Photographs by Ron Fritze
Digital post production by Joe Dempsey

O, the Humanity!

By Ron Fritze
DATELINE: At sea after departing Athens, Greece
May 15, 2009

There was a plane to catch in Nashville, 7:10 on Sunday morning, so we decided to drive north to Music City on the afternoon of Saturday, 9 May. Not having made hotel arrangements, I took a moment at the hacienda to log on to Expedia for a look at Nashville airport hotels. It was a good thing, too, as I discovered a 30 per cent discount at The Country Inn, less than a mile from the airport. The location was great, the hotel rather average — but I’ve paid more than three times the price for comparable lodging in Europe.

In Nashville we took in the Opry Mills, a mall next to the Grand Old Opry. There was a Tony Roma’s there, our first Tony’s in four years, the Tony Roma’s back home having closed before we moved there. Opry Mills is huge, but I confined myself to the Barnes and Noble.

Smooth All the Way to Barcelona

The next morning we made the airport with time to spare. Things went smooth all the way to Barcelona.

Our first stop was LaGuardia in New York City. We had over seven hours on the ground, but we were changing airports and had to be vigilant. It was a Sunday, so the taxi ride from LaGuardia to Kennedy was quick.

When you fly through NYC on American Airlines and you have a transfer on your itinerary, you are on your own when it comes to getting yourself and your luggage between the airports. It is not like British Airways in London, which provides a shuttle for passengers between Gatwick and Heathrow. That type of service is not exactly American Airlines’s finest hour. Given the fact that airlines are contemplating charging its airborne passengers a fee to use the toilets, things could be worse.

We boarded our 6:45 p.m. Sunday flight to Barcelona with some fear and trepidation. There were in that waiting area two rather sinister looking women with a couple of demon children, who had been terrorizing Kennedy during our layover — and now they were on our flight! Fortunately God blessed them and kept them far, far away from us. Otherwise the flight was smooth — but it was a long day.

We arrived in Barcelona and got our luggage no problem. Royal Caribbean has a shuttle bus. It carried us safely to the cruise terminal. Check-in went smoothly, although Spanish authorities and Royal Caribbean are pretty jumpy about swine flu. I fear that one sniffle and you would be out on the beach and then swiftly on your way to a leper colony.

Organized, Wasted, and on Schedule

Our ship, The Brilliance of the Seas, departed on time. The mandatory safety drill took less than thirty minutes, but being jet-lagged, we were wasted. After that I met my cruise program administrator, Katrine Boileau, who is quite a pretty young woman. Most importantly, she is organized. My first five lectures were completely scheduled. I was disappointed to learn that I would not be able to give my sixth lecture on the Colossus of Rhodes. Otherwise, it is nice to have a schedule.

After that we went to bed and slept around the clock.

Tuesday 12 May was a sea day. I lectured on ancient and medieval Palermo. There was a good audience, over 40 people, which is excellent for that ship. They seemed to enjoy the lecture, although not many asked questions.

The Capella Palatina

The next day we docked at Palermo and explored the place first-hand. Old Palermo is near the cruise dock, so it can be walked — and we did. Palermo is surrounded by rugged hills. The walk into town is uphill all the way. We visited the diocesan museum, which features a collection of religious art. The art is based on artifacts salvaged from churches that were destroyed or badly damaged when Allied forces captured the city from the Axis troops during 1943.

Crusader, Scholar, Libertine, Wizard

The cathedral is large and shows some signs of its origin as a mosque. There is a beautiful dome with an oculus in the transept. For me the most interesting feature was the tomb of the Hohenstauffen Emperor and King of Sicily, Frederick II the Stupor Mundi, a famous and infamous figure of the High Middle Ages. Loved and hated, he was a crusader and a scholar as well as a libertine. He was also rumored to be a wizard, which may explain why the papacy feared him.

From the cathedral we walked to the old royal palace of the Kings of Sicily, which now houses the Sicilian Regional Assembly. It also holds the Capella Palatina (the palace chapel). That house of worship is much smaller than the cathedral, but it is covered with Byzantine-style mosaics and images. It shows the Greek influences that persisted on Sicily for a long time after the fading of Byzantine power on the island.

Back at the ship, I decided I was glad we had stopped at Palermo, although I presently have no plans to return, unless it is to go out into the countryside. Palermo is a rundown and shabby city — at least what we saw of it. The traffic is horrendous. To walk across the street is a great and dangerous adventure to pedestrians, even if one dares to venture onto a marked crossing. Personally, though, I felt quite at home there. The people looked a lot like the kids I taught at Elmwood Park High School in the Chicago suburbs, probably because they really are cousins.

Although Palermo was a rich and an important city during both the Muslim and Norman periods of Sicilian history, the glory of yore has faded to reveal a tired and dissipated urban complex. Still, it was interesting to visit a land that people have been fighting to control since 700 BC.

Thursday was another sea day. I lectured on classical Athens. Again I drew a good crowd, this time about 50 people. They seemed to enjoy the lecture. At dinner that night I saw several of my audience. I thought about how quickly community develops in closed quarters.

It Happened this Way....

Friday 15 May was our day in Athens. I wanted to go back to the Acropolis because I had the Nikon D-40 to take pictures and a webmaster back home to display them on Planet Clio. Two years ago on our visit to Athens we boarded the bus and then the metro to get to the Acropolis, and things went fine then, and they should have gone fine now, but....

Leaving the ship, we strolled past a number of wondering taxi drivers, who expressed amazement that we were walking, but it was not quite a mile to the bus stop, and a walk seemed a good way to shake off the sea legs. It was, too.

At the bus stop a ticket agent sold us a fare for one Euro each, good for 90 minutes of riding, more than enough time to get us to the Acropolis. The 843 bus arrived, and the driver told us when we needed to get off for the Metro station.

There is actually a stop for the Acropolis on the Metro line, but it involves one or two transfers, depending on how you go. The ship tells you about two stops in the Plaka, which is a shopping quarter for Athens. That’s fine for the shopper, but for the history buff, you want the Acropolis Metro stop. The transfers are not difficult if you pay attention to the signage, which is written in both Roman and Greek alphabets.

You step off the bus right near the base of the monument. The entry points, however, are located on the other side, so you have to do some walking, but the streets are pleasant — not a problem. Your best bet, I learned later, is a left turn along the base of the Acropolis, but we took the wrong way around, heading straight ahead down Vironos Street, not a fatal error, as that street is lined with pleasant shops, restaurants, and little hotels, including one named The Byron.

Athenian Dogs, the Press of Humanity

Along the way we encountered numerous Athenian dogs, but they were lying about, sleeping and indifferent, reminiscent of Pompeii, which is full of stray dogs, who like to hang out in the cool of the ruins. The Athenian dogs mostly did not seem to be strays as they appeared well fed.

Eventually we made our way to a gate to enter the Acropolis. It was not the busy gate, I am told, but soon enough we were joined by the press of humanity at the Propylaea. O, the humanity! On our previous visit, the temperature at the top of the Acropolis had risen to 105 degrees, making for an inferno. This time, it was pleasant. Although the sun was hot, it was delightfully cool in the sparse areas of shade, and there was a nice breeze, and I found it all very agreeable.

The Greeks are restoring the Parthenon. Scaffolding rises along and above one side. The work does not seem to have progressed much from two years previously. You need to be careful walking on the Acropolis as many of the stones are well worn from the countless visitors who have trod on them. There is great potential to slip as many of the stones are smooth as glass. Both Twylia and I had near misses with falling — and we were wearing walking shoes with tread.

I Got the Icon.  They Got the Wallet.

Dutiful tourists, we gathered plenty of good pictures with the Nikon, shooting the Parthenon and the Erechthion, and on our way down, the Odeon theatre and the theatre of Dionysus. The Odeon was staged for some play about Egypt. While it is nice to know that they still use the Odeon, I would have liked to have gotten a picture without the Egyptian-style set.

We made our way back to Vironos Street, where we looked in a few shops. I bought a replica of the Acropolis for ten Euros, the cheapest I could find. I contemplated buying an icon of Christ Pantocrator. The girl at the shop claimed it was made by monks, but she wanted 50 Euros — and that was supposed to be a mark-down. For all I know the icon was made by Monk rather than monks.

Paying for the replica was the last time I saw my wallet.

The Metro station was just down the street from the curio shop. The train took us back to Piraeus, where we caught a bus back to the cruise terminal. It was a smooth ride, but very crowded. Back in our room on the ship, I discovered that my pocket had been picked and my wallet was gone. It was not a happy moment.

The thief probably got me on the train as the bus had not been crowded, and he didn’t get much, a 20 Euro note and another 30 dollars in plain sight in the billfold crease. But I also had a hundred dollar bill hidden in the wallet. Maybe it was hidden good enough to allow some small satisfaction.

We immediately cancelled the one credit card I carry. I’ll have to replace all the other documents that were lost. One cannot help feeling violated and greatly inconvenienced. I let my guard down. I’m pretty sure I had the wallet in a buttoned foreleg pocket, the usual place for a foray into a crowded city, but I might have put it back in my hip pocket through force of habit.

In the future I plan on carrying a holder for cash and ID around my neck, which I can stuff inside my clothing. I’ll never carry a wallet on shore again. Yes, we’d been warned, but that warning was about Rome on a previous cruise, where I listened with empathy to some tablemates telling about their loss to pickpockets. I didn’t think Athens was a problem.

To add insult to injury, I was wearing an Athens State University t-shirt. Talk about an outrage!

I Spy an Isle Ahead.

Be done with it! On this cruise we have a room with a porthole! And I’m just about done with exclamation points, which are indicative of the passions raised by losing one’s personal effects to unseen robbers. I just wanted to wander over to another topic and tell you about this cool feature of our cabin.

We are located on the third level, rather low on the ship but still about three stories above the water line. The porthole is big, about five feet in diameter. When the sea is rough, the water leaps as high as our window. Having natural light is a real blessing. Even as I am writing, we are approaching the Isle of Rhodes. I can see it out my porthole.

Our nice placement is probably a function of the ship not being particularly full. Destination Speakers are usually given the leftover rooms with no windows. Third level is also pretty stable, which is good for Twylia, who experiences seasickness. It is a long climb up the stairs to eat at the Windjammer on level eleven, but Twylia and I like the stairs.

The Tale of Brenda and Dorothy

This cruise is a quiet one. The passengers are somewhat fewer and on the average older. There are few children in evidence, which also makes for a quieter cruise. We shared our evening table with a couple of older English ladies from Manchester named Brenda and Dorothy. Unfortunately, Dorothy suffers from a breathing problem and had to go to the hospital in Athens. The captain would not let her back on the ship. We were told that she will be flown back to England when she is well enough to travel. Brenda will continue the cruise. Dorothy’s fate provides an object lesson about the value of traveler’s insurance. I bought some for this cruise. It helps one feel more secure about the cost of any medical or luggage problems that might arise.

We were also pleasantly surprised to learn that in Alexandria, there will be an excursion to the Pyramids, a twelve-hour outing on a bus. Although I would dearly love to walk the streets of Alexandria and visit the sites of the fabled Lighthouse, the Museum, and the Alexandrian Library, the Pyramids beckon even stronger. I pledge to do those parts of Alexandria on our next visit.

The Beer Chronicles

As for the beer chronicles, things are moving slowly. Heineken is on draft at the Schooner Bar of the ship. You can also get Amstel Light. They were supposed to be serving a German beer called Ankerrau, which has a Weiss and a Pilsener variety, but the barrels are spoiled and it is undrinkable. I must say, I am very disappointed as I was looking to try a German Weiss beer on draft.

I tried a Birra Moretti in Palermo, but it was not as good as I remember it when I last tippled the brew in Naples and Rome. In Athens I managed to drink two big and very cold Mythos beers on Vironos Street. Mythos is a great beer. I had tried it two years earlier in both Athens and Santorini. I will be looking for it again in Rhodes and Cyprus. Too bad they do not sell it at any place that I know about in the USA.

Now it is on to Rhodes. So far it is a good trip, except for that wallet incident, but at least now I have the freedom to not worry about my wallet. With a little luck, the stinker who stole it will have missed the $100 dollar bill hidden in it.

Let the Cruise Begin

The Greatest Siege: End Game at Malta

The Colossus, Pyramids, and the Sphinx

Cannes, Florence, Rome, and Sardinia

Of Mountains, Monkeys, and Men

Rambling 'tween the Itchen and the Scratchen

Click on the black panther to read about Ron Fritze's new book, "Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science, and Pseudo-religions."