April 12th, 2006 Day 97 of our cruise of 105 Madeira, Portugal We disembarked at 8:15, before the shuttle bus run, so we walked the 1 ½ mile to town. First, we visited the Mercado and saw fresh fish arriving, beautiful flowers spread out for viewing and all types of crafts from Madeira for sale. We then rode the cable car to the top of the volcanic mountain to the chuch of Santa Maria del Monte. To get partly down we used an antique wicker toboggan ride manned by two men wearing straw hats, it was a lot of fun. We [View Full Entry]

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Day 88 April 3rd Valetta, Malta Malta was one of my 2 dream destinations, I was thrilled when HAL substituted it, along with a return for us to Athens and Kusadasi. My other desired destination being Reunion in the Indian Ocean and we were in Mayotte which is close and probably similar. We enjoyed learning more about the Knights of St-John. In Rhodes, last September we had toured their previous home, this time, we saw their great STONE fortress, churches and hospital. The St-John Co-cathedral is the most impressive catholic church I have ever visited because of the inlaid coloured marble [View Full Entry]

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I will resume shortly and bring you home with moi [View Full Entry]

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April 1st, 2006, Day 86 of our cruise of 105 Athens, Greece Our arrival was delayed this morning as we had to make way for the ferry traffic. Out by 9:30, shuttle bus to the subway, 0.70 Euro and 20 minutes later, we were in the Plaka. The Plaka is the old part of town at the bottom of the Acropolis. The Acropolis is 230 feet high and quite a challenging climb. The sightseeing all the way up, at the summit and during the descent was spectacular. Our ex-friend Robin then brought me up the next hill to get a good [View Full Entry]

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March 31st, 2006, Day 85 of our cruise of 105 Iraklion, Crete, not our favorite Greek Island We rented a van today for 8 people and toured the island and the town. So we did not….”We will walk to town tomorrow, hopefully tour the archeological museum and maybe go for a cab ride around wine country in the afternoon.” I saw no museum, maybe tomorrow in Athens. We drove to a picturesque fishing village, the birth place of Saint -Nicholas, then up the coast to a beach resort; we then swerved inland to the wine and olive country, had a lovely [View Full Entry]

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March 30th, 2006, Day 84 of our cruise of 105 Evening at sea after Kusadasai, Turkey, tomorrow, Iraklion, Crete, 220 nautical miles away. We have traveled close to 23 000 nautical miles. Everybody is running around planning touring activities for the upcoming ports as they are many and close to one another. We will walk to town tomorrow, hopefully tour the archeological museum and maybe go for a cab ride around wine country in the afternoon. Balmy weather, Very pleasant Hello my children, hello granny. -news pls from all of you Goodnight. Ttys, love to all [View Full Entry]

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March 29th, 2006, Day 83 of our cruise of 105 At sea after Antalya A local costumed Turkish band was playing loudly outside our stateroom by 8am-the dock was a very vibrant place with 60 busses parked in a line waiting for the passengers of 2 cruise ships going out on tours, then there were cabs, excursion people and ships crew tightening ropes. My favorite part of the day as it is truly alive! We toured with our friends who work very hard at organizing these special tours; turns out that we see three times as much at a third the [View Full Entry]

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March 29th, 2006, Day 83 of our cruise of 105 At sea after Antalya, Solar eclipse Eerie experience, and we were prepared Balmy weather, Very pleasant but cold with NO sun Hello my children, hello granny. -news pls from all of you Ttys, love to all [View Full Entry]

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March 27th, 2006, Day 81 of our cruise of 105 At sea after Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt Day started at 5:30 am The local police band was playing loudly outside our stateroom by 6am- good for us as we had to get up- some were not so pleased. Convoy of many buses left shortly after 7 for the Pyramids- 3 hours away Awesome My favorite visual memories are of the very armed policemen on white camels stationed on the horizon, on the top of gigantic sand dunes almost encircling the site. My second visual is Terry trying to climb down into [View Full Entry]

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March 25th, 2006, Day 79 of our cruise of 105 Transit of the Suez Canal and towards Alexandria, Egypt Day started at 5:30 am Convoy of many ships going one way only, formed to complete the transit in 10 hours Desert on both sides most of the time with soldiers, Egyptian and United Nations every 100 metres Balmy weather Very pleasant Tomorrow Alexandra at 6am, Bus to Cairo at 7 am and Pyramids and the Sphynx- a 12 hour trip Hello my children, hello granny. -news pls Ttys, love to all [View Full Entry]

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