Sea day

So today is a sea day.  Last night was formal night and everyone got dressed in their posh togs and most of the passengers attended the captain's cocktail party, getting to meet him personally.

This captain has really surprised us to be honest - because he's English.  It is so unusual the hear the captain's address over the tannoy system without an accent.  He also joined us for the entertainers get to together on the second night, and seems a really down to earth and pleasant man.  I can't ever remember meeting the captain of any of the ships we have previously sailed on.

Because it is formal night, we were served 'a la carte' in the Veranda Restaurant, which is normally a buffet, with complimentary wine from the captain.  Peter always enjoys the wine, and even got a little merry on it.

This morning however the good mood was slightly dampened as bad weather took hold and roughed  up the sea a little. It got worse as the morning progressed, and by lunchtime, most passengers weren't in the mood to eat. This included me.  As usual, I needed to lie down to put off the queasiness, and I missed lunch too.

But Peter had his first class in the afternoon, and I knew he really preferred me to help, so I joined him at 13:30 in the Orpheus lounge to set up. There was the usual amount of chaos until he could properly begin, but then, as always, the class settled down, and everyone seemed to enjoy the lesson.  The proof is always in the number that turn up for the second class, so we'll know for sure in a couple of days time.

After that, we enjoyed a little bit more bouncing around on the waves until dinner. I confess I needed a nap, brought on by the sea sickness tablets I'd taken.  Dinner was lovely as usual, and after dinner we listened to a talk from Gervais Phinn, a very entertaining writer, although for me, I felt I was being preached at, and that the talk was a little over the top on occasion. That won't stop me going to the next one though.

So that was our sea day.  Tomorrow we have a little bit more rough sea until we reach Malta around midday. We're visiting Valetta, a place Peter and I have been before a couple if years ago..  We really enjoyed our last day there, and are looking forward to seeing it again.

Crete and Chania

So today we have a tour and a blotted copybook to make up for. So once again we got up at the unearthly time of 7am.  Actually, that's not quite true. Because we'd gone to bed at 10.30 last night, which is very early for us, I woke at 5am. I tried to go back to sleep, but gave up at 6:30am.
So, as I said, we were up early, breakfasted, and on the dock next to our tour bus at 7. 50.  Today's tour was to visit a monastery, a panoramic view, and to be given a quick guide of the best places to see in Chania, (pronounced Hania).

A panoramic view of Souda Bay

The monastery was quite nice, the courtyards and gardens made it a loves place to live no doubt.  The view was impressive, our guide was knowledgable, and Chania was charming.

Leather Street in Charnia.   The port area, market stalls and cathedral were really quite lovely.

It was quite a long morning though, and we were pleased to get back for lunch at 20 past 1.  The ship left port shortly after, and earlier than planned, the captain advised us that there was rough weather ahead, and that he was planning to sail the longer route around it, and therefore, since all the passengers were on board, he might as well get on with it.
So this afternoon, with the gentle rock of the ship, it was impossible to resist the lure of an afternoon nap.

This evening was formal night. His nice to get dressed up, and although Peter hates it,  he donned the suit and black tie and we went to the Veranda Restaurant for dinner. Because it's formal night, there was no buffet today, the menu was a la carte, and we were seated on a table of 10 and met loads more passengers.  Always interesting.

So that was today.  Tomorrow is a sea day, and Pete will be running a class. The best bit will be the lie in, Peter's not on until 2pm. Class!

Santorin and Fira

Santorini is a caldera, which basically means it used to be a volcano until it erupted and blew it's top off.  Then the sea rushed into the very large crater left behind.

Fira is the town at the top, the cliffs are the sides of the caldera, and we are sat in the middle of the old volcano crater

So this next stop wasn't really a stop. The port at Fira is far too small for a cruise ship, so the ships stay out at sea and use tender boats to get the passengers to shore. But then, the sea is far too deep for any ship to drop anchor, so they drift freely on the waves. This morning, we woke to the sound of the engines every few minutes as they kept the ship in position.
I woke up before the alarm, and I started to read the blurb about Santorini, I was reading the tour information as well, wondering why I hadn't said that we would go on the Oia and Akritiri one. The alarm went off at 8.30 and Peter got up, picking up an envelope that had been pushed under the door as he passed. O Oh! We're supposed to be on tour,  to Oia and Akritiri, but the tour started at 8am!
Well, there was not a lot we could do about it, we had missed the bus. Peter made several apologies to the Cruise Manager, and we knew we would have to prostrate ourselves before the shorex team later, and no doubt we will make several more, but for now it was breakfast on the decks in the warm sunshine.

It really was a beautiful day. The tender trip to the island was uneventful, and one we reached the tiny port, we took the cable car to climb the steep 244m crater side side to reach the town of Fira at the top. We loved Fira. It's all steep narrow cobbled paths, charming little shops and cafes with outstanding views.

So, we're sat on a little veranda in the cafe Zafora, just above the cable car. The sun is hot and bright the view is awesome, the drinks are cold and despite the fact we messed up this morning and have more apdogies to make, we are totally relaxed.  As Peter has just said, it doesn't get better than this.

So we stayed in Fira until our money ran out. It was a good job we didn't take more, or my credit card, we, (I), would have just kept spending.

Donkey (or Mule), rides are available to take you to Fira from the port below, instead of using the cable car

Back on board, we stayed on deck, hopeful for a good sunset in just brilliant surroundings. but sadly it was not to be.  By now, I was feeling exceptionally tired,  I think the last three days had finally caught up with me, but I managed to stay awake long enough for dinner and to attend the after dinner entertainment, "All at Sea", a team of three actors that delivered a couple of excellent short acts. I really enjoyed what they did and perked up enough to stay awake until the end.

Inside the cathedral on the island.  Very pretty,

Tomorrow we visit the island of Crete, and I double checked, we are on tour, so it's an early rise to meet the buses at 8 am.  We won't let the shorex team down again.

Athens and the Acropolis

So, I'm on holiday.  So what time did I get up? 7am! I mean... 7am!  The people I work with would be falling about laughing. I'm not known for my love of the early morning sun, that's for sure.
So anyway, as I said, I'm on holiday and today we got up at 7am. But with good reason, because today we were going to the Acropolis in Athens.
We've been before (see our last trip to Athens) but wanted to see it again, and this time we'd have a guide.  So, at 8.05 am, we were stood next to the buses waiting for the passengers to arrive.
We

Looking up at the Parthenon from Athens.

must be getting so much older, because our tour guide didn't look like she'd been long out of school, but she was very knowledgeable and helpful.

The Parthenon looks so much better without all the scaffolding. 

Thanks to her I now know that Acropolis means "highest point", and that no other buildings in the surrounding area are allowed to be any higher than the Acropolis rock upon which the ancient temples were built, because that would take away the meaning.  I also learned that parthenon means house of the virgin, and that The Parthenon was the home of the virgin daughters of the rich and powerful of Greece, until they were 15 that is. The daughters looked after this magnificent temple dedicated to Athena as priestesses until it was time to leave and be married off.

Our tour was as expected. The Parthenon is the No 1 World Heritage site and is always very busy, but today the crowds didn't overwhelm. The front of The Parthenon was without scaffoding, which wasso much better than last time we visited, but it was very windy up there on the top of the rock, blowing the dust everywhere.

One the tour was finished, it was back to the ship into a bit of a whirl of events. Peter was asked first to attend the introduction to the lecturers brief in the Darwin Lounge. Next, he was asked to attend the singles Introduction event in the Orpheus Lounge, (with me by the way), and directly after that it was the introduction to the entertainment team meeting in the ..................
Good job I dressed for the occasion(s) eh?

Actually, it was a good evening. We ended up having dinner with three actors, a singer, a pianist, a vulcanologist and his wife, and the after dinner speaker and writer Gervaise Finn. All this was finished off in the Darwin Lounge listening to the singer as she remembered Doris Day and her musical achievements. We're quite the socialites!

Tomorrow we will visit Fira, on the island of Santorini. No tours, so we get a lie in.  Class.

A Mediterranean Cruise With Swan Hellenic - We've arrived.

Well, we are sitting here in the library on the Minerva and we are pleased to be back. It sort of feels like it has been a long day, we started at 5 am this morning, and it's now 10 pm at night. But we don't feel as tired as we should, but that would be because we've lost 2 hours in the journey (Greece being 2 hours ahead of the UK) and we sneaked a nap this afternoon.
We've already checked in with the shore excursions desk, so tomorrow we are going to see the Acropolis, how cool is that!
I have to say its really nice to be back on board.  The cabin is good, the food is very, very good, the service is excellent and we like the relaxed atmosphere of the ship.
Two weeks in the Mediterranean. Awesome!