminal
Istanbul has a new cruise terminal, and it is beautiful. It is connected to a new outdoor shopping mall and restaurants and offers services such as ATMs, luggage storage, mail & shipping services, restrooms, and, of course, duty free shopping. Most of the terminal is underground, below the mall. For the unweary, able-bodied, it is a lovely terminal and it takes about ten minutes of a well-signed maze (including down three escalators and up two more) to get out to the street. If you are on tour, there is less walking to the buses and if you want a taxi, there is a taxi rank before you get up to street level. By the way, when ships are not in, these banisters and walls can fold down!
Coming back to the terminal (not on tour) you will go through security at the street level - this is for all who are coming to the mall, not just cruise passengers. It is a good minimum of fifteen minutes to get back to the ship, depending on security lines.
ISTANBUL TIP: Bottom line, allow plenty of time for transiting through the terminal.
Easy or Not So Easy
The day after Istanbul was Mykonos, and I was on a tour of the island called “Easy Mykonos.” In general, tours called Easy or Panoramic are designed to have less walking and provide potential options for those with more limited mobility. I tend not to select them as I like the more active tours. However, I wanted to see some more of the island beyond the town of Mykonos and this was one of the ways to do so.
In Mykonos ships either dock at the New Port (Tourlos - about 3km from Mykonos town), tender to the New Port or tender to the town of Mykonos itself. This cruise we docked. The tour buses were parked in their lot, which is about a 5-8 minute walk from the ship. I thought, well, at least this doesn't seem so long in comparison to Istanbul! But it was still a walk. We had several guests with limited mobility, and it took a little bit longer for the guests to all make it on to the bus. The tour had two stops, the second of which was the longer visit, which included a snack. Before we got off the bus for this stop, the guide let us know that it was a couple hundred meters walking uphill, so a handful of guests remained on the bus. As we walked up the hill, I chatted with a woman whose mother stayed on the bus and the woman commented about how the tour wasn’t really that easy. We chatted about how, of the options offered in Mykonos, this was the easiest one. And that depending on the port itself (especially in the Mediterranean), easy isn’t always so easy, more like moderate. For the snack I then ended up sharing a table with a couple who were taking it slow, and two women whose travel companions stayed on bus. Fortunately the guide was able to provide to-go boxes of the snack for those on the bus, but there was some anxiety about this before we knew that.
Fast forward a few days to Korcula, where I escorted a tour that also was not as active (relatively speaking) - a golf cart ride for some views and a stroll through the old town. This was a tender port, and a guest with a hidden disability experienced some challenges with the tender ride. They explained to me their needs, and I did my best to assist them. I learned about the sunflower lanyard, which helps identify people with hidden disabilities and may need a little extra time or assistance.
Fast forward a few days to an encounter onboard, where I had a conversation with a guest whose partner was diagnosed with dementia a year ago and also had a chronic pain flare up during their cruise. This was supposed to be their big last trip; they were one cruise in and have two more weeks to go.
Clearly the universe had some messages for me this week.
You don’t know what other people are truly going through.
You help where you can. And assist companions and caregivers, too.
You get one body and one mind - take care of them.
And with that, here is the weekly accountability check in.
Wellness Round Up
Nutrition: Many of us grew up on the food pyramid concept of what constitutes a healthy/balanced meal. This has evolved to the Healthy Eating Plate model, which is much more fruit and veggie forward.
Copyright © 2011, Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate,
please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, www.thenutritionsource.org, and Harvard Health Publications, www.health.harvard.edu.
I am not quite at the ratios recommended, but I continue to look for opportunities to balance my plate. This week, I thought I would share some of the ship's Dining Room's dinner starters.
Hydration. I am still struggling with drinking as much water as I believe I need. Especially in this heat. My inbox this week had an interesting article by Peter Attia about the risks of dehydration as we age. Thanks, for this reminder as well, universe!
Sleep/Stress. Some more work stress again this week, and sleep has been mixed.
Movement. I was able to get three runs in this week; as I had taken some time away, I jumped back to one of the week 2 of the Couch to 5K workouts before moving on to week 3. I believe I can get caught back up this upcoming week. Still doing plenty of walking in port; and have been more intentional on taking the stairs instead of the elevator onboard. I like to think of it as the ship version of the “park your car at the far end of the parking lot” hack.
I have been trying to unpack my resistance to flexibility and strength training workouts. I used to love strength training! But recently, I have not been wanting to do weights. And as I feel myself getting creaky, I understand the importance of flexibility and balance. Yesterday, though, I did get in a 13-minute Yin Yoga video (FitOn). And today the pool was quiet, so I did FitMotivation's YouTube pool noodle upper body workout. It is such a treat to have access to a pool. I am not entirely sure my headphones are waterproof, but I kept my head above water and listened to the workout. I would highly recommend watching the video from 33:55 first so you know the correct form and moves before jumping in the pool.
And speaking of a treat - I am so grateful that music is always around me on the ship. Any day of the week I have access to live music, concerts and performances. I forget that this is not a reality for most people. If not live music, background music sets the mood around the ship otherwise. As I sat journaling this morning, “Fernando” by Abba played.
Though I never thought that we could lose,
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again,
I would, my friend, Fernando
If I had to do the same again,
I would, my friend, Fernando
While the rest of the song's lyrics/story might not be so fitting, I think back to early 2001 when I was introduced to this crazy and wonderful life onboard ships, and if I had to do the same again, I would, my friend.
Greg W., my original partner in song, my Fernando.
With that, Bon Voyage & Bon Appétit!
Updated August 25, 2024
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