Roman history – David Kotz

Roman Silchester

A sunny hike through English countryside west of London, with a stop at 2000-year-old Roman ruins.

Another sunny day called for another excursion outside London, for a walk through the beautiful English countryside. I hopped off the train in tiny Mortimer, which is little more than a train depo, a church, a pub selling Indian cuisine, and a few houses. Soon I was traversing fields of wheat, crossing pastures with grazing cows, and following a lazy stream across the flat terrain. I tried to imagine what this landscape looked like two thousand years ago, when the Romans arrived and built an amphitheater. I was about to find out.

Surprising blue fields outside Mortimer, England.

Cyprus – trip to Limassol

An eight-hour tour across three-thousand years of history.

For our final day in Cyprus we signed up for a bus tour to the east, along the coastline, to the city of Limassol. Along the way we were able to visit the legendary birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite, the ancient Greek acropolis of Kourion, the medieval Kolossi Castle, and the medieval Limassol Castle. We enjoyed our lunch in a breezy café beside the old harbor of Limassol city. Read on, and check out the gallery of photos.

The legendary birthplace of Aphrodite: center rock of three in the midground.

Cyprus – historic Paphos

The conference organizers kindly organized an afternoon tour of two local archaeological sites, now UNESCO World Heritage sites, on the outskirts of the ancient (and still thriving) city of Paphos. Read on and see the gallery!

Pyramos and Thisbe, and other tales – The House of Dionysus at Nea Pafos archaelogical site.

Taormina

We anchored in the bay of Naxos as the first rays of the sun struck the steam billowing from the craters of Mount Etna.

I rose early to watch the sunrise over the Mediterranean sea, sitting with my tea and pastries in the café at the rear of the ship as it cruised slowly into the port of Naxos, Sicily. The sky was totally clear and the wind completely calm. As the day brightened and the lights from seaside Sicily towns faded, Le Bougainville dropped its anchor in the harbor, where Mount Etna dominates the surrounding hilly landscape. When the sun finally rose above the sea behind us, its first rays illuminated the cratered peaks of Etna’s 10,912’ mountain summit – and the steam clouds emanating from its five active craters. Read on, and check out the photo gallery.

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Siracusa

A quick visit to the ancient Greek city of Siracusa (Syracuse) in Sicily.

After a calm overnight cruise from Malta to Sicily, we arrived just before sunrise in the port of Catania, with the aim of spending the morning visiting Siracusa (Syracuse), the modern capital city of Sicily and the site of ancient Greek and Roman cities. It was colonized by Greeks in 734 BC, and “for some time stood as the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean.” Read on and check out the photo gallery.

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