Returning to Roman times… COMPLETED - Page 27 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Fantastic to be nearly alone roaming the ruins! Great photos as a result, too. As you'll see when you go to Greece next year, some excavations are very well-presented for public enjoyment and some are not. Pompei is one of the best.
Thanks for the heads up. Are there any you'd recommend more than others, going off topic for a moment - as if there are any that are really well preserved, I don't want to miss them.
That is so well preserved. What an incredible place! You can just feel the history, I'm sure. Very cool.
It is an amazing experience to be there and imagine what happened two millennia ago. You just almost can't comprehend it, it's so overwhelming, if that makes sense?
Thanks for the heads up. Are there any you'd recommend more than others, going off topic for a moment - as if there are any that are really well preserved, I don't want to miss them.
Well, oddly enough, some of the sites that people love to visit because they can get better visuals of the way the buildings used to be, are the sites that I feel have been "tampered with"-- restored so that what you see is mostly restoration, rather than the actual historical evidence. When restoration is done well, it can enhance the experience, but still make very clear what is restored and what is ancient. Sometimes people will visit an ancient site that has been cleared and excavated but not restored and feel it's boring and just a bunch of rocks. It definitely takes more effort and reading of the guide-books to appreciate and enjoy a site like that, and I can see why many wouldn't want to explore too many sites like that. An example of what I think is an overly-restored site is Knossos, on Crete. I still love going there, but I'm always conscious that what I'm seeing is a re-creation, not the real thing. I haven't been to the Acropolis in Athens in 40 years, but that was a well-restored site in my opinion. Also, the incredible site in Delphi and the beautiful temple of Apollo on Cape Sounion-- beautiful places to visit and very "real".
Well, that was more of an off-topic moment than I planned, but you asked for it! I'll have to review the ports you're visiting and give you more relevant suggestions.
Well, oddly enough, some of the sites that people love to visit because they can get better visuals of the way the buildings used to be, are the sites that I feel have been "tampered with"-- restored so that what you see is mostly restoration, rather than the actual historical evidence. When restoration is done well, it can enhance the experience, but still make very clear what is restored and what is ancient. Sometimes people will visit an ancient site that has been cleared and excavated but not restored and feel it's boring and just a bunch of rocks. It definitely takes more effort and reading of the guide-books to appreciate and enjoy a site like that, and I can see why many wouldn't want to explore too many sites like that. An example of what I think is an overly-restored site is Knossos, on Crete. I still love going there, but I'm always conscious that what I'm seeing is a re-creation, not the real thing. I haven't been to the Acropolis in Athens in 40 years, but that was a well-restored site in my opinion. Also, the incredible site in Delphi and the beautiful temple of Apollo on Cape Sounion-- beautiful places to visit and very "real".
Well, that was more of an off-topic moment than I planned, but you asked for it! I'll have to review the ports you're visiting and give you more relevant suggestions.
I'm so pleased that you rate the Acropolis highly. I cannot wait to see that.
The other ports of call we have are Katakolon for Olympia, Piraeus for Athens, Kusadasi for Ephesus, Rhodes and Mykonos. Just over a year to go now!
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My mom is currently on a cruise with many of the same ports - not DCL obviously. She's been to Turkey before, but not to Greece, so she was really looking forward to those ports.
Pompeii looks so amazing! It is really hard to fathom what happened there, that led to such great preservation, isn't it?!
I am just speechless. The history lesson is just amazing. I wonder how do modern day caretakers, take care of the ruins?? I think I would be to afraid to touch anything for fear it would fall apart!!!! This is the type of tour I truly enjoy!!
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You're so lucky to be able to tour the ruins without hardly another soul around! Love the pictures. I can just imagine how beautiful the city once was.
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When I was there in 2007 - the guide told us (and I late found documentation to support his info) that the red brick was repairs from a large earthquake that had impacted Pompeii about 20 years before the volcano buried it in 11+ feet of ash.
Pompei looks very interesting also on my to do list. Allow me to jump on the off topic wagon We enjoyed the Acropolis (but not the crowds) the marble is a different hue than the marble we saw in Rome. It has a sort of pink warmer hue. The Acropolis museum a short walk downhill was also enjoyable. You could see work being done to restore the Caryatids ( I think some Brit "relocated" most of the original ladies ) and excavation on going below the museum
If you liked the coloured walls at Pompei then you MUST go on the tour of the Terrace Houses in Ephesus. Absolutely amazing!! It is a separate entry fee but so worth it. We used Ekol tours for a private reasonably priced tour and had excellent service. I don't think most cruise excursions include the Terrace Houses.
You're so lucky to be able to tour the ruins without hardly another soul around! Love the pictures. I can just imagine how beautiful the city once was.
I know - we were so lucky to be there with so few people around.
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When I was there in 2007 - the guide told us (and I late found documentation to support his info) that the red brick was repairs from a large earthquake that had impacted Pompeii about 20 years before the volcano buried it in 11+ feet of ash.
Pompei looks very interesting also on my to do list. Allow me to jump on the off topic wagon We enjoyed the Acropolis (but not the crowds) the marble is a different hue than the marble we saw in Rome. It has a sort of pink warmer hue. The Acropolis museum a short walk downhill was also enjoyable. You could see work being done to restore the Caryatids ( I think some Brit "relocated" most of the original ladies ) and excavation on going below the museum
Darned Brits - they always have to go and interfere!
Quote:
If you liked the coloured walls at Pompei then you MUST go on the tour of the Terrace Houses in Ephesus. Absolutely amazing!! It is a separate entry fee but so worth it. We used Ekol tours for a private reasonably priced tour and had excellent service. I don't think most cruise excursions include the Terrace Houses.
That's great information to have. I think I remember seeing the Terrace House in some shore excursions for Disney, but I'll have to go back and check, as I may be confusing it with something else....
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That's one of the things I love so much about the place - being able to imagine how it was all that time ago...
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Are there any you'd recommend more than others, going off topic for a moment - as if there are any that are really well preserved, I don't want to miss them. 
So 
to be touring basically alone.
!!!! This is the type of tour I truly enjoy!!
) and excavation on going below the museum 
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