Articles, Cruises, Europe

Reflections on a Mediterranean Cruise

By Lee Foster

As I perused the frescoed images of dancing dolphins and laughing maidens with platters of abundant food, a sense of hope filled my heart. I was exploring Europe’s first advanced civilization, the ancient Minoan Palace of Knossos, on Crete. The Minoan vision of 1500 B.C. celebrated the joy of life, the fecundity of Crete’s agriculture, and the arts of peace. Images of warriors and war were absent from the frescoed walls of Knossos.

This area, the cradle of European civilization, was capable of producing a lofty ideal of man’s relationship with his fellow man. Perhaps the Minoan perspective on Crete can still contribute some hope, some model, as the world is steeped in war.

In Crete the morning light exuded a golden sensuality. The taste of coffee seemed more intense. Fresh oranges and kiwis possessed a sweetness that I had not recently experienced.

Crete is prosperous because so many varieties of food plants grow successfully here. There are 14 million olive trees alone, and some believe the olive tree may have originated here. Travelers enjoy the island’s salubrious climate, fresh-ingredients cuisine, sandy beaches, and Minoan heritage.

Crete was my first stop on an adventure looking at several Mediterranean treasures.

After Crete, the ship took me to more remote Greek islands, Santorini and Gythion. Then I encountered Malta, and finally I made day trips to Rome and Florence.

I saw all this from the comfort of one of the Celebrity cruise ships, which saved me the hassle of packing and unpacking. The voyage also allowed an experience of the Mediterranean Sea, crossing it by ship, as travelers have from time immemorial.

SANTORINI AND GYTHION

Santorini proved to be the Greek island which inflicted on me the most powerful longings to return. Santorini is a volcanic island whose mammoth explosion in 1450 B.C. wiped out Minoan civilization with ash and tsunamis. The event made Santorini the prime candidate inspiring the legendary myth of a lost continent, Atlantis. Today the main village, Fira, perches high on the caldera lip of the volcano, accessible by cable car. Whitewashed stucco buildings, with bright color accents, and the characteristic round or barrel roof of the local architecture stand out in memory. A notable archaeological discovery at Akrotiri in 1967 uncovered 40 buried houses with frescoes and huge ceramic jars of barley, olives, olive oil, and wine from 35 centuries ago. Grapevines now cover the island and are planted low to the ground to avoid the wind. Sunset viewing is the favorite pastime from restaurants high above the ocean on Santorini.

Gythion, port of the ancient Greek city of Sparta, is a postcard-picturesque place with colorful, small fishing boats and 19th-century pastel-colored houses along its waterfront. I remember walking the back streets on a Sunday morning and hearing a Greek Orthodox patriarch intoning prayers at the local church. At a taverna I savored the full spectrum of foods that the Greek seaside does so well, such as eggplant pâté, cucumber salad, Greek salad with tomatoes, feta cheese, and olives, and then the local sea bounty, including squid and several sizes of fish, the small ones eaten whole.

MALTA

The water approach to the fortified Maltese capital of Valletta illustrates one of the best arguments for cruising the Mediterranean. Only at water level do you sense the impregnable golden stone fortress that Malta became under the formidable Knights of the Order of St. John. The walled city was built quickly, starting in 1568, and has a uniform architecture of magnificent stone buildings. An afternoon spent walking through Valletta acquainted me with this architectural legacy, epitomized by the Auberge de Castile, the home of the knights of the Spanish and Portuguese divisions of the Order. Younger-son noblemen from eight European countries were attracted to serve in the Order of St. John.

ITALY

One of the pleasures of cruising the Mediterranean is the skill with which the cruise companies can pause at the coast, then bus the traveler, in a well-planned day tour, to explore inland world-class destinations. On my trip we landed at the Italian port of Civitavecchia and journeyed to Rome, then at Livorno for a day in Florence.

Rome’s layers of rich cultural history are so thickly textured that a day only allows a glimpse at them. Anyone who saw the Sistine Chapel before it was restored will want to return again to see Michelangelo’s brilliance, unimpaired by centuries of candle soot. The extensive Vatican Museum includes room after room of art treasures from the Roman era to the present. St. Peter’s Basilica houses the mosaic art masterpieces of Raphael and numerous other artists. When wandering the Colosseum area, be sure to buy the clever souvenir book, called Rome Then and Now, which has transparent overlays showing the white-marbled original appearance of what may now be only the crumbling brick core of an ancient building. It is stunning to realize that the Colosseum, for example, could seat 50,000 spectators for its gladiatorial entertainment.

In Florence I was reminded of how natural disaster competes with political turmoil as a destroyer of all that civilization holds dear. Fresh in my mind was the information that the volcanic explosion on Santorini in 1450 B.C. wiped out with ash and tsunamis the brilliant Minoan culture of Crete. By coincidence, my last visit to Florence was one week after the great floods of 1966. A dam had burst above the city, sending a wall of water through this urban jewel box of art treasures. I remember how the fine Lorenzo Ghiberti gilded bronze doors on the cathedral baptistry in Florence were literally hanging in the metal grate outside the church, which had saved these masterpieces from being totally washed away. The famous artworks of many Florence museums were literally sitting out on the street, drying in the sun. Now Florence is restored, and it allowed me to see it intact again. Would that we could banish both political and natural disasters.

Celebrity line was one of several cruise lines plying the Mediterranean, starting either in Spain or Italy. Celebrity has large ships, with 1,700 passengers, at the upscale end of the cruise market. Celebrity wins justified consumer praise for its fine dining, large staterooms with balconies, and high level of service to the cruise passenger. King Minos, who built the Crete Palace of Knossos and who savored the good life, would have been a candidate for a cruise on Celebrity.

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CRUISING THE MEDITERRANEAN: IF YOU GO

Celebrity’s ships Century and Millennium offer a comfortable option for seeing this part of the world. Celebrity is well known to travel agents who sell cruises. The contact is Celebrity Cruises, 1050 Caribbean Way, Miami, FL 33132; 800/647-2251; email info@celebrity-cruises.com; http://www.celebritycruises.com.

Lonely Planet’s Mediterranean Europe guidebook offers competent write-ups on all the destinations mentioned. The more specialized Lonely Planet books on Greece and Italy present more in-depth coverage on the selected subjects.

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Copyright © 2012 Lee Foster, Foster Travel Publishing. All rights reserved.

This article was written by Lee Foster of Foster Travel Publishing. Contact Lee at .

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