Greece

Piraeus is a bustling port with over 40 ships in dock. We set off in the morning to Cape Souvion to see the Temple of Posiden. It’s amazing to see the old marble columns and read about the legends. It was a smaller tour than usual so we were able to move quickly and see a lot. This is a shot about 10 minutes out from the Temple.

The drive there was along the coast and it is spectacular, it reminded me of South Australia’s rugged coastline, rocky beaches with rolling mountains and little vegetation. The Greeks really make the most of the Aegean Sea, we saw lots of people swimming, fishing and walking and could see a few of the famous Greek Islands along the way. It was disappointing to see quite a lot of rubbish and some graffiti too. Nice views - shame about the litter !
We then relaxed back on the boat for the afternoon, won team trivia (again), packed our bags and met our friends for a wonderful dinner and karaoke.
We left the Insignia at 8.30am and headed straight to our hotel in Athens. Fortunately we were able to check in early. Unfortunately though it was raining and our plans to go to the Acropolis were dashed. There was also a major demonstration/riot some people have each year so the city was closed from 1.30pm so we couldn’t even go to the museum. The concierge recommended a 3 hour taxi ride around the city, provided we left before 1pm so we jumped in a cab with Yiannis who showed us the sights around town. This is an image of the guard at the front of the Presidents residence.

We went to the tallest hill in Athens and got some great views. This one is looking out over the city to Piraeus where we docked.

Luckily it stopped raining so we made a quick dash for the Acropolis and had a good look around for 45 minutes until the rain started again. It is quite steep, rocky and uneven ground, certainly not safe in the rain. We then saw the wonderful stadiums built for the Olympics last year, very impressive. There were many Police stationed on most streets in big groups, apparently over 8000 Police were deployed. We saw a few hundred students getting together and heard only a couple of sirens tonight so I think nothing major happened. The rain would have kept a lot of them away too.
We are quite tired and with the rain and demonstrations we decided to get room service and have a lazy night. I have enjoyed reading the newspaper and we are both looking forward to coming home. Our flight doesn’t leave until 6pm so we will visit the museum tomorrow then head to the airport. Athens to Frankfurt, then a stop in Singapore, Sydney then Brisbane.

Day at Sea

Well our dinner last night was spectacular, it really was an honour to be invited. Apparently we are quite infamous onboard. We were with another Aussie couple from Melbourne and a South African couple who now live in Canada. The Percer, Jason is a Canadian who lives in Perth and the entertainment hostess, Amanda lives in California. She has a very interesting job, she was employed to sing and also host special dinners with the captain and percer etc. Another part of her duties is to comfort the widow and help them pack up when their spouse/partner pass away on board. Apparently it happens quite a lot and they even have a morgue on board. She said the average age of guests is 72 years old. We had a great night and we didn’t have to pay for our booze. Sweet.

Steve and I partied on with Jim and Cath, California Steve and Jan did a wine club tour yesterday so they were worn out so we had a drink before dinner and met them for brunch this morning. Two big nights have caught up with me so I’m again relaxing by the pool, we are at sea today so it’s a bit windy and slightly cooler but the sun is shining.

I plan on having a good night tonight as we have reservations at Toscana’s (alacarte restaurant) but I plan on giving my liver a rest. We have a tour in Athens tomorrow which I’m really looking forward to so I don’t want to be hungover.

The Etruscans

The Etruscans tour was great, we sampled some lovely Italian wine and olive oil and learnt was wonderful history about the ancient civilization.

Then to Naples, the armpit of Italy. The buildings and streets were beautiful except for the graffiti and rubbish. It looked like the place could use a good wash. Unfortunately also due to our days delay in Civitavecchia we arrived on a Sunday and the shops were closed. We were very disappointed as Naples is famous for it’s cheap but quality shopping.

We spent the morning doing a tour of Pompeii – WOW it was amazing. We had a fantastic tour guide who wonderfully explained how the people lived. It was very moving to see the bodies that looked like statues, you could see their teeth and bones. One of the cities baths survived reasonably well and you can still see the painting on the walls and intricate mosaics.

We decided that we would go on strike the next day, no tour, so we had a big night and slept late. We are now in Messina, Sicily, it is similar to Naples but cleaner, we did a bit of shopping and had a wonderful lunch. I am now relaxing on the pool deck, considering a game of shuffle board and having a cocktail. The weather is 20 degrees. Steve has gone to the spa to get a shave. Tonight we have been invited to have dinner with the entertaining honcho, it should be fun. We are at sea tomorrow so I am set for another big night.

Sorry about no pictures but the internet is really slow. I have no doubt that we will subject you all to a slideshow spectacular when we get home. We will provide alcohol and food as inducement.

London to Barcelona

(text only update as the Internet link toth boat is really slow and really expensive, images will follow later)

We set off from London to Barcelona flying EasyJet, the flight cost less than $50 for both of us, unfortunately the baggage limit is 30 pounds so our excess baggage fee was $90 !. We arrived on time and had the idea of spending 50 Euro and doing a quick tour of the city in a taxi. We forgot to realise that we didn’t speak Spanish so we made our way directly to the porta.

The Oceania Insignia is beautiful, there are approx 630 guests so everywhere you go on the ship it seems that not many people are about. The food is wonderful and the portions are small which is great. The staff are mainly Eastern European and are lots of fun, there’s also some Indians and they love us because we can talk cricket. Steve met his twin that afternoon, also Steve, they look nothing alike, California Steve is 6ft 4, but they have the same wicked sense of humour and love giving each other a hard time. He also has a wonderful wife, Jan. We have also met a lovely Canadian couple. There are a few younger people on board but most are retired Americans. We opted for sharing a table with others for our dinners and we have met some lovely Americans and surprisingly most have quite progressive views and have knowledge of other cultures. I guess though that people who are interested in travel are also interested in other people.

We sailed off in the afternoon and arrived in Marseille France. Unfortunately due to the civil unrest our city highlights tour was cancelled so we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to Notre Dame, wait for us then take us to the Old Port. Notre Dame is the most beautiful church I have seen (included St Peters). They have small wooden carvings of fishing boats hanging from the ceiling, obviously praying for their safe return is the main focus of the townspeople. We then had lunch, we couldn’t read the French menu, we were so pathetic – here’s a tip, speaking English with a French accent does not mean the French can understand you. Steve managed to get some succulent mussels, well done. We had our lunch across the road from the marina and there were Police everywhere. The streets are very narrow and everyone drives a small car but they all have at least 26 dents in them. It’s very thrilling in the back of a taxi. We had a very big night in the martini bar, I now love Cosmos.

The next day was Monaco, my God, it was spectacular, the history is very interesting as well as their tax laws. All the peasants catch the train in from Nice each day as they can’t live there. We went to the Monte Carlo Casino and took Prince Albert for 90 euros.

The next day was Livoro Italy and we did a tour into Florence. Again the history, architecture, streets and scenery are just breathtaking. It is amazing when tour guides say “this building underwent extensive renovations in the 1850s” when our “old” buildings in Australia were just starting. We ate a Panini and café latte for lunch in an outdoor café overlooking a statue of Dante. I really love the statues and mosaics.

Then it was Civitavecchia, Italy and we did a self guided tour of Rome. We started at Piazza Del Popolo and made our way down the narrow streets past designer stores to the Spanish Steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Venezia down to the Coliseum where we did a guided tour. We then took a bus to the Vatican and did a guided tour of Basilica Di San Pietro (St Peters) – WOW again. It was a very big day and we crashed early.

Today we are woken up expecting to be in Naples but we are still in Civitavecchia, apparently we have had some electrical problems in one of the propellers so we are going on a Etruscans food expedition this afternoon for a couple of hours. The captain said that we will miss out on going to Malta.

Anyway we are having a wonderful time, the weather has been perfect, 18 to 20 degrees each day, lots of sunshine.

Manchester, York, Warwick, London

We arrived in Manchester on Monday morning and amazingly getting through customs and immigration was a breeze. We picked up the car and headed off to York. Fortunately the SatNav was great and we arrived without too much bother. Homelea B&B was lovely although a little small. York is absolutely stunning, really really beautiful. We visited the Shambles which is very old (1400s), you'll notice the buildings are drooping

There is the old castle and a Minster, they light it up beautifully at night, you can see it during the day from almost everywhere.

We had dinner in a pub that was over 1000 years old, we walked over/on the wall that surrounds the township and also visited the Jorvik museum, about the Vikings, it was awesome.

We also were in York for the York markets. Steve tried on this fetching hat !

Fot those who have been to England before you know what value beef is ! For those of you who are confused have a look at this :

mmmm.... Fillet Steak at about $50 aussie per kilo !

We came across a caravan park for canal boats, it was very nice there (York).

The next day we drove to Warwick - it was a huge drive, the SatNav let us down a bit, thankfully we purchased a map. Agincourt B&B was stunning with a 4 poster bed and lots of room. Warwick Castle was amazing, it is so well preserved and they have wax figures dressed in traditional outfits and you get to walk everywhere and really experience what life was like.

From Warwick we drove to London. Driving in London was not as hard as I thought it would be - it helps that all of the vehicle controls are on the correct side and the same for oncoming cars !

We had a Vauxhall of some description - sporty little number. The controls were quite weird in that the indicators and windscreen wipers were momentary switches and did not flick into place, to turn them off you needed to operate it in the opposite direction.

The last 3 miles in London took us as long as the first 60 miles but it was still fun.

The Hotel is quite nice, it is on Piccadilly. We do not have a view of the park but that is OK. It is cold here and it was raining on and off for the first day. We did a double decker bus tour around and got a good feel for the place (in a tourist kind of way). As part of the tour we stopped off at the Tower of London (which, in my opinion, is a castle - not a tower). It was great, we did half a walking tour with a Beefeater and then went and saw the silverware, this included :

All of those crowns!

Spoons

Punch bowls

Swords, clubs and other sticks to beat peasants with

It was a good display, no pictures though as they really did not have a sense of humour about that. The safe room the jewels were in had the largest ****ing door on it I have ever seen. The jewels and other bits are priceless I suppose. We also looked around the Fusiliers Museum on site as well as the other part that were open to us.

We went to go and see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace but it was not on the day we went (lazy buggers !), instead we went to the London Eye (the big ferris wheel thingy), it is a great view.

We then went onto the British Imperial War Museum, they had great displays of weapons, vehicles and planes, "help from the Commonwealth" was mention a bit but not as much as was due. They also had a great blitz display and spy section.

Friday night we went along to Guys and Dolls and I was bitterly disappointed to find that Ewan McGregor was ill and did not perform. The show was great but I am still gutted.

Saturday we were supposed to go to Leeds Castle, Dover, Cantebury and a cruise on the Thames, when we arrived at Victoria station we were informed that there was not enough people to take the tour so they cancelled it. I am very very angry and plan on making a huge complaint to the travel agent. I was really looking forward to it and it was the only thing I specially planned to do in the UK. Steve and I caught the train to Brighton instead and had a lovely day. This is a photo of Brighton Beach towards the fun pier:

Steve was very brave and ordered a selection of strange British seafood including a rollmop (pickled herring), dressed crab (white and brown crab meat - we did think that brown crab meat is not exactly like chicken brown meat, however:O ), smoked salmon, whelts and winkles. Steve was not brave enough to try the jellied eel. I know my mum would have been in heaven :)

This is Brighton Beach, no chance of this gravel getting inside your togs :)

We had high tea in the hotel this afternoon which was lovely (Steve had high beer). I felt like a lady and my mum would be proud of my good manners. A women was playing the harp.

It's Guy Fawkes night tonight, however it's raining so we are going to pike on the fireworks, lame I know. We have been to quite a few pubs and tried different beers and had traditional British food, bangers and mash, fish and chips, stews etc. We are off to the Portobello markets tomorrow. Monday (very early) we fly to Barcelona and start our cruise.

Goodbye from Steve and Emily, we'll talk to you again on the Med'