|
Home
Up
Map of the world
Table of Places and Dates
Pacific Ocean East
Pacific Ocean West
SE Asia
Indian Ocean
Red Sea
Mediterranean
Atlantic Ocean
Caribbean
Central America
North America
| |
Reports
at the bottom of the page
(Click on the thumbnails for full-size photos and
maps.)
 Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece,
Italy, Spain, Gibraltar
 Israel -
Israel was the first Mediterranean
country we went to, and it was extremely refreshing after the Arab countries of
the Red Sea. The immigration process was thorough but refreshingly business-like
after the Red Sea officials in white robes asking for baksheesh. We stayed at a
town called Ashkelon, in a marina that was also welcomed as it gave us a chance
to give the salty boat a proper fresh-water hose-down. In the Ashkelon marina we
met the Nanamuks (see the "Friends" page), another boat family who figured heavily in the rest of our
Mediterranean tour. In town we also had the first of our giros—the
Greek term for a sort of pita pocket filled with shwarma and vegetables, that we
experienced through Cyprus, Turkey and Greece as well. We took a trip inland to
Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Masada as well, as described in the Med
emails. We spent eight days total in Israel before moving on, the last eight
days of May.
Cyprus (See Israel Map.)
Cyprus, the island in the crook
between the Israel coast and Turkey, was our next Mediterranean stop, a mainly
Greek-style culture. We reunited with the Hoptoads and Nanamuks there, and spent
most of the time giving Margarita a haul-out and painting the bottom. During
that time we stayed in a small flat in town, where Neill worked from the
computer for a large amount of the time and the kids could do school more
comfortably. Here we also spent Bronwen's fifteenth birthday, going to
waterslides with the Nanamuks and Hoptoads. We spent ten days in Cyprus, from
June 2.
 Turkey
We spent a long time in Turkey, a
month exactly, June 14 to July 14. The same day we arrived a family of friends
from Mt. Vernon, the LeHeckas, came to stay with us for two weeks. With them we
sailed around the islands of Turkey, and their enthusiasm made us do active
things—swimming, kneeboarding, seeing ruins and
climbing hills—that we would never have done otherwise. After that we
spent the remaining two weeks doing more bay-hopping, with the Toads and
Nanamuks this time. Turkey was one of our favorite places; we found the people
extremely friendly, and the food, especially the giros, was excellent. We
saw a lot of ancient castles and amphitheaters, none of them in good condition,
and bought a great many Turkish rugs.
 Greece
Greece was our next stop in the
Mediterranean. We were there almost another month, in the islands between the
Greek peninsula and Turkey, the Dodecanes and Cyclades, and had a great time
touring the ruins of Delos with the Hoptoads and Nanamuks, who figured less in
our Greece experience than previously in the Mediterranean. We also joined them
in Athens, and although we didn't much like the city itself, as it was rather
dirty and overwhelmingly busy, we loved the ruins on the Acropolis. Greece was a
very interesting place, and certainly picturesque with its towns of
blue-and-white houses and flowers, but we found the people jaded and unfriendly
to tourists, and the giros, despite actually coming from Greece, weren't
as good as in other places.
 Italy
Italy was a great stop. We found the return to a Latin-based language very
refreshing and the people very friendly on the whole. The towns were quite
pretty, and the food of course was excellent, if expensive. The pizzas and
pastas were some of the best we have ever had. We were there for nearly a month,
stopping briefly in Sicily and then spending a week on the mainland at Amalfi
(near Naples). We took train and bus trips to Naples and Pompeii from Amalfi.
Pompeii was very impressive, and Amalfi was a great if touristy stop. On our way
out we spent some time in Sardinia, waiting for the weather.
 Spain
We were in Spain very briefly. We stopped a couple of times in the Balearics
and stopped a few times very briefly on the southern coast of Spain while
heading to Gibraltar. It was off-season, so the small costal towns were dead.
While in Gibraltar we also took a three-day road trip to Seville in Spain. We
were in Spain for about two weeks total and we liked what we saw. The people
were friendly, and the culture felt relaxed, with many similarities to Italy. It
was a little challenging dusting off our Spanish there though.
Gibraltar (See Spain Map.)
Gibraltar, the tiny British outpost in the south of Spain, was a rather
strange stop. We enjoyed the return to English and the accessibility of the tiny
town, but it was touristy and had the feeling of a small island in that it
was hard to obtain many things. Gibraltar and Spain do not get on well together.
We spent nearly a month in the marina there doing boat chores. There were
several kid boats, among them Windflower (again see the "Friends" page) and Nanamuk, whom the kids spent a lot
of time with, playing tag.
Reports from the Med with photos (scroll for
photos):
Back to top
Revised: 07/24/02.
|
