October 25 - Valletta, Malta
Another missed wake-up call and an earlier than ordered breakfast. Warning for future cruisers - do not use the automated system, but call the concierge to ensure that you receive your wake-up call on time.

Our shore excursion was The Malta Grand Experience arranged through Silversea, an eight hour limo tour with a driver and guide. Compared to our two privately arranged limo tours, this tour was an amazingly good price and turned out to be one of our favorite excursions of the trip. We were driven to the St. John’s Cathedral where the driver parked and we walked around for a little bit.

We then proceeded to the Cathedral where we were blown away at the depth of craftsmanship and artisanship that was accomplished centuries prior to the advent of the machine age. If there is a modern day equivalent of this awe inspiring artistry, I would greatly appreciate someone clueing me in on the location. They are in the process of restoring a lot of the cathedral to its former glory and I look forward to touring the Cathedral again in a few years when the restoration has been finished.

We then toured the Grand Master’s Palace. Not a lot sticks out about the Palace. After the Palace tour, we proceeded to Mdina where a special lunch was prepared for folks on The Malta Grand Experience excursion at the Relaix & Chateaux Xara Palace Hotel. I remember this as being a very good lunch where local wines were served. I was surprised out how drinkable they were and how well they went with the food. Malta is not a big name in the wine world. I discussed the wines with our guide, and she proceeded to take us on a detour to an off the beaten track bistro and wine bar where the owner was kind enough to let us sample his house wines, made locally. I didn’t buy any as they were not corked sufficiently for traveling, but I did buy one of the local winery’s “premium” red wines for about $14, to try later on onboard ship.

We further explored the narrow streets of Mdina on foot before driving to Casa Bernard, where we were welcomed with open arms by the owners of this 17th century palazzo. A number of artworks and an interesting silver collection were the highlight of the palazzo. Quite interesting how they have restored the palazzo to its former glory. My wife is finally beginning to understand why I want our next house to be built of stone because of the sense of permanency it instills along with the lower maintenance. I am at that stage in life where lower maintenance, as Martha is want to put it, is a “good thing”. We then drove back to the ship, where we had afternoon cocktails in the pool area. So far, the weather has been just about perfect for all the excursions with clear skies and afternoon temperatures in the mid ‘70s to low ‘80s. My shorts and short sleeve shirts have been getting a workout.

Dinner was another blur, but the 1992 Domaine Leflaive Montrachet we had along with it made a lasting impression. It is reaching the latter stages of maturity, but is just an amazing Chardonnay, maybe the best I have ever had.

October 26 – at sea
Another spa morning for my wife and another poolside day for me where I continued with The Big Nowhere, a very excellent and highly recommended book. As a somewhat change of pace, I had the calzone for lunch, which was marvelous. Not much more to mention other than we ate at La Terraza where it seemed fitting to have the Ornellaia purchased on our tour of Tuscany. A very, very good wine, but opened and consumed way to early. On the way back to the suite, I remember being struck with the notion that the wine drinking for this cruise has started to get more than just a little decadent given the number of world class wines consumed so far with more to come.

October 27 – Heraklion, Crete
Another earlier than ordered breakfast. We headed off for a Silversea booked excursion to The Minoan Palace of Knossos. This was an interesting tour, but was very crowded. I’m glad we took this tour towards the end of the tourist season. It would not have been enjoyable at any other time. The standout memory was the size of the figs being hawked at the entrance to the site, and how much they were asking for them! The town itself is quite beautiful with a plethora of Mediterranean vegetation including some stunningly beautiful bougainvilleas just about everywhere you turned.

Back on board a little before 1pm, where we proceeded to the pool area for a Pimm’s cup. We were prompted to try the Pimm’s cup by some Brits who had ordered some at the poolside bar. I had my first one a couple of months earlier at the Napoleon Bar in New Orleans, and was impressed with how thirst quenching they are, albeit very different from your run of the mill gin and tonic - New Orleans, our favorite city in the U.S., may you rise out of the ashes like a Phoenix. The day was quite warm with a high was in the low ‘80s, and they hit the spot. For a change of pace, my wife had the Greek salad for lunch, which was quite good. I finished the Big Nowhere, and went back to the suite and watched one of the in suite movies, Kingdom of Heaven. If ever there was a movie that was apropos for viewing a cruise entitled Nights and Minotaurs, this was it – very interesting movie with a tendency for ponderance. It did leave me with this nagging question - has Orlando Bloom been in a movie yet that he has not been involved with a sword?

Another dinner that I can’t remember other than the wine. We opened the 1995 Taittinger Comtes De Champagne Blanc de Blanc for the beginning of the meal and then had the 1986 Leoville Las Cases for the entrée. This is very serious juice and without a doubt the best wine I had on the trip. This is consistently one of the best bordeauxs of France over the last two decades. If you love wine and haven’t had one, one word – splurge. One nice amenity for wine drinkers on Silversea is that they will recork and save the unfinished wine for serving at a later meal. We recorked the champagne, but finished the Las Cases.

October 28 – Rhodes, Greece
A morning tour of Mt. Filerimos & the Knight’s Legacy was scheduled at 8am. The bus took us to Mount Filerimos where we visited the Church of our Lady built by the Nights of St. John. Less than impressive. From there we headed to the Palace of the Grand Masters that was rebuilt by the fascists during WWII. The overall impression was an eerie disjointedness, as if the restoration did not involve the celebration of anything, rather a need to "show off". Leaving the palace, we walked along the cobblestoned Street of the Knights, where the alligator/crocodile drain spouts in the rooftops were supposedly the inspiration for the Izod logo. From here, back to the ship for another lazy afternoon in the full sun. I went for the Greek salad as well and put a damper on the afternoon cocktails - my shorts were starting to get a little uncomfortable.

We opened the 1990 Bollinger R D for the first course at dinner, which we had served course by course in our suite. The full size table is a very nice addition compared to the ones in the Vista and Veranda suites and it makes in suite dining a lot more enjoyable. We watched the March of the Penguins, a fascinating movie, and called it a day.

October 29 – Kusadasi, Turkey
Okay, folks. This was far and away the cultural highlight of the trip. A 30 minute bus drive along the coast and then six miles inland brought us to the city of Ephesus, which in its heyday was located on the coast. Hmmm, how to adequately describe it. First, the city is HUGE, being the second largest city of the Roman empire. It was abandoned somewhere around the 8th century as a result of malaria because of the retreat of the coastline away from the city leaving behind a marsh. One of the great cities of antiquity, many apostles are reported to have passed through and/or lived in the city. The Virgin Mary accompanied by St. Paul is said to have come to Ephesus at the end of her life. St. John is supposed to have lived out his life here.

One thing that has to be mentioned is that the site is only 10-15% excavated and will continue to change and be worth revisiting every few years for decades into the future. The inhabitants had hot and cold running water, central heating, an amphitheater comparable to many present day university stadiums, a latrine with running water, a high class brothel (ahhhh, the perks of civilization), and numerous private houses with intricate mosaics adorning the floors of the entryways.

Again, what came across to me was the craftmanship and artisanship prevalent everywhere you look. It is mindstaggering to think of the sophistication prevalent over 2,000 years ago in spite of the lack of mechanization. In my opinion, the only difference between the culture of those days and the present is that we have been revolutionized by the scientific method and its subsequent discoveries in the last few centuries. Otherwise, I would consider this culture at its height as possibly more sophisticated than our present day culture. This is one of those places that you have to see. Words, particularly by such a poor scribe as myself, just can’t do it justice.

For our final night, we had the 1996 Verget Batard Montrachet, a monumental white burgundy that blows away the Domaine Laflieve that we had earlier in the cruise.