Traf Burts

Day 11 Back in Rome Well the cruise has finished and when we set out we weren't sure whether we'd love it or hate it. The 11 days were enough to convince us that saving for another cruise would be well worth while. Maybe the Inside Passage in Alaska would be good. Many of the other passengers told us how they had enjoyed that. Some may say that we spent most our trip visiting old buildings etc and that's true. But they all have so much history about them and we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and everything about it. 11 days of just perfect weather, a five-star luxury ship and visits to wonderful places. The only negatives were a few loud, rude, self-important passengers and it's not hard to figure where they were from.... read more

Day 9 Malta - Valetta & Mdina Our excursion today took us to look at the ancient (quiet) city of Mdina and then we returned to look around the modern capital of Malta, Valetta. Paid for a sumptuous meal in the "Pinacle Grill" - very nice.... read more

Day 7 Kusadasi, Turkey After sailing overnight through various Greek islands in the Agean Sea we berthed early morning in the Turkish port of Kusadasi. This port is close to Ephesus, the Agean’s best-preserved ancient city. Layers of silt covered this 2000-year old city over the years and much has been discovered but much is still buried. Associated with Ephesus is the tomb of St John the Apostle, which we visited. As an athiest, you can imagine Geoff’s impression of the claimed house of the Virgin Mary, which we also saw. A very interesting day concluded with open-air buffet lunch and Turkish dancers, followed by a visit to a Turkish carpet sales room where the boss gave a display of his collection and his off-siders attempted to flog the goods - at big prices. Another great ... read more

Day 5 Sailed into the small town of Katakolon on the coast of western Greece. This is the closest port to the famous ruins of Olympia. Bus to the site and we weren’t disappointed. The Olympic torch is lit some month before the start of each Olympic Games at a very insignificant spot in the complex. On our return to the ship, we stopped at a tavern and were given light snack food including local octopus and then entertained by music and Zorba dancing. (video included) ... read more

The first of the cruise days and after killing some time around the neighborhood near our hotel, our hire car driver made good time (Italian drivers are maniacs) to the port city of Civitavecchia. Got through the security checks etc and boarded about 2.30 pm Much to our delight we had been upgraded from an outside cabin on the 1st deck to a cabin on the 5th floor with our own verandah. Mrs Burt got into a panic when our luggage failed to arrive after about 2 hours. We went for a pre-dinner drink and when we got back there were the bags as Geoff said they would be (smart arse) Casual dress tonight for a lovely dinner, but tomorrow we put on the glad rags for the first of the 3 formal dinner nights. We ... read more