It was too hot to go out anywhere during the day and at night I laundered and wiped down floors and walls in spite of the drop cloths and protective sheets I had hung in stairways and halls. On what was supposed to be the last day of work, I watched the last man spackle and smooth. He left without a word, which was his usual way, early in the afternoon. I removed all the protective covers and did one more top to bottom mopping of our three flights of stairs and went off to a meeting for Dominic's highschool co-op. But apparently the spackler wasn't actually finished. While I was gone, he returned and sanded all the spackle. I came home to the worst disaster yet and this time, there was nothing to contain the dust. When the contractor said he would be back the next day to paint, we said absolutely not. We were done. And we made our thoughts known to all who were participant in this foolish enterprise of recommending we occupy a house under major construction in a Middle Eastern country in July.
It turned out that the men would not have been able to paint comfortably anyway. By 10 am the next morning, we were receiving our ship freight- our bakeware, our linens, hundreds of books, our piano, wall-hangings, scooters, and crafts supplies. Crate after crate of stuff we hadn’t seen since we packed out in March.
This is our 6th move, but ship-freight receiving day still feels like Christmas every time. And the pressure was on- in less than two weeks, 20 family members and close friends were descending on us for one big, fat, Greek... family reunion. In one week we needed to have the guest room ready. We had to extricate our beach bag with bathing suits and sunscreens, we needed to dig our guest bedsheets and towels out of boxes and wash them, and we had to find the dishes and servingware that we would be using to feed our visitors. And now that I had my Cricut, I had to rush to create 20 t-shirts as well. The night before we left for the reunion cruise, Danny was ironing the last three shirts.
And then, the grand reunion began. On Wednesday, August 2, we took up our luggage and floppy straw hats (and 20 matching t-shirts) and marched down the street to the bus stop a third of a mile down the road.
For the next nine days we would float around on the Rhapsody of the Seas visiting Mediterranean ports of call new to all of us. Our first stop was Ayia Napa, Cyprus. My parents went with their friends to Fig Tree Beach. The cruise excursion offerings didn't impress the rest of us so we just walked off the ship and went looking for a beach that was within walking distance. We found one that was off the beaten path-- pretty empty and clean-- and we were all thrilled.
The water was unexpectedly gorgeous... toe-hair quality! Jackpot! (Danny says I should pause here to explain the Andollo Family beach water clarity metric. Growing up in South Florida, we spent summers and long weekends and some short weekends too on the Atlantic shore. We created a scale to quantify water turbidity based on how far down our leg we could see when the water was at our hips. Toe nail quality was, for a long time, the apex of water clarity. That is, until one particularly fine day that the ocean water was clear enough that I could see the little blond hairs on my 13 year old big toe and a new gold standard was set. Folks, the waters of Ayia Napa on this day met the gold standard.)
The second port was Limassol, Cyrpus. We went on an excursion to Paphos that was totally forgettable. While Paphos has an intriguing history, we found our tour guide to be misinformed in both his Greek mythology and his Biblical history, and when one tried to engage him in conversation, he made no sense.
The Bible records that after Stephen was martyred, many Christians scattered from Jerusalem, and some ended up in Cyprus (Acts 11). From Cyprus some of the believers went to Antioch in Syria and began to evangelize the Greeks there, “telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.” One of the things our tour guide said was that Paul went to Paphos to convert the pagan people there. Truth is, Christians were already at work spreading the Gospel before Paul took his first missionary journey to Paphos, with Barnabas (who was originally from the island) and John Mark (Acts 13:4–13).
What we did see: Ancient floor mosaics, the “Tomb of the Kings” holding the remains of exactly zero kings, and scrubby patches of plant matter holding on for dear life.
Day four took us to our third stop- Rhodes. None of us purchased excursions for this small island, having followed the advice of other bloggers who noted that the walls to this once-critical commercial and military municipality were a short walk from the dock. Instead, Danny, who had used his phone to make a quick survey of the area before our arrival, led us from one end of the medieval city to the other. And this we did in our fancy matching t-shirts.
Our group then split up, returning through the city at each person's own pace with time to wander and get lost. Some stopped at The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes (hospital to the Knights of Saint John during medieval times), others lunched at the Roloi Clock Tower, and a few bought souvenirs.
As for our family, we sampled the gelato. (It was better than in Cyprus.) Our day in Rhodes made the Top 3 list for lots of us-- I think we just enjoyed being together! Tovi in particular was excited to know that Rhodes was once the home of The Colossus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The bronze statue was destroyed by an earthquake about 200 years before Christ. Herod the Great is known to have visited the island on official business and Paul did as well while returning to Jerusalem from his third missionary journey. (Acts 21:1) And now we too can be counted among those who have walked its stone paths and garden oases.
By the fifth day, some in the group were starting to catch colds. Danny was among them and decided to stay on ship with Tovi and Gigi instead of touring "idyllic" Santorini. My parent's friends also got sick and offered their winery tour excursion tickets to me and to Noemie. I bought another ticket for Dominic and the three of us boarded a tenderboat to see what there was to be seen on the volcanic island that has become synonymous with Greek glamour.
A very bohemian sort of glamour but a glamour in its own right, I suppose. We took a cable car up to the top of the cliffs, and I tried not to think of La Paz, nor of the colorful Andy Warhol renditions of Che Guevara shamelessly, ignorantly emblazoned on my cable-car neighbor's head wrap. (No sense in getting riled up on vacation.) From the top we wound our way to the Oia Plaza with its Church of Panagia Platsani, which we were not permitted to enter, and from whose side streets one can find tourists lined up to take their photos of the white buildings with their blue dome rooftops.
So... boring.
For an island that boasts "its own unique culture, profound history, and rich cuisine," all we saw were cookie-cutter buildings, stray cats, and souvenir shops. We did try the gelato at Lolita's and this one took the prize. So there's that. At the winery, the wind was incredible. Apparently, this is the norm as all the umbrellas at the outdoor tables where tied down with chains. But there was nothing that could hold down Noemie's hair.
Cheese, crackers, wine. I'd rather have explored a black sand beach or danced a Syrtos. Maybe I was unenthused because I was missing my best friend.
“ I think I just got some donkey poop dust in my eye… AHHH! I got it in my mouth!!!!”
For our sixth day, Danny got us an independent guide to the city of Ephesus. This was a brilliant move on his part in one way, and a dangerous move in another. We had a bus to ourselves, a guide who learned our names and interests, and our guide also happened to be a certified archaeologist who had participated in dig teams himself... meaning he actually knew stuff.
We got to decide which sites to see and how long to stay at every stop. If you've ever gone shopping with me, you know that I am excruciatingly slow when it comes to spending money. I see a lovely vase. I over-analyze everything-- from value to appreciation, from usefulness to whether or not it matches the decor. Was it made in an ethical way? Will it survive our lifestyle?Can I buy this somewhere else for a better price? I answer every question looking at the item from every angle physically, philosophically, emotionally, theoretically, theologically... And then I do that to the next vase.
Somehow, we still had time to make stops at the amazing ruins of the ancient city, and the Temple of Artemis (Tovi checks off another Wonder of the Ancient World!) Even though our family members were on other tours, those of us who took excursions managed to catch up at the Library of Celsus. How appropriate!
At the time of Christ, Ephesus was a major center of trade, with major roads connecting to all the other significant cities in Asia Minor. Its amphitheater was the largest in the world, able to hold over 25,000 spectators (or the entire population of modern-day Santorini.) Paul journeyed to Ephesus during his second missionary trip and stayed there for two years so that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19:10).
It was in Ephesus that Paul and his companions were taken into this very amphitheater where for two hours the mob shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:23–41). (There was an uprising when Paul spoke against the shrines and household images of the goddess that were sold there.) A church did get established there, and a few years later, Paul wrote to them the letter that became the Epistle to the Ephesians. (Paul also wrote the Epistle of 1 Corinthians from there, and it was the location of the church where Timothy first pastored).
Day 7. I know what you're thinking. Dang, how long is this cruise?! And that's how it was starting to feel on the ship. Not in a bad way, just in a weird way. Seven days is a long time to be on a vacation, much moreso on a boat! In Athens our excursion took us to the Parthenon where a flood of humanity was leaking through every crevice of that monumental acropolis.
We still had one stop and one day at sea ahead of us! Every afternoon we would come back in from our 100 degree marches through one Mediterranean paradise after another, and shower. Then I would lose myself trying to speed-read through The Count of Monte Cristo. A ridiculous undertaking, in retrospect, especially when there were Abba cover band performances and Beatles Name-That-Tune quizzes to attend. At night we would all eat together in the formal dining room. This was another favorite aspect of our family reunion cruise. Our waiters were amazing, anticipating our quirky habits and making puzzles for the kids at the end of every meal. While I busied myself with two or three desserts. Somehow, despite our hours-long, intense daily treks and profuse sweating, I managed to gain weight on the cruise. I loved my waiters but they spoiled me! I may have also spoiled me. I love gelato.
Our last port of call was Mykonos. For the first time all trip, MSC Cruises, two of their ships, beat us to a port. Consequently, only two tiny tenderboats were available to assist the thousands of passengers of our boat to disembark. After four or so hours, we were finally able to make it to land, where we had planned to take a bus to a beach on the far side of the island.
By the time we arrived, we only had twenty minutes to play. Literally twenty minutes. Even still, the beach at Mykonos was remembered by those who went as a highlight. We found a little niche for ourselves on the far corner of the beach. My kids got to climb rocks, their favorite thing to do.
I loved it because I found the sand (tiny stones and pebbles) fascinating. And I always love a clean beach. The water of the Greek Isles is truly something amazing- its color, its clarity- and if you close your eyes, you can imagine the ghosts of past civilizations living their simple, vibrant lives near these same shores- children swimming out into the waters to harvest clams or sponges from the sea floor while their parents fish off of a boat farther into the water... or maybe they are tending to goats or vineyards up on the nearby cliffs where their small multigenerational homes soak in the same sunshine. My reverie is cut short however because we have to make it back before the last tenderboat and off we go, scrambling to pack up and praying under my breath that the kids don't notice the smattering of topless sun bathers interspersed among the crowd on the way to the bus stop. If they saw anything, they didn't mention it.
After a Day at Sea, (more Monte Cristo, more gluten-free pizza bar, more rock climbing for Gigi, more desserts for me,) we arrived back in Haifa on a Friday, ready to begin the last portion of our reunion, in Jerusalem, but also rushing to make it back before Shabbat started to close down the public transportation systems. Because moving 20 people about is no small feat. But for that, I will have to resume my story another day.
...To be continued...
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