Pictures from Eric, WYKAAO’s Middle East Correspondent; see his full report here.
Click the picture to view the video.
by John Fung (65)
at Ephesus
In the two weeks during the cruise to Egypt and Aegean Sea, I traversed over 6000 years of history and witnessed the grandeur of four magnificent civilizations: Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Byzantine. These ancient societies clearly showed their culmination of wisdom, intelligence, knowledge and technology through experimentation and learning. Equally, they demonstrated human foibles and our arrogance in believing might is right, and that might transcends us to a god-like level.
In the spirit of experimentation, I travelled with my group on Metropolitana in Rome for 1 euro a ticket, on the Athens Subway in Piraeus for 3 euro a day pass, and the modern trams in Istanbul for 1.5 Turkish Lira (about US$1 at time of writing) a token. All it took was a bit of adventurous courage to learn how to buy the fare and to navigate the network of stops. Of course, having the right change helps.
at Giza
Indisputably, rich dishes prepared by masters for the Chef’s Table and for the dinner at Sabatini were sophisticated as well as luxurious. Yet simple, local food made by natives was similarly enjoyable and tasty. I recall with fond memories the rigatoni and roast pork from the tavern next to Trevi Fountain in Rome, the kofta and firaakh mashwi from the garden eatery in Cairo, the various types of fish from the waterfront café in Kusadasi, the fried kibbeh filled with minced beef and şeftali kebabı from the restaurant in Istanbul, and the grilled mackerel from the family-run Old Baker’s in Piraeus. Continue reading
Today…the first time I tried the Megabus from Toronto to Montreal.
My comments? Excellent….value for the buck.
Bus…
Try the Megabus if you haven’t. Let someone do the driving while you doze off or enjoy the scenery on the road.
Moreover, you can pick up a free Toronto Star (at bus aisle #1 in Toronto) before boarding the bus.
Megabus….a good deal. I wonder how they sustain their business (with quite a number of runs each day) with only 25 passengers in our run?
I will try it the next time I go to New York City instead of taking the train or the plane.
BTW…. There are also the $1 deals in the Megabus. These are not scams. But these $1 seats are limited and are available only in certain runs (e.g. red-eye) during their promotion period. I’ve checked the site years ago when they advertised the $1 deal and I did find some seats. People have tried the $1 deal going down to Philadelphia (from Toronto).
The first thing to consider when renting a car in Italy is to get one just big enough for your needs. We learned it the hard way when we were faced with the daunting task of driving an eight-seater (for seven people) in the country roads in Provence last year. The small Fiat we had this time was just fine for the two of us. It was easier to manoeuvre in the narrow and winding roads in the Lake Como district in the north of Italy and finding a snug parking spot was not an impossible dream anymore.
On the whole, Italian drivers were no worse than their counterparts in North America. Surely, they used their horns much more liberally and many would whiz past us in full speed when we were picking our way gingerly along the single lane mountain roads, but that happened here too. The biggest adjustment we had to deal with was their road signs. Even in a tourist destination like Lake Como, the Italians still did not want to divulge too much information. Signs were posted on the points of entry and departure to tell us where we were then but that was about it. Without a map at all times, we would have no idea as to where we were heading next. You would think they had to do better in the highways. Think again. We drove about 120 kms to Verona one day from Como. That particular highway ended in Venice. If we didn’t know that was the right way according to the map, we would be really worried because they gave no indication that Verona was on the same route. Only the name of Venice and the distance to it was occasionally posted. We had to gauge for ourselves the approximate mileage to any other city along way. They did put out little signs on the left when we were close to Verona and fortunately we did not miss them.
From our London experience, we learned to return our car prior to going into Milan and used their subway. We bought day passes which would allow us to make unlimited trips within the city boundary. For a two day pass, we only paid 5.50 euros. It was a good deal. The subway system was fast and efficient and not difficult to figure out at all. We found that driving in the country but taking public transportation in the city yielded the most flexibility.
To watch Lake Como video click here
To watch Verona & Milan video click here
We recently came back from a trip to England and Italy where we rented a small car and did a self-directed free style tour.
Driving in the English countryside is a breeze as long as one overcomes the psychological hurdle of having to drive on the left in an automobile with manual shift gear. The roads were good. North American style road signs were clear and well positioned; even roundabouts were easy to manage as long as we treated them as ‘yield’ signs and not just to charge ahead. The beauty of the roundabouts is that we could go round and round once we are in them until we are sure of where we are going. Parking in the small towns and villages was never a problem too. By and large, the English drivers were courteous and would not use their horns arbitrarily and that made driving a pleasure.
Driving in London is a very different story though. We definitely do not recommend it. Around the clock traffic congestion and one way streets could drive a visitor not familiar with the city literally round the bend. Parking was not only hard to find but expensive. There were other traps and pitfalls too. We were very unpleasantly surprised when we received a letter from the car rental company after our return when they advised that they had paid a hefty fine on our behalf to the City. Our sin? We had “the use of a vehicle on a road in the charging area to which a charging scheme applies without payment of the appropriate charge”. Heaven forbid! We were totally unaware that there was a charging area and our unfamiliar eyes did not notice any signs at the time. We should have returned the car before going into London and not the day after and thus would have avoided this penalty and the risk of putting our marriage into jeopardy.
London is well serviced by its public transportation system. We strongly advise getting an “Oyster card” from any underground station. It is similar to the “Octopus Card” in Hong Kong in that it is a smart card and the small deposit which we paid to get it could be redeemed at the end. It surpasses the Octopus card because the system would only charge a daily maximum of 5.6 Pounds. On top of that, the lowest fare is applied. To give an example, our trip to Heathrow from our hotel would cost 3.4 Pounds if we were to get a single ticket. The charge to the Oyster card was only 1.3 Pounds. Using their underground system is hassle free and one could get from point A to point B without regard of the horrific road condition above. We now know better next time.
The tour of Kent that we did in England turned out to be very nice even though the weather was a bit on the chilly side. Canterbury was a pleasant surprise and so were some small towns which we visited during the tour. We made a video of the tour and to watch the video, click here.
Please walk and enjoy the precipitous mountain with me by clicking the picture below.
Cruise
Cruise travel is getting to be very popular. There are many cruise ships to choose from and their prices are dropping. Among the big and well known cruise lines are The Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Cunard, Italian Costa and NCL. Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity which also operates Azamara. Carnival took over Princess and Holland America a few years ago and they may now be the biggest cruise line in the world. There are also smaller but more luxurious liners such as the Crystals and the Radisson.
I personally like The Royal Caribbean cruise line because they have better ships of different sizes to choose from; also, I had bad experiences when I tried Princess, Holland America and NCL. But most importantly, I prefer to stick with the same loyalty program.
Last month, taking the advantage of a slow January month we invited our sisters to join us on a Caribbean cruise. This time we took the Adventure of the Seas. The ship belongs to the Voyager class of the Royal Caribbean family. Nine years ago, like her sister ships Explorer and Navigator of the Seas, was one the largest cruise ships at the time. Since then the title had been taken over by the QM2 (Cunard), then Freedom of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and now the Oasis of the Seas (Royal Caribbean).
I always make a video after a trip for the memory just in case I have memory lapses or Alzheimer down the road of my life. There is no exception this time. To watch the video, click here.
Package Tour
Spain & Portugal
My wife and I love travels. We always prefer self guided tours. The fun of planning the tours and the freedom we have on doing what and how we want are all important to us. Thus we were surprised that for the first time in 20 years we actually allowed ourselves to be ‘tricked’ into joining a package tour, going to Spain and Portugal.
We regretted the decision and almost wanted to cancel the trip. We didn’t and the trip turned out to be just fine. For one thing, the trip was hassle free. For another, we got to meet more people (if this doesn’t bother you) and it was relatively cheaper than doing it ourselves.
I made a video on the trip and it has two parts. To watch them, simply
Click here for the first part.
Click here for the second part.
