Civitaveccia to Rome, Italy

This post will be mostly photos and a story since I didn't get to do much sketching in Rome.

Our last port on the cruise was Civitaveccia which is about 1 1/2 hours from Rome.

Before I left home I had contacted an internet artist friend, Celia Blanco, who lives in Rome. If you want to visit her blog you can find it along the side of this blog in my links. I told her I would be in Rome on Sept. 25 and asked her if she would like to meet me for part of the day. I think it is great that we can meet people from other countries so easily through the internet.

 I arranged to take a bus excursion "Rome in Total Freedom" that would drop me off in Rome and then would come back in the afternoon. I let Celia know where they would drop us off at the Marcello Theatre and told her what I would be wearing so she could find me in the crowd. I knew what she would be wearing too...and we had seen photos of each other on the internet.

The ride went through the countryside which had some farmland, hay bales, and buildings that reminded me of Tuscany.

When we arrived in Rome and the bus dropped us off, I saw Celia across the street and started waving wildly. It was so great to meet her in person!!! We decided to just walk around Rome and see what we came across. I am not good at identifying all the sites, but I do know some of them.

Celia said the bear is the symbol of Rome.

 The ruins are amazing. The buildings are so old...unlike here in the USA where we think buildings are old if they are 200 years old. The Roman buildings are just amazing.

The Colosseum is so impressive.

See that smile on my face?

It started to drizzle while we were walking and neither of us was prepared for that since the forecast was not for rain. Rome looked good even in the rain. Eventually we had to buy umbrellas because we were getting soaked. LOL

Here is the inside of the Pantheon with the opening in the dome.

 There was a pianist playing outside in the rain.

Celia and I had a wonderful lunch...pasta of course. She brought me some lovely gifts of soaps, lavender and candies from the local area near Rome. I brought her a copy of a book I published of some of my Long Island sketches.

When the rain stopped we decided to head for the Spanish Steps to sketch. We climbed all the way to the top, but we thought the view was a little too overwhelming to sketch.

Instead we walked back down a ways and focused on one building. We were comfortable sitting on the steps to sketch until it started drizzling again. Then we had to put up our umbrellas.

Here is Celia sketching before the showers started again.

Here I am tucked under my umbrella.

Here is my one sketch from the day.

Back at the bottom of the Spanish Steps we got some nice tourist to snap a photo of the two of us.

Celia walked me back to my bus about 4:00 so I wouldn't get lost.

It was so great to spend time with her and share stories about our lives, our loves, and just be together.

My thanks to Celia for making my visit to Rome so special!

Meteora and Athens, Greece

Our next port was Volos, Greece. I signed up for an excursion to the Meteora Monasteries near Kalambaka. These monasteries date back to centuries ago when the monks set out to search for solitary and peaceful locations. The monasteries were build high atop eroded column-shaped formations.

Until not long ago, there were no roads in this area and the monks reached the monasteries by being wrapped up in a net and pulled up by their brothers by hand. Now luckily there are bridges and staircases (with many stairs) to reach the monasteries. Like most of the excursions there was no real time to spend doing a detailed sketch, but I snuck outside for a while when the guide was talking to sketch a bit...maybe I had about 15 minutes so I sketched in watercolor pencils and then added watercolors and ink.

I thought it was such an interesting area. The monastery that we visited was beautiful but you had to wait for the other tour groups to leave before you could really see anything. This is the courtyard at the first monastery, the Monastery of Valaam.

We visited a second location. This one had been occupied by nuns...notice the stairs.

I was able to paint a small painting of the sunrise in the morning. The colors were great.

Around 7 that morning we pulled into Athens. I decided not to take a tour. Instead I did a "hop-on-hop-off" bus ride from the port of Piraeous into Athens. I ended up only getting off at the Acropolis. I had visited it back in the 1970s and wanted to see it again. It is just amazing to think that the structures have lasted so long. Here are a few photos.

As I was entering a line of Greek soldiers were marching out.

Some areas have pieces that are so precariously balanced.

I did one page in my sketchbook with a combination of three sketches...part of the Porch of the Maidens, the Odium Theater, and one of the columns.

 

Here I am enjoying the sights.

Since the ship was in Athens for only part of day, I decided to head back to the ship because the traffic was so heavy and the lines for the bus were so long. I didn't want to get back too late and miss the ship.

Istanbul, Turkey

The cruise arrived in Istanbul, Turkey in the morning on Sept. 20 and left the following afternoon about 1pm. It was the only port where we we docked overnight. This is one of the views as we came into port. It is a city with a lot of character and life!

I wasn't sure if I would be able to find my way to the sites on my own, so my plan was to take an excursion early in the day and then wander back to the ship by myself. If I got lost I would have until the next day to find my way back to the ship. lol The only problem with taking a tour is that you have to move along with everyone at the same pace...not great for sketching.

Our first stop was the Blue Mosque or as it is known in Istanbul, the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet. We stood on line for about an hour so I took some photos...

 

 and sketched one of the turrets while we were waiting.

Since we had so little time before having to move on from each spot, I did several small sketches outside and inside the Blue Mosque and at the Mosque of Hagia Sophia (which is now a museum). Small worked well.

Here is a photo of me (sketchbook in hand) with one of the mosques behind me.

Our next stop was a Turkish rug factory. The rugs were beautiful but who was going to buy a rug? lol I did like watching the young woman who did the weaving demonstration.

Then it was on to the Grand Bazaar. At this point I told the guide that I was leaving the group to explore on my own. I had been given instructions on how to walk back to the ship and was ready. Of course I had to sign a paper saying I wasn't going to return to the ship on the bus so that they were covered. He was a bit surprised that I was so adventurous, but told me if I asked for directions I wouldn't have any problem. The Grand Bazaar was so crazy with people selling things inside and outside. Like many places there were vendors outside selling just about anything...and mostly counterfeit I'm sure. Many of the vendors were kids.

I ventured inside and knew there was no way I could sketch inside with all the booths and people, so I sat outside by one of the gates to sketch. I was sitting on a ledge holding onto everything I owned. lol Tourists and vendors kept coming over to see what I was doing. Several teenage boys who had tried selling perfume to me kept watching me sketch and talking to me. Finally they sat down on my right and just watched...and a cat sat down on my left and put it's head in my lap. I used artistic license and only put in about 1/100th of the people that were outside the gate.

Then I went inside, took photos and shopped. It was great and exactly what I expected...but with more color and energy!

There were pastries and sweets...yum!

Colorful lights

And pottery

I meandered and shopped for a long time inside the bazaar and then along the narrow streets between the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. I followed my directions to get back to the ship and stopped by the bus station to sketch the New Mosque from there.

By this time I was exhausted from walking and I still wasn't back at the ship. I could see the ship but finding the correct street to bring me back to the entrance of our docking section wasn't easy.

The following morning I had the correct route down pat and ventured out to sketch again. I had seen this fun, colorful boat that I just had to sketch. It was docked by the bridge and the bus terminal and they sold fish sandwiches from the boat. I just loved it...but not the smell of the fish. lol

After this sketch I walked around the Spice Market a bit and made sure to spend the last of my Turkish money before leaving. If I had time it would have been a fun place to sketch.

Olives anyone?

Then it was farewell to Istanbul! I really enjoyed it!!!

Katakolon and Heraklion, Greece

Our first port of call was Katakolon, Greece. It was once a fishing village but now mostly caters to the  cruise ships that come into port. This is what it looked like when the ship came into port.

The entire main street (which runs about 4 blocks) is wall to wall shops with jewelry, clothing, souvineers, etc. I found Taverna Tzimhe, a colorful place along another road and sat on my painting stool to sketch it. The waitresses and the owner all came over to see what I was doing and to chat.

Of course when I finished I needed to go and sit in the shade and have a drink.

I sat right on that shady patio.

I also painted one of the typical white Greek houses in the town. I loved the strong shadows on the white building.

The following day we stopped at Heraklion, Greece. It was about a 20 minute walk into town. The most scenic area seemed to be along the water. 

The fishing boats were colorful.

I found a spot in the center of the city with a view of the roof of St. Titus the Apostle Church.

Tomorrow I will take you to Istanbul, so come back.