St. Lawrence Cathedral of Trogir

Portal of St. Lawrence

Closeup of the Lion from the Portal of St. Lawrence

 The Portal of the St. Lawrence Cathedral at medieval Trogir in Croatia has to be one of the most impressive portals I have ever seen. The only one that comes close is the Portal left in Lisbon. I say left as the rest of the Church was destroyed by an earthquake, and the Portal is all that remains. The St. Lawrence Cathedral has a pleasant interior, although quite small. But what remains with me almost a year after I saw it, is the amazing entrance.

More detail of the Portal of St. Lawrence Cathedral

More information can be found on the St. Lawrence Cathedral by clicking this link ... Trogir Cathedral. This information is from Wikipedia. Remember to donate to Wikipedia, if possible, as it is operated solely on donations and I like that. No advertising!

Wonderful gargoyle-inspired creatures

Trogir is an amazing place. It is easy to feel as if you have entered a medieval world while here, and I liked it so much better than Split. 

Little girl from our cruise

One of my favorite shots is of a little girl I photographed throughout the day on our tour of Salona and Trogir. What a beauty! 

I highly recommend Trogir for a truly gargoyle-inspired day!

Palma de Mallorca: Here We Come

Palma de Mallorca Cathedral at night

I am so looking forward to finally visiting Palma de Mallorca. I have been contemplating going there for almost two years. As I mentioned before, I planned to see this wonderful island on my repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Dover in 2011, but now I will get to go there on a western Transatlantic this April. 

Cathedral interior Palma de Mallorca

One of the highlights of this cruise is visiting the La Seu Cathedral. It looks absolutely amazing both inside and out. More information on this wonderful Cathedral can be found here. Thank you, wikipedia! It is built on the site of a pre-existing Arab mosque. I believe gargoyles would be very happy here. It is a wonderful example of many types of architecture, mostly Gothic, and Cathedrals are so spiritual. I love to sit and contemplate a spell.

Revisiting the Vasa Museum in Stockholm

Me  at the Vasa in Stockholm

The Vasa Museum was one of our highlights in Stockholm. Stockholm is a picturesque place but is not really that chock full of things to do for tourists, not when you compare to places like Rome and Paris. The interesting history of the Vasa warship can be found on wikipedia. We spent the better part of a morning there and had a great time. The food in the cafeteria is especially memorable, not too expensive and very good quality. Basically it was a warship that sunk on its maiden voyage but the museum is top-notch though small. I was surprised how the ship basically takes up about 90% of the museum. 

Moises with his Swedish cousins (just a joke)

Recreations of the warship's decorations

It was very dark inside so kind of hard to take good photos. You can see how crowded the museum is all day. People came and went the entire two hours we were there.

HAL Nieuw Amsterdam on Cozumel Island

So our cruise is all set, and we are psyched. We are going on a transatlantic cruise on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam. My husband and our niece are going too, with stops in Horta, Portugal, Gibraltar and Motril, Alicante and Palma de Mallorca, Spain ... before arriving at Barcelona! 

So to my utter surprise and delight, what sat docked in Cozumel when we went to lunch at Chi downtown today, but our ship ... the Nieuw Amsterdam. I love Holland America, and one of the main reasons is the awesome crew. Hailing mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines, the crew are just amazing ... warm and well-trained, always with a smile and a kind word.

I introduced myself to a few of the guys off the Nieuw Amsterdam shown above. Can't wait to see them again in April! Thanks for being so awesome even off-duty. You should be proud, Holland America!

Bye Bye Norway

Bergen, Norway

I have spent a better part of the last six months looking forward to my solitary cruise, just like I have done the last three years. I pick a wonderful place in Europe to get on a cruise and then go to other wonderful places. This year I picked Norway. It was all set up. The airlines tickets were booked. The cruise was paid for. Then I happened to notice a major reduction in the fare for a Transatlantic from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona. The only problem was I would get back home and have to leave again eight days later. Not only would it be exhausting, it would be way too expensive.

Seven Sisters waterfall

So I did something totally unexpected. I began the process of canceling my Norway cruise, so I can travel with my husband and our 19 year old niece on a Transatlantic cruise. I am so psyched. Canceling and moving the money for the cruise was fairly painless. There was only a small amount of money that needs credited back to us. But the airlines tickets were not easy. Being that I booked in Mexico on American, it will take about 6 weeks for me to get the taxes back.

Old Bergen

So Norway, I will miss you this time. We must meet at a later date. More to follow on our upcoming Transatlantic cruise!

Santorini Revisted

Typical architecture of Santorini

My niece and I were in Santorini on a cruise from Rome to Rome, doing the Eastern Med itinerary. I had already heard it was Heavenly from a friend who worked on the cruise ships for ten years. It was her favorite place on earth, she told me, and it has also become mine. (I commented on this in an earlier post.) Digging out my photos, I realized that my niece, Sarah, had taken some great photos of Santorini, so here I am revisiting Santorini.

View from up top

 We took a great tour from the ship that went to Oia and a winery. We then did lunch on our own after that was amazing. The food is as awesome as the view. After lunch, my niece talked me in to going to the black sand beach - which was really more like a black rock beach. Boy did those rocks hurt the feet.

Black sand beach, or is it black rock beach?

 I can not put in to words how wonderful Santorini is. First of all, the people are so warm and friendly. I will never forget the marvelous conversation my niece and I had with the kid who worked on the tender taking us back to the ship. He told us his whole life story in the 20 minute ride. I thought people from Naples wore their heart on their sleeve, but this kid was just the same way. I could tell he was smitten with my niece, but he seemed to like speaking to me (the old lady) just as much. 

Cruise ships below

Donkeys from Fira

Great food, architecture made in Heaven and sea and mountain views that go on and on.  When we finished soaking up some rays, we were tired and decided to try our hand at a taxi going back. Haggling was necessary as we were low on euros and the taxi driver did not want to accept dollars. In the end, he took a combination of both but was not very happy about it. We jumped in a taxi with some strangers. We were all shoved in the back seat and my niece took a photo of us. Splendid!

Taxi ride, me in the hat on the right.

Christmas Memories: Then and Now

me and my brothers Christmas past

Driving in the car this morning, Moises shared his regrets for not making it out last night. He had a fever and was in bed by nine. But we went this morning and had a Christmas breakfast with his mom and sister and family. It was lovely. Daisy, my sister-in-law, lovingly prepared the turkey (pavo) and pork (pierna), both totally delicious. We bought the French bread to make sandwiches and grabbed some bags of chips at Bodega Aurrera. We ate a four course breakfast with family, and that is what Moises said too as we drove home, that Christmas is about family. Thinking about it, Christmas is about family and friends who have become like family.

Christmas at 18 months

So I would like to share my Christmas memories with you, my blog readers. In my mind, like snapshots, I think of Christmases past. I remember that my dad liked pork roast on Christmas, not the ham that my grandmother prepared. Christmas was crowded around the antique table for fourteen in my grandma’s little dining room, with the oversized chairs that came from Uncle Joe, my grandmother’s uncle. I remember Uncle Joe’s huge ears and the way his house smelled, like moth balls and faded memories. I remember how my grandma always invited strangers who had nowhere else to go, and my father didn’t like that either, grumbling about why he had to spend Christmas with somebody he didn’t know. Grandma invited them anyway, the widow from down the street, a distant cousin we barely knew. The scents of my grandma’s stuffing, her spaghetti with cheese and the turkey my aunt brought from her house. The cookies and the hugs and all the laughter. I also remember my parents in true Mad Men style, they drank cocktails while Uncle Rich chain smoked cigarettes. I miss those Christmases, but all those relatives are now gone to Heaven, never to be played out again. My mom, dad, grandparents, Uncles Rich and Ron, my mom’s sister Peg. I can hear you playing the piano and singing Christmas carols still, Aunt Peggy.

Left are my cousins and Uncle Bud in Ohio, my brother in Tampa, my nieces scattered in England and California, so far away for the holidays. Mom, I will never forget how you decorated the day after Thanksgiving, the hundreds of ornaments and figurines you had, the way you loved Christmas. I remember after Mike (my brother) died, Christmas was never the same. My dad cried every year, but you didn’t, Mommy. Even when the Huntington’s disease left you unable to walk or eat properly, you still loved Christmas … and your family. You never forgot me like your sister did when she got sick.

me on the left and cousin Denise on the right

So we missed the big celebration last night, but it is now Christmas Day. So filled with promises and hope, and I truly love the way my husband’s family, a true Yucatecan family, never holds grudges or resentments. We didn’t go last night, but we were welcomed this morning. And I realize something; this is my fourteenth Christmas in Cozumel. So now I have a whole new list of Christmas memories … our first Christmas here when our house was new and our dogs just arrived from the states, the year the rains came so strong we could barely drive down 30^th Avenue to get to Daisy’s house, the year my husband went to Merida for the holidays (2011), and I celebrated both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with good friends. But we swore we will never be apart again as long as we can be together, and Moises said that too, that he did spend Christmas with his family last night, me.

I remember every year on Cozumel Island as a year having a whole new family to love and care for. I do regret not being able to stop at a friend’s Open House last night or seeing the baby at her first Christmas,  but there will always be next year, and my continuing new Christmas memories of Cozumel.

Merry Christmas to all!