Ephesus,Mykonos,Athens,Santorini

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May 8th.

Hard to believe but we only have another 4 days left on the ship…..on the 5th day, they kick us off! Even the crew are treating us like part of the furniture now. I think both of us could quite happily just sail on and on…….just one slight problem….money….or lack of it!

This part of the cruise has been quite hectic….been in a Port almost every day, and even if we haven’t done an organised tour, we still go on shore, have a look around, shop, etc etc. We really enjoy the “sea days”……but sadly only have one more to go. I have started packing, and was going through the 2007/2008 Itineraries to see what I wanted to keep…..anything that didn’t have a lot of “sea days” got thrown in the bin…….that is one thing we have learnt about what we like and dislike about cruising……..plenty of sea days really suits us, other people get bored and want Port days all the time. Of course even with lots of port days, you don’t have to go ashore, but I wouldn’t be able to help myself….too many missed photo opportunities…and of course I might miss a bargain at the shops! Our 2008 South America cruise has lots of sea days.

Because we have been so busy the last few days, I will have to try to remember where we have been and what we have done.

May 5th.
We arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey, early in the morning, and did a tour to the ancient city of Ephesus. It took about half an hour to get out to Ephesus, then we walked from one end of the City to the other. Luckily it is built on a hill, and you enter from the top, so the walk is all downhill, and the bus collected us at the other end. St Peter and St Paul were both supposed to have preached at Ephesus, and near by there is a cottage where they say Mary spent her last years. I had wanted to see the Terrace Houses, but that tour was cancelled….the houses are all covered up for restoration.
Our guide had a lecture written out, and wasn’t very interesting, so most of us wandered off to take our photos etc. She kept telling us to come back so we could hear her properly……she sprouted so many facts and figures that we were soon all lost. She kept asking if we had any questions, but the wife of the lecturer on board the ship, told me she must be asking the wrong questions….as she could never answer them…..pretty well ignored anything other than what she knew parrot fashion. The site was magnificent, and the guide insisted that it is much better than Pompeii….but we think we still enjoyed Pompeii more, although it is a long time since we have been there
At the end of the tour, we headed back to Kusadasi, where we were taken to a carpet and jewellery store. Half the people disappeared, but 4 of us went in to see a “carpet” demonstration. The other couple were the ships lecturer and his wife. He told us it cost him $5000 last time he went to the store. The guide again insisted this was part of the tour…..we told her we had no intention of buying anything, but she hung around, obviously for her commission. She wasn’t very happy when we decided to leave…kept saying we should at least look at the jewellery first…..

That night we again went to Ephesus, after the site was closed to the public. This was the “Seabourn Experience” tour. This time we entered at the bottom gate, so it was an uphill walk to the Library where the concert was to be held. It had also got quite chilly and I had picked up my second dose of the chest and throat bug….this time more on the chest, so I could hardly breathe. Somehow I made it to the area where the concert was to be held….there were tables set with white linen cloths, canapés, olives, nuts etc on the tables, and we were served wine. There was a string quartet playing, and they were really fantastic. I just wish I had felt well enough to have enjoyed it all properly. I have no idea how I made it back to the bus…..

May 6th.
On Saturday we arrived in Mykonos, the second of our Greek Island stops. The ship was about 10 minutes out of town, so we had a shuttle bus to take us in and out of town. Mykonos was another lovely little town. We walked all around the waterfront, and stopped at a café in Little Venice for coffee. The place was all tiny little cobble stoned laneways, most shops and houses painted white with blue highlights. I still wasn’t feeling well, and it was quite cold and very windy, so we only stayed out half the day. We did manage to stumble across the “mascot” of the town……a very scruffy looking pelican. He didn’t pose very well for photos.

May 7th.
This was our day in Athens. We had booked a tour of Athens, which included the Acropolis. Some other people, who also had the chest bug, told us they had changed their tour, to one where they mostly just stayed on the bus, as they knew they wouldn’t be able to walk around too much. I wasn’t looking forward to it much either, but thought I might be able to go far enough to take some photos, and then just sit somewhere, while John went to the top. When we got to the Acropolis, we were told to be back at the bus in two hours…..the guide still wanted us all to stay with her, but again she gave far too many facts and figures and it all jumbled into Greek! We decided to just hang back, and take our own time. The Seabourn rep who was with our group, kept hanging back with us….I think she may have been told how bad I was at the Ephesus tour, and to keep an eye on me! We told her to go on ahead, we would just make the climb slowly……she had to take another sick woman back down, and put her in a taxi back to the ship. In the end we made it to the top of the Acropolis!! I really doubted that I would have a chance of getting up there, but by being able to just take our time, instead of trying to keep up with the group, we made it without any problems. Of course then my camera got quite a work out.
We also did a tour all around Athens, saw the stadium built for the first “modern” Olympic Games in 1896, the Royal Palace, Hadrian’s Arch, Temple of Zeus etc.
We were back at the ship by lunchtime.

May 8th.
Our last “Greek” day, was on the island of Santorini. The town is at the top of the cliffs, so you have three choices on how to get there…….walk, take a donkey, or take a cable car. The Cruse Director told us the donkeys weren’t happy doing what they did, and would try and wipe you off on the side of the cliff! Seabourn gave out free tickets for the cable car, so it wasn’t a hard choice. The ship was anchored at Santorini, so they had a local tender to take us ashore. We walked for miles around the edge of the town, beautiful views everywhere. Stopped at a café hanging out over the cliffs for coffee, then back to the ship mid afternoon.
We dined with the Assistant Cruise Director, Matthew, and he told us how he had managed to wipe out all his photos from Cairns till today……lucky I take so many pics eh! Granny to the rescue again! I will burn a CD for him later today……this is the second time I have saved the day with my photos…..some people we met from Vancouver on the first two cruises, managed to have their camera on the wrong settings half the time, so had hardly any photos either, so I was able to give them hundreds to choose from…….last count I had over 3000 photos……

It is now 1.44am….I cant sleep, keep coughing all the time, so may as well get my emails etc. done. This may be the last post, not sure how much internet time I have left, but I won’t be buying any more time.

In Athens we had a few “crew changes”. It’s always strange to have to get used to new crew……you feel like the old ones should just stay until you get off! Even our stewardess left….and we haven’t even seen her replacement yet…..maybe the others on the deck have warned her about us? One of our favourite waitresses has also gone….I don’t like change! Must be time I left. When we had dinner with Matthew last night, he made the comment that it was going to seem strange when we left…..obviously he thinks we are part of the furniture now too!

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