Our World Cruise

 Since this week is so busy with ports of call, I have decided to make two separate blogs. This will entail March 12 to March 15. The next blog will cover Venice, Italy  Zadar and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Corfu, Greece is an island located on the northwestern side of Greece close to the Albanian border. The old town and fortress were mostly constructed by the powerful Venetian Republic and is a UNESCO site today. The city is the birthplace of Prince Phillip, Queen Elizabeth II's late husband. There is also a strong British influence found in the city. Since we have been here previously, we opted to go tour the rest of this island. We visited the beautiful Monastery of Paleokastritsa high in the mountains. It is still a working monastery with 16 monks. The church is still an active Greek Orthodox facility. The history of this island goes back to Greek Mythology with Ulysses getting shipwrecked off its shoreline to the islands shape and beginnings associated with Persephone trying to...

 These three islands in the Mediterranean Sea are alike and yet so different due to their histories. After a day at sea, we landed on the island of Mallorca docking at its Capital Palma. Mallorca is a Spanish island with stunning mountains, pine forests, almond and olive trees, and spectacular beaches. During the winter of 1838, Chopin wrote some of his best work in this idyllic setting. We opted to visit two of their "treasures", a monastery and an olive farm. The leader of the monastery,  Ramon Llull, is the first to develop the binary system of 0 and 1 which is the mathematic basis for today's computer programming. He was a philosopher, theologian, poet, and used his method of universal logic to prove the truth of Christian doctrine to those of all faiths. The olive farm was very educational and tasty. It produces extra virgin olive oil under the name Treurer. The family has only been in business since the early 2000s and by next year they will be able to market their ...

 What a last two weeks! The wi-fi has gotten worse and they are waiting to get to Spain for equipment and technicians.  That did not happen as expected and in Week 12 they need more parts and new techies. So, that has caused issues with Jeff's photo processing program as some photos are seen but the file is missing.  As such, I am waiting on pictures, time when I can use the wi-fi, and trying to figure out what else might have gone wrong. That said- the trip is fantastic! Sorry this post is a week late (see above)  After 3 more days at sea on the Atlantic Ocean, we have arrived at Madeira, Portugal. Madeira is known as the "Garden Island" for its rich agriculture, terraced hillsides, and beautiful flowers. The island produces four types of grapes that are used in the production of Madeira wine. Like its parent, Portugal, you find exquisite blue and white tiles. We opted for the city tour and a trip to the Monte Palace Botanical Gardens.  It was spectacular as yo...