At Sea 19/03/2014

Gym at 0600 followed by breadsticks and a cuppa for brekky and then just chillin' around the ship all
day.  The girls did a spot of shopping, spa and lazing around.  The sea was 'silky' smooth today, all day.

This afternoon there was a wedding in the foyer.  Boy that was a 'wham, bam, thank you maam' kind of show.  It was all over in 15 minutes from the walk down the aisle to cutting the cake.

Tomorrow, we dock at 0600 in Israel - it'll be a big day so catch you after that.
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Heraklion 18/03/2014

We reached landfall at around 0600 in Heraklion which is the largest city of the island of Crete.
I stayed on board today as I couldn't afford to wander any more than metres from a toilet - if you get
my drift.  I think I made more runs than Michael Clark on a good day!  Meanwhile, Judy and Lesley
went for a tour of the city.
Heraklion is the home of the Minoan Palace of Knossos which is believed to be 3,700 years old.  The
girls did a tour through the ruins.

The sea here is a beautiful aqua and very calm just like I'd imagined of the Mediterranean.

You can just make out Judy and Lesley on our balcony

We navigated out from Heraklion about 1620 and headed east along the northern coast of Crete where
tonight at around 2030, we'll change tack to a ESE direction towards Haifa, Israel.
Talk to you then.

Katakolon 17/03/2014

Today we docked on time at 0900 into the port of Katakolon, Greece.  From here, we caught a taxi to
the Archeological site of Ancient Olympia.  The taxi driver, Babbus was a friendly little fellow -
only too obliging.  Olympia is the site of the ancient Olympic Games.  The entire precinct has been
excavated to reveal these ancient ruins - pretty special place.  The find was made in the 19th
Century.  In fact there was dig going on as we visited.  One of the main attractions here is the stadium which was constructed to hold 45,000 spectators which is even a decent size stadium by today's standards.  The torch for each of the modern olympics is originally lit here before its global journey to the host city.
All aboard at 1430 and we set off in a southerly then easterly direction toward Heraklion where we
will dock tomorrow.

Catch ya!!!
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At Sea 16/03/2014

The day spent at sea was a relaxing one.  Started the day with a session in the gym - that's to
negate the onset of the guilts for all the food you consume.  Seriously, it's just on tap 24 hrs -
very dangerous.  Our table allocation for dinner has put the three of us with two lovely ladies
(sisters) from the gold coast.  Makes be the thorn among many roses so it's all good.
There are 200 aussies on the cruise so you run into the accent regularly.
Today we passed through the strait of Messina to the western tip of Sicily and out into the open sea
bound for Katakolon.  Clocks go forward an hour tonight which puts us 8 hrs behind home.
Catch you tomorrow.

The view from our cabin this morning when we awoke - moonset

Smooth sailing through the strait

Pilot speeding away after disembarking the ship

I'm sorry, I will only be posting further photos when I get access to a faster connection so whenever I can, I'll do that and attach the link to the blog of that day.
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Genoa 15/03/2014

Having trouble with a sound internet connection...

Two old ladies walking the streets of Genoa

Today we took a short stroll around the immediate area to our Hotel.  At 1100 we were picked up by bus to take us to the port where we were checked in preparation for boarding.  That didn't quite go as smoothly as expected but a long story.
By around 1400, we had boarded.  We took an unguided tour around the ship as we did a full recon mission checking out the new place we call home for the next 5 weeks.  Stairs and more bloody stairs!!!  The lifts were overworked as 3,000 other passengers were doing the same thing.
They held the mandatory evacuation drill and soon after, we motored off.
Tomorrow we spend the day at sea on our way to Katakolon, Greece.
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Centre Foyer of the Fantasia