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We’ve saved the biggest and best for last, but I’m totally in ruins by now. Trying really hard to keep all this ancient history straight but it’s starting to all run together. What everyone comes to see in Athens is of course the Acropolis, which is the sanctuary of the goddess of Athena, protector of…

You might know that the term “agoraphobia” means fear of the market place. People who suffer from this disorder are afraid of being in open public spaces. I learned from our tour guides that market places were the center of public life in ancient times as well. I suffer from what I call “agoraphilia”: love…

Our second to last night on the ship was a stormy one, but I thoroughly enjoyed the gentle rocking as we were drifting off to sleep. We even braved stepping out on deck just before the crew closed it to passengers and made us come inside. I wish we could have had more days at…

Rhodes is a Greek medieval fortressed city but of course it was conquered and settled by many different people. It was held by the Knights of St John during the Crusades and a large palace remains. One obvious difference between Turkish and Greek towns is that Greece is mostly Christian so one notices more churches…

Parts of Turkey were conquered by the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, the Ottomans and many others. I tried to prepare myself for Turkey and Greece by reviewing my ancient history, but I never paid attention to the classics in college so there was a lot to catch up on. It doesn’t help to know…

One of the nice things about being on a cruise is that you can visit lots of different places and not have to keep repacking luggage and changing hotels constantly. I love being aboard a ship and all things marine. Viking cruises don’t allow children and have less passengers so, although we pay for the…

Having a Turkish bath (hammam) is one of the experiences I was most looking forward to on this trip, and it went beyond my expectations. Istanbul seems to have as many Turkish baths as mosques so I chose a historic one near the hotel for my friend Dotty and I. We were led by female…

Jet lag was still with us for several more days but that didn’t prevent us from walking several miles in the popular Fatih neighborhood of Istanbul all weekend. Istanbul is a marvelous mixture of modernity and antiquity. I got my fill of people watching in the Grand Bazaar and allowed my senses to be overwhelmed…

The airport is a maddening scene of fibrillating activity. Like the spokes of a bicycle wheel leading from its hub, the airport connects people and places. People are tense, curt, exhilarated, filled with anxiety. They are either rushing around or waiting listlessly in endless lines. They play with their phones, eat expensive food they don’t…

Why I Travel According to contemplative traveler, Pico Iyer, travel releases us from our preconceived impressions of the world, at the same time that it humbles us. He says that racism and xenophobia result from not being exposed to cultures that are different from ours. But I would take this one step further. Most of…