Cartagena

Flew into Cartagena on Thursday, the 28th. We were standing in the long line to go through Immigration and Customs when a young woman in a vest approached me and asked me how old I was. I told her 69 and she immediately pulled Mike and I out and took us to a line with no one else in it. Got through Customs quickly! I guess being old and gray haired can help sometimes. 

We are eating the best food here and have seen most of the Old Town and the sites of the old fort of Castello San Felipe and the convent of Pie de la Popa high above Cartagena. The history and the views are incredible! 

View from Pie de la Popa

In Old Town roof top bar 

When we walked up to get into line at the fort our friend Monica (also our guide and and Maria's sister), was buying the tickets when the clerk spotted the cane I am currently sporting and said I did not need to pay a fee. We have now named my cane Pedro for San Pedro Claver, the Jesuit priest responsible for the baptizing and freeing of many slaves in Cartagena. 

I will need to write a whole post on the food here! Last night we went to the Women's prison for the newest hot restaurant run by the inmates themselves. Lovely food and nice servers, a whole story in itself. Ask me about it when you see me. The taxi ride was pretty scary and they don't allow many cars in the Old Town streets. Our driver used the fact that I had my Pedro cane with me to get the Policia to let us through. 

For New Year's Eve tonight we have special reservations. Will write about that later. 

Rita K

Merry Christmas

Ilulissat and Its Ice Fjord

September 5th

After visiting Uummannaq, our northernmost stop above the Arctic Circle, the ship sailed a bit south. 

We stopped at Eqip Glacier, the most active calving glacier in Greenland. At first I wasn't impressed, as I had seen more dramatic ones in Alaska. But once I realized that the glacier I was viewing was over 5 kilometers wide, I was more appreciative. And as we got a bit closer the glacier made itself known. 

Then on to Ilulissat, translated as "iceberg," third largest town in Greenland and the most visited by tourists, due to its Ilulissat Icefjord. This fjord contains the Jacobshavn Glacier, which produces so many icebergs that they often block passage to the fjord. These icebergs are sometimes so large they cannot move down the fjord and get stuck in the shallower areas. The mouth of the fjord is particularly full of these icebergs. We took small boats to move among them. Cold and impressive! 

The local tour of the town included walking past the public housing, an experiment in moving whole villages into towns. Nuuk also contained much of this type of housing. Greenland is rethinking this approach, as the breakdown of natural villages has led to increased alcoholism and other problems. 

The tour also included the local museum and the Zion Church, built in 1779 and used until 1929. This church sits next to the fjord and provides a view over the iceberg filled entry. The town is known for having almost as many sled-dogs and kayaks as people. It also has shopping opportunities, an essential for tourists. 

Ilulissat was the location for the Arctic Ocean Conference in 2008, which led to the Ilulissat Declaration, which addresses environmental protection, climate change and other issues dealing with the Arctic Ocean. 

We hoped to have an opportunity to walk a path further into the fjord, but another ship - a larger one doing the Northern Passage from Alaska to New York - took away the guides and transportation. Definitely a popular tourist spot! 

Greenland and the Ocean Diamond

This is the first part of our Greenland trip. 

We flew to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland late on our third day to embark on the Ocean Diamond, our expedition ship for our visit there. The zodiak out to the ship, not to mention the bus ride to the zodiak, was a real adventure! 

Our first stop on September 3rd was at Sisimiut, the second largest town in Greenland, at around 5500 people. Greenland's total population is only around 57,000. I read part of "The Greenlanders" to acquaint myself with the island, as the original Nordic population disappeared from Greenland in the 15th century and I thought the book might explain why. It did not. Today's scientists are still puzzling over this disappearance. 

Greenland is currently over 80% Inuit. These people originally migrated from northern Asiatic regions to Alaska, northern Canada and on to Greenland. We were told that Inuit from all these areas speak the same language, basically unchanged from region to region. Local museums in each town included examples of the national costumes worn by the native Inuit.

Sisimiut gave me my first look at the colorful houses of Greenland. I would learn why they were so colorful at our next stop. This fishing port had some interesting boats, including one named Rita. Had to laugh at that. We sailed past  lots of icebergs that first full day on the ship. 

Our next stop was Uummannaq, a small hunting and fishing village in the shadow of a heart shaped moutain. The colors there were particularly bright, houses painted red, blue, pink, orange, green - nearly every color of the rainbow. The colors show what the building was used for, before widespread literacy. For instance, if a building was painted yellow, it was a hospital. Royal blue meant that it contained the local electricity generator for the town and red was used for public buildings such as museums or government offices. 

We were warned to stay away from any sled dogs we encountered as they were not friendly! 

The harbor in Uummannaq was filled with small icebergs and is icebound in the winter. Very cool! In fact, this town was my favorite stop, due to its beautiful setting. 

Westman Islands

Vestmannaeyjar Archipelago 

I am going to write backwards about my trip. We visited this area on our last day on the ship (September 13th) before docking again in Iceland.  

Heimaey is the main island in this set of 15 islands. The population is around 4000. This is a primary Icelandic fishing area and is known for the volcanic eruption that took place in 1973. This eruption destroyed a fifth of the town. The population was successfully evacuated to the mainland using its fishing fleet, which happened to be in the harbor because of bad weather. 

The island's puffin population is especially large, with the birds nesting in the cliffs, where they hatch their young. Once the young have hatched in late August or early September, the parents leave for their winter grounds. 

The pufflings make their way out of the nesting holes and must fly to the water in order to survive. Unfortunately, the lights of the town distract them and they often end up there rather than the sea. The young people in town look for them each evening in September and catch them. They take them to the aquarium to be weighed and checked and release them on the beaches as soon as they can. The young daughter of our guide showed us the one she caught and we watched her release it. It quickly dived in and swam away. Neat! 

We visited the local museum, which was built around one of the houses that had been covered in the 1973 eruption. 

This whole island is fascinating, as it is the youngest part of Iceland. The island increased in size by one-third due to the eruption. 

Reykjavik, Iceland

We arrived in Keflavik Airport at 6:30 am, had breakfast near the Blue Lagoon, and then took a relaxing dip in the water. While the weather was a bit blustery and drizzly, the water was warm and not crowded. We even tried the mud bath! 

We had a lovely lunch in the restaurant there and then drove on to Reykjavik. 

Since our whole group checked in at the same time and everyone was waiting for the elevator at once, Mike and I decided to sit down and wait for the crowd to dissipate. A group of young people approached us and asked if they could interview us. This was their assignment for their English class. It was fun answering their questions! I asked if I could take a photo of them and they agreed. I also asked their age, they were all 14 - luckily their questions hadn't included asking mine. 

Tomorrow we take the Golden Circle journey. 

Lyon, France

Mike and I flew from Venice by way of Paris to visit our nephew and his wife. Lyon is the third largest city in France and a beautiful medieval city with Roman ruins! We arrived in Lyon on Saturday evening and walked to the Rhone River bank, one of the two rivers that divide Lyon. The other is the Saone. As it was Saturday night the area was filled with young people! The next day this same area was the location of the local farmers' market. 

Sunday we took a walk through the city and visited the oldest part , walked through the large central square, and headed to the hill overlooking the city. 

My favorite structure on the hill was the Metallic Tower of Fourvière. At 1/3 the height of the Eiffel Tower, it was built three years later in 1894. The tower once contained a restaurant at the top. It is no longer open to the public and is now primarily a radio and television tower, as it stands at the highest point in Lyon. A funicular takes people to the top of this hill to visit the nearby Catholic Basilica and see the tower. 

The view from this hill above Lyon is remarkable! 

We took a walk through the city's Central Park. The roses are gorgeous! 

Lyon is known for its cuisine, and we certainly have experienced that. We had lemon-basil gelato while walking through the old city (great flavor)! 

My favorite restaurant so far is Les Apothecaires, where we ate last evening and had the best meal on this trip! I know, food porn, but it was an incredible meal! 

Earlier yesterday we took a wine tour of the Cotes du Rhone. The vineyards hug the south facing mountainsides above the river. We stopped in Malleval, a town from the eleventh century and had some wine while viewing the town from above. Lovely! Then we traveled on to the winery of Domaine de Corps de Loup. Great stop! 

Today we headed to Annecy! This beautiful town is grounded by a turquoise colored lake and surrounded by mountains. The canals leading into the lake are bordered by shops and restaurants and are inhabited by ducks and swans. We saw a swan family as it swam by. 

Tomorrow we head home to Maryland. We are so glad we stopped in Lyon! Thank you Derek and Sonia for the lovely visit!