Greece

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17th Feb This morning we woke up to a sunrise something we hadn’t seen so far. Temperature is much better too, not to hot, not to cold, just right. This is the way I had pictured the Med. We are en route to Greece and will arrive Thursday morning. We had breakfast as we approached the strait of Messina between the boot of Italy and Sicily. We photographed the area including the infamous Mount Etna. In the afternoon we headed out on the deck for some sun, temp in the mid 60,s Felt so good, the wind was gusting and the ship had some mild side to side motion, the captain had deployed the stabilizers before hand, which made the ride quite smooth given the size of the waves. After being on the deck for a while, we kicked backed for the afternoon. To prove that we ( Gerrie & I) are on the same cruise here is a photo of both of us, passing through the strait of Messina. During evening we had a late dinner in the Grand Pacific dining room again an excellent meal. The staff of the Jade are very courteous, helpful, friendly and go out of their way to may you feel comfortable.
18th Feb Today we headed for Athens, the sun is out the temp is the mid 20’s C, downtown Athens was 27 degrees C, feels hot, but great. There are orange trees everywhere in Athens but due to pollution apparently no one eats the fruit. First we went to the Acropolis, and saw the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and the Propylaea, once again like Rome, we were there with probably 10,000 people. We had a very knowledgeable guide. The Acropolis is an amazing historical site. There are a number of wild dogs that live on the Acropolis and by the looks of the dogs they are well feed and most of their days are spent laying around. We had lunch in Athens (no vino for Gerrie, but Vino for Noel, yaah) then headed to the Temple of Poseidon which is approx 70 kms east of Athens on a cliff which is the most southerly part of the mainland of Greece. It’s too bad we had so many vandals (invading armies) in the distant past that damaged these incredible sites. Back to the ship for dinner, then off to see a show “Extreme Vegas” with Justino and Danielle. You wouldn’t believe this girl with her hoola hoops, all I can say is Wow and Justino with his balancing act.

Next stop Turkey.

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