The Cruise - Crowds and Familiar Places

The first part of the cruise took us back to a number of familiar places - in fact, as I have said, I felt I could give the tour at several lcations such as Knossos and Mycenae. Here are some shots of places that we and the girls have visited. Rico has been to several but, unless there is a deep baby brain cell working, he won't recall them. In many places, the biggest change was the size of the crowds, i.e. tourists. There were lots of student groups from age 8 to 18 out seeing the sites of their history. Some were actually paying attention and some were having a good time running about the ruins. There were a lot of adults, too. It is early season, at the beach in Santorini the taverna had just opened the week before for the summer, but there were a few cruise ships in most of the locations we stopped at but many visitors appeared more local than foreign

Entrance to Topaki Palace, Istanbul

Bazaar in Istanbul Ferry Boat Crowds

Santorini

Corinth Canal

Knossos

Epidaurus - where Rico had first solid food -bananas from a baby jar.

Athens - view similiar from the rooftop on Skufa St. 1963-4

Crowds at the Parthenon 2010

New Colour Scheme

Hello everyone!
Firstly I would like to say: Wow, Babbo and Yia Yia your cruise looks like it was amazing. I am incredibly jealous! I would love to visit Gallipoli (having spent so much time learning about it in school) and Troy and well everywhere!

Now, I decided that our blog might like some new colours, a little winter spirit now that its getting colder down here. I tried to choose colours I think will be easy to read, but if anyone is having difficulties please let me know and I'll make any necessary alterations. Or feel free to change it yourself... I would tell you where the place is to change it but I haven't worked it out yet myself, I just stumbled upon it eventually and didn't take note of how I got there!

Hope everyone is well,
Love Rachael

The Cruise and Memorial Day Thoughts

Gallipoli Peninsula - Turkey

Plaque quoting Attaturk, first president of modern Turkey, on the fallen troops.

Ann and Bill at one of the ceme-teries - there are many scat-tered over the battlefield and reserved for the dead from different nations. We are a bit more smiley than we were feeling at the site.

Burial sites and two Aussie graves of the hundreds that are on the peninsula.

Lone Pine was one of the major battles.

The two photos below show the national park area that was set aside by the Turkish government. They show what the Allies were facing as they landed. The bluffs were right at the ANZAC landing site. The Turks were dug in on the hills (see photos above of trenches today and one of the hills the Turks never gave up.) The Allied commander had his headquarters at one of the Greek Islands south of the battlefield and had little idea of what the terrain was or what was happening. The British fleet first tried to sail up the Dardanelles (Hellespont - Troy is on the other side from Gallipoli) to get supplies to the Russians. After losing half their battleships to mines, decided on a landing to attack Istanbul and the control the Straits from the land side. Fighting went on for almost nine months, nothing was achieved, the Russians got no supplies from the Allies through the Dardanelles, and surrendered to the Germans. The Communists under Lenin soon took power.

Memorial Day 2010

Hi all - This is report #2 on the cruise. Memorial Day weekend seemed an appropriate time to send some pictures and thoughts about one of the most meaningful stops of the criuse. We were scheduled to go to both Troy and Gallipoli - two famouns battle sites - on the same day. The ship was late arriving and we had to choose. Mom said Gallipoli and I, after a bit of hesitation, after all, I taught about Troy for 30 +years, I went to Gallipoli also. I am so glad I did. Troy has been and is in my mind, Gallipoli will be. The two locations reflect so much about humans, our animal roots, our noblest moments, our devotion to causes and to our fellow beings, to our failure to learn lessons, and ability to repeat mistakes such as attacking territory with no grasp of the geography. As you may realize, I am a pacifist at heart but I do appreciate the bonding, the sacrfices for others, the need to take a moral stand, that war entails. Troy and Gallipoli illustrate all of these factors.

In addition, Gallipoli hit me in several other areas that made it very emotional. Dad was involved in the creation of the American cemeteries in Europe after World War II and that whole chapter of my life came back as we visited cemeteries at Gallipoli. Also, ideas about my military service, various disagreements with my father, and my intolerance of leaders who do not have a full understanding of what they are doing, whirled around in my head.

We are both reading the Iliad at the moment - it has been 62 years sine I read it cover to cover. It is an amazing work if you can avoid getting bogged down in all the names, but see it as a commentary on war - I read it as anti-war but many don't. The war was, at its roots, a trade war but Helen makes a better story. Ten years and what was achieved? Glory for a few and a type of glory,of testing, that is terribly important for men as I see it, but there are other means of gaining it. There are some great insights and emotional/personal moments in the Iliad. I recommend it as a base for much of western literature and a study in psychology.

Anyway, these are some Memorial Day thoughts provoked by a delightful cruise and one of the most though provoking sites we visited.

Hope you are all having a good weekend. Hoping to hear soon about DI Globals. Hope it was fun.

Dad

Troy and Mycenae - another war story. Also, a great and memorable place to visit full of links to ancient Greek history and pleasant time in 1963-4 and 1968.

Two views of the area near Troy one showing a hill that might be an acropolis for such a city and the other beaches near the same location. View of the Lion Gate at Mycenae where Agamemnon was welcomed back from Troy after ten years of struggle according to Homer and the Iliad - he was murdered soon after by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover.

May 25th 2010

Happy Birthday Emily! We thought of you a lot today but never got around to calling. We are finally unpacked and caught up on emails so next up will be a call to Australia. It will be a bit late to wish a happy on your day but we'd love to hear how things are going for you and the rest of the family down under.

Mom's 79th Birthday Lunch

Here is the first posting from the Aegean Cruise!

On Mom's birthday we had lunch on the terrace at a Taverna in Moemvasia in the southwestern Pelopponnese - a place we'd never been. It is a medieval walled town with no cars, beautiful views of the Aegean, small streets lined with tan and rose painted houses that are all well kept. It was a great addition to our list of places we like in Greece. Do we look forty-two years older? Maybe you shouldn't answer that question!

We loved having Mom and Dad stop by on their way home. Here is a shot of Mom with her Birthday/Mother's Day red velvet cake on the back porch.

Happy Birthday to all the May babies in the family on all the continents, including Gummis! Is Heaven a continent?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BODEN!!

Happy, happy 7th birthday to Boden!!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

With much love from all the Blackwells

XOXOXOXO