Internet and WiFi in Venice

He found the WiFi hotspot too( in the Campo St. Maurizio, Venice)
Originally uploaded by dlisbona

Maybe it's something to do with all the water sloshing around in Venice but Venice is somewhat of a desert as far as Internet and Wifi connections are concerned.

There are not many Internet cafes. The ones I found:
- east of the Santa Lucia railway station (on the way to the ghetto)
- in the Mondadori bookshop just west of the Paizza San Marco
- between the Piazzale Roma and San Toma
The nice orthodox Jews of Chabad in the Jewish quarter will also let you use their Internet connection for a little while.

The Internet cafe near the railway station would nort let me connect my laptop "beacuse of the Italian anti-paedophile laws". These incidentally require every user in an Internet cafe to show a passport or other photo ID.

I stalked the streets or should I say canals of Venice looking for a free Wifi connection. Lonely Planet recommends the Ghetto Nuovo ot the Fondamenta della Misericordia. I could find none there. I had almost given up when I finally found a good connection in the Campo St. Maurizio, not far from the Campo San Stephano and the Accademia.

Costa Serena cruise -the first 4 days (B)

We are at the half-way point of a 7-day cruise on the super-cruiser Costa Serena sailing from Venice to Bari (Italy), Olympia (Greece), Izmir and Istanbul (Turkey) before returning to Venice via Dubrovnik (Croatia).

I had the privilege of arriving in Venice a day before the cruise and enjoying (not for the first time) visiting this incredible city. Our cruise on the super cruiser Costa Serena left punctually at 18:00 on Sunday not before some anxiety related to suitcases that had got lost on the way. But our suitcases all made it on board before we sailed - quite a few others were not so lucky. The first night's excitement included Lily knocking on our door at 2 a.m. to say that she wanted to see a doctor because she felt very bad. Although the doctor was able to give her some symptomatic relief, her cramps and nausea persisted and in the end she returned to Israel prematurely.

On Monday at 11:00 we docked in the port of Bari in eastern Italy for a very short stop. Bari has some memories - my Dad was there in the war and Lily immigrated to Israel in 1949 from Bari. Not much to see but we stocked up on chocolate, drank capuccino and wandered around. The next morning we arrived in the very small port of Katakolon in Greece whose main claim to fame is that it is only 40 km from the historic site of Olympia, a major tourist attraction in the classic sense. Katakolon (aka Katakolo) seems to live primarily from the cruise ships that dock there and send visitors to see Olympia. The main street of Katakolon is just shops selling tourist souvenirs except for a pharmacy which I can reccommend - the pharmacist was most helpful in finding some medication that Lily had forgotten. We wandered along the main street and ended up in a cafe by the water only to be joined by the tour groups from our ship who had got up early to visit Olympia and came now to eat feta cheese and see some Greek 'folk' dancing.

Yesterday brought us to Izmir in Turkey (also known by its historic name of Smyrna ) which is quite a big city. Unfortunately I couldn't see any of it because I was busy taking Lily to the airport to catch a flight to Istanbul. After I had delivered her into the safe hands of Ofer I took the Istanbul metro (known as the "Hafif Metro" ) and a tram to get to the Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) area where I had booked a hotel for the night. I enjoyed as always travelling by public transport in a foreign country and this was the cheapest ever transfer from an airport to town center - a total of 2.40 YTL - less than 1.20 Euro. I got off the tram at the Sultanahmet stop on Divan Yolu and immediately had a sight of the amazing Blue Mosque with its 8 minarets. Just opposite the tram stop are the 2 branches of the English Bookshop - the place in Istanbul to buy books in English, especially about Turkey. A few minutes walk and I found the Hotel Saba strategically placed a few hundred yards from the Sultanahmet mosque. I'd found this hotel on the Internet offering a clean nice-sized room with breakfast (and free Wireless Internet) for the special offer price of 36 Euro. An unexpected treat in the hotel was the rooftop restaurant with a stunning view of the area and the Sea of Marmara.

Less than 100 yards away is the Turkmenistan resturant with an excellent Economy meal for 10 Euro only accompanied by live (and loud) ethnic Turkish music. Speaking of loud (and I write these lines at 5:10 a.m.), one of the disadvantages of staying close to the Blue Mosque (or probably any other large active mosque) is that the muhazzin wakes one with the call to morning prayers at 05:00 wonderfully amplified thanks to the wonders of Western electronics. Oh well, I was planning to get up early anyway.....

Photos of the trip at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlisbona/sets/72157604635858783/detail/ - click on thumbnails for larger sizes and complete descriptions.

Costa Serena cruise -the first 4 days

We are at the half-way point of a 7-day cruise on the super-cruiser Costa Serena sailing from Venice to Bari (Italy), Olympia (Greece), Izmir and Istanbul (Turkey) before returning to Venice via Dubrovnik (Croatia).

 

I had the privilege of arriving in Venice a day before the cruise and enjoying (not for the first time) visiting this incredible city.  Our cruise on the super cruiser Costa Serena left punctually at 18:00 on Sunday not before some anxiety related to suitcases that had got lost on the way. But our suitcases all made it on board before we sailed - quite a few others were not so lucky. The first night's excitement included Lily knocking on our door at 2 a.m. to say that she wanted to see a doctor because she felt very bad. Although the doctor was able to give her some symptomatic relief, her cramps and nausea persisted and in the end she returned to Israel prematurely.

 

On Monday at 11:00 we docked in the port of Bari in eastern Italy for a very short stop. Bari has some memories - my Dad was there in the war and Lily immigrated to Israel in 1949 from Bari.   Not much to see but we stocked up on chocolate, drank capuccino and wandered around.  The next morning we arrived in the very small port of Katakolon in Greece whose main claim to fame is that it is only 40 km from the historic site of Olympia, a major tourist attraction in the classic sense.  Katakolon (aka Katakolo) seems to live primarily from the cruise ships that dock there and send visitors to see Olympia.  The main street of Katakolon is just shops selling tourist souvenirs except for a pharmacy which I can reccommend - the pharmacist was most helpful in finding some medication that Lily had forgotten.  We wandered along the main street and ended up in a cafe by the water only to be joined by the tour groups from our ship who had got up early to visit Olympia and came now to eat feta cheese and see some Greek 'folk' dancing.

 

Yesterday brought us to Izmir in Turkey (also known by its historic name of Smyrna ) which is quite a big city. Unfortunately I couldn't see any of it because I was busy taking Lily to the airport to catch a flight to Istanbul.  After I had delivered her into the safe hands of Ofer I took the Istanbul metro (known as the "Hafif Metro" ) and a tram to get to the Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) area where I had booked a hotel for the night. I enjoyed as always travelling by public transport in a foreign country and this was the cheapest ever transfer from an airport to town center - a total of 2.40 YTL - less than 1.20 Euro.   I got off the tram at the Sultanahmet stop on Divan Yolu and immediately had a sight of the amazing Blue Mosque with its 8 minarets. Just opposite the tram stop are the 2 branches of the English Bookshop - the place in Istanbul to buy books in English, especially about Turkey.  A few minutes walk and I found the Hotel Saba strategically placed a few hundred yards from the Sultanahmet mosque.   I'd found this hotel on the Internet offering a clean nice-sized room with breakfast (and free Wireless Internet) for the special offer price of 36 Euro.  An unexpected treat in the hotel was the rooftop restaurant with a stunning view of the area and the Sea of Marmara.

 

Less than 100 yards away is the Turkmenistan resturant with an excellent Economy meal for 10 Euro only accompanied by live (and loud) ethnic Turkish music. Speaking of loud (and I write these lines at 5:10 a.m.), one of the disadvantages of staying close to the Blue Mosque (or probably any other large active mosque) is that the muhazzin wakes one with the call to morning prayers at 05:00 wonderfully amplified thanks to the wonders of Western electronics. Oh well, I was planning to get up early anyway.....

 

Photos of the trip at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlisbona/sets/72157604635858783/detail/  - click on thumbnails for larger sizes and complete descriptions.

Jordan Sukkot 2007

Sukkot (Tabernacles) is one of the Jewish holidays that is spread over a whole week so Irit has holiday from school and we can go somewhere on vacation during that week. The same thought occurs to several hundred thousand other Israelis whough which is why most flights from Israel and hotels and B&Bs in Israel are packed during that week.

Since I’m not wild about crowds I thought we might go to Jordan for a few days, not a popular holiday destination amongst Jewish Israelis (see previous post). It’s close, only a car ride away, and I’ve been thinking about Jordan for years. I had bought some guidebooks, I did some homework on the Internet and made some hotel reservations by phone. In retrospect most of these were unnecessary because most hotels in Jordan are rather empty during the month of Ramadan.

Anyway we set off from Haifa on Saturday morning with the car and within an hour we were at the Jordan River crossing point near Bet She’an in northeastern Israel. The crossing point was not very busy and the crossing took about 75 minutes including buying insurance for the car in Jordan and changing Israeli number plates to Jordanian one. We’ve been through this crossing point twice before (albeit not with a car) so most of the procedure was familiar. The officials on the Israeli side were indifferent and the Jordanian ones were welcoming if a little slow.

We drove down the main road that runs along the Jordanian side of the Jordan valley which runs through a series of poor towns and villages. This is definitely 3^rd world compared to Israel. Every 20 kilometres or so there is a checkpoint manned by the army. Occasionally they ask to see our passports (we show them our European ones), more usually when they see we are tourists, they wave us on. Towards the Allenby Bridge a new road leads off to the right which is blocked by heavily armed soldiers in grey uniforms, we continue on the old road. Soon we come to the start of the Dead Sea Highway and the turn off for the so-called Baptism site where Jesus was baptized by John. We leave our car in the parking lot and join a tour that goes by shuttle bus down to the edge of the Jordan River. At one point we see a “competitive” baptismal site on the Israeli side of the river, complete with the obligatory Israeli flag. Our Jordanian guide tells us that, not only is the Jordanian side the true baptismal site, but also that it is much cheaper to visit (8 Jordanian dinars = $11 compared to $100 which he claims it costs to visit the Israeli side (I very much doubt it). The other visitors with us on the shuttle bus include an attractive Lebanese lady banker who’s taking some time off after visiting the Amman branch of the bank she works for.

From the Baptismal site we drive a few kilometers down the Dead Sea Highway to the area of the plush Dead Sea hotels. We check out the Movenpick but find it uninterestingly luxurious and move on the Dead Sea Panorama above the Dead Sea. We have something to drink – the only other guests are an Indian family that lives and works in Amman. We then went to check out the Janna Spa , a beautiful Spa hotel with hot springs tucked away in the desert mountains. There too we find the hotel virtually empty. From the empty roads to the empty restaurants and hotels we are beginning to understand that, at least now, it is a very quiet period for tourism in Jordan.

Travelling to Jordan

We live in Israel, a country in the Middle East. Our closest neighbour is Jordan with whom we have the longest border. From the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 we were (formally) at war with Jordan until 1994 when a peace treaty was signed between King Hussein and Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin. At that time there were high hopes of a Middle East peace that everybody could profit from. Busloads of Israeli tourists “invaded” Jordan and Jordanian tourist operators built new hotels especially around Petra to accommodate the sudden new influx of tourists. But Jordan is the kind of place where Israelis would come once only and by 2000 the peace atmosphere had soured and all the new tourism dried up.

I went to Jordan the first time for a short day trip from Eilat to Aqaba in 1994. I took my daughters who were then 10 and 14 and didn’t feel comfortable in the Arab atmosphere. I felt fine but immediately saw that Jordan is no big deal. What I mean by that is that for the many years that Jordan was Israel’s enemy, it was pictured in Israeli conciousness as a big country with a powerful and competent army. Once again, the picture of the enemy over there was very different for the reality we encountered with our own eyes once we could visit freely for ourselves. We suddenly saw Jordan for what it is, a relatively poor, Middle Eastern country, underdeveloped by European standards, a far cry from the modern and highly Westernized Israel and therefore not really a potent enemy (in military terms) compared to Israel’s might.

I didn’t go again to Jordan until 2 years ago on my trip to India. At the time I was unable to get flight tickets from Israel to India at the time we wanted to travel, and a creative travel agent suggested we travel overland to Amman (it’s only a few hours) and take a flight from there to Delhi. It was an excellent idea – Amman Airport is pleasant and provincial and the Jordanian Airlines flight to Delhi was short and comfortable. More importantly it showed us that (contrary to popular perception amongst Israeli Jews) there’s nothing particularly frightening about traveling to Jordan. Israeli newspapers occasionally rate various countries for how anti-Semitic they are and Jordan regularly appears at the top of the list. Since over 50% of the population are Palestinian (i.e. refugees or descendants of refugees) that’s maybe not that surprising. On a personal level there was nothing in our short experience in Jordan which justified feeling uncomfortable.

Back to reality

In a few hours “our” cruise ship will dock at the port of Savona which we left 12 says ago. It seems like a year, so have we been transported into another world where we see the sea and the sun all day, visit different countries without having to pack our bags, we have time to read, sunbathe and blog, our room is tidied twice a day and we can eat as much as we like. I shall miss the Costa Romantica. It’s a long time since I’ve spent 12 days in such a special house with such intensive interaction with the crew. It’s not like that at a holiday hotel or resort.

It has been a very special and enjoyable vacation. Not one that I would have thought of before my Dad suggested it. But now I suspect that some of us are hooked. Most of us are talking about another cruise vacation some time. My Dad is talking of next year when he will be 96. Would we go on another Costa cruise? Well, we might…..the experience was very positive. The eternal question, when it arises, will be whether to try something new or to return to what we know and enjoyed. This cruise was a blind date for us but it worked out well.

While we were in Malaga, I picked up (at a bargain price) the 2005 edition of a Berlitz guidebook “Ocean Cruising” . Its review of Costa Cruises shows a known Anglo-Saxon cultural bias against things Continental or non-traditional cruising. I quote “ The [Costa] ships have a distinctive “European” feel to them, in their décor and manner of product delivery, which is very laid back. “. In fact the only harsh word I heard from any passenger to any member of staff was an American complaining that the English-speaking host was 3 minutes late for an appointment. If this is what American cruisers are like, then I’m proud to be considered laid back. The Berlitz guide continues “ The lifestyle on board is perceived to be Italian – lively, noisy with lots of love for life and a love of the casual to the nth degree”. “Although the “spit and polish” of fine service is missing, the staff are friendly and lively” .

The author is presumably a very proper English gentleman but our family is Middle Eastern and the lively family atmosphere suits us just fine. The Berlitz guide gives the highest rating for a cruise ship to the German Hapag-Lloyd’s “Europa” which is supposed to be very distinguished and refined. It would be interesting to try it out to taste the difference. See you there.

Hungarian professor from Verona

On one of the first days of the cruise I saw one of the ship’s officers in the buffet dining room at lunchtime. When I looked at his badge, it said “Ship’s surgeon – Professor such-and-such” . Strange, I thought. Not the surgeon bit. This is just a hangover from 18^th century naval terminology. In those days the only ships’ doctors were surgeons, that is to say, if there was anything wrong with any particular part of your body, they would cut it out or cut it off. Fortunately medicine, including ships’ medicine has progressed a bit since them. But seafarers are conservative types so they still call them surgeons.

No, the strange thing was the professor bit and his name. “Professor?….” I asked him quizzically. “Yes,” he replied, “I am the head of the Emergency Department at the University Hospital of Verona. Every year (during my vacation) I come to work for a month as a doctor on a ship.”

“But you are not Italian…” I continued to probe. “I am from Hungary. I came to Italy during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956”.

We shouldn’t need it but with 2 members of our group who are not exactly youngsters (88 and 95) we should be prepared for any problems. It’s comforting to know we have a Hungarian professor of Emergency Medicine on board.