Oh the Places I'll Go

 Some readers of my blogs may remember my tale of anguish in February of 2020 as the Covid pandemic was rampaging across Asia, and I was sailing around the South China Sea onboard the beautiful Crystal Symphony hoping that one day a port would agree to let us dock.  We eventually disembarked safely in Singapore.  I had been so enamored with the ship I was on, that I booked additional cruises, including a World Cruise planned for 2022.  While I returned home to wait out the pandemic in isolation, the cruise industry (along with other tourist-intense businesses) suffered significant losses.  Crystal declared bankruptcy, and my anticipated future cruise deposits were lost.  I recovered some of my money through one of my credit cards, some through the bankruptcy court, and some as future cruise credits issued by the company that ultimately purchased Crystal’s two ocean ships, in an attempt to lure back Crystal’s former passengers. In September of 2025, I was ...

Since my undergraduate days as a history major, I have been drawn to the history of the places I visit.  Thus, one of the most interesting aspects of Mediterranean travel for me is learning about the ancient civilizations of these lands.  It is a treasure trove of ruins, of artifacts, of history, and of peoples.  There were the Minoans, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Etruscans, the Romans, the Venetians, the Byzantines, and the Ottomans.  Each of these cultures has left traces of itself in various parts of the Mediterranean region, and sometimes the traces of one provided the foundations for another.   For example, the ancient amphitheater in Taormina, Sicily was first built in the third century BC as a Greek theatre.  Greek plays were presented on the stage.  While watching, audiences could enjoy the spectacular views of the ocean in the distance.  About six hundred years later, Roman conquerors converted the theater into an amphitheater wher...