Doris Visits - Port Guides for cruisers: July 2022

Tuesday 26 July 2022

Palermo Cathedral and other religious buildings

We have added our walking tour of Palermo to the videos on Doris Visits. Although we touched on the No Mafia Museum and the Cathedral, we have given them their own videos.

The Cathedral and Diocesan Museum make quite a long film, so is of interest to those who love religious buildings.

Our religious playlist is a list of 24 films which includes the mosaic-covered spilt blood church in St Petersburg - the only way you will get to see that now. It also includes Canterbury Cathedral which could be a UK excursion from Dover and Laycock Abbey where some of Downton and other classic films were shot. Palermo Cathedral kicks the list off, and the reason it is so elaborate, apart from its history which means it has Arab influence and Koran engravings inside, is because it was built in competition with the one on Monreale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH6ch7Eg3DY&list=PL7-hz4M-3Ec3-KM1E3BD8Q51lrImIpkv3

The Cathedral of Palermo is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is located in the historical centre of Palermo and along with other churches was added as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015 being part of Arab- Norman Palermo. Its history goes back much further than when the Pope ordered the Norman Roger 2nd to take Arab Sicily in exchange for a Godly crown as King on 1072. That was after the Norman invasion of Italy in 1038 and the UK in 1066. It was built in 1184 by the Normans on the site of a Muslim Mosque that had been built over a Christian Basilica. It is a wonderful mix of styles and there is a passage from the Koran engraved on one of the columns. It was important to make this cathedral so impressive because it had to be better than William II's incredibly beautiful Cathedral of Monreale. As exaggerated as the beauty and architecture are the other cathedral still manages to be one of the 10 most visited sites in the world. That is the subject of a future film. Here, what was probably the first church that was built on this site or nearby is mentioned in a papal bull of Pope Leo the Great in 444 and in a letter to the Sicilian clergy of 447. In 592, Bishop Vittore had the church demolished to build a new Byzantine-type church on the ruins. During the Arab domination of Palermo, between 831 and 1072, the church was a mosque. The Gods can’t have been happy; an earthquake damaged the building on February 4, 1169. The bell tower and parts of the façade were affected badly. The divine punishment was blamed on the corruption in the city. The cathedral was re-built by Walter Ophamil, the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Palermo, during the reign of William II of Sicily, and it was consecrated on April 6, 1185. Improvements during the 14th and 15th centuries saw the four corner towers erected, the western portal and the altar of St. Peter… in the 16th century, the marble tribune in the central apse, the Northern portal and a clock was added to the south-eastern tower... in the 17th century, the Chapel of Santa Rosalia was completed, which houses an urn containing her mortal remains: the Patron Saint of Palermo who lived as a hermit in a cave on Mount Pellegrino but appeared to a sick woman in Palermo during the plague of 1624, then to a Hunter who she told to climb a mountain, get her bones from the cave and bring them to the city… the rest is … in the 18th century, the interior was radically remodelled during restructuring. in the 19th century, other work was done after the 1823 earthquake. Go on a Sunday if you wish to attend mass, do not go on a Sunday if you wish to see restricted areas that are closed for services. Admission to the church area is free, but there is a charge for the Tombs, Roof, Treasury, and Crypts. There is a menu to the pricing to only buy what you want to see. It is not expensive. It is open Monday to Saturday from 9.00- 17.30. Sunday the Royal Tombs are only open from 9.00-13.00

Sunday 24 July 2022

Palermo, Sicily. Walking Guide.

Between Eastern Med and Western Med routes, Palermo sits at the foot of Monte Pellegrino at the heart of a large natural harbour, offering a complex history.

The title of Capital of Culture is well deserved because it has hosted dozens of civilisations: Arab, Greek, Roman, Norman, Carthaginians, Goths, the Byzantine Empire, and even the Spanish have a footprint in the architectural mix.

Whilst there is more than enough to do for a long stay, there are some obvious must-see attractions that the day visitor will probably aim for. Jean takes us around a few key areas in this huge historic city. Obviously, she covers the Cathedral although this is the feature of its own film. The old city gates, the No Mafia Museum next to the tourist centre, and the church with a bakery that sells beer for a rest in the garden. She finds the biggest opera house in the whole of Italy, The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele. It is located on the Piazza Verdi to the right of the main street. Markets are easy to find on the way here. Jean also walks around the Catedral museum.

The history of Palermo can be confusing as it is told in a few ways, by each of the groups. The cathedral has been a church and a mosque like so many religious buildings in the Mediterranean. The cathedral offers different tickets to include what you wish to do. Do you want the roof view, the museum, or access-all-areas? The view from the roof is a hard climb and a narrow stairway. The walk down to see the sarcophagus of the bishops in the basement also has many steps and some access is very narrow.

The Pope's agent Roger II lies on the main floor of the cathedral. The museum which can be on the same ticket offers a wealth of religious artefacts and is in adjacent buildings.

You may be offered numerous maps and some are confusing. You can walk around the bay from your ship and join the main road and walk up it. Or you can walk into town knowing you have to head left a few blocks as you go up.

Jean does not get to the macabre tourist attraction of the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo which are burial catacombs in Palermo. Nor does she go insude the mosaic-laden Palazzo dei Normanni. The list of highlights is overwhelming, so her tour of the main events may help you plan a day that does not waste time going back and forth or detouring to places that can be left to another visit.

The list of sites is almost endless, but many have difficult access. Another which can challenge is the Castello della Zisa, listed as either a castle or palace. Located in the western area of Palermo, the edifice was begun around 1165 by Moorish craftsman. Part of the city's Arab-Norman history.

Here are three Palermo maps to consider.

For the ambitious traveller there is the tram network (see map). It was opened in 2015 and has 4 lines.

The tour bus map and the spots it visits are found by clicking the advert box to their website. Finally, the map we include below for simple walking orientation.

There's a chat group for your ship - click here to find it

A trip not on the maps is one to the village of Morreale. What makes this important is that when the Arabs took Sicily in 831, this is where the Bishop of Palermo fled to and built a church. Morreale now has one of the world’s most stunning architectural treasures: the Duomo. The small village is in the hills overlooking Palermo. It is about an hour and a half by bus 100 or 118. When the Arabs took Sicily in 831, this is where the Bishop of Palermo fled to and built a church. Then, in 1174 reconstruction was started by William II, in 1182 the church, dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, was, by a bull of Pope Lucius III, elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral. It is one of the world's ten most visited monuments.

Saturday 9 July 2022

Rhodes, the walled city on the fourth largest Greek Island.... Port Guide.

Rhodes is an excellent cruise shop. You can walk from the ship into the walled city, walk around it hassle-free, and it is not expensive. An example of how easy they make this visit is the tourist's authority normally deliver maps to the ship to be taken at the reception. The city was the former site of the Colossus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and it was the oldest inhabited medieval town in Europe.

Fridge magnet one Euro compared with ten dollars in Bora Bora ... so bonus. This is the fourth largest Greek Island and the largest of the twelve Dodecanese islands on the Aegean's eastern edge. It is a find. Great food, great art, nice people, fantastic wine. We stopped there with P&O, and we were followed around by the Norwegian Spirit.

We have guides to Athens, Malta, Crete, Zakynthos, Antalya, Kusadasi, Canakkale and many other Eastern Mediterranean port stops.

ATHENS METRO ATHENS ICE CREAM ATHENS GUIDE ATHENS HORSE+CARRIAGE ATHENS PLAKA

Well, we did end the day with an incredible bottle of rose wine with some grilled sardines and a Greek salad just away from the oldest square in the town, in a restaurant where we were not hassled to go inside. The town is an old walled city, whilst there is a new part with designer shops that we looked at quickly at the end, it is, without doubt, the charm of the old town that wins.

The cotton and art are not expensive, and we were not over-hassled. It was hot and whilst you feel protected sun cream and a stop for liquid are recommended. The ship is very close, and you can enter at any gate. The maps handed out are clear. There is no need to prep this site or spend a lot of money, the film may help.

There are options to visit, inside the buildings with or without guides.

In brief, Rhodes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a well-preserved city with about 10,000 residents. The streets inside the wall are flat, and the roads up to the back of the city have a gradient which is a nice climb. Sensible shoes. Castles, narrow streets, mosques, fountains, squares, vines draping, wine, fresh fish, and more. The old city wall is thick, it has been a strategic island for the Knights Templars and many others for centuries. Mussolini wanted to use the old Palace of the Grand Masters as his holiday home. It was originally a Byzantine fortress in the 7th century, then the administrative centre of the Knights after they conquered the island. To find it, walk up the cobblestone alley, the Avenue of the Knights. You will see the Knights of St John's palace on the right at the top. There are explanatory boards to read.

The knights had a hospital to deal with the wounded and then the plague that developed because of mounting dead bodies.

Wednesday 6 July 2022

Crime Writers Festival at Sea - meet the writers

Jean Heard interviews crime writers Robert Daws and Stuart St Paul, who between them have worked on most major British television shows and quite a few A-list movies. The two very successful media professionals are now both writing crime fiction.

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With over ten novels between them, screenplays and radio dramas, both are successful published writers. Robert writes crime novels set in Gibraltar where almost every cruise ship stops. Stuart writes crime novels that are based in the cruise industry. The combination of the two media players means they could talk for hours about how their careers reflect the others in so many ways.

Robert is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Gordon Ormerod in the ITV series, and he has been a screen regular in shows from Casualty, to Midsomer Murders, Poldark, Death in Paradise, Holby City and Father Ted. Robert, who was trained at RADA was affable Tuppy Glossop in Jeeves and Wooster, the gruff cricketer Roger Dervish in the comedy Outside Edge (for which he was nominated as Best Comedy Actor), and mini-cab firm owner Sam in the sitcom Roger Roger. He portrayed Arthur Lowe in Radio 4's Dear Arthur, Love John and Ronnie Barker in Goodnight from Him, and John Betjeman in New Fame. In his theatre career, he appeared as Dr Watson in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre, as Jim Hacker in the West End production of Yes, Prime Minister and in the national tour of Blackbird by David Harrower, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in the Manchester Evening News Drama Awards. He also appeared in the first Classic Comedy Company productions of Ten Times Table and How the Other Half Loves, by Alan Ayckbourn. Robert will be seen next in the new TV series The Man Who Fell To Earth, Sister Boniface Mysteries and films The Chelsea Cowboy and The Piper. He is writing two new novels. Stuart won Best Direct in the USA for his ICON/Amazon movie Freight. He was nominated as Best Director for The Scarlet Tunic; against The English Patient in Cabourg, France, and in Verona in Italy. He has been awarded a Silver Palm in Mexico at the International Film Festival for Excellence In Film Making and nominated for a Star and Screen Award in Mumbai, India. As a stunt coordinator attached to advise the TV show Emmerdale he won ten Soap Awards and was nominated for an NTA for The Storm. Although the Emmerdale Plane Crash is still the event he is most asked about. He was the Queen Alien in James Cameron's Aliens, has been in three James Bond Films and looked after the fun in comedy shows from Mrs Browns Boys to Russ Abbott. He was the UK Jury member at the European Film Awards 2000 in Strasbourg. Stuart started his career as a radio DJ and TV presenter, trained by the BBC and hosting the breakfast show on both Metro Radio (Newcastle) and Radio Orwell (Ipswich). He is one of the UBN DJs from the 1970s and played the DJ Dave Farrell in the TV soap Radio Phoenix. It is a wonder so much comes out in just 25 minutes with them before they go on stage. Stuart is now a full-time writer. Between them, they have been involved in cutting-edge drama for over 100 years. That is without adding in interviewer Jean Heard's West End and TV career, also trained at RADA; she didn't get a look in. Both Robert and Stuart are regular guests at festivals and events and on cruise ships. They do appear together at land-based literary festivals when their diaries coincide, and they have ambitions to appear at the Hay Festival and Edinburgh one day. However, with full diaries, it won't be 2022.

Tuesday 5 July 2022

We recently went on our first SAGA cruise

The SAGA ocean-going cruise ship, the Spirit of Adventure, is one of the newest ships at sea.

SAGA refers to itself as a boutique cruise line. We looked up the meaning of 'boutique' and the phrase that fits is a small company that offers highly specialized services or products. Its product is for those 50 or above, but it specialises in the great care of those who may need a little more help, some maybe a little older. On our cruise, with them, the average age was said to be 77, and we are not sure if that included the crew but it probably included guest artists like the 19-year-old drummer and the rest of the musicians and acts, because they are full guests whereas the resident hosts and musicians are crew and wear badges.

There is normally a Chaplin on board, the menu is traditional and the speciality restaurant should be informed if you like spice when you order. After our first meal, we asked for a spice level of 10/10 and it was great.

The all-inclusive tours normally have space as they tend to be panoramic type tours. That buzz word panoramic on all cruises tends to mean a coach journey seeing the sights, with one or two photo stops. Of the three we took, one was just that with the toilet stop longer than the photo stop, the second was a museum with lifts plus a coach tour (Ephesus), and the third would have been tough for anyone with walking difficulties and they clearly said that. That tour also included a museum and was by far the best for us. (Troy). Our film of the three comparing the tours is here. SAGA WEB PAGE

Back to the ship. The TV is great, very modern, with biographies, loads of movies and talks from the captain and crew plus menus and other information, the daily paper and events. I guess these will soon be on an app as they have gone this far. There are very set dining times, breakfast ends at 10 am. Lunch ends at 2 pm, and dining is over early. Often both salad options on the menu had meat in (see menu above), and sliced turkey will have pork sausages and bacon laying on it in the serving bowl.

There is room service which many who rarely venture from their rooms take advantage of, and the waiters are dressed butler-like. There is only one show, then the ship goes very quiet. The upstairs Britannia lounge will have a small gathering and the guest entertainers are normally there and the hosts have to dance until 11.30 which is similar to Cunard. A trio backs the cabaret act, and the house band is a trio with a singer. There are some sail-away events, either a duo, the house band or the hosts.

The ship is very new in design and has many new features. These include the five vertical fire and flood zones (unlike other ships they number their zones with Zone 1 starting at the back, zone 5 being the front and a helicopter rescue area that was used during our cruise. (film). Having two separate power generator plants, each with two generators (nine-cylinder diesel) and them being away from each other means a fire or flood in one area allows the ship to function. They can produce up to 6900 volts! SAGA WEB PAGE

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click the picture for reviews[/caption]

Right down to USB sockets to charge your device not just in your cabin and in the library but in other places on the ship, it is a ship designed to meet the future of cruising. The use of an electronic device to read or listen to an audiobook is definitely a nod to the future too, as there are no real books in the library (apart from the book swap pile). We can confirm that is where the market is because our own books are read mainly in the Kindle library and sell more on Audiobook than in paperback. If you are new to our cruise crime series, start at the beginning and get to know the characters. Cruise Ship Heist is book 1 although each is a separate story and can be read as a stand-alone novel.

The fins or stabilisers are side fins that are pushed out hydraulically and operated independently by a computer driver sensor to stop the ship from having a bad rolling motion when the sea is rough. The Captain suggested even with a side wind the tilt was expected to be no more than ten or eleven degrees. Being a small ship, and the smallest we have been on for some time, they do move more with the sea than bigger ships. The pitch front to back, or up and down is noticeable so if you suffer from sea-sickness choose to stay in the middle and low down. Also, pack the wristbands. There is a tiny shop on board and small jewellers, but this all-inclusive ship does not work on the need to sell. You are not chased by the waiters like you are on ships that have to meet targets. There are also two bow propellers in tunnels through the ship to help side manoeuvres and parking at the birth (the modern version of side thrusters).

The manoeuvrability of the ship is fantastic. It has 2 x Siemens SISHIP SiPODs that can swivel a full 360 degrees (on a large cog driven by 4 x internal motors) meaning the ship can pirouette. The electric motor that drives the high skew propellor (that pulls the ship rather than pushes) is in the pod (one in each), not the ship, which means no shaft and less vibration.

The small ship is not actually small, and it dwarfed the R-class Azamara ship next to it in Lisbon. At 236 m long it keeps at 999 guests to be referred to as a small ship. However, it is roomy and spacious, though the speciality restaurants get busy as people look to sample the more adventurous food.

The top speed of 18 knots was beaten by a run at 19 knots during our stay

During our 4-week cruise, the ship was half full. 524 guests and 535 crew were on board. The following amounts were consumed.

Lobster main coarse on formal night[/caption]
nearly 0.5 tonnes of Lobster
5 tonnes of chicken
85,000 eggs
3,000 ltrs of ice cream
15,000 bottles of wine
1,500 bottles of liquor

Incineration and waste are done at least 12 nautical miles out, and they have the latest ecosystems and incinerators inside. There are three SLCE water makers and each can produce 10 tonnes per hour. There is a storage capacity of 1,400 tonnes of water. The fire-fighting system is also the newer vapourised water approach. This means a mist of vapourised water is used to consume the fire, but uses less water and gives less of a flooding problem than when fighting fire with sprayed water. There are two fixed pump areas, each with 14 pumps, ready to be used for fire fighting. Hot steam is also pumped around the ship from a couple of boilers, to heat the water. But the ship also uses exhaust fumes to reheat.

To keep you cool there are 4 x chillers, each with 6 compressors. These are used for cooling and air-conditioning. The ship still uses external seawater to cool the engines, and this is via scrubbers (filters) in the 'sea chest'.

It is very heartening to know that the ship can remain afloat with two of the five watertight sections flooded. That it uses two types of fuel (14,500 tonnes fuel capacity) so carries the cleaner gas oil when a port demands, meaning better access to destinations. At full speed it uses 70 tonnes of fuel a day, and 40 tonnes when cruising. On a port-day (8am to 5pm) it will use 6 to 7 tonnes.

The air rescue area at the front of the bow is only overlooked by 4 master suites. This deck is normally a crew relaxation deck on most cruise ships, so on these ships, the crew get the court area on deck 14, which means no ball games, no walking football. Cabin Video here.

This is our own film of the ship, showing what it has to offer. Please share and embed.