The rumor I heard were the Ukrainian authorities were trying to get more money from Holland America before we could disembark. Whether true or not we were about 90 minutes late before the six of us could board a tender after waiting for those who booked with the ship operated tours. While waiting aboard the ship for our turn for a tender we could hear the announcements for ship operated tours and found it a little amusing to hear the call for the tour to Balaklava pronounced Baklava, sounds like a tasty place to go! As each boat docked a small marching band would start to play and newly arrived passengers would crowd around and snap photos of the band. We quickly found our tour bus operators who were a little concerned about our late arrival. ... read more

Our first day at sea aboard the Holland America ms Rotterdam we passed from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea through the Turkish Straights (the Dardanelles and the Bosporus) with the Sea of Marmara in between. We went through the Dardanelles early in the morning with Europe on our left and Asia on our right with scattered cities and castles along the shores. The staff member, I think his name is Chris, was giving us information on the area as well as the history over the speakers on the outside desk. Before lunch we did a meet and greet with our fellow cruise mates that we would be doing our tours with. Two other couples with did a private tour with at each of our stops and in Turkey the six of us were part ... read more

Athens was the start and stop for our trip. We departed from Atlanta on Aug 31st on a direct flight overnight to Athens, an 11 hour flight. The airport was easy to navigate and we soon caught caught the Metro (Blue Line) for €6 each to Syntagma Square where we walked to our hotel only a few blocks away. The ride was probably close to 45 minutes, the last 15 minutes the bus was filled with people shoving to get off an on and we were separated from our luggage (in the storage area) by a wall of people. Luckily almost half the train emptied at our stop so we easily got off and out at Syntagma Square. After checking in to Hotel Niki we caught up on our sleep. Compared to the plane chair it ... read more

Boston Links Link to Kodak Gallery Photos. ... read more