May – The Travels of Eric and Eva

Greece/Albania

May 13 – May 17

We visited multiple sites in Greece and one in Albania. For those of you who, like me, had no idea where Albania is located, it borders Greece on the north.

Crete and the Peloponnese region: Imbros Gorge and Diros Caves

We started the journey in Crete which is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands. It sits about 100 miles south of the Greek mainland. What surprised me is that the island is primarily mountainous with a high mountain range running from west to east. Climate warming has affected weather here as well with there being practically no snow remaining at the top of the mountains, which apparently hardly used to ever be the case in mid-May.

There were several excursions offered and we chose to get some exercise and take a hike through a well-known gorge there. Travel to the gorge was on very narrow mountain roads but these bus drivers have proved to be amazing. Some photos are below.

The Peloponnese is the large area hanging off the southern part of Greece. The Diros Caves are among the largest in the world and contain spectacular rock formations as well as ancient artifacts just recently discovered. Only two of the three caves have opened to the public. This area of Greece also contains Mystras, a popular 13^th century Byzantine town, but we didn’t go.

Athens

To visit Athens by sea, one must dock in the port of Piraeus.

The primary reason for us to visit Athens was to visit the Acropolis. The word acropolis means highest point and there are many of them around the country. Of course, the one we were interested in is the one that contains the Parthenon. We took a bus to the site and discovered that there were apparently several large cruise ships in the area that dumped literally thousands of people there at the same time we were there. The crowds were horrendous and simply getting up to the top from the parking area took 45 minutes. Once up there, it was difficult to get some good photos and the site was blocked off as well as parts of it being restored, so our visit really was not quite what we had hoped. Kind of similar to our Pyramids experience in a way.

The Parthenon was built in the 5^th century BC as a temple to the goddess Athena. It was heavily damaged in the 17^th century by a Venetian bomb that exploded munitions stored there by the Ottomans. In the early 19^th century, some dude known as the Earl of Elgin took down many of the remaining sculptures and brought them to Britain. These are known today as the Elgin Marbles and reside in the British Museum. Greece insists they were brought to Britain illegally and have been trying to get them returned for many years.

Saw this parrot from the parking lot. Couldn’t get him to turn around.

Monemvasia

Monemvasia, founded in the 6^th century BC, is a walled fortress on a large rock connected to the Greek mainland by only one road. The town sits inside stone walls and would have been nearly impenetrable in ancient times. It contains narrow cobbled streets, stone buildings and terracotta roofs. This place is special and would be worth a return visit for a long weekend of relaxation of further exploration.

This is the only accessible entrance to the village. They use these two horses and the hand carts on the left to bring in all the supplies.

After Monemvasia we went to an estate where they grow olives and produce high quality olive oil. This is an old olive press that they keep in their small museum. We got the impression on our visits to various places in Greece that nothing is prepared without generous portions of olive oil.

Olympia

Have you ever watched the Olympics? This is where it all started with the first games held in the 8^th century BC (nearly 3000 years ago) and continued until the 4^th century AD. We had an outstanding tour guide who really set the mood of the athletes coming from far away regions to compete. The original site eventually held over 70 temples and was a major religious sanctuary for centuries as well as containing all the buildings required to host the games, such as housing, roman baths, gymnasium and many others. Over time, earthquakes and floods eventually left the site unusable and the games were abandoned only to be resurrected in 1896.

This remains an area of heavy archaeological research. It covers a wide area with many trees which allows for casual strolls around the site. There are history buffs on our cruise who could write volumes about the rich history here, but I will leave you simply with a handful of photographs of the remains of what was once a flourishing city and religious site.

The athletes had to enter the stadium under this arch and through a narrow entrance way with the judges purposely placed high above them for intimidation. Once they entered the open portion, there were 44,000 people sitting on the hillside to welcome them, or not.

The old Olympic stadium where the athletes performed. The ancient Games included running, long jump, shot put, discus, javelin, boxing, pankration (a form of martial arts) and equestrian events. Later the pentathalon and other events such as wrestling were added.

This is a fabulous statue of Nike, the goddess of victory that is displayed in the Olympia museum on the site. It was done in the 5th century BC. This restored depiction was created from the many precious fragments excavated at Olympia in 1875. The restoration is lacking significant pieces, including Nike’s wings. The figure had initially stood near the Temple of Zeus in the center of Ancient Olympia on a three-sided triangular pillar 6-meter high.

Butrint, Albania

Albania was under Communist rule until the 1990s and remains largely isolated from the outside world. It is one of the poorest countries in all of Europe and is still hampered by widespread corruption, dilapidated infrastructure, powerful organized crime networks, and combative political opponents. The authorities have yet to warmly accept cruise ships and there were significant difficulties on the morning of the tours. The rumor has it that the harbor master decided that we couldn’t visit one of the scheduled sites unless he was given a bribe. A flurry of phone calls by Silversea all over Europe and the US for a couple of hours were made without resolution. However, we were able to go ahead with one specific tour here and it was magnificent. I seriously doubt Silversea will be returning here any time soon which is unfortunate for the locals who are starting to make a living based on tourism in a country suffering from broad unemployment.

Butrint is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as are many of the other places we have visited. It was an important settlement due to its position on the route from Italy to mainland Greece down the Ionian Sea. It boasts archeological remains from every period of the city’s development, from the Late Bronze Age to the turn of the 19^th century. Its uniqueness is derived from the variety of cultures reflected here from the time when it was inhabited in turn by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and the Ottomans. Additionally, it sits in a well forested area that adds a lot of natural beauty to the site and hosts many endemic birds and plants.

Butrint sits in a lush hilly area of the country. The northern part of Algeria is actually quite green.

Note the different kind of construction materials (stones, bricks) that reflect the different cultures that added to this site over the centuries.

A few nature photographs.

On to Algeria and Portugal.

Egypt

May 8 – May 11

Even though it says we were in Egypt for four days, we were in fact here for only two. One in Sharm-el-Sheik and one in Alexandria. The other 2 were days at sea including one day to get through the Suez Canal.

Sharm-el-Sheik

The city sits at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula and was a logical stop on our trip from Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. There are only 73,000 permanent residents here but they play host to 6 million tourists each year. Security is incredibly tight here with a well-armed police presence at nearly every major corner. Packed with hotels, restaurants and nightclubs for the tourists, it sits in a beautiful spot with good weather, nice beaches and amazing coral reefs that are protected as a national park.

My apologies for a stock image off the web, but we don’t have any good pics of the city.

I was able to go out snorkeling here and it was by far the best I had done on the cruise! The reefs were not as bleached (dying) as the others we had visited, and the fish were abundant. I was able to record some nice videos using my GoPro, and since I am unable to post videos to this site, I am including just a couple of sample frames. Samples of my videos were used in one of the presentations by the marine biologist since people wanted to see the reef and I was the only one who filmed it.

Next, we passed through the Suez Canal which was a highlight of the cruise. The passage fees charged by Egypt comprise the country’s largest source of income, with tourism being second. The 2022 blockage of the canal by the Evergreen cargo vessel cost the country a great deal of money. The passage fees for ships are quite steep. Our ship for example had to pay somewhere between $250,000 – $350,000 USD just for the one passage, which took around 10 hours! For non-passenger vessels they apparently charge by the tonnage so the largest cargo ships must pay a fortune.

Each ship must be accompanied by a pilot ship, a small vessel that knows the local waters and is routinely used to guide large ships into ports. This is a new procedure implemented after the 2022 debacle. The ships must wait near the entrance area and are given a priority number for the following day. We were given first position in our convoy of 46 ships, potentially since we were the only passenger vessel.

Pilot ships are between each ship for safety. Must be a boring job to pilot one.

This was the ship behind us in the convoy. I estimated it carried 1000+ large shipping containers.

Apparently, Ever Given ran aground here and blocked the canal for 6 days, costing Egypt $15 million daily.

This is one of many moveable bridges in the canal that allow vehicle traffic to cross the canal. Trucks are typically lined up for miles waiting for the day’s convoy of 45-50 ships to pass.

The Friendship Bridge links the continents of Africa and Asia. In a visit by the Egyptian president to Japan in 1995, they agreed to pay for 60% of the construction cost of the bridge. The road is hardly used today, but the bridge is beautiful.

Alexandria – The Pyramids and the Grand Museum

Alexandria was our next port of call and used as a base for our long drive to Cairo for the Old Grand Museum and then Giza for the Pyramids. Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It was founded in 336 BC by Alexander the Great, hence the name.

Since our visit here was only a day, we did not get to see the city. We got on a bus early in the morning and drove to Cairo, whose metropolitan area attempts to support 22 million people, most of whom are quite poor. A drive through Cairo is met with too much traffic and constant views of very old and dilapidated concrete buildings. It feels like a city that has no hope of ever being modernized. With the stated reason of reliving congestion in Cairo, Egypt has an ongoing project to create the New Administrative Capital (NAC) to the east which will replace Cairo as the country’s capital. It has yet to be given a name. The future of Cairo seems very uncertain.

This is one of many government funded housing projects we passed that are geared towards relieving the housing crisis in Cairo and supporting the growing population. These projects are huge and seem to contain 50 or more of these buildings in multiple identical rows. One article says that in 2020/2021 alone, nearly 750,000 units were built.

Taken by somebody else from the bus on our way to Cairo.

The Old Grand Museum

We visited the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities (currently also known as the Old Grand Museum) that houses the world’s largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts (more than 120,000 items on display) featuring the famous Tutankhamun collection with its beautiful gold death mask and sarcophagus and the royal Mummy room. The building is well over 100 years old and is simply packed with tourists. One walks around here seeing a ton of items described in great detail by the tour guide and then you forget most of it Here are just a few sample photos of items thousands of years old.

The New Grand Museum

The current museum is being replaced by a spectacular new Grand Museum that sits on land next to the pyramids in Giza, a much better location away from the congestion of Cairo. The building has been finished for some time but the opening keeps being delayed for reasons that even the tour guides don’t understand. We got permission to go inside and view the atrium and it is spectacular. This place will be quite the attraction once it opens.

The Statue of Ramesses II is a 3,200-year-old figure of Ramesses II. It is made from red granite and weighs 83 tons. The statue was found in 1820 broken in six pieces and earlier attempts at restoration failed. It provides an amazing introduction as you first enter the museum.

The Pyramids

If you are going to visit the pyramids, you might as well do it in the middle of a sandstorm with sand blowing into your eyes and nearly every other opening of your body. Add in overly aggressive vendors pushing goods, camel rides and carriage rides and the visit was not the serene setting we had hoped for. Additionally, they have built hotels and shops way too close to the structures which I feel tends to contribute to the loss of the true sense of the site. But, it is the pyramids and seeing them in person is still cool. Here are some photos.

Gives a good sense of the effects of the sandstorm.

On to Greece and Albania.

Saudi Arabia

May 2 – May 7

Djibouti

Before going to Saudi Arabia, we visited one of the poorest and driest countries in Africa, Djibouti. The country is situated very strategically at the southern entrance to the Red Sea and because of its position, it hosts a number of military bases from various countries. The population is only slightly over 1 million people and those that live outside of a city tend to live a traditional nomadic lifestyle with small herds of sheep or goats. Camels are heavily used here for transporting goods.

We took a 3-hour bus drive each way to and from Lac Assal (see the posts of the lake further below) with a police escort for security. The outside temperature was approaching 100 and the air conditioning didn’t work, and the windows did not open. So, we drove with the warm air circulating and doors open when we could, and everybody made the best of it. On the way to the lake, we stopped at the “Grand Canyon of Djibouti” which is formed by the separation of three tectonic plates that lie beneath the country. It’s no comparison to the real Grand Canyon but still worth a stop nonetheless.

The barrenness of the land also reflects the level of poverty that dominates people’s lives here. These are a few scenes taken along our drive to the lake.

Lac Assal is the main tourist attraction of the country. It sits 500 feet below sea level and has one of the highest concentrations of salt of any body of water on the planet. Tourists come here to walk across the salt flats and swim or simply float in the water. The mining of the salt occurs both by modern technology as well as the traditional method where it is captured by hand using rocks and shovels and then transported by camel for weeks to its destination.

Lac Assal is the lowest point in Africa and the third lowest point in the world after the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea

This practice of mining salt by hand has gone on since the 6th century.

Each camel can carry up to 150kg of “white gold”. The journey to Ethiopia to sell the salt takes weeks and returns only $2-$3 per camel for top grade product. China has built a large industrial plant to mine most of the salt for export, but this practice of mining by hand still continues as the only source of income for many nomadic families.

Saudi Arabia

I was honestly a bit nervous about visiting Saudi Arabia as I really didn’t know what to expect. The first hint that things would be different was when the ship had to lock up all the alcohol since it is not allowed in the country. The second difference was the complex immigration process that included fingerprinting everybody in customs when they check your passports as you first enter the country and then rechecking them when you leave.

Saudi Arabia allowed tourist visas for the first time in September 2019, allowing casual visitors without a business or religious purpose into the country. A little before that, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had announced a social and economic blueprint to transform the Kingdom. The plan, Vision 2030, set out to create a vibrant society, overhaul the nation’s economy, and reduce its dependence on oil.

The evidence of this can be found everywhere with new modern developments, investments of hundreds of billions of dollars in creating and upgrading tourist destinations all over the country and a more gradual willingness to be more welcoming to tourists by reducing some of the restrictions. It is easy to see that the country could become a very popular destination for tourists from all over the world due to its central location and ability to invest in and execute strategic projects.

We visited three destinations here – Jeddah, the inland city of AlUla by charter flight from Jeddah, and a city on the western coast called Yanbu as we traveled north along the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal. There are no photos of Yanbu as we used that primarily as a snorkeling site. A number of people also took a high-speed train from Jeddah to the holy city of Medinah but we chose other options. The train can reach speeds of 300 km/hour.

Jeddah

When we arrived at the port, the first thing we noticed was the number of people from the recent unrest in Sudan milling about with whatever belongings they were able to bring with them. In addition to those that made it out on their own, Saudi Arabia ran humanitarian missions with large ships to carry 5,000 people at a time from Sudan to safe harbor in their country. We tend to hear only negative press about the country, much of which is likely deserved, but they showed great hospitality in accommodating these refugees.

One of the main attractions in Jeddah is the historic district known as Al-Bayad, or “Old Jeddah”. The area features many buildings over 500 years old and a number of “coral” houses made from coral stones harvested from the Red Sea and built in the 19th century. One of the distinctive features of this area are the wooden doors and elaborate wooden window designs. The area is a mix of buildings still in their original condition and buildings that have been beautifully restored.

Part of a large old home that has been restored and turned into a museum.

This photo was taken by a friend of ours. What is interesting about this photo is that you are not supposed to show any outward sign of affection in Saudi and she caught these folks holding hands.

One of the main tourist attractions in the newer part of the city is the Jeddah Fountain. It is by far the tallest fountain in the world and reaches a height of over 1000 feet.

We are treated to traditional dances at many places we go on our cruise. This was in Yanbu, a small city on the way to the Suez Canal. Eva went on a tour and I snorkeled.

This photo of the fountain was taken from the bus as we came back from a trip.

Photo taken from the ship of a section of the port in Jeddah at sunset.

AlUla

This place was an amazing combination of ancient history and striking landscapes. The history here goes back over 4000 years and will try to provide a very abbreviated summary.

The walled city of Al-‘Ula was founded in the 6th century BC, an oasis in the desert valley, with fertile soil and plenty of water. It was located along Incense Road, the network of routes that facilitated the trading of spices, silk and other luxury items through the kingdom of ancient Ethiopia, Arabia, Egypt, and India.

AlUla stands on the site of the biblical city of Dedan and was ruled by the Nabateans, an ancient Arab tribe who originally made Petra in Jordan their capital but later had to move it to Hegra in this region after the Romans took over. You may know that Petra is well known today as a treasure of ancient inscriptions and other history. The inscriptions and tombs from these ancient civilizations can be found here inscribed in the vertical sandstone cliffs that dominate the region. Click on the link below if you want more information about this area and the archaeological history here. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/hegra-ancient-city-saudi-arabia-untouched-for-millennia-makes-its-public-debut-180976361/

The area is also an oasis supporting over 4 million palm trees where they grow dates for export. The contrast between the large fields of dark green palm trees and the brown rocky cliffs is striking. Hope you enjoy the pics.

The odd sandstone formations are prevalent here for tens of miles.

The main attraction in this area. It is called Elephant Rock for obvious reasons.

This area gets some fascinating cloud formations.

The tomb of Liyhan in the neighboring city of Hegra, measuring 72 feet high.

The square holes in the rocks were also used as tombs.

Note the writings on the rocks, many of which are over 2500 years old.

I seem to have a bird photo for every segment. This guy was on the pathway to some of the rock inscriptions.

Note the fortress at the top of the rock.

Completed in 2018, Maraya is the world’s largest mirrored building and is a must see in person with how it can be almost invisible from a distance and reflect the beauty of the landscape that surrounds it. It is used to host events.

See how it is hard to tell where the building ends and the real landscape begins?

Note how the building blends in with the surroundings.

These guys begged me to take their photo. Note the reflection of the rock formations in the store window. This was in the restored Old Town of AlUla which was quite nicely done.

The sun sets on another segment of the voyage. On to Egypt and the Mediterranean.

Sicily & Algeria

May 21 – May 22

After leaving Albania, things got a bit wacky. We were due to go next to Tunisia, but the country was being hit by massive flooding and severe winds forcing us to cancel. This meant missing out on one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world at a site called Thyrsus. Instead of Tunisia, we did a quickly prepared visit to Sicily. We were then forced to cancel a visit to The Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex located in Granada Spain on the Mediterranean so we could get to Lisbon before the start of a port strike. The Alhambra Palace is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world. Maybe we will be back some day.

Given the changes, this blog segment is focused only our visits to Erice in Sicily and Djémila in Algeria. The next segment will start with Lisbon and cover our specific visits there and the western coast of Spain and France.

Sicily

Sicily sits in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian mainland and is the largest island in the Mediterranean. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world.

The view from the ship as we approach the port of Trapani.

Our designated tour here was a visit to the old city of Erice. I was a bit under the weather, so Eva went alone and took some lovely photos. Erice is a fortified medieval village that towers over Sicily at 2500 feet above sea level that overlooks the port city of Trapani where we were docked, at the northern tip of the western coast of Sicily. Erice has passed from the Elymian people through to the Phoenicians, the Spartans, the Romans, and the Normans and many of the buildings from over 3000 years ago are still standing. The remains of two castles still dominate the landscape of the city.

A view back towards the port of Trapani from Erice

Note the common placement of the fortress high on a rock overlooking the water. It is no wonder that many of these have withstood a number of invasions by various armies over centuries.

We have had the privilege of visiting many of these ancient walled cities and they are all so quaint and picturesque. Living there hundreds of years ago was likely not as nice.

Look at the stone design for the street and the wooden shutters against the stone walls.

Eva’s nice composition of one of the castles through the trees.

This tower seems more modern. Not sure of the specifics here.

Algeria

We left the ship later than expected due to a delay with Algerian customs, which was not totally surprising. Apparently, the day before in the first Algerian port we visited, they came on board late and arrived with no less than 27 customs officials, most likely just curious about what was on board. Many of these officials were apparently seeing a cruise ship for the first time.

The man in the middle is Captain Kosta navigating the ship into the port from the bridge. Many of these ports require a pilot ship to help us stay in the deeper waters and get into tight spaces.

Djémila

Under the name of Cuicul, the city was built 3,000 ft above sea level during the 1st century AD as a Roman military garrison situated on a narrow triangular plateau at the confluence of two rivers. The city was initially populated by a colony of Roman soldiers from Italy, and eventually grew to become a large trading market.

The city was slowly abandoned after the fall of the Roman Empire around the 5th century and 6th century. Muslims later dominated the region, but did not reoccupy the site of Cuicul, which they renamed Djémila (“beautiful” in Arabic). In 1982, Djémila became a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique adaptation of Roman architecture to a mountain environment.

Significant buildings include a theatre, forum, temples, basilicas, arches, streets, and houses. The exceptionally well preserved ruins surround a large, paved square with an entry marked by a majestic arch.

There is a small museum here that includes a model of the city as it remains now.

These are samples of the many incredibly well-preserved tile mosaics from floors that they discovered here.

The detail and the colors are just amazing. There are thousands of small tiles in this one alone.

A really well-preserved statue head of the Roman emperor in the late 2nd century.

Compared to some other places with ancient ruins, the setting for this city really adds to the vibe here. Also, very little development beside it as much of it has a single owner.

One of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world.

Speakers would stand behind this podium to address the crowds in a large open square.

This was the entrance to the brothel. I think it speaks for itself.

Storks are native here. They are huge birds.

This nest was about 100 feet in the air at the top of a tree.

That’s it for this segment. On to Portugal, Spain and France.

Portugal/Spain

May 24 – May 27

Lisbon, Portugal

We arrived here a day earlier than planned due to an expected port strike. The idea was to get in before the strike and then try to get back out as soon as possible. Strikes are always planned for the most strategic time for their cause and this one was planned for the first big week of the tourist season. Fortunately, it got called off, but we had a day here where the expedition team had to rapidly come up with plans for the extra day.

Lisbon is a historic city at the hub of the pioneering days of the Age of Discovery in the mid-1400s. Portugal was the first to significantly discover the Azores and West Africa and in the 1500s had established ports as far as Brazil, Japan, Africa, India and China. Most of Lisbon was destroyed in a massive earthquake in 1755 and was quickly rebuilt. The city center is very quaint with lots of trees, museums, historic buildings and hundreds of restaurants and clubs. Lisbon is actually not on the coast of either the Atlantic or the Mediterranean, but sits on the Tagus River which is completely navigable by large ships.

A major part of the city’s heritage is reflected in Fado, a soulful genre of music. We had a performance on the ship, and it was characterized by deep, mournful tones, accompanied by the traditional instruments of guitar and mandolin. We would normally have spent the day exploring the center of Lisbon on our own, but I was nursing an injury to my calf and needed to stay off my feet. However, Lisbon and surroundings seem like a wonderful place to come back to where one could easily spend nearly a week with plenty of wonderful things to see and do.

On the first day here, we ended up taking a bus tour that was offered that went through the city, into the nearby Arribada mountains (not really very high) and a quaint fishing village called Sesimbra.

The second day we booked a cruise on a 3-masted sailing boat down the Tagus River. It turned out to be one of our few cloudy and windy days, but we bundled up and still enjoyed it.

Lisbon and surroundings from the Tagus River

I have only a few photos of Lisbon unfortunately due to the timing of the visit and the fact that we only had time to take a bus tour through the city itself. So, all of these photos come from the Tagus River and many are a bit dark due to the weather here.

An old fortress on the Tagus River on our way to Lisbon that now simply serves as a lighthouse.

We sailed under the 25th of April bridge on our way to dock for the night.

A photo under the same bridge from the sailboat cruise 2 days later. The Sanctuary of Christ the King is shown which is a tall statue that overlooks the city from the southern side of the river. It was inspired by the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil due to the strong Portuguese connection.

This time from the middle of shipping containers on the port by the ship.

Belém Tower, officially the Tower of Saint Vincent is a 16th-century fortification located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers and as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.

The Monument to the Discoveries commemorates the early Portuguese explorers of the 15th and 16 centuries.

The Rua Augusta arch sits on the bank of the Tagus and was built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.

Lisbon is decorated with a huge number of amazing murals. The intent has been to encourage the street artists doing graffiti to work with the city and do murals instead.

Sorry to include this but it has to be the worst example of a touristy idea ever. This thing was tossing around in the water and must have been miserable for the people inside.

Our ship docked with a battleship right behind it. We appreciated the extra security.

South of Lisbon: Sesimbra and the Arribada mountains

Eva in one of the corner lookout towers in the Fortress of Saint James

A typical street here of shops and restaurants.

The Fortress of Saint James in the background.

Enjoyed some local sweet wine, Muscadel, while overlooking the beach here

This fortress up on the hill from Sesimbra dates from the 1600s.

Why do I have a seagull as one of my pics? Well, first of all, these birds are everywhere we go and secondly this guy would not move until I promised to take his picture. Note the patient pose.

An old monastery in the Arrabida mountains

A view across the Tagus River and surrounding inlets from the mountains towards Lisbon way in the distance through the haze.

Vigo, Spain and the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

We left Portugal on the way to a tour of some sites on the west coast of France and made one stop in the town of Vigo, Spain. Vigo is in the northwest of Spain on the Portuguese border. In the 16^th-18^th centuries the town was quite busy with commercial trade and still is known for having many sunken treasures in the waters off the coast. The area also supports hundreds of mussel farms in the local lakes where they are grown on horizontal systems of ropes suspended in the water by buoys, pipes or floats.

One of the most popular tours here which we attended is a bus ride to the huge Romanesque church in the town of Santiago de Compostela. In the beginning of the 9th century, a hermit called Pelagius saw a mysterious light shining over a Roman tomb forgotten in the middle of a forest. Very soon, the incredible news spread all over the Christian world: the tomb of St. James the Greater, the beloved apostle of Jesus Christ, had been discovered in a far site near the end of the known Earth, in the northwest of Iberian Peninsula. A few years later, this site became a famous pilgrimage town, one of the most important of Christianity. Pilgrims came from all over Europe to reach the city born around the Holy Tomb, exercising a great influence on the surrounding area.

The Way of St James remains a network of pilgrimage routes leading to the cathedral here. Most pilgrims obtain a document called the credencial which gives them access to overnight accommodation along the route. With a stamp at each place the pilgrim has stayed, it provides a record that the journey was accomplished according to an official route and that they will be qualified to receive a Compostela, a certificate of completion of the pilgrimage and a forgiveness of your sins. To earn the Compostela, one needs to walk a minimum of 100 km or cycle at least 200km. Over 400,000 accomplished this in 2022. The large square in the middle of the cathedral and surrounding buildings was filled with people celebrating the end of their journey while nursing their tired bodies.

The church, along with the surrounding buildings and the old town of homes, shops and restaurant was beautiful. Also, something amazing happened here for us – it rained for 20 minutes! One of only a handful of times of rain on the entire trip so far.

These bells rang, and rang, and rang. Apparently practicing for a celebration the next day.

This organ was both beautiful and huge and split into different sections.

That is all for this segment. France is next.