The broken ganache

We just left Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas which is a private island leased by Holland America. Really not that much to do there, unless your into snorkeling, swimming, jet skies and the like, but it was very relaxing. We have been on Holland America before and had a great time. This trip is a little off in a sense – its like a floating museum of ancient antiquities where the average age seems to be upward of mid-seventies, not that theres anything wrong with that but they seem to be a little stand-offish. We haven’t had that many goodies so far since its early in the trip and we are both trying to lose a little weight (I know its not the best time to do it in the middle of a trip – but you have to start sometime). Though last night I did have a lovely Viennese Strudel with a  vanilla cream which whas truly delightful.

Tomorrow is a day at sea on the way to Aruba where we will be trying some locally made chocolates in the Dutch tradition cant wait!

That’s it for now.

Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas

Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas

Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas

Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas

Well, we are off on  another cruise tomorrow to explore chocolate’s and treat’s around the Western Caribbean and Central America. We’ve scheduled a visit to a cacao plantation in Costa Rica which I’m looking forward to seeing how they make chocolate from bean to bar, it’s not as in-depth as the one we were going to do in Nicaragua (which we had to cancel due to everything that happened over the holidays-but we will re-schedule). But this one will still be a great introduction to the whole process.

We will keep you posted. And yes we do have house sitters while we’re gone.

Well our trip has come to an end as we sit in Fiumicino airport in Rome waiting for our flight to Philly. I do love this airport with its smoking lounge and shops, like Hermes, Bruno Magli and Prada which are perfect shops for the last-minute gifts for the fashionistas in your life. We are always a bit blue at the end of our trips since we never want them to end. When we were younger we liked flying into a place with backpack in tow exploring the town than jumping on a train and going to the next town and so on, now that we are a bit older we enjoy cruising, it’s just so much easier. You unpack just once and all your things are always with you no hassles. Plus it seems as we age our attention span seems to get shorter so doing a port for a day or two is just enough. Then on to the next and if we really love it we fly back to spend more time.

We had such a wonderful time on this trip, met some wonderful people, explored wonderful cultures and tasted all sorts of treats which I cant wait to incorporate into our own chocolates. I didn’t post in detail about all the fantastic flavor and spice combinations that we have tried – I am saving that until I post about our new chocolate creations that we will be making in the future.

Of course we have already begun planning our next trip to South America to explore the cocoa plantations to see the whole process from bean to  chocolate bar.

So in the mean time it’s back to chocolate.

Thats it for now

Fiumicino Airport Rome

Fiumicino Airport Rome

Today we arrived in Naples, where we had our hearts set on going to the island of Capri, however do to the weather conditions the ferries and hydrofoils were not running so we hopped on a driving tour of the Amalfi coast with stops in Sorrento and the village of Amalfi.  The views and landscapes were just stunning as the bus winded around some 450 hairpin turns on a two way road the size of a single lane in the States.  We stopped in Sorrento for some last minute shopping and than boarded the bus for our included “authentic Italian lunch”, well thats what they called it anyway I will just leave it at that.  All in all it was a great day even with a slightly cramped bus, slightly underwhelmed lunch and some minor rain.  On a high note we found some very quaint local chocolate shops in Amalfi and had an opportunity to sample some of their local favorites which we were exceited about.

Next stop Rome.

Last year we were in Athens and were able to see most of the sites we wanted to except the new Acropolis museum since it was closed, so this time it was on the top of our list.  The museum is beautifully designed with glass floors, perfectly displayed artifacts, stunning signage and the best use of artifacts and re-creations that we have ever seen.  All in all the museum as a whole is a marvel in architecture and design – well worth visiting. It was amazing to walk across the glass floors and see the ruins below your feet. We spent quite a bit of time there.

After that it was off to the Plaka district to do some gift shopping for our friends and family. The rest of the day was spent cafe hopping and people watching. It was fascinating to watch the gypsy people squatting on the sidewalks trying desperately to sell their wares which today was some jelly looking ball that they would throw down and watch splatter, always keeping an ever watchful eye out for the police who would run them off anytime they saw them – really was a cat and mouse game as the police would try to outsmart the gypsy sellers, but in the end the gypsies always won because they were faster and had some way of communicating the danger as it approached.

We did come across some very cute bakeries and candy shops, sampling their products but unfortunately we don’t know how to pronounce the yummy treats we tried however there was one that I loved, a little almond/lemon type cookie in a crescent shape covered in powdered sugar – it was very tasty.

Next stop the Amalfi coast and Sorrento, Italy.

Thats it for now – some snaps from today!

Yesterday we had a wonderful tour of Istanbul, with our guide Hulla. We started at the Blue Mosque, it’s the only Mosque with 6 minarets. It was fascinating to see all the blue lznik tiles of which there are 20,000. Then it was off to St. Sophia which was one of the first Christian churches built in the world which then became a Mosque then in 1934 it became a museum. The examples of Byzantine mosaics were stunning and this time we were able to take photos inside. After that we sat through a ubiquitous carpet demonstration (this being Turkey of course) which wasn’t that bad actually they had some really beautiful rugs After that it was off to the Grand Bazaar. We were told that we should haggle at the Bazaar – something neither of us are very good at so luckily we didn’t really see anything we liked. It was filled with hordes of people and all the stuff looked relatively the same just different degrees of sameness. Apparently there are over 4000 stalls and is over 2 miles of shops. As you can imagine we didn’t stay that long.  After the Bazaar Andy and I roamed around the streets of Istanbul until we came across a delightful little candy shop that carried Turkish Delight and other goodies. Neither of us had ever had Turkish Delight before and we really enjoyed it, so we bought a few boxes to bring home. We also tried Halva but I didn’t care for it as much. After roaming around for a while it was time to re-join Hulla and head back to the ship.

They had a chocolate tasting onboard which we were initially excited about until we tasted the chocolate samples. Which were waxy, gray and hard – very disappointing.

A few photos of the day below.

The day started with an announcement from the Captain that the tenders may not be able to make it into port due to the rough seas and it went down hill from there. But after 45 minutes of twiddling our thumbs while they sent out a test tender we were finally allowed to board the tenders crossing the very choppy waters to Khios. Up and down and side to side we swayed our way across the open waters – a few aboard the tender felt quite ill because of the motion, but we were fine.

Once we got onto land we were shuffled unto our bus and proceeded to wait another 20 minutes or so for other people to arrive from more tenders. Once all were finally aboard we were greeted by our guide, who was a little Greek woman who reminded me of Gouch from the movie Auntie Mame. Her hair was askew, her clothes were frumpy and she had a very thick accent that was hard to understand, but she was quite jovial at first. She went through the usual introductions and an explanation that this was the first time the island had received cruise ship passengers. Then we were off to our first stop, the Nia Moni Monastery which is an 11th century Monastery with the most beautiful Byzantine mosaics. Unfortunately we couldn’t take photos inside the Monastery. We did feel quite uncomfortable as we were herded inside since we seemed to arrive at the end of a Greek Orthodox mass (it is Sunday). When we realized what was going on we quickly exited through a side door as not to disturb the parishioners, yet other tourists poured into the chamber talking over the priest and making such a commotion, I found it all to be very disrespectful and rude. As we sat outside waiting for our guide to come out, other tourists started pouring out munching on the communion which happened to look like slices of cake (I think they thought it was snacks) – it was just so wrong in so many ways.

After the required 20 minutes on site we hopped onto the bus only to be smack in the middle of a major traffic jam. You see no one bothered to tell the locals that there were 5 large busses coming to the Monastery and our busses have now blocked everyone in, being on a large hillside with very narrow streets you can imaging the scene as all these busses had to do Y turns on a dirt road meant for a car the size of a Yugo. After more time than our actual stop we headed off to Avgonima a fortified medieval village with beautifull cobblstone streets, apparently 20 or so people still live in this village. So as we steped out we felt odd again as now we were trampling through the villagers yards gawking at how they live – As we walked the streets our guide kept going on about how nice the locals are at the moment, since it means income to the villages since Princess cruises had decided to make this a new destination but than she proceeded to infer that this will all change later as the villages will become bitter, greedy and jaded (much like our guide seemed to be after a while) so we should enjoy it now before all the changes come.

Unfortunately we didnt have time to see the mastic plantations since the Captain had sent word that the tenders were cutting the trip short do to weather – but I did find a lot of mastic goodies, like dark chocolate infused with mastic from Khios, creamy mastic candies and somthing like a pate de fruit but made with mastic. We have’nt had a chance to try them yet but as soon as we do we will let you know. The highlight of our day was a lovely ritish couple we met who worked at the BBC who brought so much joy and laughter to a cloudy day.

All in all it was quite an amusing day, but I dont think we will be coming back to Khios.

Next stop Istanbul.

It’s a beautiful day at sea as we head to Khios, Greece tomorrow.  We are actually exhausted today after traipsing around Egypt for the last 2 days so its good that it’s a sea day. As usual we are already thinking of our next trip to Egypt, but next time it will be to Luxor (Valley of the Kings) and Aswan. We have heard that they have amazing archeological ruins to see plus fresh air and a hell of allot cleaner. The tour company we used for Egypt also happens to offer a lovely 7 day cruise up the Nile river from Luxor to Aswan that we are considering.  But enough of that heres some info about Khios:

It is known for having some of the most beautiful Byzantine mozaics in the world alson with some of the best quality figs and mastic gum which they also use in cakes, syrups and preserves and all manor of sticky sweets that were popular in the day of the Sultan’s harems. Khios is know for having the highest standard of living of all of Greece.  It s a long day a with lots of hiking involved so it should be a good photo day and hopefully some amazing sweets.

Until than here are a few Sea day photos!

We arrived in the port of Alexandria at 6:30am and were met by our guide Momen who happens to be an Egyptologist and our driver Mr. Hapsuta from Nile Blue tours (we opted for a private tour instead of the cruise line tour, since we don’t really care for large groups of strangers). Then we were off for our 3 hour drive from Alexandria to Giza. It was quite an interesting drive I must say, a caravan of cars and trucks, armed escorts and our driver with an Uzi sub-machine gun under his jacket. We felt a little un-easy as we drove along the Desert road which looked like Afghanistan on CNN, Momen seemed to sense our slight apprehension and began to give a 3 hour lecture on ancient Egypt which was really quite informative and engaging (to a point – thank God for sunglasses so I could nod off without anyone noticing). Once we reached Giza there was a faint smell of something burning – I wish I could describe it but I have never smelled anything like it before – it sort of stings the eyes. The Great pyramids of Giza the only remaining of the seven wonders of the world, what a sight to behold it truly is more impressive than I thought it would be.

After about 45 minutes we were off to the Sphinx along with Momen’s ever present detailed account of everything Egyptian! Afterwards we were hustled off to lunch, for our first taste of Egyptian food, having read much online we were ever aware of the hidden dangers of “mummy tummy”; stay away from the water or anything that has touched, soaked, or been washed in etc…  But Momen assured us we would be fine, and fine we were having had an assortment of grilled chicken, meats and fish along with pita breads and varied sauces and condiments.  After lunch we were taken to the Step pyramid at Sakkara, the first pyramid built and much smaller in size compared to the Giza pyramids but equally impressive for it’s age and significance in the construction of the pyramids. After an exhausting day we were off to our hotel for a quick refresh before dinner. We stayed at the Mena House Oberoi Hotel which was absolutely stunning! We had a beautiful room with a balcony overlooking the pyramids.  After a quick shower we met Momen and headed for our dinner cruise on the Nile. We thought it might be a bit cheesy but we decided to give it a try since I always wanted to sail down the Nile and this was the only way to do it without spending more time here.

We were told that normally it only takes about 15 minutes to get from the hotel to the Nile dinner cruise in Cairo, but since it was a holiday it might take a little longer so we were picked up earlier, who knew it would take almost 2 hours! The traffic was like nothing we have ever seen before – first of all there are no stop lights, no one seems to use their headlights in the evening, there are no lanes to speak of and the drivers seems to decide on a moments notice which direction a street will be, in short complete and utter chaos. But the odd thing is we didn’t see one accident so obviously it works for the Egyptians.

Dinner was a hoot! As we walked onto the ship we were greeted by a bleached blond Egyptian woman singing French cocktail songs from the 1960s and then we were ushered to a large buffet of traditional Egyptian fare which wasn’t that bad and they had the best hummus I have ever had, and Andy loved his desert which was an ice cream pistachio and candied cherry concoction! As we dined we were beseeched by belly dancers, twirling dervishes and yes more songs from our Egyptian chanteuse! The evening was a blast and everyone was quite bubbly and jovial!

The next day we were off to the Cairo Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. I have to say we were sort of disillusioned, apparently it was built in 1901 and it looks every bit it’s age. But the ancient Egyptian artifacts including King Tut’s treasures were stunning to see and hear about. Then it was back to the car for that 3 hour drive on the desert road to Alexandria to see the Roman Catacombs which were fascinating but unfortunately you cant take photos (as is the same in the Cairo museum) and then we tried to squeeze some shopping before re-boarding our ship. Unfortunately everywhere we went and everything we saw near the port shops felt like Cozumel (If you have been there you know what I mean).

We have to say that Nile Blue tours and specifically our driver and guide Momen were wonderful! Professional, courteous, knowledgable and always flexible to change the schedule to accommodate our quickly changing attention span!

Next stop Khios, Greece

Until then some photos from Egypt!

Port of Alexandria

Me and Momen

Crazy Cairo Traffic

desert road

Pyramids of Giza

Me and The pyramids of Giza

The Camel I wouldn't ride

Andy

Sphinx

At Temple by the Step Pyramid

Me at Step Pyramid at Sakkara

Mena Oberoi

Our balcony at Mena Oberoi

Twirling dervish

cairo museum