Chewing the Fat with Amy

08/30/2024

Harvested some grapes from the garden and made some homemade grape juice!

Then picked up some meat at in Crosslake and made bacon 🥓 wrapped jalapeno burgers 🍔 for dinner!

The grape martini was pretty tasty too! 🍸

07/02/2024

Shout out to Shore Excursions Group and DriverinRome Tours for their excellent customer service!!

06/27/2024

06/27/2024

This is a pretty great deal to my favorite Mexican location! Perfect time of year - if you're interested; let me know and I'll get something over to you!

04/29/2024

Three Reasons to use a travel advisor; 1) They save you time 2) They take the stress out of planning your trip 3) They can handle the unexpected ASTA - American Society of Travel Advisors Bursch Travel

03/19/2024

Day 7-8: Isatanbul: Where East meets West. The only city that lives on two continents. Day one we went to a beautiful Islamic mosque. All of these tiles are handmade in the region.

Fun fact: did you know that the tulip is native to Turkey? They gave a bulb to the Dutch Ambassador way back when as a gift. These tiles all have tulips 🌷 on them.

While in Istanbul we did hear them call for prayer during the day. On the 2nd day there was a calling for a funeral-which was at a different time.

After the Mosque, we went to an Egyptian Spice Bazaar. There we had an opportunity to try some pomegranate tea, Turkish coffee ☕️ and Turkish delight. Lots and lots of Baklavas! Soooo many spices. Different meats, cheeses. Some of the stalls had knock-off wears, like purses, luggage;etc…

Silk and cashmere items. Sooo many kinds of dates & olives. They dye the olives in different colors- organically; with beet juice, or blueberries, stuff them with peppers and cheese.

After the Spice market we went on a river cruise on the Bosporus where we could see both the European and Asian side of the town. We saw all three bridges before turning around and heading back to the ship.

That night we had our last meal on the ship @ their Italian restaurant called Manfredi’s. I have to admit I liked the Chef’s table better - but the food was still delicious.

We had left our bags out to be taken down - and we were set to disembark by 7:30am. Used our shipboard card one last time to get off the ship, collected our luggage and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. Orientbank Hotel Istanbul, Autograph Collection in old town. It was actually just next to the spice market we had been to the day before!

Fun fact: this hotel is newer; only been open for about 3 years. It used to be a German bank - but had been closed for many years; if you watch 007 this hotel is in that movie.

We checked in dropped our bags and headed off for a food tour that lasted the day. I think we ate at 7 different locations! 2 breakfasts, 2 lunch, snack, dessert with coffee - good thing we had been walking or there was no way we could’ve done it!

We had a nice group of people with us and our guide was really great! We ended up back at that same Spice bazaar for first breakfast- which was really good. My fave there was the buffalo clotted cream with honey & the goat cheese.

Then we made our way to the Asian side and did what we would consider a gyro style Iskender - is the name of the gentleman who created the (how do you call it - an upright spit) to gently cook the meat and carve as needed. It’s served a little different than in just a pita -but the basics are there. And it was verrrry good.

Apparently pickles are part of a Turkish diet. They buy them by the 1/2 gallon tub for the week. (Yes-that’s right, the week) and not only do they eat pickles, they like to drink the juice from anything pickled. We all know that it’s good for your guts - so slante!

The. It was time to get down to business: we went to Çiya Sofrası and our guide Leyla ordered for us; grape leaves, stuffed eggplant, a whole array of toppings, like hummus, tzatziki, different salads with nuts and pomegranate, then we had braised beef that was falling apart it was delicious.

Stopped and had some fresh shucked mussels -just for funzies

And finally we had dessert 🍨 ice cream, baklava, and coffee/tea.

It was a day! The city is busy, but inland not crazy; considering there are anywhere from 16-20 million people living there. It is a little taxing on the senses if your sensitive to that. There are a lot of different smells going on at the same time. Not all pleasant

We didn’t get to a few places- so have to go back!

Viking Bursch Travel

03/17/2024

Day 6 - Cush-a-dessa: Ephesus: mind blowing!

This ruin; finding; unearthing; whatever you call it, is simply hard to get your head around. You enter on the “Main Street” and yes, it is a street- is made of marble blocks. Well, everything is marble.

Which van be quite slippery we found out - a few people in our group fell. You can see the terra-cotta piping they used for their water system. And the intricate carvings on all of the stonework.

Public bathhouse - toilets.

This main road lead us down to the library - it was one of 3 in the ancient worl to have been discovered and in its glory would have housed upwards of 250,000 scrolls of parchment.

Sadly it burned at some point and the scrolls were lost, but the building remains.

They also found this amphitheater - that they actually use today for concerts: Bocelli, Elton John - etc…

They have only discovered 25% of the city so far, there is so much more to uncover. Alexander the Great would’ve been the one who started the construction of this city- that’s 300bc?

Then we went back toward the ship and had a Turkish rug demonstration- I have to say, they are quite beautiful. And they are hand made, some from silk, some from wool, some from cashmere.

We also tried the local tea and coffee with their version of ouzo callled Raka - that whitish liqueur. It has a milder anise flavor than ouzo and is not as Sweet.

There’s m’boat Jenny!
Viking Bursch Travel

03/10/2024

Day 4: Rhodes

Known for the the Palace of the Grand Masters: Knights of Rhodes /then Malta; as in Knights of the Crusades. All the aristocratic families of Europe sent at least one - usually more sons to fight. There was a caveat: you had to trace your bloodline back 4 generations to qualify for the order. ?

They did good things too; built hospitals and swore to take care of those that could not for themselves.

Once again - the island was overtaken by the Italians in the 15th century whom fortified the island against the Turks/ottomans.

They eventually lost to the Ottomans - and again to the Germans. The Germans were the ones who refurbished the Palace to its former glory. Just in case Mussolini were to come and stay, he needed a palace. was a moneymaker!

We meandered and found some things to bring home. Once back on the ship - we had another wonderful dinner- stuffed to the gills! Food is so good!!!! (Like I’ve ever said no! 🤪)

A leisurely start to tmrw! And onto Kusadasi - (Cush a dessa) Island of birds: where we go to Ephesus.

03/09/2024

Day 3: Crete

Arrived first thing, we had ordered room service because we had to be ready to go by 8:45 for our museum and town walk tour.

Like getting here from the airport, smooth - everything is numbered, you get on the bus, follow the leader. Easy

The museum visit was enlightening: a lot of artifacts - always so humbling to realize how insignificant one is in the great scape of everything.

After we wondered through town and had some time on our own. Our guide had recommended phyllosophies.gr for a Bougatsa with cream or one with mizithra (which is a ricotta style cheese made from goats milk) and they were both amazing!! It was definitely a locals spot, as it was packed.

When we returned to the ship, we had a leisurely afternoon, then took advantage of the spa.

03/09/2024

WE MADE IT! After 20+ hours of travel, we finally landed in Athens. Firstly I wanted to give a shout out to Delta Air Lines, thanks for the upgrade and the smooth ride, both were much appreciated!

When we arrived at baggage, the Viking team was already there waiting, so all we needed to do was collect our bags, attach our tags, drop them with the team and walk out to the waiting bus.

It couldn’t have been any easier. The Viking team is a wells oiled machine when it comes to getting people from point a to b with nobody falling thru the cracks.

We arrived at the port, received our keys and were allowed strait into our room. Everyone greeted us warmly.

The room is smaller than anticipated, but well appointed and the amenities are nice.

There are 2 restaurants that require reservations and three that do not. All of the main areas have live music starting in the early evening and lasting until around 10.

Everyday at 4:30 they do a preview of the following days port call; brief overview of the stop, what is significant and why, what to buy there and then a run down of each excursion. They pay particular attention to the locations and accessibility levels; stairs if there are any; length of the walk, and so on..

Days 1 & 2: Athens
Arrival - E-bike excursion of the Acropolis (which was interesting- but would’ve been more enjoyable had it not been a local holiday and all school kids were also visiting that day and navigating was a little precarious)

We also saw the original Olympic stadium built for the first Olympics in 1886 - the entire stadium is made of marble. In addition to that we saw the first Olympic village.

Changing of the guard at the presidential palace. Interesting to learn about their uniforms and the choreography. They are conscripted - but it is an unpaid service, and this particular branch is only a “parade” branch, so they don’t carry or learn to use any weaponry. It is apparently one of the most revered positions they can earn. (Not everybody can stand still with no inflection for 8hours at a time)

Time to push off to Crete - hopefully another gorgeous day awaits us!