As a final highlight of our cruise we had booked the Ancient Olympus tour from Katakolon. We were to meet on the dock side at 8.40am and this time Richard and Margaret were booked on the same tour, like school kids we arranged for whoever got there first would save seats for the others. We were running nicely to time as we swiped off the ship and started across the dock towards the coaches, it was then that Julia remembered that she had left the tour tickets in the cabin. She rushed back while I waited on the dock; we made it in time and joined Richard and Margaret on the bus.
Our guide was another enthusiast and she spent the hour’s journey giving us interesting notes on the area and preparing us for Olympus. The main thrust of her talk was that our trip was in two very different parts. The first place we would see was the old stadium which was very damaged by weather and earthquakes while the second part of the tour is the museum where everything is genuine and in great condition. She was also the best dressed of all our guides but more of that later.
The facts bore out her words but both venues were impressive in their different ways. At the old stadium we saw where the modern Olympic flame is lit using a mirror as a focus of the sun’s rays, we had explained to us the nature of the various buildings which according to our guide, and disputed by Julia, had been covered by twelve metres of silt. Twelve metres, about forty feet in old money, does seem like a lot but I wouldn’t argue with the expert. She explained how the site was in the progress of being restored and rebuilt and how most parts had been identified but they had never found the Hippodrome where the horse back events had taken place even though it was recorded as being three times the size of the athletics area.
We stood outside the arch which is all that remains of the tunnel into the arena and she explained that there had been two lines of statues facing each other like a guard of honour before the tunnel except that on the left side were the winners who had won honourably and thus had been made for life when they returned to the city that they had represented so well but on the right were the convicted cheats who brought shame, and the expense of building this statue, to their city.
Her other explanation was given to save us embarrassment, the races were all run straight or there and back like swimming but the stone line across the track at the end nearer to the entrance is the finish not the start, I don’t know how I would have got over it if I’d run the wrong way!
Talking about embarrassment, she reminded us that the runners and all performers were naked, I heard Stephen Fry dispute this but he was talking about nothing that Nike would produce now! Nike, of course, got a mention as the Goddess of Victory which she pointed out was ironic as all these naked performers were men and there were no women allowed even as spectators! She was prepared to stretch a point on this but as a group we were not that determined to be authentic so we stayed fully dressed. All four of us ran the Olympic straight but no records were broken.
We also noted that the normal spectators sat on the grass banks but there was a VIP area with stone steps to sit on!
As a nod to tradition when the modern games were hosted in Greece the ladies Shot Put was held in the old stadium, I didn’t ask but I’m confident they competed in their normal kit otherwise there would have been a huge row from their kit sponsors!
We progressed from the arena to the museum where as she had told us the relics were all genuine and in excellent condition, they had been excavated from the Olympic site. Julia was fascinated by the marble statues but perhaps more so by a model of the stadium area at the time of the games.
Our enjoyment of the museum was disturbed by one of our party feeling unwell and, as our guide went to help her, throwing up, the guide in her smart leather jacket took the hit! While the others took the young girl into the fresh air Julia became a human barrier to avoid anyone slipping on the mess – trust a junior school teacher in an emergency!
We returned to Katakolon by 1.00pm, the ill young girl was sitting right behind us and she nearly made it back but….
Meanwhile Richard and Margaret had booked a lesson with one of the fitness instructors so Julia and I checked out the shops and bars in the port. We had a nice walk round the shops and bought a souvenir or two, we then walked down a row of quayside bars and chose one at random. We had a beer each which appeared without the condensation which indicates a properly cold beverage, as we drank it we noticed the bar next door had the well frosted glasses we lacked and then, to add insult to injury, people in the same bar were served with colder drinks than us. We were then charged the most we paid anywhere despite other bars advertising very reasonable prices. Being English I didn’t complain at the time but if the bar owner reads this let him hang his head in shame. The only balance to this injustice is that I took one of my best ever photographs from that bar looking out towards the Ocean Village with a small fishing boat in the foreground.
We then returned to the ship, that evening we had to pack our entire hold luggage and put both bags into the corridor before 10.00pm, this is a well thought-out policy because it just about guarantees that you have some clothes, even if its those you went to dinner in, left after the luggage fairies take possession of your luggage, imagine if you packed after changing for bed, you could spend a half day on the ship and travel in your night wear!
The cabaret was described as risqué this evening and to me it failed badly in its conception and execution. Why anyone thought that a more adult theme would go well with the cruising fraternity I cannot imagine. The same wholesome entertainment team as led the trips and called the bingo numbers were now more scantily clad and looking somewhat embarrassed by the whole venture. The few younger families on the cruise during school time retreated and the rest of us, some much older than us, were unimpressed by the production. It had a half-hearted feel to the whole thing as if it was in response to a directive from above that nobody felt supportive of. It was the least impressive show of any kind we saw on the boat and not the finale to our cruise that might have left us wanting more.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Our First Cruise - Tuesday 18/05/2010 Corfu
We woke to the captain’s announcement that once again the winds were too strong for the liner to dock but this time he was prepared to use the tenders to take us ashore.
We waited the customary hour before boarding a tender and it was the one which took the ship’s soccer team ashore to play Corfu University, the players were mainly Philippians but the Robbie Williams was also playing – he had brought the kit on board after some problem with the intended strip. We later learnt that they lost 1-3. As we crossed to the shore the heavens opened and it rained hard. We got off the tender and took shelter on a veranda in front of one of the port buildings. Some of the passengers remained on the shuttle and went straight back to the ship, no adventure in their souls!
We remained under cover for some minutes then as it seemed to ease we set off, most of the group walked but Julia and I grabbed a taxi. When we complained about the weather the driver told us that on Tuesdays as a part of the EU financial bale out of Greece the government had agreed to a day of German weather! He dropped us off next to a tunnel through the town wall and when we raced through it we were in the centre of town. The rain stopped in the next half hour.
As the weather cleared we decided to go up to the castle which dominates the town and harbour. As we approached we both remarked on the similarity to the smaller fortress at Terezin, clearly it was a similar design but it lacked the menace!
We were delighted to discover that the castle was open to the public and free on this particular day. We continued up as high as possible and eventually stood next to the flag pole at the highest point of the castle and the island. The view over the harbour and town were spectacular, it is easy to see why it was positioned there, it would hasve been impossible to sneak up on the defenders and the climb up to the castle would have left the attackers fully exposed to the defenders’ fire.
We noted that there seemed to be a huge number of cannon barrels scattered round the castle, some set up on wooden mounts as if to fire out to sea or into the town, some abandoned on the ground in heaps but most strangely were the gun barrels sunk into the ground to anchor other structures like huge tent pegs.
From the castle we walked down it the town, noting on the way that cars were parked everywhere including on pedestrian crossings!
We stopped in a small square and had a long cold beer as a reward for braving the rain and scaling the castle.
We then walked back to the harbour where we caught a shuttle back to the ship. On returning to our cabin we found some handmade chocolates on the bed with a compliments slip from the chef. We had afternoon tea with Richard and Margaret but they had received no such gift!
Although we decided to give the acrobats doing their “Planet Show” on deck 12 a miss that night we enjoyed watching them set up for the show, it was amazing how they maneuvered round the high structures rigging their ropes and swings.
We decided to make sure we were well positioned in the Marquee to get a good seat for the late night comedy so we were there when the entertainments staff did a “Speed Bingo” which is a license to print money. The punters pay £10 per bingo card and the total prize is only £200, shared between any simultaneous winners. They only have to sell 20 cards to break even and I estimated there were at least 200 people playing!
The comedian, Dave Buck, was very funny and we went to bed happy.
We waited the customary hour before boarding a tender and it was the one which took the ship’s soccer team ashore to play Corfu University, the players were mainly Philippians but the Robbie Williams was also playing – he had brought the kit on board after some problem with the intended strip. We later learnt that they lost 1-3. As we crossed to the shore the heavens opened and it rained hard. We got off the tender and took shelter on a veranda in front of one of the port buildings. Some of the passengers remained on the shuttle and went straight back to the ship, no adventure in their souls!
We remained under cover for some minutes then as it seemed to ease we set off, most of the group walked but Julia and I grabbed a taxi. When we complained about the weather the driver told us that on Tuesdays as a part of the EU financial bale out of Greece the government had agreed to a day of German weather! He dropped us off next to a tunnel through the town wall and when we raced through it we were in the centre of town. The rain stopped in the next half hour.
As the weather cleared we decided to go up to the castle which dominates the town and harbour. As we approached we both remarked on the similarity to the smaller fortress at Terezin, clearly it was a similar design but it lacked the menace!
We were delighted to discover that the castle was open to the public and free on this particular day. We continued up as high as possible and eventually stood next to the flag pole at the highest point of the castle and the island. The view over the harbour and town were spectacular, it is easy to see why it was positioned there, it would hasve been impossible to sneak up on the defenders and the climb up to the castle would have left the attackers fully exposed to the defenders’ fire.
We noted that there seemed to be a huge number of cannon barrels scattered round the castle, some set up on wooden mounts as if to fire out to sea or into the town, some abandoned on the ground in heaps but most strangely were the gun barrels sunk into the ground to anchor other structures like huge tent pegs.
From the castle we walked down it the town, noting on the way that cars were parked everywhere including on pedestrian crossings!
We stopped in a small square and had a long cold beer as a reward for braving the rain and scaling the castle.
We then walked back to the harbour where we caught a shuttle back to the ship. On returning to our cabin we found some handmade chocolates on the bed with a compliments slip from the chef. We had afternoon tea with Richard and Margaret but they had received no such gift!
Although we decided to give the acrobats doing their “Planet Show” on deck 12 a miss that night we enjoyed watching them set up for the show, it was amazing how they maneuvered round the high structures rigging their ropes and swings.
We decided to make sure we were well positioned in the Marquee to get a good seat for the late night comedy so we were there when the entertainments staff did a “Speed Bingo” which is a license to print money. The punters pay £10 per bingo card and the total prize is only £200, shared between any simultaneous winners. They only have to sell 20 cards to break even and I estimated there were at least 200 people playing!
The comedian, Dave Buck, was very funny and we went to bed happy.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Our First Cruise - Monday 17/05/2010 Korcula
Korcula was our first chance to experience Croatia after missing Dubrovnik. There was no dock on the island big enough top accommodate the Ocean Village so we were to be tendered off the ship to the island. Those who had booked excursions left the ship first and we joined a queue in Connexions to be given a number, we got our number but had to wait in the bar until it was called. Each shuttle boat hold about 100 people and doubles as a life boat in an emergency and there are four shuttles. We waited about an hour before boarding the shuttle down a rickety gang plank, considering some of the passengers are on sticks and a few in wheelchairs the crew do a great job to get the shuttles loaded safely. The shuttles plied back and forth from the ship to the small harbour and the loading and unloading took more time than the crossing so only three shuttles were used and there was always one standing off either the ship or the jetty.
Having landed we entered the town through a city gate and immediately noticed the Lion of Venice as Korcula had been a province of Venice and had a wealthy Venetian community amongst the islanders.
We enjoyed the quiet ambience of the town and bought ourselves a small water colour to remind us of it. We visited Marco Polo’s tower but did not enter – too mean again! We went into several churches and were impressed by their ornate decoration, as an aside, I was impressed by my camera on museum setting, not only is the flash suppressed but it operates silently also.
We chose to have a beer on the water’s edge below where the city walls would have been but were no longer. Julia’s research yielded the information that the locals had argued with the wealthy Venetian residents as to which group should pay for the upkeep of the walls, the Venetians refused to contribute and the locals demolished all but the watch towers!
It was on the windy side and quite cloudy but we enjoyed our visit.
Throughout the cruise we were always impressed by the crew and their helpfulness, the seamen crewing the shuttles were another illustration of this; they were very attentive to all the passengers.
Back on the ship our Sail Away was different to previous ones instead of coming out of a port often with the assistance of tugs we simply sailed between the scattered islands and onward with the mainland coast of Greece on one side of us.
On the ship after dinner we went to the Marquee and watched a Robbie Williams tribute act, not totally my thing but you had to be impressed by his energy!
Having landed we entered the town through a city gate and immediately noticed the Lion of Venice as Korcula had been a province of Venice and had a wealthy Venetian community amongst the islanders.
We enjoyed the quiet ambience of the town and bought ourselves a small water colour to remind us of it. We visited Marco Polo’s tower but did not enter – too mean again! We went into several churches and were impressed by their ornate decoration, as an aside, I was impressed by my camera on museum setting, not only is the flash suppressed but it operates silently also.
We chose to have a beer on the water’s edge below where the city walls would have been but were no longer. Julia’s research yielded the information that the locals had argued with the wealthy Venetian residents as to which group should pay for the upkeep of the walls, the Venetians refused to contribute and the locals demolished all but the watch towers!
It was on the windy side and quite cloudy but we enjoyed our visit.
Throughout the cruise we were always impressed by the crew and their helpfulness, the seamen crewing the shuttles were another illustration of this; they were very attentive to all the passengers.
Back on the ship our Sail Away was different to previous ones instead of coming out of a port often with the assistance of tugs we simply sailed between the scattered islands and onward with the mainland coast of Greece on one side of us.
On the ship after dinner we went to the Marquee and watched a Robbie Williams tribute act, not totally my thing but you had to be impressed by his energy!
Our First Cruise - Sunday 16/05/2010 Venice
We needed to bounce back after the disappointment of missing Dubrovnik but we had high hopes of Venice being able to do just that. One of the reasons that the captain had not pushed on harder to arrive sooner in Venice was that he was timed to arrive at 8.00am and he announced that this would be an experience to remember. We had spoken to many people on the cruise and we had asked anyone who had done our second week before us for their tips, we remembered to get on deck early for Venice and on the starboard side.
By 7.00am the light was great and we were entering the Grand Canal, there was no heat in the sun so we wore jackets but the views lit us up. The carefully selected Italian opera music coming through ther PA system was a magical addition to the scenery. We passed close by St Mark’s Square and later were able to identify many of the definitive Venice landmarks. We saw rank after rank of gondolas not yet in use and by 8.00pm we were berthed and decided to have breakfast. It was one of those times when you felt genuinely sorry for other passengers just getting up and wandering into breakfast with no idea what they had missed.
I had a problem the solution of which was a great success, I had run out of Lithium AA batteries and the normal “High Power” were struggling to do a day’s photography so with our tour leaving the quayside at 11.50am we resolved to walk to the nearest shops and buy some batteries. By 10.00am we were off the ship and following the crowd on foot leaving the port gates. Our frustration was that everyone else seemed to be dragging their luggage with them and so peacefully co-existing with them on a narrow pavement was tricky. Just when we wondered if we would ever get to shops we left the heavily industrial area of the port and were entranced by the canals and old buildings. There were shops a plenty and we found a camera shop where I bought two Lithium batteries for eight euros I felt this was excessive but I paid without hesitation; not being confident of the camera in this photographic goldmine would have been agony.
In a small shop down an alley just off the main canal, there are canals and alleys in Venice, no substantial roads; we spotted licquorice sold by the metre we bought 1metre for 2 euros but it did not survive the journey home to England.
We paced our return to the ship so that we could be on the quayside at 11.45 and therefore ready for our motor launch into St Mark’s Square. We were amused to see motor boats racing past us from other liners to the canal system loaded with luggage – you had to think does it all get to its destination and is it dry when it does?
We were gathered on the dock and then issued with trip numbers, two trips were embarked on the same motor launch and the two guides outlined the basics of the trip making sure that we knew where the boats would return from and when, I have to say however, these were the least enthusiastic guides we encountered on the cruise I hope this was reflected in their level of pay!
We docked about 300 metres past St Mark’s square and we were handed over to a guide for the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica, his knowledge and enthusiasm were right back to the standards that we had come to expect. He walked us along the canal side towards St Mark’s Square, on the way we passed Vivaldi’s house but he did not come out to see us.
We passed the Bridge of Sighs which links the Doge’s Palace to the jail and as one of the sights I had looked forward to seeing it was an anti-climax but the Doge’s Palace more than made up for that, we were allowed to photograph in the courtyard and in some parts of the building so I was grateful that I had solved the battery situation.
Our guide attempted to tell us how the Doge was elected but did admit that it was complicated, at present Britain is under the control of a coalition government which is looking at election reform so I, having a general interest in these things, referred to Wikipedia, this seems like an ideal way to proceed:
New regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their object was to minimize as far as possible the influence of individual great families, and this was effected by a complex elective machinery. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who actually elected the doge.
I imagine that has clarified the situation for all of us!
As I understand this the Doge was the senior magistrate and ruler of Venice but he had his power limited by the other members of the governing body.So he was somewhere between a president and a modern king acting as the Head of State.
The Palace was an impressive tour during which we crossed the Bridge of Sighs and sampled briefly the delights of the mediaeval prison.
When we emerged from the Palace it was intended for the same guide to take us round the Basilica but he was unable to do so. As sometimes happens the wind or tide had caused the Square to be flooded and the Basilica was closed to avoid water damage. We had more time on our hands than we had expected but it passed quickly as we wandered in the city. We were too mean to indulge in a Gondola ride at 60 euros but we did see plenty of them on our walk.
When we returned to The Grand Canal there was a wedding party having their official photographs taken using the canal as a back drop. It was interesting to see that the mother of the bride seemed more in charge of the proceedings than either the bride or the photographer, don’t even consider that the groom could have been in charge.
We returned to the ship and, in due course, with or without the captain’s, “enough turns on the rubber band…..” this was a Sail Away not to be missed. We were enchanted by Venice and we could find no support for people who insist that the canals are dirty and smelly, we were close enough to check that and we never got that impression.
In the evening we continued our film-going with “Men who stare at Goats” I knew it was an offbeat offering so we sat for six minutes with no picture on the screen, just the dialogue, asuming this to be the directors intention it was not, eventually the error was spotted and the film restarted with both sight and hearing catered for. It wasn’t a great improvement but the film was saved from bottom place in our list by Sherlock Holmes.
By 7.00am the light was great and we were entering the Grand Canal, there was no heat in the sun so we wore jackets but the views lit us up. The carefully selected Italian opera music coming through ther PA system was a magical addition to the scenery. We passed close by St Mark’s Square and later were able to identify many of the definitive Venice landmarks. We saw rank after rank of gondolas not yet in use and by 8.00pm we were berthed and decided to have breakfast. It was one of those times when you felt genuinely sorry for other passengers just getting up and wandering into breakfast with no idea what they had missed.
I had a problem the solution of which was a great success, I had run out of Lithium AA batteries and the normal “High Power” were struggling to do a day’s photography so with our tour leaving the quayside at 11.50am we resolved to walk to the nearest shops and buy some batteries. By 10.00am we were off the ship and following the crowd on foot leaving the port gates. Our frustration was that everyone else seemed to be dragging their luggage with them and so peacefully co-existing with them on a narrow pavement was tricky. Just when we wondered if we would ever get to shops we left the heavily industrial area of the port and were entranced by the canals and old buildings. There were shops a plenty and we found a camera shop where I bought two Lithium batteries for eight euros I felt this was excessive but I paid without hesitation; not being confident of the camera in this photographic goldmine would have been agony.
In a small shop down an alley just off the main canal, there are canals and alleys in Venice, no substantial roads; we spotted licquorice sold by the metre we bought 1metre for 2 euros but it did not survive the journey home to England.
We paced our return to the ship so that we could be on the quayside at 11.45 and therefore ready for our motor launch into St Mark’s Square. We were amused to see motor boats racing past us from other liners to the canal system loaded with luggage – you had to think does it all get to its destination and is it dry when it does?
We were gathered on the dock and then issued with trip numbers, two trips were embarked on the same motor launch and the two guides outlined the basics of the trip making sure that we knew where the boats would return from and when, I have to say however, these were the least enthusiastic guides we encountered on the cruise I hope this was reflected in their level of pay!
We docked about 300 metres past St Mark’s square and we were handed over to a guide for the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica, his knowledge and enthusiasm were right back to the standards that we had come to expect. He walked us along the canal side towards St Mark’s Square, on the way we passed Vivaldi’s house but he did not come out to see us.
We passed the Bridge of Sighs which links the Doge’s Palace to the jail and as one of the sights I had looked forward to seeing it was an anti-climax but the Doge’s Palace more than made up for that, we were allowed to photograph in the courtyard and in some parts of the building so I was grateful that I had solved the battery situation.
Our guide attempted to tell us how the Doge was elected but did admit that it was complicated, at present Britain is under the control of a coalition government which is looking at election reform so I, having a general interest in these things, referred to Wikipedia, this seems like an ideal way to proceed:
New regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their object was to minimize as far as possible the influence of individual great families, and this was effected by a complex elective machinery. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who actually elected the doge.
I imagine that has clarified the situation for all of us!
As I understand this the Doge was the senior magistrate and ruler of Venice but he had his power limited by the other members of the governing body.So he was somewhere between a president and a modern king acting as the Head of State.
The Palace was an impressive tour during which we crossed the Bridge of Sighs and sampled briefly the delights of the mediaeval prison.
When we emerged from the Palace it was intended for the same guide to take us round the Basilica but he was unable to do so. As sometimes happens the wind or tide had caused the Square to be flooded and the Basilica was closed to avoid water damage. We had more time on our hands than we had expected but it passed quickly as we wandered in the city. We were too mean to indulge in a Gondola ride at 60 euros but we did see plenty of them on our walk.
When we returned to The Grand Canal there was a wedding party having their official photographs taken using the canal as a back drop. It was interesting to see that the mother of the bride seemed more in charge of the proceedings than either the bride or the photographer, don’t even consider that the groom could have been in charge.
We returned to the ship and, in due course, with or without the captain’s, “enough turns on the rubber band…..” this was a Sail Away not to be missed. We were enchanted by Venice and we could find no support for people who insist that the canals are dirty and smelly, we were close enough to check that and we never got that impression.
In the evening we continued our film-going with “Men who stare at Goats” I knew it was an offbeat offering so we sat for six minutes with no picture on the screen, just the dialogue, asuming this to be the directors intention it was not, eventually the error was spotted and the film restarted with both sight and hearing catered for. It wasn’t a great improvement but the film was saved from bottom place in our list by Sherlock Holmes.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Our First Cruise - Saturday 15/05/2010 Dubrovnik
Our excitement in seeing Dubrovnik was built up by everyone we mentioned our cruise to telling us what a highlight it was going to be. It wasn’t, we were barely awake when the ship’s tannoy cut across our thoughts, the captain announced that due to 60mph wind we were unable to dock in Dubrovnik and with those winds he was unable to launch his shuttle boats so we were steaming on and had another day at sea. Our timing for Dubrovnik was the shortest on the cruise docking at 8.00am and leaving at 2.30pm, it obviously meant that there was not much leeway in our schedule for the ship to see if things improved.
We are by now seasoned travellers and accustomed to making the best of things so we sulked, long and hard.
We continued our self-inflicted Detox programme with light meals and no alcohol and although the entertainment staff put on extra events there was nothing which attracted us.
Every conversation reinforced the feeling that we had missed out on something special; people were either like us expecting great things due to what they had been told or veterans of Dubrovnik who waxed lyrical about it. We are resolved to catch up with the city that the wind had cheated us of.
In the afternoon we were driven below decks by quite a hard shower and the decks were awash with water all afternoon.
The ship showed the Cup Final in the bar but we went to the cinema instead, watching “Did you hear about the Morgans?” with Hugh Grant playing Hugh Grant, that’s what he does but now there is no reference in the script to explain his obvious English origin. If anyone wants to see Hugh Grant at his best they should stick to the classics, I recommend “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill”. This film however, was a reasonable way to spend ninety minutes out of a day with very little going on. The Cup Final finished 1-0 to Chelsea, winners of the Premiership, over Portsmouth, relegated from the Premiership but for much of that game there was very little going on also.
Julia and I decided that enough was enough and officially ended our sulk at dinner, which we enjoyed, and followed up with the Chapman Brothers in the Marquee who performed songs from the sixties and seventies in the Soul and Motown style.
We are by now seasoned travellers and accustomed to making the best of things so we sulked, long and hard.
We continued our self-inflicted Detox programme with light meals and no alcohol and although the entertainment staff put on extra events there was nothing which attracted us.
Every conversation reinforced the feeling that we had missed out on something special; people were either like us expecting great things due to what they had been told or veterans of Dubrovnik who waxed lyrical about it. We are resolved to catch up with the city that the wind had cheated us of.
In the afternoon we were driven below decks by quite a hard shower and the decks were awash with water all afternoon.
The ship showed the Cup Final in the bar but we went to the cinema instead, watching “Did you hear about the Morgans?” with Hugh Grant playing Hugh Grant, that’s what he does but now there is no reference in the script to explain his obvious English origin. If anyone wants to see Hugh Grant at his best they should stick to the classics, I recommend “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill”. This film however, was a reasonable way to spend ninety minutes out of a day with very little going on. The Cup Final finished 1-0 to Chelsea, winners of the Premiership, over Portsmouth, relegated from the Premiership but for much of that game there was very little going on also.
Julia and I decided that enough was enough and officially ended our sulk at dinner, which we enjoyed, and followed up with the Chapman Brothers in the Marquee who performed songs from the sixties and seventies in the Soul and Motown style.
Our First Cruise - Friday 14/05/2010 at Sea
From Crete we knew that there was a day’s sailing before we had any ports in prospect and we planned a very lazy day. We had heard fog horns through the night so the weather seemed more uncertain than it had been.
We got up late, breakfasted slowly, read our emails and found a quiet spot to read; ironically it was right next to the Gym which was seldom busy, although you could sit on a static bicycle and pretend that you were powering the ship forward as you had a great view over the bows. It strikes me now that the equipment could have been wired into the ship’s power supply on the basis that “every little helps”.
We had decided on an alcohol free day and that would also help the on-ship account.
In a programme of activities that we had otherwise no interest in we were resolved to go to the digital camera lecture again in order to see if there was anything additional to pick up, so we forgot!!! We remembered exactly as it would have been finishing, which added to our frustration.
It was a hot day and the sun decks were packed so there was little attraction to going on deck so I downloaded another batch of photographs onto our laptop on the basis that losing the camera would be disaster enough without having to repeat the cruise to recapture the memories.
We had an early dinner and an early night as we were very much looking forward to an early start in Dubrovnik the following day.
We got up late, breakfasted slowly, read our emails and found a quiet spot to read; ironically it was right next to the Gym which was seldom busy, although you could sit on a static bicycle and pretend that you were powering the ship forward as you had a great view over the bows. It strikes me now that the equipment could have been wired into the ship’s power supply on the basis that “every little helps”.
We had decided on an alcohol free day and that would also help the on-ship account.
In a programme of activities that we had otherwise no interest in we were resolved to go to the digital camera lecture again in order to see if there was anything additional to pick up, so we forgot!!! We remembered exactly as it would have been finishing, which added to our frustration.
It was a hot day and the sun decks were packed so there was little attraction to going on deck so I downloaded another batch of photographs onto our laptop on the basis that losing the camera would be disaster enough without having to repeat the cruise to recapture the memories.
We had an early dinner and an early night as we were very much looking forward to an early start in Dubrovnik the following day.
Our First Cruise - Thursday 13/05/2010 Crete
We were back in Crete where we had joined the ship one week before. Some of the passengers were leaving the boat having done one week and some having done two; we had our second week still to come. The previous night we had noticed that luggage appeared outside cabin doors and more magically it disappeared during the evening. Now at breakfast about half the passengers were burdened by their hand luggage. In the internet café in the Village Square there had been three or four novels balanced on the window ledge now both window ledges overflowed with books as the more selfish readers finally returned their completed books rather than carry them home. All the above was explained by the simple fact - It was Change-Over day!
After breakfast we wandered into Heraklion and, using an internet walk and the ship’s map of the town, we explored quite successfully.
We returned to the ship in the early afternoon and found it to be more crowded than the previous week, in the hot tub we chatted to a couple who claimed to have taken the last cabin on the ship when volcanic ash stopped them flying out to the cruise they had booked.
On the subject of the Volcanic Ash Cloud, it closed the UK airports on a Thursday, Julia and I were in Edinburgh doing a basketball tournament but had driven there unlike many people who had travelled by air. Thursday was the Crete changeover for Ocean Village and let’s say half her passengers were due to fly home while none were able to fly in to join the ship. The company offered those due to disembark two choices, stay in a hotel in Crete until flights were restored or pay £200 pounds for another week on the ship. We would have done the second even if we had been on for two weeks but imagine the delight of people who had only booked one week!
Everywhere seemed more pressurized by the full complement of passengers but gradually things settled down. After an early dinner we watched “Sherlock Holmes” the Guy Richie film in the cinema, in my opinion this film needs a good leaving alone it was easily the worst film we endured on the cruise.
We then tried to catch the latest comedian, Martin Beaumont, but he was opening in Connexions and the place was packed. We retreated for a snack and tea in the Plantation restaurant before heading to bed.
After breakfast we wandered into Heraklion and, using an internet walk and the ship’s map of the town, we explored quite successfully.
We returned to the ship in the early afternoon and found it to be more crowded than the previous week, in the hot tub we chatted to a couple who claimed to have taken the last cabin on the ship when volcanic ash stopped them flying out to the cruise they had booked.
On the subject of the Volcanic Ash Cloud, it closed the UK airports on a Thursday, Julia and I were in Edinburgh doing a basketball tournament but had driven there unlike many people who had travelled by air. Thursday was the Crete changeover for Ocean Village and let’s say half her passengers were due to fly home while none were able to fly in to join the ship. The company offered those due to disembark two choices, stay in a hotel in Crete until flights were restored or pay £200 pounds for another week on the ship. We would have done the second even if we had been on for two weeks but imagine the delight of people who had only booked one week!
Everywhere seemed more pressurized by the full complement of passengers but gradually things settled down. After an early dinner we watched “Sherlock Holmes” the Guy Richie film in the cinema, in my opinion this film needs a good leaving alone it was easily the worst film we endured on the cruise.
We then tried to catch the latest comedian, Martin Beaumont, but he was opening in Connexions and the place was packed. We retreated for a snack and tea in the Plantation restaurant before heading to bed.
Our First Cruise - Wednesday 12/05/2010 Athens
To go with the threat of volcanic ash stopping us flying back to the UK, not a threat that bothered us as we were more than willing to spend another week at sea if the price was right, there was also trouble in Greece. There had been rioting in the streets in protest over the financial situation. We had waited to see if the ship would dock in Piraeus and, further, if the trips to Athens were cancelled. In fact Ocean Village split the difference by arriving in Piraeus as scheduled but the independent traveller trip to Athens was cancelled. This was no problem to us as we had booked an escorted tour of Athens.
We travelled on a coach from the port into Athens and our first port of call was the new Olympic stadium where the Olympic flame is given to new Olympic hosts having been relayed from the ancient Olympic stadium where the flame is lit.
From the stadium we could look up and see the Acropolis on the highest point of the city. Apart from the grandeur of the new stadium it had modern facilities and we were urged to take advantage of the toilets before moving onto the Acropolis. Many of our party did so and soon there was a long queue at both facilities but much longer for the Ladies’ than the Men’s, I emerged from one of the two cubicles and wondered if I was the one in error as there were several German ladies inside our sanctum, clearly the whole order of civilization had broken down. Julia not known for her rebellious nature, applauded their initiative, and soon one queue was female and the other mixed.
Our coach which had dropped us off some 100 yards down the street from the stadium had to move forward as each bus ahead moved off; the driver was now in a state of apprehension as he was at the front of the line and didn’t have his full complement of ladies.
When we moved off, all complete, we went through the centre of the city and had several points of interest pointed out to us notably the Hadrian’s Arch and the Parliament building which had featured in the unrest. We were also shown our final meeting point if we got separated at any point.
The bus let us off at the foot of the Acropolis and we walked up the 80 plus steps to reach the amazing view of the Parthenon. It was so impressive as was the knowledge of our guide another real enthusiast, her most striking fact, in my view, was that the Parthenon which looks so square and straight actually has no straight lines in its design and if it did have the building would look curved, I cannot explain this and I couldn’t see it even when see told us what to look at!
We wandered around the plateau and the views up there and then down onto the city were incredible. We then made our way down to the base of the Acropolis where our guide took us to Hadrian’s Arch and turned us loose to shop or whatever.
Julia, the intrepid, took control of our party of two and we set off towards the Parliament building when the guard changes every hour and is therefore a major tourist attraction. We passed an excavated roman villa which had been found when the underground railway was modernized. We walked down streets that still bore the scars of the riots, a large bank had been burnt out and everywhere there were boarded up or cracked windows. As we approached the Parliamentary building we heard the noise of unrest and, sure enough, there was a noisy demonstration of about 100 people yelling slogans at the front of the building. Riot police were poised to either side, ready top step in if the crowd rushed the guards, and the protesters were being filmed for future reference. We decided to remain in range and wait for the changing of the guard on the hour.
To describe the guards I will quote Wickapedia again:
The Evzones, is the name of several historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army. Today, it refers to the members of the Presidential Guard, an elite ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Hellenic Parliament and the Presidential Mansion. The Evzones are also known, colloquially, as Tsoliades.
Though the Presidential Guard is a predominantly ceremonial unit, all Evzones are volunteers drawn from the Hellenic Army's Infantry, Artillery and Armoured Corps. Prospective Evzones are usually identified at the Army Recruit Training Centres during Basic Training; there is a minimum height requirement of 1.86 meters to join, and the soldier must serve a minimum of 6 months with an operational Army unit before beginning Evzone training.
The unit is famous around the world for its unique traditional uniform, which has evolved from the clothes worn by the klephts who fought the Ottoman (Turkish) occupation of Greece. The most visible item of this uniform is the fustanella, a kilt-like garment. Their proven valour and peculiar dress turned them into a popular image for the Greek soldier, especially among foreigners.
Even in these slightly strained circumstances the guards are very tolerant of tourists and I photographed Julia next to an unblinking sentry. While doing this we were watched closely by a modern uniformed soldier whose role is to protect the ceremonial solder from unwanted attention and to mop his brow after every stately maneuver.
Just as we were becoming blasé about the protesters they lost patience with their lack of impact and decided to block the main road behind them by standing still on the crossing. Greek drivers are emotional folk and sounded their horns and voiced their opinions about the situation. The riot police looked slightly more interested than before but returned to apathy when the protesters returned to the pavement. From there they contented themselves with hurling abuse at the building and anyone who appeared at the windows.
Suddenly there was peace, as the relief guards arrived, there was much marching and posing with feet high in the air almost touching their colleague’s boot also poised, then the new guards took up station and those they replaced marched away accompanied by applause from the tourists and protesters alike.
We retreated towards our assigned meeting place and had a cooling beverage in a pavement restaurant, not the cheapest but certainly welcome.
There was no stop off at an ouzo distillery or such so we were back on the ship by 4.00pm and being English we took tea.
In the evening we sandwiched our dinner between a film, “Blind Side” and an excellent comedian, Simon Fox, in the Connexions bar.
“Blind Side” starring Sandra Bullock was by far our favourite film of the cruise and I urge anyone who enjoys sports movies to see it. I refuse to say too much but at one point Sandra Bullock’s husband says, “Who would have believed that we’d have a black son before we knew a Democrat!”
Another full day!
We travelled on a coach from the port into Athens and our first port of call was the new Olympic stadium where the Olympic flame is given to new Olympic hosts having been relayed from the ancient Olympic stadium where the flame is lit.
From the stadium we could look up and see the Acropolis on the highest point of the city. Apart from the grandeur of the new stadium it had modern facilities and we were urged to take advantage of the toilets before moving onto the Acropolis. Many of our party did so and soon there was a long queue at both facilities but much longer for the Ladies’ than the Men’s, I emerged from one of the two cubicles and wondered if I was the one in error as there were several German ladies inside our sanctum, clearly the whole order of civilization had broken down. Julia not known for her rebellious nature, applauded their initiative, and soon one queue was female and the other mixed.
Our coach which had dropped us off some 100 yards down the street from the stadium had to move forward as each bus ahead moved off; the driver was now in a state of apprehension as he was at the front of the line and didn’t have his full complement of ladies.
When we moved off, all complete, we went through the centre of the city and had several points of interest pointed out to us notably the Hadrian’s Arch and the Parliament building which had featured in the unrest. We were also shown our final meeting point if we got separated at any point.
The bus let us off at the foot of the Acropolis and we walked up the 80 plus steps to reach the amazing view of the Parthenon. It was so impressive as was the knowledge of our guide another real enthusiast, her most striking fact, in my view, was that the Parthenon which looks so square and straight actually has no straight lines in its design and if it did have the building would look curved, I cannot explain this and I couldn’t see it even when see told us what to look at!
We wandered around the plateau and the views up there and then down onto the city were incredible. We then made our way down to the base of the Acropolis where our guide took us to Hadrian’s Arch and turned us loose to shop or whatever.
Julia, the intrepid, took control of our party of two and we set off towards the Parliament building when the guard changes every hour and is therefore a major tourist attraction. We passed an excavated roman villa which had been found when the underground railway was modernized. We walked down streets that still bore the scars of the riots, a large bank had been burnt out and everywhere there were boarded up or cracked windows. As we approached the Parliamentary building we heard the noise of unrest and, sure enough, there was a noisy demonstration of about 100 people yelling slogans at the front of the building. Riot police were poised to either side, ready top step in if the crowd rushed the guards, and the protesters were being filmed for future reference. We decided to remain in range and wait for the changing of the guard on the hour.
To describe the guards I will quote Wickapedia again:
The Evzones, is the name of several historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army. Today, it refers to the members of the Presidential Guard, an elite ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Hellenic Parliament and the Presidential Mansion. The Evzones are also known, colloquially, as Tsoliades.
Though the Presidential Guard is a predominantly ceremonial unit, all Evzones are volunteers drawn from the Hellenic Army's Infantry, Artillery and Armoured Corps. Prospective Evzones are usually identified at the Army Recruit Training Centres during Basic Training; there is a minimum height requirement of 1.86 meters to join, and the soldier must serve a minimum of 6 months with an operational Army unit before beginning Evzone training.
The unit is famous around the world for its unique traditional uniform, which has evolved from the clothes worn by the klephts who fought the Ottoman (Turkish) occupation of Greece. The most visible item of this uniform is the fustanella, a kilt-like garment. Their proven valour and peculiar dress turned them into a popular image for the Greek soldier, especially among foreigners.
Even in these slightly strained circumstances the guards are very tolerant of tourists and I photographed Julia next to an unblinking sentry. While doing this we were watched closely by a modern uniformed soldier whose role is to protect the ceremonial solder from unwanted attention and to mop his brow after every stately maneuver.
Just as we were becoming blasé about the protesters they lost patience with their lack of impact and decided to block the main road behind them by standing still on the crossing. Greek drivers are emotional folk and sounded their horns and voiced their opinions about the situation. The riot police looked slightly more interested than before but returned to apathy when the protesters returned to the pavement. From there they contented themselves with hurling abuse at the building and anyone who appeared at the windows.
Suddenly there was peace, as the relief guards arrived, there was much marching and posing with feet high in the air almost touching their colleague’s boot also poised, then the new guards took up station and those they replaced marched away accompanied by applause from the tourists and protesters alike.
We retreated towards our assigned meeting place and had a cooling beverage in a pavement restaurant, not the cheapest but certainly welcome.
There was no stop off at an ouzo distillery or such so we were back on the ship by 4.00pm and being English we took tea.
In the evening we sandwiched our dinner between a film, “Blind Side” and an excellent comedian, Simon Fox, in the Connexions bar.
“Blind Side” starring Sandra Bullock was by far our favourite film of the cruise and I urge anyone who enjoys sports movies to see it. I refuse to say too much but at one point Sandra Bullock’s husband says, “Who would have believed that we’d have a black son before we knew a Democrat!”
Another full day!
Monday, 5 July 2010
Our First Cruise - Tuesday 11/05/2010 Kusadasi and Ephesus
Kusadasi was to be our first, and on this trip, only touch on Turkey. We had nothing booked in advance but we decided on board the ship to try and book the Ancient Ephesus tour which I had done before leaving the ship on Monday morning. On our return there was a printed slip on our bed saying that our chosen trip was sold out and we should look at others while we had been placed on the reserve list in case anyone cancelled. I had gone down to the help desk in the Village Square and was told that they were now running another bus on our chosen tour as it had been so popular.
With this in mind it was no surprise to see several coaches parked alongside the curb just outside the port buildings as we emerged with our coach number on our shirts. We were on one of the early buses and our guide was excellent, he claimed to have come second in all of Turkey in the guides competition based on travellers’ reviews, the winner must have been truly excellent to have beaten him.
We left the port of Kusadasi and drove up into the hills, our first stop was at the home of the Virgin Mary in her later years, this is disputed by some Christian scholars but the claim is based on the idea that Saint John took responsibility for looking after Mary as she grew older and it is documented that he travelled to what is now modern Turkey.
According to Wickapedia:
The supporters of the belief that the Virgin Mary lived her last years and died in her hut near Ephesus base their theory on two main points:
1. The presence of the Tomb of St. John and the Basilica of St. John in Ephesus: Jesus Christ, before dying on the cross, entrusted to St. John his mother (19:26-27). It is believed that after the crucifixion of Jesus, St. John left Jerusalem and came to Ephesus in order to convert its people to Christianity, as it was one of the biggest and safest non-Christian cities of its time (capital of the Asia Minor province of the Roman Empire). He then built a small hut to care for Mary just outside Ephesus in order to protect her from the largely Artemis worshipping community of the region. (see Temple of Artemis)
2. The presence of the Church of Mary, the first basilica in the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in Ephesus: In the early centuries of Christianity, places of worship were dedicated only to persons who lived or died in the area.
Without being able to form an opinion about the reality of the claim we can certainly say that the site was moving in its tranquility and made an excellent start to the Ephesus experience. We spent about half an hour on this site and then returned to the bus. At this point our guide explained that we would be dropped off at the top of the Ephesus site and work our way down through it as trying to tackle the site uphill would lead us to hate him! He reminded us that we were not Japanese tourists so we should not feel obliged to photograph everything we saw, he assured us that there was nothing warranting our efforts where the coach dropped us off.
We were met on the site by a student photographer who joined our party only after our guide had asked if we were happy with that. He took several photos as we passed through and in due course we would be able to buy them at the bus.
Obviously I knew better than our guide because we had barely entered the site when we came upon an amphitheatre which I expended a few shots on, we then crossed some fairly unremarkable fields with some ruins and I was complimenting myself on my better judgment. However he was right, we breasted a small hill and below us was an incredible sight, there was a Roman street, paved with flagstones and flanked by ruined houses which had been equipped with running water in Roman times. Many of these houses had mosaic floors which looked quite dull until he poured water on them to remove the dust to show the vivid original colours. He knew the uses of most of the buildings and as we ventured further down the street, we came to the large public library which had survived better than most of the surrounding buildings; he told us that the experts were in conflict over the purpose of the buildings immediately opposite the library but consensus was now that one was a casino and the other a brothel, I suppose you don’t always fancy reading.
Below the library we came upon the huge Grand Theatre where St Paul preached (and is still used for performances today) and this really did warrant photography it was awesome. The whole Ephesus experience was similar and not dwarfed by our tour of ancient Rome; we would urge anyone who can to visit.
Looking back it is strange to think we had known so little about Ephesus that we had not even been sure that we wanted to see it and perhaps we would never have realised what we missed.
True to their word the photos were ready at the coach and we bought two out of the three featuring us, being the world’s worst hagglers we were unable to negotiate an improved price for all three together so he has the remaining one framed on his wall I imagine.
On our way back to the ship we stopped at a vantage point to photograph the town from above and also at a carpet factory where we were given a drink, apple tea, and a gentle sales pitch to buy a carpet. The carpets were impressive and I can recall quite a lot about them but I stick with this, the best carpets are silk on silk, they are priced by the number of knots per inch, only women can make them as men’s fingers are too big and these women only have about a twelve year working life before their eyes are so damaged by the close work. These carpets last effectively for ever but cost thousands of pounds and generally go up in value as they age.
Unlike in Egypt we felt under no pressure to buy so after admiring the process and the products we were offered a doormat in wool on wool at £95 but we declined.
Leaving the carpet shop we were within easy walking distance of the ship but we enjoyed a wander round the town before heading back.
Julia bought a Turkish pashmina in rich blues and black at a good price and afterwards sensibly avoided anywhere else that sold them. We sat for a drink at the top of the town and enjoyed the active street theatre before strolling back to the ship.
As we took afternoon tea I also took some good shots of the port and again later during the “sail away”.
Julia wore her pashmina to dinner and we then went to the Marquee to see Steve Larkins and his tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen, I never knew that Freddie Mercury came from New Zealand but otherwise it was an entertaining act and it sent us to bed on a high having had a most memorable day.
With this in mind it was no surprise to see several coaches parked alongside the curb just outside the port buildings as we emerged with our coach number on our shirts. We were on one of the early buses and our guide was excellent, he claimed to have come second in all of Turkey in the guides competition based on travellers’ reviews, the winner must have been truly excellent to have beaten him.
We left the port of Kusadasi and drove up into the hills, our first stop was at the home of the Virgin Mary in her later years, this is disputed by some Christian scholars but the claim is based on the idea that Saint John took responsibility for looking after Mary as she grew older and it is documented that he travelled to what is now modern Turkey.
According to Wickapedia:
The supporters of the belief that the Virgin Mary lived her last years and died in her hut near Ephesus base their theory on two main points:
1. The presence of the Tomb of St. John and the Basilica of St. John in Ephesus: Jesus Christ, before dying on the cross, entrusted to St. John his mother (19:26-27). It is believed that after the crucifixion of Jesus, St. John left Jerusalem and came to Ephesus in order to convert its people to Christianity, as it was one of the biggest and safest non-Christian cities of its time (capital of the Asia Minor province of the Roman Empire). He then built a small hut to care for Mary just outside Ephesus in order to protect her from the largely Artemis worshipping community of the region. (see Temple of Artemis)
2. The presence of the Church of Mary, the first basilica in the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in Ephesus: In the early centuries of Christianity, places of worship were dedicated only to persons who lived or died in the area.
Without being able to form an opinion about the reality of the claim we can certainly say that the site was moving in its tranquility and made an excellent start to the Ephesus experience. We spent about half an hour on this site and then returned to the bus. At this point our guide explained that we would be dropped off at the top of the Ephesus site and work our way down through it as trying to tackle the site uphill would lead us to hate him! He reminded us that we were not Japanese tourists so we should not feel obliged to photograph everything we saw, he assured us that there was nothing warranting our efforts where the coach dropped us off.
We were met on the site by a student photographer who joined our party only after our guide had asked if we were happy with that. He took several photos as we passed through and in due course we would be able to buy them at the bus.
Obviously I knew better than our guide because we had barely entered the site when we came upon an amphitheatre which I expended a few shots on, we then crossed some fairly unremarkable fields with some ruins and I was complimenting myself on my better judgment. However he was right, we breasted a small hill and below us was an incredible sight, there was a Roman street, paved with flagstones and flanked by ruined houses which had been equipped with running water in Roman times. Many of these houses had mosaic floors which looked quite dull until he poured water on them to remove the dust to show the vivid original colours. He knew the uses of most of the buildings and as we ventured further down the street, we came to the large public library which had survived better than most of the surrounding buildings; he told us that the experts were in conflict over the purpose of the buildings immediately opposite the library but consensus was now that one was a casino and the other a brothel, I suppose you don’t always fancy reading.
Below the library we came upon the huge Grand Theatre where St Paul preached (and is still used for performances today) and this really did warrant photography it was awesome. The whole Ephesus experience was similar and not dwarfed by our tour of ancient Rome; we would urge anyone who can to visit.
Looking back it is strange to think we had known so little about Ephesus that we had not even been sure that we wanted to see it and perhaps we would never have realised what we missed.
True to their word the photos were ready at the coach and we bought two out of the three featuring us, being the world’s worst hagglers we were unable to negotiate an improved price for all three together so he has the remaining one framed on his wall I imagine.
On our way back to the ship we stopped at a vantage point to photograph the town from above and also at a carpet factory where we were given a drink, apple tea, and a gentle sales pitch to buy a carpet. The carpets were impressive and I can recall quite a lot about them but I stick with this, the best carpets are silk on silk, they are priced by the number of knots per inch, only women can make them as men’s fingers are too big and these women only have about a twelve year working life before their eyes are so damaged by the close work. These carpets last effectively for ever but cost thousands of pounds and generally go up in value as they age.
Unlike in Egypt we felt under no pressure to buy so after admiring the process and the products we were offered a doormat in wool on wool at £95 but we declined.
Leaving the carpet shop we were within easy walking distance of the ship but we enjoyed a wander round the town before heading back.
Julia bought a Turkish pashmina in rich blues and black at a good price and afterwards sensibly avoided anywhere else that sold them. We sat for a drink at the top of the town and enjoyed the active street theatre before strolling back to the ship.
As we took afternoon tea I also took some good shots of the port and again later during the “sail away”.
Julia wore her pashmina to dinner and we then went to the Marquee to see Steve Larkins and his tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen, I never knew that Freddie Mercury came from New Zealand but otherwise it was an entertaining act and it sent us to bed on a high having had a most memorable day.
Our First Cruise - Monday 10/05/2010 Rhodes
We were awake as we docked in Rhodes and it was a most impressive arrival. We breakfasted and set off on foot as the town surrounded by its formidable walls was in walking distance from the ship. We made our way along the harbour side and into the town through one of several gates protected by a strong point. Inside the town gates we decided to explore the city walls first and everywhere was a classic photograph. From the walls, and indeed as we walked into the town, we observed many hugely opulent boats; there was a private yacht almost as big as some of the liners docked there.
This was a low key day and we enjoyed the slower pace of it all. We walked up and down the shopping streets and decided on a roof-top bar which was family run. They made us very welcome and we drank a chilled beer while watching the world go by. One of the facets of the cruise is the unlimited food on board so we could not justify having lunch at this bar but we were tempted by the friendly invitations of the family.
While continuing to explore we came upon two reminders of Malta, looking across from the roof terrace we saw the same wooden bay windows which look to be added as an afterthought to the outside of a completed building, these were everywhere in the old parts of Malta and while walking through the castle we saw the coat of arms of the Knights of Malta.
Having enjoyed the slow pace of Rhodes we strolled back to the ship and had a quiet afternoon reading in the sun on deck 12. We enjoyed our dinner at night after an enjoyable “sail away” from one of the most picturesque ports in our cruise.
We went to the cinema again in the evening, this time to see, “Its Complicated” with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, who were all excellent but we both agreed that John Krasinski stole the show playing the fiancé of Meryl Streep’s daughter who had the misfortune to be always in the wrong place at the wrong time. We recommend the film and at this point we placed it ahead of “Crazy Heart”.
We had a case of the munchies after the film so we went up to the Plantation and had tea and cake before bed.
This was a low key day and we enjoyed the slower pace of it all. We walked up and down the shopping streets and decided on a roof-top bar which was family run. They made us very welcome and we drank a chilled beer while watching the world go by. One of the facets of the cruise is the unlimited food on board so we could not justify having lunch at this bar but we were tempted by the friendly invitations of the family.
While continuing to explore we came upon two reminders of Malta, looking across from the roof terrace we saw the same wooden bay windows which look to be added as an afterthought to the outside of a completed building, these were everywhere in the old parts of Malta and while walking through the castle we saw the coat of arms of the Knights of Malta.
Having enjoyed the slow pace of Rhodes we strolled back to the ship and had a quiet afternoon reading in the sun on deck 12. We enjoyed our dinner at night after an enjoyable “sail away” from one of the most picturesque ports in our cruise.
We went to the cinema again in the evening, this time to see, “Its Complicated” with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, who were all excellent but we both agreed that John Krasinski stole the show playing the fiancé of Meryl Streep’s daughter who had the misfortune to be always in the wrong place at the wrong time. We recommend the film and at this point we placed it ahead of “Crazy Heart”.
We had a case of the munchies after the film so we went up to the Plantation and had tea and cake before bed.
Our First Cruise - Sunday 09/05/2010 Limassol
We arrived in Limassol, Cyprus, early and set out on foot with nothing planned after breakfast. There had been trips offered by the ship but nothing had particular appeal to us so we decided to do the independent thing. On the quayside we were given a map of the area and on leaving the port we met up with Richard, the table tennis player, and his wife Margaret. We decided to split the cost of a taxi into town and for 20 euros we were dropped of in the centre. The same experience booked through the ship would have been a shuttle coach costing £16 each. In the town centre there was a really attractive castle to visit but we could not pay for entrance because the cashier had no change. We moved on deciding to return later when we had broken down some of our big notes.
We remained together and soon found that we had much in common but Richard and Margaret were veteran cruisers and we picked up many hints from them during the two weeks. We walked along the seaside promenade and passed through a market and a park where a church fete was in full swing. We stopped for tea on the front before returning to the town centre now equipped with plenty of change; sadly the castle was now shut because it was Sunday!
We decided to walk back to the ship and it was a pleasant stroll of about 50 minutes which passed quickly in easy conversation.
We separated back on the ship and Julia and I had a chill out in the pool, one of the benefits of being retired is that we now holiday out of the school holidays so the ship’s passengers were mainly adult and the two swimming pools are designated family and adult – we sat contentedly in the adult pool.
Afternoon tea called to us and we had tea, scones, jam and clotted cream on the rear of the ship taking in the view of Cyprus. Tea is an issue for us but Ocean Village was passable in this respect, they stocked good quality teabags and provided boiling water, we even found skimmed milk was available in one restaurant. We usually brought two mugs of boiling water with the teabag in already, a spare mug for the used bags and a fourth mug with milk to our table thus we could let the tea brew before adding the milk. The only problem tended to be the over-attentive staff who would whisk anything away that they thought was finished with, until we were more aware of this we would return with a second mug of tea each only to find the milk or spare mug had departed.
We were keeping a close eye on the time because we had used the ship’s newspaper to plan a full day of activities, at 6.00pm there was live coverage of the final matches in the soccer Premiership. We got seated in the Oval, the ship’s pub where Man Utd v Stoke fixture was being shown while updates kept coming through from Chelsea v Wigan. To win the title Manchester had to do better than Chelsea and the northerners did their part by beating Stoke but Chelsea were not to be denied and they demolished Wigan to win the title.
We were quick to get some dinner in order to be ready to go to the ship’s cinema to see “Crazy Heart” starring Jeff Bridges at 9.30pm. It was an enjoyable film and a good experience particularly as we struggle to get to the pictures at home and here it was included in the price!
Our day was not yet complete; we went from the cinema to the Marquee and watched the late night comedian who finished off the day brilliantly.
We remained together and soon found that we had much in common but Richard and Margaret were veteran cruisers and we picked up many hints from them during the two weeks. We walked along the seaside promenade and passed through a market and a park where a church fete was in full swing. We stopped for tea on the front before returning to the town centre now equipped with plenty of change; sadly the castle was now shut because it was Sunday!
We decided to walk back to the ship and it was a pleasant stroll of about 50 minutes which passed quickly in easy conversation.
We separated back on the ship and Julia and I had a chill out in the pool, one of the benefits of being retired is that we now holiday out of the school holidays so the ship’s passengers were mainly adult and the two swimming pools are designated family and adult – we sat contentedly in the adult pool.
Afternoon tea called to us and we had tea, scones, jam and clotted cream on the rear of the ship taking in the view of Cyprus. Tea is an issue for us but Ocean Village was passable in this respect, they stocked good quality teabags and provided boiling water, we even found skimmed milk was available in one restaurant. We usually brought two mugs of boiling water with the teabag in already, a spare mug for the used bags and a fourth mug with milk to our table thus we could let the tea brew before adding the milk. The only problem tended to be the over-attentive staff who would whisk anything away that they thought was finished with, until we were more aware of this we would return with a second mug of tea each only to find the milk or spare mug had departed.
We were keeping a close eye on the time because we had used the ship’s newspaper to plan a full day of activities, at 6.00pm there was live coverage of the final matches in the soccer Premiership. We got seated in the Oval, the ship’s pub where Man Utd v Stoke fixture was being shown while updates kept coming through from Chelsea v Wigan. To win the title Manchester had to do better than Chelsea and the northerners did their part by beating Stoke but Chelsea were not to be denied and they demolished Wigan to win the title.
We were quick to get some dinner in order to be ready to go to the ship’s cinema to see “Crazy Heart” starring Jeff Bridges at 9.30pm. It was an enjoyable film and a good experience particularly as we struggle to get to the pictures at home and here it was included in the price!
Our day was not yet complete; we went from the cinema to the Marquee and watched the late night comedian who finished off the day brilliantly.
Our First Cruise - Saturday 08/05/2010 Port Said and Cairo
We have no idea when we docked in Port Said as we were asleep; our first contact with the continent of Africa went entirely unremarked.
Despite our best intentions we missed our alarm which had been set for 6.00am but we rushed through breakfast and made it to the muster in the Marquee where we were issued with a sticker for bus number two. The previous day we had been allowed to collect our passports now proudly bearing the Egyptian visa stamp so thus equipped we were escorted in bus groups off the ship for the first time. We scanned our cruise card and the computer said goodbye to each of us in turn. Now on the quayside before joining the convoy of coaches we were struck by the heat and the pressure of the Egyptian novelty sellers, we avoided eye-contact and refused to take any item offered as that would, in the seller’s view, have constituted a sale completed.
Having gone through Customs/Immigration and having our visas checked we were directed to our coach. A long line of coaches were parked down one side of the road and on the other side there were open backed jeeps crewed by armed soldiers. We got settled in one of the first coaches and our guide, Gharda, joined us, only when all the coaches were filled did the convoy move out. The jeeps were our escorts and they slotted in between every three or four coaches. We later heard that some of the coaches had plain-clothed armed guards sitting up from with their guides.
It was a surreal experience, as the convoy travelled through Port Said we noticed that each junction or crossroad we passed through was held open by the police to avoid us being stopped on our route out of the city.
To get out of Port Said we passed through a check point and then continued our three hour journey to Cairo the first part of which ran alongside the Suez Canal, we could not see the water in the canal but we passed close to large ships making their way in both directions.
The land we were passing through was rural and we were told very fertile, the farms were worked by families using horses rather than machinery. We noted that many of the farms had tall thin buildings which were for doves which in turn were raised as a food.
After about an hour on the road we left our escorts at Ismailia, which I think I remembered from Forces Favourites, and proceeded towards Cairo, en route we were warned not to photograph any thing which looked like a military installation, apart from the most basic farms everything looked as if it was military. The most basic factories had walls topped by barbed wire and observation posts often housing armed guards.
While we travelled Gharda was very interesting about Egyptian culture and sociology, her most notable fact was that the government was battling a population explosion which she illustrated by saying that a child was born every 26 seconds. She also was keen to get orders for shirts and jewelry featuring the letters of your name in Hieroglyphs surrounded in a cartouche – clearly she was on commission and I feel the price of the trip may have made our bus a bit on the stingy side, we were one of only five people who ordered a shirt and there were no takers for the gold items.
When we reached Cairo the journey changed from dual carriageway through the countryside to a version of “Death Race” the usual set of rules of the road were abandoned and the driver took the coach through gaps that I would have hesitated to cycle through, we arrived at the National Archaeological Museum remarkably unscathed and we emerged from the bus leaving our bags and cameras behind as they were not allowed in the museum. We entered the museum grounds through a check point only to find that most of the other visitors had their cameras. Thus we were unable to photograph the antiquities which were displayed outside, there were armed guards inside the compound and at most junctions but we would have resisted any temptation to snap them. Gharda had departed to get the “whisper” sound system which would allow us to hear her commentary once inside the museum and we resentfully fried in the heat of the day without our cameras. However we discovered that she was right, as we entered the building we were scanned again and cameras would have been taken from us.
Gharda was enthusiastic about the history, she constantly said “we” did this or that and for a while I thought she had been involved in the actual discoveries but I soon realised she meant the Egyptian people as a whole. Her enthusiasm was such that she set a hectic pace through the museum, saying at one point, “the faster we go the more we will see” true I suppose but the museum experience is a bit of a blur to me now. She did make the point however that in the days of the pharaohs gold was more plentiful than silver so the golden parts were considered less prestigious.
When Julia and I took a toilet break she continued ahead and while trying to catch her up we were at least one exhibit behind in terms of what we were seeing compared to what we could hear her describing. Meanwhile back in our respective toilets we both experienced our first hard-sell begging. On entering the museum toilet we encountered an attendant who was handing out loo paper, after using the facilities they demanded paying for their assistance, speaking for myself, I would have managed without their unsolicited help and as I had no Egyptian pounds I was unable to pay had I wanted to, the short face-off ended when I used my teaching face on the gentleman and he backed off. It was a foretaste of what was to come at the pyramids.
We returned to our bus having caught up with Gharda, something some of our group never achieved, and we moved on to Giza where we were booked in for lunch as part of the tour. Cairo and Giza overlap and Gharda pointed out that the local farming land beside the road had been developed into housing illegally. The buildings varied immensely and looked unfinished in the most part simply because the owners continued to build up and/or out from their original dwelling as their situation changed. It looked a precarious existence but many were living in that state.
We then saw the pyramids which were a back drop to the hotel where lunch was booked. The contrast between the opulence of the hotel and the illegal housing could not be escaped. Lunch was a well-stocked buffet and we by chance shared a table with one of the other table tennis players, Richard, who had played the husband of the professional pair. He told us it got worse after we had left as the husband had played his wife in the final and made a point of humiliating her – nice guy!
From the hotel we rejoined our bus and drove to a vantage point with a view of the pyramids in front of the hazy outline of Cairo city. It seemed somehow wrong that the pyramids were so close to the modern city. We were in the process of taking some photos when I was grabbed by a Bedouin in a arm round the shoulder type way, he then waved his stick around and encouraged Julia to take the picture, which she did. He then wanted to take the camera from her and photograph us together, we had been warned about this ploy, we would have had to ransom the camera back, so we refused. He demanded money from us and became heated when we refused but the moment passed without him being paid
Our next stop was at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, we were warned again about the begging Bedouins and told not even to trust the armed security guards, that was not a reassuring thought, untrustworthy and with a Kalashnikov! We wandered again for a forty minute spell and took some great photos including a couple of panoramas using some of the tips picked up at the lecture. We did have to be firm with a couple of Bedouins, and one was in security guard uniform.
Just before we returned to the coach there was a stampede of the Bedouins, some on camels, some on horseback and at least three driving horse-buggies, the tourist police had arrived and dispersed the beggars, the fake security guards were rounded up but appeared to pay an “on the spot fine” to be released.
The pyramids were, it hardly needs saying, huge and impressive. However it remains a mystery how exactly they were constructed but it appears that the labour force was not all slaves but farmers who signed up for several months when their farming work was less pressing.
From the Great Pyramid of Khufu we travelled about 300 yards in the coach to see the Sphinx; it was again a brilliant moment.
On our way back to Port Said we stopped at a government sponsored shop where we saw a demonstration of making papyrus and then were invited to buy some, we passed on the chance to acquire our names written on reeds but we would have been tempted by a beer about then.
We set off from Cairo on our coach unescorted but breaking any speed limits that there make have been. We passed a dead cow lying on the side of the road with its legs up and shortly after we passed a truck loaded to cab level with what looked like sugar cane but on top of the crop there were at least five farm workers hanging on for their lives!
As you gather our drive back to Port Said was pretty hectic but we successfully met up with the other coaches at Ismailia, from there we were escorted by the same armed trucks with local police waving us through all junctions as they had on the way out.
We reached the ship and were back on board by 8.00pm the ship was due to sail at 8.30pm but the computerized registration system meant that the crew are aware when everyone is aboard so they can work based on that rather than deadlines.
Looking back on the day it was an experience to treasure but the level of poverty and the aggressive begging it causes meant that I cannot see us returning to Egypt in any great hurry.
It had been a long and full day so we ate and, after a quiet drink in the village square, we retired to bed and slept well.
Despite our best intentions we missed our alarm which had been set for 6.00am but we rushed through breakfast and made it to the muster in the Marquee where we were issued with a sticker for bus number two. The previous day we had been allowed to collect our passports now proudly bearing the Egyptian visa stamp so thus equipped we were escorted in bus groups off the ship for the first time. We scanned our cruise card and the computer said goodbye to each of us in turn. Now on the quayside before joining the convoy of coaches we were struck by the heat and the pressure of the Egyptian novelty sellers, we avoided eye-contact and refused to take any item offered as that would, in the seller’s view, have constituted a sale completed.
Having gone through Customs/Immigration and having our visas checked we were directed to our coach. A long line of coaches were parked down one side of the road and on the other side there were open backed jeeps crewed by armed soldiers. We got settled in one of the first coaches and our guide, Gharda, joined us, only when all the coaches were filled did the convoy move out. The jeeps were our escorts and they slotted in between every three or four coaches. We later heard that some of the coaches had plain-clothed armed guards sitting up from with their guides.
It was a surreal experience, as the convoy travelled through Port Said we noticed that each junction or crossroad we passed through was held open by the police to avoid us being stopped on our route out of the city.
To get out of Port Said we passed through a check point and then continued our three hour journey to Cairo the first part of which ran alongside the Suez Canal, we could not see the water in the canal but we passed close to large ships making their way in both directions.
The land we were passing through was rural and we were told very fertile, the farms were worked by families using horses rather than machinery. We noted that many of the farms had tall thin buildings which were for doves which in turn were raised as a food.
After about an hour on the road we left our escorts at Ismailia, which I think I remembered from Forces Favourites, and proceeded towards Cairo, en route we were warned not to photograph any thing which looked like a military installation, apart from the most basic farms everything looked as if it was military. The most basic factories had walls topped by barbed wire and observation posts often housing armed guards.
While we travelled Gharda was very interesting about Egyptian culture and sociology, her most notable fact was that the government was battling a population explosion which she illustrated by saying that a child was born every 26 seconds. She also was keen to get orders for shirts and jewelry featuring the letters of your name in Hieroglyphs surrounded in a cartouche – clearly she was on commission and I feel the price of the trip may have made our bus a bit on the stingy side, we were one of only five people who ordered a shirt and there were no takers for the gold items.
When we reached Cairo the journey changed from dual carriageway through the countryside to a version of “Death Race” the usual set of rules of the road were abandoned and the driver took the coach through gaps that I would have hesitated to cycle through, we arrived at the National Archaeological Museum remarkably unscathed and we emerged from the bus leaving our bags and cameras behind as they were not allowed in the museum. We entered the museum grounds through a check point only to find that most of the other visitors had their cameras. Thus we were unable to photograph the antiquities which were displayed outside, there were armed guards inside the compound and at most junctions but we would have resisted any temptation to snap them. Gharda had departed to get the “whisper” sound system which would allow us to hear her commentary once inside the museum and we resentfully fried in the heat of the day without our cameras. However we discovered that she was right, as we entered the building we were scanned again and cameras would have been taken from us.
Gharda was enthusiastic about the history, she constantly said “we” did this or that and for a while I thought she had been involved in the actual discoveries but I soon realised she meant the Egyptian people as a whole. Her enthusiasm was such that she set a hectic pace through the museum, saying at one point, “the faster we go the more we will see” true I suppose but the museum experience is a bit of a blur to me now. She did make the point however that in the days of the pharaohs gold was more plentiful than silver so the golden parts were considered less prestigious.
When Julia and I took a toilet break she continued ahead and while trying to catch her up we were at least one exhibit behind in terms of what we were seeing compared to what we could hear her describing. Meanwhile back in our respective toilets we both experienced our first hard-sell begging. On entering the museum toilet we encountered an attendant who was handing out loo paper, after using the facilities they demanded paying for their assistance, speaking for myself, I would have managed without their unsolicited help and as I had no Egyptian pounds I was unable to pay had I wanted to, the short face-off ended when I used my teaching face on the gentleman and he backed off. It was a foretaste of what was to come at the pyramids.
We returned to our bus having caught up with Gharda, something some of our group never achieved, and we moved on to Giza where we were booked in for lunch as part of the tour. Cairo and Giza overlap and Gharda pointed out that the local farming land beside the road had been developed into housing illegally. The buildings varied immensely and looked unfinished in the most part simply because the owners continued to build up and/or out from their original dwelling as their situation changed. It looked a precarious existence but many were living in that state.
We then saw the pyramids which were a back drop to the hotel where lunch was booked. The contrast between the opulence of the hotel and the illegal housing could not be escaped. Lunch was a well-stocked buffet and we by chance shared a table with one of the other table tennis players, Richard, who had played the husband of the professional pair. He told us it got worse after we had left as the husband had played his wife in the final and made a point of humiliating her – nice guy!
From the hotel we rejoined our bus and drove to a vantage point with a view of the pyramids in front of the hazy outline of Cairo city. It seemed somehow wrong that the pyramids were so close to the modern city. We were in the process of taking some photos when I was grabbed by a Bedouin in a arm round the shoulder type way, he then waved his stick around and encouraged Julia to take the picture, which she did. He then wanted to take the camera from her and photograph us together, we had been warned about this ploy, we would have had to ransom the camera back, so we refused. He demanded money from us and became heated when we refused but the moment passed without him being paid
Our next stop was at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, we were warned again about the begging Bedouins and told not even to trust the armed security guards, that was not a reassuring thought, untrustworthy and with a Kalashnikov! We wandered again for a forty minute spell and took some great photos including a couple of panoramas using some of the tips picked up at the lecture. We did have to be firm with a couple of Bedouins, and one was in security guard uniform.
Just before we returned to the coach there was a stampede of the Bedouins, some on camels, some on horseback and at least three driving horse-buggies, the tourist police had arrived and dispersed the beggars, the fake security guards were rounded up but appeared to pay an “on the spot fine” to be released.
The pyramids were, it hardly needs saying, huge and impressive. However it remains a mystery how exactly they were constructed but it appears that the labour force was not all slaves but farmers who signed up for several months when their farming work was less pressing.
From the Great Pyramid of Khufu we travelled about 300 yards in the coach to see the Sphinx; it was again a brilliant moment.
On our way back to Port Said we stopped at a government sponsored shop where we saw a demonstration of making papyrus and then were invited to buy some, we passed on the chance to acquire our names written on reeds but we would have been tempted by a beer about then.
We set off from Cairo on our coach unescorted but breaking any speed limits that there make have been. We passed a dead cow lying on the side of the road with its legs up and shortly after we passed a truck loaded to cab level with what looked like sugar cane but on top of the crop there were at least five farm workers hanging on for their lives!
As you gather our drive back to Port Said was pretty hectic but we successfully met up with the other coaches at Ismailia, from there we were escorted by the same armed trucks with local police waving us through all junctions as they had on the way out.
We reached the ship and were back on board by 8.00pm the ship was due to sail at 8.30pm but the computerized registration system meant that the crew are aware when everyone is aboard so they can work based on that rather than deadlines.
Looking back on the day it was an experience to treasure but the level of poverty and the aggressive begging it causes meant that I cannot see us returning to Egypt in any great hurry.
It had been a long and full day so we ate and, after a quiet drink in the village square, we retired to bed and slept well.
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Our First Cruise - Friday 07/05/2010 Day at sea
The following morning we awoke and sought out breakfast, on deck 10 we were midway between the two restaurants, Plantation on deck 12 and Waterfront on deck 7, we generally walked down to the Waterfront for breakfast. Here we found a chef on duty making omelettes to our own specifications, they were excellent.
We didn’t decide on cruising because we were drawn to the shipboard life so this “Day at Sea” had little appeal for us but we were determined to enjoy as much of it as we could. We passed a quiet morning reading on deck and had a very light and early lunch.
Everyday the ship provides a newspaper detailing the following day’s activities and when in port it provides a map of the surrounding area. We had studied this and decided on a lecture on digital cameras, the Table Tennis competition for me and Pilates for Julia, with that level of activity we would have earned ourselves a Chinese themed meal and beer for dinner.
My digital camera, a Kodak ZD710, was my retirement present to myself, it is a hybrid camera, too big to be taken for a mobile phone and too small to get admiring gasps from passers by. I have achieved excellent results with it mainly using the basic setting and only deciding if I want the flash or not – sometimes I left this detail up to the camera as well. Julia and I turned up at the Photography lecture and we were encouraged to get our cameras out to follow his teaching points. At this stage I found myself robbed of the camera by Julia. I sat, somewhat miffed, while she pressed buttons, fiddled with its small joystick and found it was capable of doing everything he mentioned. When we left the talk we had effectively upgraded the camera and I was forced to forgive my good lady for her interference.
I had noticed that Table Tennis was listed as a pastime on the ship and in my final year of teaching I had been fortunate enough to play many lunchtimes with Ed Moore a colleague and excellent player. I felt that taking my own bat was a step too far so I turned up at the competition ready to use whatever the ship provided. In a field of about eight players there were several very casual players and an older married couple with their own bats and me.
It was clear from the start that the couple were serious players and the husband started by narrowly beating a player who looked very much my sort of standard. I then played the wife, it was a struggle for me, anyone who knows me will recognise that I am competitive but this did not seem the forum for being cut-throat. I smiled a lot, kept saying “good shot” and struggled with the thinly covered plank that passed for a bat. I wished for my own equipment or better still my absence from the event. Despite the limitations I had a match point but failed to press home my advantage and the old lady triumphed, gracelessly I thought. Another pair played next and although I was knocked out I tried to stay and support the event. Neither of the players were proficient but were enjoying a reasonably level game when the professional couple started to point out the illegal serves, it was more than I could stand and as I stood to go Julia was already exiting ahead of me!
Julia enjoyed her free taster of Pilates but didn’t see the need to sign up for any lesson which would cost her.
Later we noticed that the hot tubs were covered over with planking and an athletic group of young people were setting up for their night-time gymnastic display on deck 12.
We ate in the Plantation restaurant and enjoyed a Chinese based mixture of dishes. We later went on deck to watch the display, it was impressive but even my new-found photographic skills were unable to do it justice.
We wandered down from the display to Connexions, one of the bars on deck 7, hoping to get a seat to watch the comedian but it was packed and standing would only have been tolerable if he had managed to be a little funnier. We retired to bed knowing that we required an early start for Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza.
We didn’t decide on cruising because we were drawn to the shipboard life so this “Day at Sea” had little appeal for us but we were determined to enjoy as much of it as we could. We passed a quiet morning reading on deck and had a very light and early lunch.
Everyday the ship provides a newspaper detailing the following day’s activities and when in port it provides a map of the surrounding area. We had studied this and decided on a lecture on digital cameras, the Table Tennis competition for me and Pilates for Julia, with that level of activity we would have earned ourselves a Chinese themed meal and beer for dinner.
My digital camera, a Kodak ZD710, was my retirement present to myself, it is a hybrid camera, too big to be taken for a mobile phone and too small to get admiring gasps from passers by. I have achieved excellent results with it mainly using the basic setting and only deciding if I want the flash or not – sometimes I left this detail up to the camera as well. Julia and I turned up at the Photography lecture and we were encouraged to get our cameras out to follow his teaching points. At this stage I found myself robbed of the camera by Julia. I sat, somewhat miffed, while she pressed buttons, fiddled with its small joystick and found it was capable of doing everything he mentioned. When we left the talk we had effectively upgraded the camera and I was forced to forgive my good lady for her interference.
I had noticed that Table Tennis was listed as a pastime on the ship and in my final year of teaching I had been fortunate enough to play many lunchtimes with Ed Moore a colleague and excellent player. I felt that taking my own bat was a step too far so I turned up at the competition ready to use whatever the ship provided. In a field of about eight players there were several very casual players and an older married couple with their own bats and me.
It was clear from the start that the couple were serious players and the husband started by narrowly beating a player who looked very much my sort of standard. I then played the wife, it was a struggle for me, anyone who knows me will recognise that I am competitive but this did not seem the forum for being cut-throat. I smiled a lot, kept saying “good shot” and struggled with the thinly covered plank that passed for a bat. I wished for my own equipment or better still my absence from the event. Despite the limitations I had a match point but failed to press home my advantage and the old lady triumphed, gracelessly I thought. Another pair played next and although I was knocked out I tried to stay and support the event. Neither of the players were proficient but were enjoying a reasonably level game when the professional couple started to point out the illegal serves, it was more than I could stand and as I stood to go Julia was already exiting ahead of me!
Julia enjoyed her free taster of Pilates but didn’t see the need to sign up for any lesson which would cost her.
Later we noticed that the hot tubs were covered over with planking and an athletic group of young people were setting up for their night-time gymnastic display on deck 12.
We ate in the Plantation restaurant and enjoyed a Chinese based mixture of dishes. We later went on deck to watch the display, it was impressive but even my new-found photographic skills were unable to do it justice.
We wandered down from the display to Connexions, one of the bars on deck 7, hoping to get a seat to watch the comedian but it was packed and standing would only have been tolerable if he had managed to be a little funnier. We retired to bed knowing that we required an early start for Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza.
Our First Cruise - Thursday 06/05/2010 – Birmingham to Crete
We woke on time to walk across the airport car park and check in for our flight to Heraklion in Crete. After a painless check in we had breakfast having passed through security to be air-side. As we ate bacon baps washed down by tea still before 8.00am there were several determined holiday-makers drinking pints! We were watching Sky News with no volume and someone with learning difficulties typing, in real time, the subtitles – you need to experience this it was magnificent entertainment.
Being more accustomed to budget air lines we found the Thomas Cook flight very pleasant and it passed quickly – we landed at Heraklion by 2.00pm and reclaimed our luggage which consisted of two large Prince kit bags – we refuse to pay for wheeled suitcases as they are almost as heavy as their contents. Nothing was left to chance by Ocean Village their representatives ushered us from the airport arrivals to the coach park and we were bused to the port and we went through the induction system. The staff issued us with photo id, which will be referred to as the cruise card, and cabin keys. Our baggage remained on the coach as far as we were aware but we were promised that it would materialize outside our stateroom some time during the afternoon.
We were then allowed to pass through the check point and onto the dock where the ship was moored. We used our cruise card for the first time and when it was scanned our picture appeared on the security computer.
Once on board we found our way through the ship to B deck and found our cabin, B255, towards the stern – we had opted for an outside cabin – meaning one with a window looking out to sea. This was a middle option between a stateroom with a balcony and an inside cabin with no window, interestingly we found out that inside cabins while lacking a window do have a set of curtains to draw over a blank wall to give the illusion of having a window. I am deliberately using the word window rather than porthole because these were large square windows and in the crew quarters the portholes were small and round as seen in all children’s cartoons.
We dumped our hand luggage and set off to explore the ship – it seemed big but my research tells me it is medium size for cruise liners. We were immediately impressed by the cleanliness and the politeness of all of the crew we came upon. On deck 12 were told there was a BBQ to welcome arrivals like ourselves. We tackled the two flights of stairs and arrived at the Plantation Restaurant, no BBQ was apparent but there was plenty of food freely available – we selected a snack and found ourselves a table on the rear sundeck with a magnificent view of Crete. Only later did we discover that the BBQ had still been serving on the leisure deck next to the swimming pool but this was no a big deal.
After this we returned to our cabin to find that one of our two bags had arrived, we took it in and unpacked for our two week stay, the cabin was spacious enough for us and it was nice to know we would not be packing and unpacking as we went from place to place. Later the other bag had not made its way to our new home so we went to report it at the reception desk in the Village square on deck 6. We were reassured that it could still be on its way but the staff would look into it, on our way back to the cabin we passed B225 and our bag was outside. We reclaimed it and told reception that we now were complete but later a purser arrived at the cabin to check.
The induction process had involved us giving in our passports and the intention was that they would be checked by Egyptian officials on board so that they could be visa-stamped for those passengers intending to visit Cairo.
At 5.30pm we had an Emergency Drill where we had to make our way to the allocated muster station with our life-jackets and get the same type of briefing as you do on a plane. The difference is that they just tell you to get to the muster station with the life-jacket and after that in a real emergency you will be allocated staff members who will be aware of the requirements of any particular emergency. The only bonus of this meeting was to find out that we would not have to attend a similar meeting the next week when we took on another cohort of passengers back in Crete before the second week of our combined cruise.
At 7.00pm we experienced our first “sail-away” hearing for our first time our captain saying; “The Chief Engineer assures me that we have enough turns on the elastic band so I suggest you get a Gin and Tonic or whatever is your poison and join us on deck for tonight’s Sail Away” It was enjoyable watching the ship extricate itself from the dock and the tugs maneuvering to get us pointed out of the harbour before we found ourselves in the open sea with a days sailing in front of us.
We then spent a half hour in the hot tub on deck 12 before going to eat at the Waterfront restaurant on deck 7. We were getting used to the catering, we found ourselves a table then raided the buffet separately partly because we tend to eat different things and partly to avoid having our table cleared by the attentive staff while we were away from the table. The food was excellent but as it is served as a buffet you end up with strange mixtures of ingredients on the same plate and this is not always fully successful.
After dinner we wandered round the ship and charged a beer to our cabin before retiring. The steady throb of the engines does transmit through the ship and perhaps was more apparent in a rearward cabin like ours but we found it restful and we both slept well.
Being more accustomed to budget air lines we found the Thomas Cook flight very pleasant and it passed quickly – we landed at Heraklion by 2.00pm and reclaimed our luggage which consisted of two large Prince kit bags – we refuse to pay for wheeled suitcases as they are almost as heavy as their contents. Nothing was left to chance by Ocean Village their representatives ushered us from the airport arrivals to the coach park and we were bused to the port and we went through the induction system. The staff issued us with photo id, which will be referred to as the cruise card, and cabin keys. Our baggage remained on the coach as far as we were aware but we were promised that it would materialize outside our stateroom some time during the afternoon.
We were then allowed to pass through the check point and onto the dock where the ship was moored. We used our cruise card for the first time and when it was scanned our picture appeared on the security computer.
Once on board we found our way through the ship to B deck and found our cabin, B255, towards the stern – we had opted for an outside cabin – meaning one with a window looking out to sea. This was a middle option between a stateroom with a balcony and an inside cabin with no window, interestingly we found out that inside cabins while lacking a window do have a set of curtains to draw over a blank wall to give the illusion of having a window. I am deliberately using the word window rather than porthole because these were large square windows and in the crew quarters the portholes were small and round as seen in all children’s cartoons.
We dumped our hand luggage and set off to explore the ship – it seemed big but my research tells me it is medium size for cruise liners. We were immediately impressed by the cleanliness and the politeness of all of the crew we came upon. On deck 12 were told there was a BBQ to welcome arrivals like ourselves. We tackled the two flights of stairs and arrived at the Plantation Restaurant, no BBQ was apparent but there was plenty of food freely available – we selected a snack and found ourselves a table on the rear sundeck with a magnificent view of Crete. Only later did we discover that the BBQ had still been serving on the leisure deck next to the swimming pool but this was no a big deal.
After this we returned to our cabin to find that one of our two bags had arrived, we took it in and unpacked for our two week stay, the cabin was spacious enough for us and it was nice to know we would not be packing and unpacking as we went from place to place. Later the other bag had not made its way to our new home so we went to report it at the reception desk in the Village square on deck 6. We were reassured that it could still be on its way but the staff would look into it, on our way back to the cabin we passed B225 and our bag was outside. We reclaimed it and told reception that we now were complete but later a purser arrived at the cabin to check.
The induction process had involved us giving in our passports and the intention was that they would be checked by Egyptian officials on board so that they could be visa-stamped for those passengers intending to visit Cairo.
At 5.30pm we had an Emergency Drill where we had to make our way to the allocated muster station with our life-jackets and get the same type of briefing as you do on a plane. The difference is that they just tell you to get to the muster station with the life-jacket and after that in a real emergency you will be allocated staff members who will be aware of the requirements of any particular emergency. The only bonus of this meeting was to find out that we would not have to attend a similar meeting the next week when we took on another cohort of passengers back in Crete before the second week of our combined cruise.
At 7.00pm we experienced our first “sail-away” hearing for our first time our captain saying; “The Chief Engineer assures me that we have enough turns on the elastic band so I suggest you get a Gin and Tonic or whatever is your poison and join us on deck for tonight’s Sail Away” It was enjoyable watching the ship extricate itself from the dock and the tugs maneuvering to get us pointed out of the harbour before we found ourselves in the open sea with a days sailing in front of us.
We then spent a half hour in the hot tub on deck 12 before going to eat at the Waterfront restaurant on deck 7. We were getting used to the catering, we found ourselves a table then raided the buffet separately partly because we tend to eat different things and partly to avoid having our table cleared by the attentive staff while we were away from the table. The food was excellent but as it is served as a buffet you end up with strange mixtures of ingredients on the same plate and this is not always fully successful.
After dinner we wandered round the ship and charged a beer to our cabin before retiring. The steady throb of the engines does transmit through the ship and perhaps was more apparent in a rearward cabin like ours but we found it restful and we both slept well.
Our First Cruise - Wednesday 05/05/2010 - Home to Birmingham
Brian Dobson’s funeral
While we had been looking forward to our cruise things had been busy on the basketball front. The Trailblazers first team having won the first division was looking to add to its silverware by winning the playoffs in Manchester, home of the Magic coached for years by Jeff Jones and Brian Dobson. Derby, seeded one, had used their home advantage to good effect to dispose of Taunton, seeded eight, confirming their place in Manchester.
We had known for some time that Brian was very ill but it still had seemed strange to have been dealing with Freda Jones rather than him in the build up to the event. On the Saturday it was even stranger to arrive and not be met by Brian in his capacity of event coordinator and stranger yet, in due course, to see Jeff coaching alone.
In the first semi-final Derby disposed of Bristol with some comfort 79-65, most independent observers had expected this, it’s always harder for we fans to take success for granted. In the second match there was some smart money on London Mets to beat their hosts but Manchester were firmly in command throughout with a final score of 74-52. My fears were allayed in that losing to Magic was going to be tough if it happened but the thought of Mets dragging us into a scrappy game and emerging champions was more than I could face.
Julia managed to speak to Jeff Jones on Saturday and the news about Brian was not good, Jeff who had visited him every day in hospital felt that he was now slipping away fast but holding on to for the season to finish.
The following day, Sunday, Derby and Manchester played out a great final but Magic emerged as winners 81-72. It was justice for Jeff and his team to win something this season as they had lost in two finals and been runner-ups to Derby in the league. We also knew that emotionally the Magic had won it for Brian who did pass away that night.
Brian’s funeral was organised for the Wednesday before we started our cruise with a flight to Crete early on the Thursday morning.
We travelled in Sarah’s car to Manchester with her and Joel and our entire luggage as we would not return to Hilton until after the cruise. The funeral was well-attended and went as well as those things can, I felt that the vicar suffered from not knowing Brian but I suppose that will often be the case.
Many tributes were given and I added to the Derby Trailblazer’s website this:
Whenever I think of Brian, and I have done often since knowing he was dying, I remember his quiet thoughtful nature and his ability to temper Jeff's outbursts. He always had time for people and he seemed to remember something about everyone making him extremely easy to talk to, his "minder" function with Jeff tended to mask his own deep knowledge of the game and he had a supportive but wise opinion of everything we were attempting to build in Derby. I know it would have given him and Jeff great pleasure to beat Leeds giving us the chance to claim the title and I can honestly say that losing to Manchester in the playoff final felt more acceptable if it meant something to Brian in his last hours. It was typical that he managed to see out the season and it was also exactly what Jeff predicted!!!
Of all the coaches who regularly turn up at Moorways, Brian was the most friendly opposition face and playing Magic will never feel quite the same again.We left the wake, which was at the same hotel as the players had used between their semi and final, quite early and when we dropped Joel off at his home Julia and I were able to get changed out of our formal clothes so that Sarah could take them home after dropping us at the Ibis Hotel on Birmingham Airport.
Although we didn’t recognise it at the time our room in the hotel was very similar to the cabin we were to occupy on Ocean Village.
While we had been looking forward to our cruise things had been busy on the basketball front. The Trailblazers first team having won the first division was looking to add to its silverware by winning the playoffs in Manchester, home of the Magic coached for years by Jeff Jones and Brian Dobson. Derby, seeded one, had used their home advantage to good effect to dispose of Taunton, seeded eight, confirming their place in Manchester.
We had known for some time that Brian was very ill but it still had seemed strange to have been dealing with Freda Jones rather than him in the build up to the event. On the Saturday it was even stranger to arrive and not be met by Brian in his capacity of event coordinator and stranger yet, in due course, to see Jeff coaching alone.
In the first semi-final Derby disposed of Bristol with some comfort 79-65, most independent observers had expected this, it’s always harder for we fans to take success for granted. In the second match there was some smart money on London Mets to beat their hosts but Manchester were firmly in command throughout with a final score of 74-52. My fears were allayed in that losing to Magic was going to be tough if it happened but the thought of Mets dragging us into a scrappy game and emerging champions was more than I could face.
Julia managed to speak to Jeff Jones on Saturday and the news about Brian was not good, Jeff who had visited him every day in hospital felt that he was now slipping away fast but holding on to for the season to finish.
The following day, Sunday, Derby and Manchester played out a great final but Magic emerged as winners 81-72. It was justice for Jeff and his team to win something this season as they had lost in two finals and been runner-ups to Derby in the league. We also knew that emotionally the Magic had won it for Brian who did pass away that night.
Brian’s funeral was organised for the Wednesday before we started our cruise with a flight to Crete early on the Thursday morning.
We travelled in Sarah’s car to Manchester with her and Joel and our entire luggage as we would not return to Hilton until after the cruise. The funeral was well-attended and went as well as those things can, I felt that the vicar suffered from not knowing Brian but I suppose that will often be the case.
Many tributes were given and I added to the Derby Trailblazer’s website this:
Whenever I think of Brian, and I have done often since knowing he was dying, I remember his quiet thoughtful nature and his ability to temper Jeff's outbursts. He always had time for people and he seemed to remember something about everyone making him extremely easy to talk to, his "minder" function with Jeff tended to mask his own deep knowledge of the game and he had a supportive but wise opinion of everything we were attempting to build in Derby. I know it would have given him and Jeff great pleasure to beat Leeds giving us the chance to claim the title and I can honestly say that losing to Manchester in the playoff final felt more acceptable if it meant something to Brian in his last hours. It was typical that he managed to see out the season and it was also exactly what Jeff predicted!!!
Of all the coaches who regularly turn up at Moorways, Brian was the most friendly opposition face and playing Magic will never feel quite the same again.We left the wake, which was at the same hotel as the players had used between their semi and final, quite early and when we dropped Joel off at his home Julia and I were able to get changed out of our formal clothes so that Sarah could take them home after dropping us at the Ibis Hotel on Birmingham Airport.
Although we didn’t recognise it at the time our room in the hotel was very similar to the cabin we were to occupy on Ocean Village.
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