Travel talk

Hello again! Last week I shared with you a lot about the wonderful experiences our group of 20 Cebuanos ( Jack and Malu Mendez' family of 9, Dr. Abdias and Inday Villamor's family of 7, Joseph and Mary Ann Yu, The Freeman's Lifestyle editor Mayen Angbetic Tan and yours truly) had when we did a Grand Mediterranean Cruise on board the Grand Princess. Our cruise started in Barcelona and ended in Venice. Because the group chose to have a pre & post extension in Barcelona and Venice, our extended tour gave us a chance to visit the city of Verona and Padua where we had a chance to see the balcony of Romeo and Juliet, as well as the Basilica of St. Anthony to view his relics in the museum. Last week I ended my travelogue in Istanbul, so now I will bring you to one of my favorite destinations...the home of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus! The cruise ship docked in the port of Kusadasi and our group headed to the house of the Virgin Mary located high up in the Bulbul mountains belonging to the Municipality of Selcuk near the ruins of the old city of Ephesus. It was in this mountain that the apostle John made a home for the Virgin Mary after the ascension of Jesus to heaven. This site was discovered by representatives from the Vatican who were sent by the Pope (don't remember which one) to locate the spot which a nun who never left her convent but saw this place in her dream...a place which she vividly described to her bishop as the home of Mama Mary and St. John. Our guide showed the group the House which has been restored and I guided my group to the spring where a miracle happened to my passenger a few years back. This is the reason why this place is so special to me. I know and believe that Mama Mary is present there. We continued on to visit the excavated ruins of the old city of Ephesus and saw the large Roman Amphitheatre where St. Paul used to preach to the gentiles. It was here where St. Paul made a distinction between the Christians and the Gentiles and this angered the people. It was at this time after Christ's death that St. Paul who was being persecuted turned over his ministry in Ephesus to St. John when he sought asylum in another country. The facade of the library in Ephesus showed us how highly skilled the people of the ancient civilization were. Our visit to Ephesus gave us much to reflect on: how Christ's disciples suffered to give us our faith today. It is only right that we should give our Lord Jesus, our Blessed Mother and all of Jesus' apostles, their rightful place in our hearts.

Next stop was the ancient city of Athens! Our shore excursion was made more complete when we saw Jack Mendez and son-in-law John Pages at the top of the Acropolis and the Parthenon. With the help of our guide, John patiently and lovingly found the way to all the lifts in this beautiful site. Another son-in-law Rommel took over as soon as the swelling in his hand improved. I must say that Jack and Malu are truly blessed with such a loving family. After another restful day at sea, we prepared for yet another exciting evening in the ship. We all agreed to be present at the Pop Star of the Evening Contest where different nationalities joined in, showing their singing prowess. Competing against professional singers, Atty. Michelle Mendez won the first prize when she gave them her highly emotional version of "I Will Survive". It was another evening that we will not forget for a long, long time. Another special event was the farewell party at the Atrium where the crew set up a tree of champagne glasses and poured champagne over it for everyone to partake. There was dancing and a lot of fellowship that night. We had 2 formal nights but our group decided to skip the first one, but went all out during the Captain's Night. After an eventful evening in the ship, we took the tender the following day to visit our last stop which was the romantic city of Venice! Except for Joe and Ann, the group decided that we would explore Venice on our own. And explore we did! To my dismay, I discovered how much cheaper it was to buy those Venetian jewelry in the island than it was in the boutiques on board. Oh well, lessons are best learned from personal experiences, so I just enjoyed the cruise and praised God for the opportunity of traveling. For your comments, you may contact me at Delmar Travel & Tours, Inc. Cebu City at Tel. Nos. 2536561 & 2536571 or you can send me an email to: [email protected] or marilou_ordonez2000@ yahoo.com.