Quebec Provence, Part 1 of our Autumn Cruise

 Montreal

We got in on a Saturday afternoon after a taxi ride that took for EVER - longest ride in a long time due to traffic. Our hotel is kind of close to the old town and close to a food hall called Time Out Market which is part of an international chain we discovered in Capetown, SA.  We dump our luggage and headed for the food hall.  Turns out it is in a shopping mall called Eaton Center.  After a nice Spanish meal we wanderd the shopping center some and then headed out in the cold (40s and windy) to old town.  After a longer than expected walk we are in the old town area.  Unfortunately, some of the roads are being rebuilt so areas aren't that accessible, but we still find shops to explore.  Starts to look like rain so we head to a bar/restaurant for a drink while the rain passes.  It is now dark outside so time for another selfie!  Back to the hotel where we eat dinner and head to bed.  Next day we have a food tour with Secret Food Tours planned. 

Adriatic Cruise – Croatia and Slovenia

 

We are sailing on a small cruise ship – Windstar’s Wind Spirit with 2 other couples.  The cruise is called the Adriatic Icons and Venetian Treasures.  As we are visiting the different ports I come to understand why the Veneitan Treasures part – most if not all of these towns were under Veneitan rule at one time.  We will visit:  Rovijn, Zadar, Hvar, Dubrovnik and Korcula Croatia and Piran Slovenia with one day at sea too.  We are big fans of Windstar cruises and have sailed on several of their ships before including the Wind Spirit in French Polynesia (Tahiti) in November 2021.

Italian Alps

 

When the door of our plane opens at the Venice airport we are immediately hit with heat; something we had not felt in quite a while.  We went from mid 60 degree, cloudy weather to mid 90s sunny; what a change!  We wandered around the airport for a bit before we found the car rental lot (naturally on top of a parking garage), got our vehicle for the next week and reminded ourselves to drive on the right-hand side of the road.  And off we go.  We are heading for a shopping mall – we need another outfit or 2 each geared to 90-degree weather.  True to form when you need clothing nothing seems right, but in the end we each get something and then the adventure starts.  We are heading north of Venice to a small town in the  Veneto region which is a wine region specializing in sparkling wine.  Did I say small?  We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast called Villa Toderini and yes there is a fancy house associated with it, but that’s not where the rooms are; we are in a newer building.  The website has some directions, but we find ourselves circling around this small town when suddenly I see a sign for it and we turn.  Still not sure we are in the correct place till I notice the door says Agritourism on it.  We are warmly greeted and shown our room for the next 2 nights.  Room is nice and is actually 2 stories with a twin bed and a chest of drawers up the stairs. 

Wild Atlantic Coast - Ring of Skellig

 

Skellig Michael - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Skellig Michael is a pair of Islands 7.2 miles off shore.  Greater Skellig is known for the Gaelic monastery built between the 6th and 7th century.  In our travels, we have been amazed at the great lengths monks will go to seek isolation. (Check out our post for the Meteora Monastery for another example. 

Antrim coast of Northern Ireland

 

We are driving to our next destination and yes on the other side of the road.   (My first time)  We picked up a car at the airport on the outskirts of Belfast, so an easy start.   All was well until we hit the streets of Londonderry/Derry with cars parked on both sides and a narrow track between.  The locals were far more comfortable with the space than I was as I carefully drove where I didn’t think the car would fit. Then I missed a turn repeatedly and had to go back through the narrowest parts again and again.

Victoria Falls

 Victoria Falls is a town and one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is not the widest nor the deepest waterfall rather it is the combination of width and depth/height of the falls that makes it so special.  We would spend 2 nights in a lovely truly old hotel where you could hear the falls and see the mist from them.  Our rooms were in the former stables building, but still quite quaint and old.  For example, our bathroom had a true clawfoot tub in it.  This hotel is on the Zimbabwean side of the falls so a new country for us.  We wandered around the hotel some, it is truly an old Victorian era British hotel.  As we wandered the hallways, we saw pictures from when the Royal family visited, lots of old travel posters pushing South Africa and relics and skulls.  We would have tea on the terrace the next afternoon.  There were also gorgeous murals around the bar named after Dr Livingstone the European founder of Victoria Falls. Then it was time for our Zambezi River cruise.  

Ancient city of Toledo & the plains of Castillia de La Mancha

Ancient city of Toledo

Our first out of town trip combined time in the old city of Toledo with a visit to a winery in the La Mancha wine region.  We met up with our guide by the Mercado de San Miquel.  From there our group of 13 that included a family of 5 were off to Toledo.

Ancient walled city of Toledo in background

Toledo was the capital of Spain at one time.  There is an old town and a new modern area.  The old town is what we explored.  The city has the nickname "city of 3 cultures" because of the cultural influences of the Muslims, Jews and later Christians.  It is a walled city and is located on the Tagus River with one of the key architectural sites being the San Martin Bridge.  Our guide walked us around for about an hour and then set us free to explore and to eat something before we headed to the winery.  One of the interesting parts of the old city is its "quarters" so there is a Jewish area with lots of Hebrew signs embedded in the road and walls and a Muslim area with former mosques and later a Christian.  Each area had a gateway and a note on the street.  If you were not of that religion, you could not enter that area.  

Walled city & San Martin Bridge

San Martian Bridge in background

The Christian section of the city has a gorgeous old cathedral - Cathedral Primada.  It is full of golden structures, and I do mean full.  We only did the short view at the end of our time so we did not get to see a lot, but what we did was quite impressive.  Our guide pointed out to his American tourists that all the gold there came from the Americas.  There is also a monastery for nuns in the old town.  Actually there were a couple of monasteries for nuns there.  We bought some marzipan (a Toldeo specialty) at a store selling items made by the various local monasteries.

Cathedral

Cathedral 

Cathedral 

Shop sold baked goods from monasteries

Left and top are Monastery, bottom right is adjacent church

There are many impressive old buildings in Toledo including former synagogues and mosques converted into churches and an impressive fortress plus several plazas.  From the trivia questions on the ship, we had learned that from Roman times to now Toldeo is the place in the world for sharp knives and swords.  We saw many shops with all sorts of swords and knives in their windows.

Toledo is famous for its knives and swords
They are capitalizing on the popularity of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings

Old city streets of Toledo

On a softer side, the painter El Greco loved this area and painted many works of the area. He resided here 37 years until he died in 1614.  There was a famous sculpturer who too liked the area so some nice art was floating around too.

The plains of Castillia de La Mancha is the setting for Cervantes novel, The man of La Mancha.  Cervantes lived for a time in Toledo.  He is remembered with the statue below.

Statue of Cervantes who lived for awhile in Toledo

Finca Loranque Winery in the Castillia de La Mancha wine region

From Toledo we drove to the Finca Loranque Winery,   The last part of the drive was down a dirt road.  We are in the La Mancha wine region.  I didn't understand our guide completely, but there were a lot of restrictions on what could or could not be done with the countryside in the area which was the reason for the condition of the road and why we could not get out of the van to take pictures.  Jeff and I commented that our rental car said no dirt roads so we were hoping that not all Spanish Wineries are down dirt roads!  We get to the main buildings and are surprised to find very nice facilities including a building to host wine tastings and events.  

A representative from the winery shows up and he starts to proudly show us the winery.  We start in a modern room with large stainless steel tanks that we learn have refrigeration bans on them to keep the wine cooler to slow the fermentation process.  We then walk through a doorway and enter the old storage area.  This area is from the 1800s and was strategically built to keep a constant year round temperature.  The walls are a 1 1/2 meters thick and there are windows up high that can be opened for ventilation as necessary - seems very necessary at certain parts of the fermentation process.  We ask what some large clay pots that kind of look like oversized bee hives are for and learn that they were the vessels for wine fermentation at one time.  While there has been a winery owned by a single family here since the 18th century, the current owners have only had it since 1982.  When they bought it, they were determined to bring it back to high standards and to move on from local wine tastes to more international.  Their first vintage was 2002.  

Left is cellar from 1800s

One of the things they have chosen to do is to implement an ecological/organic process.  One thing that stood out to both of us was that they drop lots and lots of egg whites into each holding tank to pull out all the little pieces of debris (stems, skins, etc).  Neither of us had ever heard of egg whites in your wine!  Then it was on to the wine tasting.  We had 2 different tempranillo wines and one that was a blend of tempranillo and merlot.  We asked why they blended the tempranillo with merlot and the answer was that merlot is better known in the States so they hoped that would help sell the wines to the US market.  

Israel

Haifa at night

We have 3 days in Israel between 2 ports – Ashdod and Haifa.  Today it was Ashdod and we chose to visit the Masada and the Dead Sea which unfortunately had the horrid starting time of 6:45am.  New country new immigration/security procedures.  In Israel we are issued a B type visa that is a driver's license sized card with our passport picture on it and the dates we can be in the country and warned not to lose it or it would be much hassle and $400 to replace.  Go through the scanners show our ship card, that new card and our passport multiple times and we are on our bus on our way to Masada.

Along the way we see the land and learn about how there are tectonic plates in the area that were related to the recent earthquake in Turkey and how they usually have an earthquake here every 100 years and they are overdue, so we were kidding/hoping for no earthquake while we were on top of the mountain.  Happily, no issues there. 

Masada

 We take the cable car up to the top of the mountain.  It was built as a palace by Herod and is an impressive piece of construction for its time with multi levels and tiers and a cistern and baths all the good roman architecture stuff.  Oh, I should add it is atop of a large hill 1,424 feet above and overlooking the Dead Sea.  All that is nice, but its claim to fame happened after Herod was gone.  The Romans took over the country and there was an uprising by the Jews.  The Romans had squelched it all except for a bunch of Jewish zealots who were holed up in the palace (Masada) with their families.  The Romans decide it was time to get them in line so they come with an army of thousands and first build an earthen ramp to get up to the top of the hill and then with all the modern equipment of the time – catapults, burning arrows and a battering ram they waged battle.  The zealots were outnumbered and then the walls of their structure caught on fire and the battering ram did its job.  For whatever reason, the Romans decided to enjoy a night in their camps and then come get the people the next morning.  Well, that night the Jews all disappeared.  Per our guide and Jewish tradition, they killed their families and each other till the last one committed suicide – well 3 people were found alive.  Now the online resources I saw said that they have never found any proof of the Jews killing themselves (like bones, etc in the area).  So anyway, it is a neat UNESCO heritage site and we got to ride a cable car up the mountain. 

Dead Sea

After that it was on to a hotel for lunch and the beach.  Beach as in Dead Sea.  We were with Tom and Linda and another couple from our ride in Wadi Rum playing in the water.  Amazing things from a visit to the Dead Sea:  the bottom is salt – no sand so you get pieces of salt between your toes; you can NOT swim in it; since you can't get our body be face down; if the water is deep enough, you can stand up right floating – no touching the bottom; floating on your back is the thing to do and incredibly easy.  In short, you are very buoyant, and it is a unique experience.

white lines are salt harvesting sites

Jerusalem

Next day we are in a new port of Haifa and have planned a 12-hour day trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  For some reason I am not very excited about this trip - maybe the long bus ride, or maybe foreboding I don't know, but the trip had problems as in bus trouble.  Go through the security lines and get on the bus to find some broken seats and a bus not in great shape - what I expected in some of the Asian countries not Israel.  Find acceptable seats and start on our way.  Make a "comfort stop" at a not so nice gas station and our troubles begin.  Come out to find the equivalent of a hood is up on the bus.  We get on and the guide tells us there is a maintenance issue and it will be a few minutes.  Happily, they seem to fix it and we are on our way.  Or not.  We pull over on the shoulder for a few minutes and the driver gets off does something and we are on our way again.  Or not.  Next time he pulls off on an exit ramp and admits defeat to somebody because our guide says a new bus will be coming so we sit.  Bus shows up faster than expected - yeah - oh one of the other tour buses has come to rescue us and get us to Jerusalem - hey I'll take it.  Our ride drops us off at the Jaffa Gate to the Old City.

Old City of Jerusalem 

The old city walls were built by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the mid 16th century.   Our guide tells us about how what we now see as a road was formerly the moat but it was converted for a wife of an Austrian king when they visited.   Then we walk down the road which is narrow and start seeing shops in the bazaar.  

Church of the Holy Sepulchre 

Various Christian groups, including the Greek, Roman, Armenian, and Coptic churches, control parts of the present church and conduct services regularly.  Our guide gives us advice as to which way to go within the church to see things and then sends us to fight the mobs.

The Alter of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

Edicule, The purported Tomb of Jesus Christ

At one point in the bazaar, we turn and join the Via Dolorosa which is the road pilgrims would take.  We pass several stations of the cross on the outside of the walls of the buildings.  

Temple Mount

Western Wall (aka Wailing Wall)

Dome of the Rock

Bethlehem 

Segregation of Israel

One thing I was clueless about before the trip to Bethlehem is that it is within the Palestine Territory.  The sign below was on the road as our bus entered a highway exit/roundabout.

Our bus parks and we head off to the Church of the Nativity.  It is here that we believe Jesus was born. It is built around the grotto.   Oh, I should add that you enter through the door of humility meaning we have to lean over to enter the door since it is low.  We see the alter with the 14-point star which is where Mary gave birth to Jesus and then nearby another small alter where the manger was located.  The church is multi-level and has many alters.  We wander around some more.

door of humility on the left

Original 1st Church flooring

The Manger

Grotto of the Nativity where its believed Jesus was born - see the star on the floor

People would kiss the floor under the Alter

Then it was time to head back to the ship.

Akko or Acre

I went solo on this excursion since it did not interest Jeff.  I figured I had followed in the footsteps of the Knights of the Crusades last year and I might as well keep following them!  Our tour started with a drive up the mountain right outside of the port.  Our bus driver made a point of letting us get several photo opportunities on the way up because this was the Bahai Gardens which are quite pretty as they make their way up the mountain.  

looking upward at the Bahai Gardens

The mountain is Mount Carmel which had vague meaning to me before the tour.  Seems that here is where there was a test of gods many years ago and God was here, and the fire took hold sorry bad description there.  Anyway, it is a spot that proved to many people there is only one God.  Bringing it all home was the fact that a group of nuns that had a monastery in Kirkwood had their main monastery here – the Carmelite nuns.  We had a photo stop at the top of the gardens after driving around the monastery.

Carmelite Monastery

looking down from top of hill at the Bahai Gardens

From there we drove north along the coast to the present-day town of Akko which was Acre when the 

The Knights of the Templar and the Hospitallers (Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St John) were here until they were run out by the Muslims.  There is a fortified town with a nice shady park, bazaars, underground tunnels, and a port.  We started out our tour by walking through the bazaar.  The bazaar is small shops under archways.  The archways were built to give stability to the foundation for a mosque which they are under. 

shady park at entrance

the bazaar and its arches

The Knights’ fort is a nice old gothic stone structure that is still in good condition. This was their kingdom from 1191 to 1291 until they were literally run out of town to the sea where many of them would perish.

Top Left
Top Right -fleur de lis on a support
Bottom Right - Excavation for lower floors

One of the last places we visited was the tunnel.  The Templars Tunnel to be exact.  The tunnel was built underground from the inside of the fortress/citadel to the sea (150 meters) and had two purposes.  The first was a sewage system and the second was an escape route if needed.  The tunnels would have been dark so as our guide pointed out they might have had torches with them or running in the dark to get to the sea on a slippery floor that was rather low at times.  The plan was for them to hop on their ships that were at sea, but the ships left before most of the knights got there so they were killed by the Muslims.

Top Left - The tunnel is very low, we must bend down to enter
As we travel they get larger
The tunnel exits into the port

As in most places in this part of the world, these buildings were rebuilt and re used many times.  One of the last uses for part of this fort was a prison by the British (1918-1948) when they ruled this part of the Middle East.  This was the largest prison and held many of the fighters of the Jewish underground.

this was where the prison was located

Today its a pretty port on the Mediterranean Sea