# I came, I Claw, I conquered...THC's trip to Italy (new pics 12/1 with sun!)



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

While the idiots ran rampant shutting down the government in Washington, this idiot ran rampant in Italy and Croatia! I went on a lengthy trip that began with a cruise, and ended up circling around most of the Italian boot and ending near Rome. Then my tour group (a subgroup of the people on the cruise) went to a hotel in Rome. The group tour allotted less than two days for sightseeing in Rome, which I considered inadequate. So I stayed on for a few more days and did further sightseeing on my own. I'm going to post an illustrated narrative in this thread, at least till I get tired of yammering about my trip!

When we arrived in Venice, it was a beautiful day as we were taken to the ship after our overnight flight. Unfortunately, the weather started deteriorating that very evening....The next day when we went sightseeing in Venice, it was cloudy, cool, and there were occasional showers. Venice is already built on posts over the water, we didn't want more water, but didn't get much say in the matter. Following are a couple of some of the busy area--One of the waterfront, and one of the famous Saint Mark's Square:





St. Mark's Square, the big open area in the night photo, was important in Venetian government as the place where the people of Venice gathered every year to accept or refuse the new Doge. The big flat stone-paved area was also used as a collection basin to gather rain water and funnel it into a water treatment system and reservoirs! Now it is a tourist trap, and quite crowded. There are a lot of people there at night as you can see, and it was almost completely jammed when we were there during the day!



St. Mark's Campanile (bell tower) is about 500 years old, but was completely rebuilt (with only minimal design changes to improve safety) after it collapsed suddenly in 1912. You may think that this is there as a historic landmark, and to let people see the clock and hear the bells, but if you look closely at the small dark spots above the center archway on the ground....



You'll see that pigeons have a different view of the purpose of the tower!

Because Venice is a series of artificial islands on pillars over the water, there are pedestrain walkways, but no actual roads, and no land motor vehicles. Transport between islands is by boat, including deliveries of goods, and once the goods get to their island destination, they must be delivered by hand cart! This makes everything bought on the island quite pricey because of all the handling and repeated (un)loading.



Some of the alleys are quite narrow, but they are constrained by space and centuries-old layouts:



The famous gondolas and all sorts of other boats (many quite modern) ferry people and cargo everywhere, and there are numerous pedestrian bridges over the waterways.





And where there are tourists, there are people who will want to sell to them. In addition to the expected permanent tourist traps, high traffic areas such as Saint Mark's Square will have portable vendors selling tourist junk. When these guys tried to wheel their mobile tourist trap into storage, they had an accident and it nearly tipped over! There are less prosperous individuals standing or walking around with their merchandise spread out on the ground, or slung over an arm.

Next, visiting the Doge's Palace and inside Saint Mark's Cathedral. Maybe tonight if I find the energy!


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## skyblue (Dec 23, 2009)

How delightful!  I loved seeing your photos, and look forward to seeing more!  We loved our trips to Italy and Croatia!


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

I am looking forward to more pictures!


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Hey Claw,
Great pics.
I hope you had a great time?


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## Not Here Anymore (May 16, 2012)

Two days certainly isn't enough to see Rome. Glad you were able to stay longer. My favorite thing about Rome: the obelisks. Well, that and the pizza. And the fountains...

Loved the pics of Venice.   We toured the palace/prison, too. One of the most interesting things on our trip.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I had a great trip and more pictures will come, but I am down and out with allergies right now. More pictures to come!


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Feel better soon, Claw!  I am looking forward to more pictures.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

It's been a long time since I've been to either Rome or Venice, so I'm feeling envious right now. But why no photos of Croatia, Claw? That's some of the most beautiful coastline in the world.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Tony Richards said:


> It's been a long time since I've been to either Rome or Venice, so I'm feeling envious right now. But why no photos of Croatia, Claw? That's some of the most beautiful coastline in the world.


Croatia will come! The above is literally from the first day of a three week trip!


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Oh, these are absolutely lovely!  The closest I've come to Venice was the Venetian in Las Vegas.

It goes without saying that the two don't compare...

::waits for more while the Claw gets over his allergies::


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Okay, finishing up the first day in Venice, and perhaps I'll even get to the second day....

I've shown some general views in the first post, but our first destination on Day 1 was the Palace of the Doge, the elected leader of Venice when it was independent. It is maintained as a museum and historical site now.



From what I've read, Venice had a fairly good judicial system in its days as an independent republic, but they nevertheless maintained a system of "denunciations" where signed letters accusing a person of a crime could be submitted for investigation by the prosecutors. The collection points for these letters had the letter slots as the mouths of different heads and faces like this one! I was told denunciations had to be signed, but how they prevented people from submitting under false signatures, I don't know. Supposedly unsigned denunciations were thrown out unread. Apparently the secret denunciations were a fixture in romances and melodramas in the 19th Century, our guide indicated Mark Twain even talked about them in his book describing his tour of Europe.

The walls and ceilings were wonderfully decorated, like this stairway:



I tried to capture more with a panoramic view from the top of the stairs, but I'm not sure this was a success:



Photography was not permitted in most of the palace, so I don't have anything to show. I was fascinated by the outside, however, especially this area. Note the decorated columns on the right:



There were elaborate carvings on the columns, some of people, some of animals, some of agricultural products. I love stone carvings, so was enchanted. Here are some samples.





And a closeup of one touching but puzzling creation. Wild guesses are that this was a reference to the plague of some kind, but I don't really know how it goes with the others.



I mentioned that the big public squares served as catch basins for water that was filtered and made available to everyone at public fountains. That system is no longer operational, but some Venice residents still find that water acceptable anyway!



That's more than enough pictures for one post, so our night-time visit to Saint Mark's Cathedral will have to wait till tomorrow!


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

What great pictures!  I'm loving your trip report so far, THC.  More please?


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

In its declining years as an independent republic, Venice became famous as a tourist and party town, notably for Carnevale, a festival that included wearing of masks that gave anonymity to the revelers. Carnevale is still held every year, and souvenir masks are still hawked aggressively even to those who don't visit during the celebration.



And of course, there are the famous canals of Venice. These were truly used as streets, and many businesses had or have entrances that are only accessible from the canal. Or perhaps they can now be used as a sort of advertising billboard!





The Bridge of Sighs was famously used to bring convicted criminals into the miserable prison.



Looking out from the Bridge of Sighs. The name originated because supposedly prisoners could pause and peer out the bridge windows through the elaborate stone grillework and look out past the cell windows on the right and see happy and free Venice off in the distance. I'd sigh too!



In the evening of our whirlwind day, we went to visit St. Mark's Basilica, the major church in the city. Originally it was the chapel of the Doge. What a place! The outside was covered with scaffolding, and not very photogenic, so I'm not showing it here. But the inside was amazing!







They put on a short light show for us to dramatize things....



One of their prized items is a big panel (perhaps twelve feet wide) decorated with religious figures, gold work, and precious stones. They revealed it by spinning it around slowly and dramatically:







The details were beautiful!

Even the abstract floors were impressive....



If I'm behind the camera, you know you will always get a closeup detail shot:



On our way back to the ship, we passed the Doge's Palace. The decorated columns on the breezeway were the ones I had photographed earlier in the day.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Claw,

Thanks so much for all the gorgeous pictures.


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

I hope you post more pictures, Claw.  Would you mind saying what kind of camera you used?  

Thanks!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Trophywife007 said:


> I hope you post more pictures, Claw. Would you mind saying what kind of camera you used?
> 
> Thanks!


I have been in Washington, DC for work (mostly!) this week, which has kept me from going through more pictures and posting this week. I should get more posted when get settled down after I return home, which is tomorrow.

The vast majority of my pictures on the trip, and all the ones posted so far, were taken with a Sony RX100. I like it for its small size (fits in a jeans front pocket) and large sensor, which makes it better than most small cameras in dim light, such as cathedral interoirs! It still isn't as good in dim light as an SLR, but in daylight is about as good as an SLR, and much easier to carry!

I always carry a second camera on overseas trips in case something happens to my main camera. When I visited Egypt, my primary camera failed completely right in front of the Sphinx on my first day in Egypt, but I had a second camera available to complete the trip, and I have never forgotten this! On this trip, I took a little camera called the Sony WX300 as my spare. I only used it twice, once when it was raining and I didn't want to risk my RX100.


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I have been in Washington, DC for work (mostly!) this week, which has kept me from going through more pictures and posting this week. I should get more posted when get settled down after I return home, which is tomorrow.
> 
> The vast majority of my pictures on the trip, and all the ones posted so far, were taken with a Sony RX100. I like it for its small size (fits in a jeans front pocket) and large sensor, which makes it better than most small cameras in dim light, such as cathedral interoirs! It still isn't as good in dim light as an SLR, but in daylight is about as good as an SLR, and much easier to carry!
> 
> I always carry a second camera on overseas trips in case something happens to my main camera. When I visited Egypt, my primary camera failed completely right in front of the Sphinx on my first day in Egypt, but I had a second camera available to complete the trip, and I have never forgotten this! On this trip, I took a little camera called the Sony WX300 as my spare. I only used it twice, once when it was raining and I didn't want to risk my RX100.


Excellent! Thanks for the information.


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

The Hooded Claw said:


>


For a minute there, thought you had taken a photo of the headless horseman from Sleepy Hollow!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Our second day in Venice wasn't a great day. We had a morning in Venice before the ship sailed shortly after lunch. The bad news was that it was raining, sometimes fairly hard! We could explore on our own, or sign up for a ship-sponsored exursion. I took the excursion, among other things I wanted to be POSITIVE I was back on the ship before it sailed!

Our group loaded into a water taxi, which is exactly what you think it is from the name:



The capacity was higher than a land taxi, but it was pretty crowded inside:



I rode at the very back, which is designed to be open to the sun, but was covered by a tarp in the rain. We could look straight out the back:



Our goal was to visit the historic Jewish ghetto in Venice. We were told that the English word "Ghetto" came from an Italian term for "slag" (as in metal working). Foundries apparently had operated in this area historically. Overall, it was a miserable experience. We visited a couple of Jewish synagogues, but photography was not allowed in them. It was fairly interesting, but our local guide had a heavy accent that was difficult to understand, and when not inside, the rain was oppressive. I did find this poster interesting, even though I had no idea what it meant! Note the sign in English. This is a very touristy area.



Walking back to the vaporetto stop (a waterborne bus stop, where we'd meet our taxi) we passed what I was told was the only McDonald's in Venice!



We got back to our ship and it was time for lunch, and for the ship to sail. I got lunch and tried to find a spot with a view, as I had been told that the views were impressive as the ship sailed through Venice on the way out!



To my immediate left from this picture, I had glass windows with a view, but couldn't figure a good way to include them and my lunch in the same shot!

I wolfed down my lunch, and abandoned my table to go to the very stern of the ship and watch the fun. We had tugboats towing us out, but another tugboat was attached to our stern to swing it back and forth as we left the dock:



We passed the famous Saint Mark's Square, where we had stood just the day before. The rain had moderated a lot, and it was jammed with tourists already! The Doge's Palace, with the carved stone columns I loved so much, is the white building to the right in these photos.





We passed an old commercial building that I was told had been converted to a Hilton hotel...



And it seems Pisa isn't the only Italian city with a leaning tower. There are several of these in Venice, because of unstable footing on piers sunk into the swampy bottom.



As we departed, our ship was the center of attention for tourists watching from the Venice shore.



Soon we were out at sea and headed towards Croatia!

For TrophyWife's benefit--The first two pictures, of the poster and the McDonald's, were taken with my RX100. The remaining photos, of the departure, were taken with the WX300. I used the WX300 because it has a much longer zoom lens, and I thought being able to reach out and "grab" stuff from the shore would be useful during departure (and it was), and because I was afraid it would start raining heavily again, and I didn't want my Rx100 caught in the rain it if did and I was too slow in taking cover! This was one of only two times I used the WX300 on the trip.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Great pics!


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Great pics, Claw.  I remember your Montreal pics... I visited the same places when we were there, but the pics did not turn out as great as yours did...    When we get to visit Italy, will try to get recommendations as well from you and others...


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Enjoyed looking at your pictures.  Thanks for posting!


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Thanks for the update, Claw!  Such beautiful pictures - even with the rain.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Leaving Venice behind, we moved on, and next day we were in Split, Croatia. Alas, the unpleasant weather was there, too! The main object here was to visit Diocletian's Palace. Diocletian was the only Roman emperor who successfully retired. He had been a fairly decent emperor, and when things didn't go well after his departure, he said that being emperor could not compare with the simple pleasures of being a farmer. Of course, he had arranged to be a farmer in a palace he built for himself. Just a little place for him and a few hundred of his most essential servants, plus a couple of hundred troops as bodyguards. His palace still exists today, but it became the center of a city and marketplace during the dark ages, and this unique relic of Roman times continues to be used as a shopping center--Now not for local goods, but to sell to tourists who come to see the palace! It is a very strange sensation to walk around through ruins nearly 2,000 years old and be surrounded by permanent fixed displays of tourist stuff!





Some of the displays made no sense. Why they have a naked mannequin that appears to have a skin disease, and a cardboard cut of a smiling man who makes witty remarks as he is swallowed whole is beyond me...



Of course, if you are going to try to sneak into the retired emperor's palace, you may have to deal with the guards. I asked another photo geek to take this photo of me with my camera. When I offered to take one of him, his response was "I'm not Japanese!" 



Much of the surface of the former palace is now residential. We saw that for some people, there is no problem in life so bad it can't be solved with more begonias!



We moved on to a city museum. This figure fascinated me. A monster with huge teeth and claws gripping a lamb. What horror was this? Some sort of vampire legend? The cheesey Eastern European mustache and the teeth reminded me of that. I couldn't read the Croatian label, but could tell the statue was created about 1125 AD.



"All the better to eat you with, my dear!"



What a face! And what Claws! (hee hee)



Just look at the poor helpless victim! What is this fiend?!



I consulted our city guide, and even made her read the label for me. It ends up that this is an iconic representation for the region of "The Good Shepherd"! This is a good guy, and the "victim" is being securely protected. I later saw this in other places (and so will you, if you keep reading this thread).

Outside, this heroic statue is of Gregory of Nin. His main claim to fame seems to be that he was a Catholic official who defied the Vatican and established that church services would be in Croatian, rather than Latin.



Rubbing his toe gives good luck (or heals medical problems, depending on who you believe). You can tell that a lot of people have tried it out....


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Next we visited the historic Adriatic towns of Korcula, Trogir, and Dubrovnik, and the weather was miserable! When you spend almost three weeks traveling, you are bound to have a few days of unfriendly weather, and for us it mostly came in Croatia. For the next few days, most of my photos are of stonework that interested me, because it was usually too dark and dreary and rainy to take general photos! After these next few ports, the weather cleared up nicely and was excellent for Sicily, Pompeii, Rome, and the rest of our trip! But this post will cover the towns of Korcula and Trogir, complete with rain clouds.



Entering Korcula. I never got used to seeing palm trees in central Europe! The stairway we are approaching interested me.



A view (actually taken later) of the interesting fountain at the top of the stairs....



And a little bit closer!



A church entrance. Remember the stonework of "The Good Shepherd" that I posted earlier? That motif seemed to be a standard for church entrances in this area. Blended with the lion laying down with the lamb (if you go back and look at the earlier Shepherd, he has a rather lionish mane for hair). Having Adam and Eve posing on either side of the entrance also seemed to be a standard.



Closer view. Note that Eve is fully anatomically correct.



The small local museum was no big deal, the most interesting shot for me was actually of a store room with stonework they wanted to protect, but couldn't do anything with yet. The big carving on the wall is the Lion of Saint Mark, the symbol of Venice. Note the book under his front paws. It was common to see this everywhere in the Adriatic, the Venetians had put them up when they controlled things. Most of them had the face of the lion smashed in, presumably after the Venetians left. We may love Venice, but the people they occupied often didn't!



Interesting well.





Random bits of stonework.



Inside a grocery store! Sometimes, grocery stores in foreign countries are interesting. But this one looks very ordinary. Including that I see Smurfs 2 is coming to Croatia!



Rock-em sock-em action, as the Archangel Michael slays a demon! Who says church decorations have to be peaceful and boring?



A view of the waterfront of Korcula, emphasizing the old defensive fortifications. But note at upper right that it is laundry day at the Kropotniks!



Detail of the tower

Moving on to Trogir....



The city gate of Trogir. This was NOT opened after sundown in times of trouble. But the townsfolk had some pity on travelers who might arrive during the night when weather was bad. They constructed the shelter at right where late arrivals could at least take cover from the rain!



Many of the alleys were even narrower than those of Venice.



An intriguing church entrance. Yes, that is Adam standing and covering himself in the rightmost column. Eve was on the other side.



Yet another version of the Good Shepherd motif, but the protected creature looks like a bird! I have no explanation....



At the bottom of the columns, pagans and infidels (aka Moslems or Turks, note the turban and beard) are condemned to struggle under the weight of everything else because of their improper beliefs.



This old home caught my attention. The fellow in the window at left sat idly watching me and other tourists go by and gawk. He never said a word, but as I left I smiled and waved at him, and he did wave back. I hope I'd be as patient with tourists continually gawking outside my front door.



Over an old gate, someone had proudly displayed their coat of arms, with a couple of armed gentlemen frozen in stone as they looked on admiringly.



In the midst of all these wonderful old surroundings, the modern world sometimes intruded...

One more post of cloudy Dubrovnik (fortunately it was better weather than this) and we will move to Sunny Sicily!


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Well, you certainly have a great eye for architectural detail, Hooded Claw.  Absolutely love your shot of the stone stairway and the man peaking out from behind the potted plants on his balcony.

It appears were were both cruising the Mediterranean about the same time.  Ursula and I did Greece (Pireaus, Katakolon, Olympia, Corfu); Kotor, Montenegro; Dubrovnic, Croatia; Italy (Naples, Amalfi Coast, Lucca, Pisa, Pietra Santa); Palermo, Sicily; Olbia and La Maddalena, Sardinia; Monaco; France (Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Cassis), Spain (Barcelona and the Sagrada Familia, Cadiz, Sevill — but no haircut); Lisbon, Portugal; and then went transatlantic hitting Half Moon Cay, Bahamas and disembarking in Tampa.  I've already photoblogged most of that trip.

Anyway, I must say that you really captured Venice nicely.  Unfortunately for me, that was not a port of call on our cruise and the last time I was there was pre-digital.  I really need to go back with a couple of my digital cameras.

Thanks again for the IM pointing me to your thread and the fantastic photos you took.  Great job, as always.


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

Nice photos! I look forward to more. My husband and I went to Italy in June of 2012. We stayed at a nice little hotel in the Jewish Ghetto. It was amazing, the difference in how crowded different areas were - the main sights, vs. strolling around the Jewish Ghetto at 7 a.m. or other off-the-beaten-path areas.

We're considering going to Croatia some time, so I'm enjoying those photos also.

Like you, I believe in bringing a high-quality, small-size camera. I just don't want to lug around an SLR.


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

HC,

Thanks for sharing those photos.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

More photos from my trip...Unless my endurance wears out, or I decide the post is running too long, I intend to cover both Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Syracuse, our first port in Sicily in this post.

Here's the city gate of sunny Dubrovnik!



Dubrovnik has a famous clock tower built around 1500. The guides proclaim that this is the world's first digital clock, but more sober written sources say it was added when the tower was rebuilt in the early 20th Century! The one-handed octopus clockface is still pretty cool, though!



As I was walking down a medieval looking alley, the real world intruded with a tremendous roar from around a corner I was approaching. I peeked around the corner and saw a big modern truck headed my way. I dodged and watched it roll past. I wonder what the men who quarried and laid the original stones here would've thought of it.





It was time for lunch, and I had octopus salad, at the recommendation of Rick Steves. I really liked it a lot! And yes, I'd never heard of octopus salad either...



The weather was still cloudy and overcast, but had improved enough I didn't feel out of place taking a cityscape of the harbor.



I saw a bookstore, and had to drop in. The closest racks on the right obviously cater to tourists, but note the display for the Guinness Book of World Records, in Croatian!



There was a colossal thunderstorm in the afternoon while we were still in Dubrovnik. My midwestern sensibilities warned me, and I beat it back to the ship, though not all of us were that lucky. The ship left the port in the evening, and it was ROUGH at dinner that evening. I actually stumbled slightly several times while walking to dinner, and the ship was definitely rolling as I went to bed. Don't let anyone tell you the Mediterranean is always a calm sea.

We next had a day at sea. The clouds and rain VANISHED! I took this at breakfast the next day, as I sat right at the very stern of the ship. Breakfast was an omelet (looks rather sad here, but the omelets on the ship were excellent) some sugar free yogurt, and a bit of fruit. The flag is the flag of Malta, where our ship was registered. For awhile during the day we could see the coast of the Italian bootheel in the distance. I'm happy to report that the weather was excellent for the rest of our trip.



Even though the port was rather industrial, and not very romantic, arriving at the port of Syracuse the next morning was like arriving in Oz after the Kansas scenes.



The tax man was the first to arrive when our ship docked. Gotta collect those port dues!



We went into Syracuse and headed for the archeological park. This is the Ear of Dionysus. Has nothing to do with Dionysus the god, this was a quarry excavated by Athenian prisoners of war in ancient times. The tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysus sent them and other politically undesirable people to work at mining stone, and it is claimed that because of the acoustics, he could stand in one spot in the mine and eavesdrop on conversations.



Inside the Ear of Dionysus. Will we ever get out?! Will we be captured and forced to work in the mine?



Fortunately, we were able to make our escape, and Dionysus didn't get to set us to work with picks and chisels.



Being me, I felt compelled to take a closeup of the stone. The colors were interesting.



As we headed for the famous Greek theater, other residents greeted us. Lizards like these were everywhere at archeological sites.



LOLcat is unimpressed by your silly ruins! He must take a nap...



At the Greek amphitheater. It is from the 5th Century BC, and I am told it has 67 rows. I didn't count 'em!





And I took a seat, enjoying the thought that I might be sitting where Archimedes once rested his behonkus. When I took a selfie (word of the year for 2013!), I instinctively assumed the "I'm being tortured" look I always have in posed photographs.



The Roman amphitheater is of course considered an upstart by the Greek theater, barely being 2000 years old.



We headed into the modern town. I never got a translation of this, but I'll betcha a loose translation into English is "The King is a fink!"



This fountain seems hardly worth mentioning, since it is surely less than half a millenium old!





I wanted to see this cathedral. The base building was built in the 7th Century AD, on the ruins of the Greek temple of Athena. Columns from the Greek temple were incorporated into the building!



From the inside, you can see one of the columns behind the "modern" arches.



And the altar was quite a change from all the gold leaf of St. Mark's in Venice! But gold leaf will be back with a vengeance in Palermo....



Boy, this was a long post! If you stuck all the way through it, please get your passport stamped for Croatia and Sicily!


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

Such wonderful pictures, THC!  I'm loving your trip report!


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## loonlover (Jul 4, 2009)

Really enjoying seeing your pictures!  Thanks for sharing.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Great pics, Claw. I wish I was that good a photographer.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Nice job again . . . as always.


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