Last Night to have a chance....

When I last left you, we were looking forward to a Northern Lights Safari tour. To make a long story short, it turned out to be a five hour mini-bus ride in a snowstorm! Naturally, we were pretty bummed out that we didn’t get to see the lights on Friday night. Especially since we paid something like $150 each for the privilege of driving 90 miles in said snowstorm.

However, Saturday night was another story. During the day the sky was finally clear. We even had several hours of mild sunshine, even though the outside temperature was around 30°. The sun never got more than a little bit above the horizon all day, but at least it was real sunshine. Hopes were high.

Having checked the weather, checked the forecast app, checked the Aurora app, and every other app and predictive item we could think of, we made plans to skip dinner in the dining room and put on all of our cold-weather gear to go outside as soon as it was dark. Even before it was dark, the captain came on the intercom throughout the ship and made an announcement that the Aurora was a little bit visible during the twilight. So, we rushed out of cocktail hour, grabbed our cameras and hats and went outside to take a look. Other than a few moments to warm up inside and grab a quick bite for dinner in the buffet, we’ve been out for the last three hours and are so happy we can say finally we have seen the Aurora. We saw green, red, dancing curtains, and even managed a few pictures.

Tonight we are happy campers. I imagine so is Princess Cruises after all the delays and weather related troubles we have encountered.

Alta, Norway

We are 70 degrees north of the equator, about 800 miles from the North Pole. Sunrise is at 8:30 am. Sunset is at 3:30 pm. High today is 29, low is 27. Winter is Coming.

Last year thus time was still fall; warmer by 10 degrees and no snow. We haven’t seen the sun in over a week; after 3-4 days a depression starts to set in without full spectrum light. I’m starting to feel as if I’m stuck in a George R R Martin novel; there’s gotta be an ice wall out here somewhere.

Weather forecast for tonight is the same as last night and the 3 nights before: Kp index of 6 or 7, north of the arctic circle, cloud cover 100%. We’re still going to head out and hope for the best.

On the plus side:
-We finished a couple of books each.
-The onboard entertainment has been enjoyable.
-Food and staff have been good as always.
-I have pictures of snow on the deck of a cruise ship.
-There is always Alaska.

Fingers crossed...

Aurora Forecast: In the middle of the night we received an alert from SpaceWeatherLive.com

It informed us that a large solar coronal mass has occurred—meaning there will be large auroras formed in two days time. We have the solar energy (Kp is 5), we have the new moon, all we need is clear skies. That’s not looking too good at the moment. This aurora chasing is keeping everyone on pins and needles and the topic at every table is the weather.

Here in Alesund, Norway at 10 am the weather was 48° and windy (32 mph) with steady rain. We sat at breakfast earlier and watched the wind blow clouds of rain across the harbor. Outdoors it came with sound effects. The rain is supposed to decrease, but the wind is supposed to increase over the course of the day.

Later....
It is 6 pm, we are enjoying cocktail hour. The captain came over the loudspeaker and let us know the overnight winds were 105 knots, and while they have decreased since the morning, they are still too brisk to safely depart. Maybe around midnight seems to be our best shot...he has to aim between two low pressure systems. We’ve been advised to remove breakables from the shelves and put them in drawers or on the floor. We’ll be late arriving into Tromso on Thursday, but we hope for some sort of clearing weather.

We have not yet decided whether we want to go back into town or whether we will just stay on board.

Searching for the Northern Lights

It’s a dark and stormy night. Temperature 28 degrees , plus a windchill from a 30 to 40 mile an hour wind. Snow is due anytime now. We are docked early in Alesund, Norway. We weren’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow morning, but the captain put the pedal to the metal so to speak because there’s a storm coming in from Iceland and Greenland heading down the North Sea. He didn’t think we could manage to dock in the kind of conditions that are expected with this storm.

Some of you have noticed that I haven’t really been doing a blog this trip, but enough have made a comment that I figure I need to come on here a time or two and let you know what’s up.

We flew from Albuquerque to Houston and then on to London on a week ago. The weather in London was pretty nice, we had a few showers here and there but for the most part we had a little bit of blue sky and sunshine at least once or twice a day.

We hit a few museums that we hadn’t given enough justice to the first time, plus it gave us a nice cozy place to be when the winds and the rain did arrive. We stayed in a nice little bed-and-breakfast near Victoria station, which gave us easy access to restaurants and groceries, as well as a lot of public transportation options. Third floor walk up, but go new knees!

Plus, we had tickets to HAMILTON on Thursday and very much enjoyed the production. Especially when the English audience laughed at the right parts at the portrayal of King George.

Saturday we took a coach down to Southampton, and boarded the cruise ship. In the next two days we have met up with the folks from the Cruise Critic Roll Call, held a meet and greet with the Captain and his staff, a group luncheon today and then a slot tournament where we won all our money back. We even ran into a lady we hung with on the Singapore to Rome trip last March.

It’s safe to say our time onboard has been loads of fun and quite full. The weather forecast: not so much. This is the first time Princess has done this itinerary at this time of year, so it’s a bit of a gamble as to how successful we will be. This time last year the weather was clear and there had been no snow. This year, same timeframe, snow is in the forecast for every day. It just is going to depend on when the snow shows.

Anyway, we docked in rain, ate dinner and ventured out into town. Things close up pretty early around here, 8 pm, and that’s the 7-11 and Burger King. The rain stopped, but the wind has really picked up, so we did not go far into town this evening. Keep your fingers crossed for better weather in the morning.

Three Days in Rome

Rome

Here I am back for the penultimate post for this travel series. I will do one more post after we return, and by then I hope to have sorted through the pictures and added them into the appropriate prior posts.

But for now, this is our summary of Rome. As I write this, we are resting with our feet up in the hotel room having done a whirlwind 2 1/2 day Rome tour. We have been blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather for most of our time here despite the predicted three days of rain. The only rain we had was about two hours on Sunday morning at the start of the marathon. Other than that, it has been blue sky, puffy white clouds just like in New Mexico, and temperatures of about 60-63 which has made it just perfect to stroll outside.

Saturday we had an 80-seat double decker bus with only 20 of us aboard. (It would return to the ship full of embarking passengers later in the afternoon). We dropped our luggage at our little hotel right in the center of Rome and then took off on a walking tour of some of the major sites. Our hotel is about a three minute walk from Campo de Fiori, which is a fruit and vegetable market in the mornings and filled with restaurants and diners in the evenings. We are also about a 10 minute walk from both piazza Navona and the Pantheon. So of course we went to try both of those on the same stroll. After a gelato break at Piazza Navona (Tartufo, of course!) we found the Pantheon to be packed, so we skipped it until later and headed to the Trevi Fountain. Everywhere was packed with tourists; the crowds have been heavier than during any of our prior visits, so we decided to head back towards our hotel and find some little place for dinner. We did, and sat outside and did a bit of people watching and ate lemon veal scaloppine and spaghetti with meat sauce, and a bottle of wine. That night we went over to the Colosseum for some night pictures, and walked back via the (also lit) Roman Forum and Palatine Hill before turning in. Turns out, the Colosseum was the start/finish line of the Rome Marathon to be run the next morning at 8am. The entire area was blocked off to traffic, but pedestrians were allowed in. Our feet and knees survived.

Sunday was the rainy morning start, but it was, shall we say odd, to see no traffic on any of the major streets of central Rome. Made it easy to walk, though. We meandered over to the Pantheon, watched it rain through the oculus, listened to the choir, looked at Rafael’s tomb, marveled at the construction and saw real domes, fake trompe l’oeil domes, a statue of Hercules, and then as the rain left and the sun came back out, went over to Trastevere to meet up with our great-nephew for lunch. Not sure where we ate, but had fried artichokes, burrata, and caccia e Pepe and ravioli. We were so stuffed that dinner later that night was only a little bread and cheese and that was it. Went back to the Trevi Fountain to toss in our three coins, and fight more crowds before our feet decided they were in need of a good rest before tackling the Vatican in the morning.

Monday was an easy get up, with breakfast at the hotel, which is marvelous, by the way. Juice, Cappuccino, espresso, eggs, meats, cheeses, pastries, cereals, fruit and bread from the famous bakery Roscioli which is literally six feet across the street from our front door. People come from all over Rome to get their bread and we have it delivered to our breakfast room.

We taxied over to the Vatican, where we fortunately had pre-purchased timed tickets, because the line for buying tickets was down the block and around the corner. I just measured it on google maps, and it says it was over 0.15 miles! Just to get a ticket. We walked right in, accompanied by dirty looks from those who did not prepurchase their tickets and who had to wait while tour groups and voucher holders walked by. I don’t know how many they let in at a time, but it was packed. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle behind tour groups, dash to the side when the group paused, find a spot ahead, listen to the tour commentary on Rick Steves app, repeat at the next room.

Luckily for us, when we finally arrived at the Sistine chapel we found a space to sit down along the wall, and then were able to ‘join’ a tour group at the exit directly to St. Peter’s. This saved us walking 1.35 miles to return to the museum entrance, around the Vatican walls to the Piazza entrance and another long line waiting to enter the basilica plus another security check. They told us the basilica holds 60,000 people and it felt like all of them were there today. Even so, it felt less crowded there than inside the museum.

(Somewhere in the middle of writing this, Tom opened a bottle of wine, cut up some cheese and salami, and we went up to the rooftop to sit and relax. Our puffy white clouds are still around, as is the blue sky but it is starting to turn gray to the northwest)

And that about wraps it up for today. We’re finishing up the wine and cheese, we have checked in for our flight tomorrow on American, and we will be back in Albuquerque late on Tuesday. I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as we have enjoyed writing it, and I will see you all back home.

Naples and Herculaneum

Naples and Herculaneum

Today we arrived in the port of Naples and we chose to go to Herculaneum. It took a few tries early in the morning to find an open ticket station, but we finally found one, got on the metro to the train station, bought a ticket on the Circumvesuviana train which took about 20 minutes to get to Herculaneum. Then it was a nice downhill walk to the small but beautifully preserved site. It’s right on the beach but about 70 feet below ground level, as that’s how deep the ash was.

We returned to Naples in time for lunch, and then we walked. Oh boy did we walk. As I write this my feet are propped up and I gulped down a couple more Tylenol’s. From the metro to the museum and than all the way back to the ship. Yes, it was downhill, but the ‘sidewalk’ is cobblestones, uneven and crooked. And we managed to get across the streets without getting run over. And now I think I know where the word cacophony came from. Naples is gritty and loud and exuberant and tough. It was a blast!

This afternoon is final packing, then final dinner tonight, and we depart early tomorrow morning for our hotel in Rome. I will try and post at least once from there, but it is hard to believe our cruise is over. But we are ready to come home, catch up on the news and get back to real life.

Sicily

Messina, Sicily

We took it easy in Messina today...just walking around the town which is only 1/3 mile from the dock. Plus there is a very unique astronomical clock in the main plaza on the bell tower, and we wanted to see it in action at noon. Others are heading further afield, to Taormina, or Catania, but we’ve chosen to stay in Messina as our luck with weather has run out today, with wind and rain in the forecast. And boy, did it pour....smack dab at noon when the clock does its 10 minute show. Lions roar, roosters crow, saints march and bow, angels fly and bells ring.

However cold and windy it was, we did have fun venturing out. Tom climbed the bell tower to see the inner workings of the astronomical clock. And since the bells ring every quarter hour, he got those on film, too. And since we are in Sicily, even on a cold day, we had to try ‘panna con something’ because it is ‘typical of this region’. Tom accurately described it as a Frappuccino on steroids. Half a glass of whipped cream over half a glass of coffee granita. Plus a brioche.

Our tour of Malta yesterday was foiled by a construction crane that completely blocked the road leading from the pier where we were docked. After waiting around for 2 hours trying to find out how long the delay would be, we bailed at noon, and made our way by water ferry across to old town Valletta. It was a nice stroll around the town, and we chanced upon some unique shops and bought a couple of mementos.

My new left knee is holding up well, it has become pretty good at going up and down stairs, and has no pain after several hours of standing and walking. The right knee....well it can’t keep up. I’m trying to baby it some, and icing it and taking Tylenol for these heavy walking days. But it’s happy to have a light duty day in Sicily.

We’ll just have to come back some day and see the rest of Malta and more of Sicily; certainly quite picturesque.

The really difficult adjustment we have to make is that last night we received our disembark instructions and luggage tags. Booo! It meant we have only two days left on our cruise, and the dreaded packing back up begins tonight.

Malta!

We have arrived in the port of Valletta, Malta. It’s a wonderful jumble of old and new, constructed on top of a rock fortress and protected harbor. Malta is in the middle of the Med, just about a hundred miles south of Sicily, and about 200 miles east of Tunisia. It is only about 20 miles long but the location has dictated its importance, and its history. It has been at the crossroads of trade routes for centuries and has also endured invasions by many of the worlds greatest civilizations.

Nearby is the town of Mdina, (pronounced “um-deena”), which is where the apostle Paul is reported to have made his home after being shipwrecked in the year 60 AD. We are going off to that town for a bit of a tour this morning of the cathedral and catacombs before we return to Valletta for the afternoon.

Found in 1566, Valletta is the capital of Malta and it streets are lined with baroque buildings and churches. The city is filled with parks and quaint lanes and hills, lots of hills. Fortunately, there is also one very tall elevator.
Malta is also home to the worlds oldest ancient standing buildings. Even older than Stonehenge, the Tarxian temples are 5,600 years old.

The entry to the harbor is an ‘S’ curve requiring some slick parallel-parking types of maneuvers. We awoke before sunrise to head up on top of the bridge to watch the approach and tried to freeze ourselves with the wind and cooler temperatures. It will be a warmer day (62 degrees) and sunny so we will have another beautiful port day...the predicted rain has held off for yet another day. I’m going to try and post a picture of Malta, so will keep this post short...well, shorter.

Athens

We have been blessed thus far with gorgeous weather all trip. We had a smattering of raindrops once early on, but it has been very sunny weather all trip. Early on it was sticky and sweltering, but each day has been a bit cooler than the prior one. Since Dubai, the days have been lovely and in the 70’s.

Today in Athens was our first day where we did not get up above 69. Which was good for Athens, as touring there can be miserable in the heat, and we had lots of sun with beautiful skies, and some breezy moments.

Today at the Acropolis was fantastic...we got there just a few minutes after it opened and beat the crowds, getting some lovely pictures. Tried to add a photo the other day, still don’t have the high speed internet, so no luck. Might attempt one here later, but if it doesn’t load, you will just have to wait until I get back. I know I say that a lot to you.

After the Acropolis, and a spin through the museum, we strolled through the Plaka and found the little Greek cafe where we ate in 2012. Stavros was off on Mondays, but Tia Maria was there. We showed her the pictures from 2012 and after much kissing and smiles, she took good care of us with all sorts of extra delicacies served to us with our meal. And yes she wanted another hug and a picture.

Now we are approaching Italy and the forecast is for a week of rain, and possibly chilly temperatures. Dang it. We did not bring winter coats, knowing this was a possibility and a risk. We do have warm vests, long sleeves, warm hats, gloves and umbrellas. We will see how we fare over the next few days, but we may end up shopping...and Italy is not such a bad place to have to do that.

Section Three Destinations

Yesterday afternoon we exited the Suez canal, and began our journey through the Mediterranean. We have left the desert behind, and its warm temperatures, too. Yesterday’s weather turned windy and cold shortly after we entered the canal. We even experienced a haboob sandstorm which has left the decks and outside surfaces of the ship covered in sand and mud. It has continued colder and breezy today, with everybody donning vests, jackets, long sleeves and long pants. We have our fingers crossed that the weather will hold for us for the next week or so. The weather channel is not too optimistic, but we’ve seen them wrong before.

Now that all of us passengers have been properly trained for three weeks to a schedule of a port day followed by one or two sea days, we’re about to change everything by having nine port days in a row. If you’ve not done much cruising this may not sound like anything too difficult, but it’s the cruise travel equivalent of doing an Olympic triathlon after a training regimen of late nights filled with lots of drinking and sleeping in. A port day usually involves a scramble to cram as many sights as possible into the limited amount of available time, but still be back well before All Aboard time. We’ve learned to pace ourselves, do fewer sights in a more generous time and ‘assume we will return’ someday. But it’s easy to fall into the ‘as long as we’re here let’s see this too’ trap.

I predict very few of our fellow passengers will cross the finish line. Most of them won’t make it three days, much less nine. Fortunately for us, we’re only doing the half triathlon; four days and then we bail out at Rome to rest up for three days before we fly home.

In case you are interested, the triathlon ports are: Malta, Sicily, Naples, Rome, Livorno (Pisa), Monaco, Barcelona, Mallorca and Gibraltar.

But first, we have a practice day in Athens, followed by our last sea day. We plan to revisit some of our favorite sites and restaurants. Hopefully in the sunny Med.

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal

Thursday night we left Aqaba and did a short reverse back down to the south where Friday morning we rounded the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. It’s pretty narrow here, even before the canal, with Egypt (Africa) on our port side and the Sinai (Asia) on our starboard side.

We reached our anchorage location at the southern entry to the Suez about 5pm, and remained there until the convoy formed up, formalities and payment for the transit was made, and then we seem to have been arranged by size and began to move about 4:30 am on Saturday.

About 17,000 ships go through the Suez each year, and we are told the revenue from this is over 3 billion dollars a year. That works out to over $176,000 per ship. I have a feeling we, as a passenger vessel, pay a bit more.

The canal was built in 1869 by the same fellow who started (but disastrously did not finish) the later Panama Canal. Today the Suez measures 120 miles long, 79 feet deep, and 673 feet wide. The ship is 105 feet wide, but from the deck, it feels like we take up the whole thing.

Jordan

Aqaba, Jordan

Today we decided to divide and conquer. Tom headed off on a 9 hour trip to Petra, while I went on a shorter 5 hour trip to Wadi Rum. We’ve been given pre-excursion trip information about the pink and yellow sandstone in both Wadi Rum and Petra. Now, we do realize that both are UNESCO heritage sites. But, we have to say, as we often do when visiting some of these amazing international places, the sandstone here is remarkably similar to the red sandstone we can see at Jemez in New Mexico. And the striated sandstone in the Siq is almost identical to the wind and water carved sandstone in Antelope Canyon. Just sayin’—we have some amazing natural topography in the US.

However, the Romans came to the Nabatean crossroads of Petra in the 4th century BC. It was a thriving trading city with an advanced water system that provided water to the city of Petra using narrow channels that can still be seen today. Around 60 AD there was an earthquake which unfortunately disrupted the water flow. Soon after, Petra was abandoned and eventually became an archeology, tourist and filmmaking site. (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade—but no crusading knights, holy grails, or tricky death traps).

Wadi Rum is better known as the area where Lawrence of Arabia lived, and the movie was filmed here as well. This is Bedouin country, and I visited a camp with food, dancing and a wild 4WD ride an hour each way. Pictures to be added later.

I’m able to upload this post on cell service via T-Mobile’s free international data service. Funnily enough, while I’ve just visited Jordan today, my phone has been to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan. Yep, that’s how close the borders are in this part of the world.

Lots of great pictures to add to this post upon return....

Wash Tales

(Monday-Tuesday)

On a cruise this long, it is obviously necessary to do a few loads of laundry. We do get free laundry services from the ship, but some delicates or things you need quickly are best done yourself in the sink or the self service machines onboard.

Today was wash day, so I was first into the self service room down the hall, but certainly not last. As I waited the last few minutes of the spin cycle, half a dozen or so others came and went. A woman in a robe ironing the shorts in order to dry them to be worn that day. A couple from England doing several loads who were very chatty and told me ALL about their adventures across the USA seeing 35 of our 50 states and doing the remaining 15 next year. (Look out all you Midwest states). A Chinese couple who put in a load for four minutes, then stopped the cycle, grabbed everything out of the washer (yes wet) and left. Ohhhhkay.

The other wash to speak of is the wadi. Apparently Arabic for ‘low valley where the rains gather’, aka dry wash to us from the southwest US. Upon returning to the ship yesterday, we heard many comments about how this area is one giant sand bucket. And many of the people were very dismissive of the landscape. I figure the Australians on this trip have just never seen the interior of their own country. Tom and I have seen a very little bit of it, and it is not much different from southern New Mexico, inland California, or Las Vegas, Nevada.

These are pretty lazy sea days for everyone onboard. Lazing by the pool, reading books, meeting up with friends for meals or games or just visiting. Although there are many active folks, too. This is the first time I have seen the shuffleboard courts in use on ship! It seems all the venues have enthusiasts; golf, basketball, the gym, spin classes, lap pools, ping pong tournaments, in addition to the movies, games and lectures. The ship still does not seem crowded except in Horizon Court.

For those of you keeping track of our westerly progress, yesterday at noon we were 406 nautical miles from Salalah, Oman and had entered the Gulf of Aden. Last night we made a slight right turn off the coast by Djibouti, and right at midnight we crossed the narrow passage into the Red Sea. We still have all of Tuesday and Wednesday in the Red Sea on our way up to Aqaba, Jordan where we should arrive on Thursday. Still no pirates, and this morning they removed the guard watches, took down the defensive measures and opened up the aft promenade once again.

Graham of Arabia

In lieu of writing much today, I will instead post this picture of TK Graham in front of a frankincense tree. Wearing a bit of native garb. In Arabia. Camels are across the street.

Salaleh, Oman (Sunday)

Oman
Today was a very quick port stop; only 5 hours including time to get out of the port itself . So...in similar quick fashion...port bus, taxi, frankincense tree, Sultans Palace, shopping for frankincense (Tom bought a new hat), Central Market, camels on the road, back to shuttle bus and onboard by 10:30. Pictures on Facebook. Whew! Expect more in a few days from Jordan.

Halfway

Today marks the halfway day of our trip; hard to believe. They have also told us the next week or so is iffy for satellite (and thus TV or internet) coverage. Based on what we have now, that means we won’t be hearing any news, or sending and receiving emails much except on port days, of which we only have two until we reach the Mediterranean in a week. I will try and get this posted today (Sat. 23), but we shall see if I am in time to catch the satellite cover.

We left the port of Dubai at a late hour, 11:00 pm, where we picked up 370-ish new passengers and disembarked some 325 prior passengers, including two valuable members of our trivia team. (This morning’s score was a measly 15/20, but we still don’t much care because the fabulous prizes are still Princess logo water bottles. There are the aluminum reusable ones; but we already have enough of these. We hope they run out and have to revert to the magnet clips or flashlights one day).

The new passengers got to do both a muster drill and the anti-piracy drill, and the through passengers like us were able to skip both, as the seafaring rules and regulations only require we drill once every 30 days. Speaking of anti-piracy, we feel very safe. After the spate of incidents a few years back, an international convention was created to combat the pirates, and because multiple governments belong, and share the patrol duties of these waters, there is a much better tracking and monitoring system which allows group communication of what boat is where and which might need watching. We are still rigged for defensive measures, and there is a a watch outside our window from an hour before sunset to an hour past sunrise, all through the night. We’ve seen them checking out the traffic with their night vision binoculars and recording observations by radio and logbook. Similar watch stations are set up around the ship, as well as 24/7 from the bridge. Tom just wants to see a US aircraft carrier come by. Which might be possible out here.

Right now ( Friday )we are still in the Gulf of Oman, having passed back through the straights of Hormuz last night. The capital of Oman, Muscat, is almost off our starboard side at the moment (which is 1:43 Dubai time). We will make a right turn around the corner into the Arabian Sea. It will take us another 40 hours or so to get to Salalah, on the southern coast of Oman, some 600 miles southwest of Muscat, but our total distance by sea will be 969 nautical miles between Dubai and Salalah.

Oman, which we knew nothing about before this trip, has some interesting history. The southern region, known as Dhofar, is the location of Job’s tomb. Yes, that Job, the biblical dude from the Old Testament with the worst luck ever. Except here they pronounce it “Yohb”. The Dhofar is also known for the best frankincense trees, and has a UNESCO world heritage site at Wadi Dawkah near our port with thousands of admittedly scraggly-looking frankincense trees. But remember, back in the day good frankincense was worth more than gold.

There is another UNESCO heritage site nearby, where they have preserved ancient archeological findings, and the Queen of Sheba’s palace is also recorded as having been in this area.

The current Sultan of Oman, Qaboos, has been in power since 1970, and is now 79 years old. He was educated at Sandhurst in England and has both modernized the country during his reign as well as having preserved traditional values and culture. Consequently, foreign oil companies are not as prevalent in Oman and the country (and jobs) remains nearly 80% Omani; unlike Dubai which is 80% expats and only 20% local.

Dubai

We were not quite sure what to expect in Dubai. We had seen the port brochures and looked at the ship excursions. We knew the HOHO bus was $75 which told us this was going to be an expensive city.

Here is what we found. An immaculate, modern terminal shoreside. Uber Black will get you a ride in a new Tesla. Or you can order up Uber Helicopter; about $200/30 minutes. ATM’s issue money in Dirhams, US dollars or gold. Yes, gold mini-ingots. Multiple shopping malls with high-end designer stores, along with huge aquariums, an ice skating rink and an indoor ski slope. The highest building in the world. (Burj Khalifa). The most photographed building in the world (Burj al Arab) and the Palm and World island developments, all reclaimed from the sea.

Mosques are placed every 500 meters so the locals don’t have to go far for their five times a day prayers. Only 20% of the people here are locals, the rest come from other countries. There are no taxes to speak of, so everything has a fee—schools, residency permits, rent, health care, etc. Unless you are a local, then these things are provided by your sheik.

We have definitely transitioned to a different type of climate than we found in our first ports. Today is 71 degrees, not all that humid, although the sky is very hazy. It is much more comfortable walking around.

Our tour took us on one of the small boats across the river known as Dubai Creek which separates the two parts of the old and new city. The skyscrapers were not even started until 2000, and the story is the national bird is a crane—the construction kind. Also included was to the Dubai Museum and to the gold souk. Haggling is required, and the intricate detail of the gold work is amazing. We did not buy anything in the limited time there, but we were told 70 tons of gold pass through this souk each year.

I have added picture links below...courtesy of Port Rashid medium speed WiFi...so not sure how long it will take to upload for you.