amongst the ancients

The view from my window this morning.

Is it possible that I am learning to be a morning person?

Not long after this beautiful sunrise we docked at Katakolo, Greece.

From whence we caught the bus to Mt Olympus to do some free-range sight-seeing - no tour today. It is an amazing place, I've seen it described as a sanctuary and it definitely had a serene quality to it. We spent a wonderful late Autumn morning strolling in this archaeologically significant site where the first Olympic games were held.

Entrance to the games area, they let women in now. In ancient times the games were just for men who competed naked. At least they thought it was just for men, I just bet there was some secret women's viewing going on that did not make it into the history books.

I tried to get MGM to run a race, he is a runner after all - but he wouldn't be in it.

 Here I am, one ancient standing amongst all the other ancients.

preachers, philosophers & politics

The view from my [bus] window today

We docked at Piraeus, Athens' largest port, and because the Acropolis is too far to walk we joined a tour. It's an entirely different tourist experience when you have guides and lots of other people to consider, especially when travelling in a multi-lingual group. The Italian tour guide had the Italian-speakers rolling in the aisles with lengthy animated discourses, during which he did not seem to even take a breath. After which he'd hand over the mic to the English speaker's guide who would say "coming up on your left the Hellenic Parliament" and hand the mic back (completely straight-faced) for more Italian frivolity. She was Greek, the English speaking guide, very knowledgeable and clearly proud of her country's rich history but with a strong focus on education rather than bringing the funny.

the Hellenic Parliament

When we arrived we stood looking up at this, the Temple of Athena Nike, learning all about what we were about to see (and how not to get lost) for what seemed like a long time, but probably wasn't very long at all. I was just very keen to get up there.

Right about now though I was very grateful for our guide who pointed out that rock as one from which Paul preached the gospel to the Greeks... mind blown! how could I be standing (nearly) in the same place that Paul stood?!

This rock. Paul stood there!

An Acropolis can be understood by looking at the parts of the word ... Arkro = high, polis = city, so any citadel built on a high hill is an acropolis. Isn't etymology fun. Athens' Acropolis is a famous one and was built in the 5th century BC. Restoration has been underway here since 1875 - now that's commitment. 

This is the Proylaia, the building that surrounds the natural entrance to the Acropolis.

The Parthenon

The Erechtheion (below) is a temple built for religious rituals and remarkable because it is spilt level, being designed to accommodate the natural lie of the land and work around a sacred olive tree. Even ancient architects had tricky briefs to satisfy. The ladies holding the roof upon their heads are called the Caryatids.

there's a great view ...

I say there's a great view of Athens from up here and somewhere on this hill is supposed to be the cave where Socrates took his principled drink of Hemlock. What a day for walking in the footsteps of giants.

sea day

the view from my window this morning

There are a millionty things to do on-board to fill in your time on a sea-day and, if anyone asks, I took full advantage of them all. Just between you and me though my sea-day involved a lot of lying down. 

Lying down for a massage, facial and all round pamper.

lying down to read

reclining to enjoy coffee

reclining crochet time

mix in some fine dining and a nightcap in the piano bar and you have my skippy happy day at sea.

and I woke up to this

the view from my window this morning

Breakfast in the posh dining room did not disappoint, we were a smidge late so we grabbed some pastries for ron and skedaddled. We were due to dock in Bari around 2pm so we had some more time to find all the things the boat ship has to offer before enjoying coffee and purloined cake in our suite.

For lunch we tried the riff raff room (non-posh eating area) - we won't be doing that again, once you've turned left (Tony's description of flying Business class) there's no going back. We docked in Bari around 2ish and eschewed the organised tours, opting instead to make our own way into the old town district which is quite close to the port.

Bari is a town of sandy coloured buildings and narrow winding streets. We didn't go by the most direct route we just followed our noses down these little lane ways. It was washing day, the streets were dappled with pools of water dripping from the laundry hung above on the tiny balconies and smelled appealingly of clean washed linen.

We visited St Nicholas cathedral, here he is keeping an eye on the naughty.nice ratio of tourists (yes it's that St Nic)

Here is Castello Normanno-Svevo, built around 1132 by Norman King Roger II. I love castles, as you know, but this one was not what we were expecting. You see that lovely tower? We saw the stairs to it. Those ancient, narrow windy stairs that help you to imagine what it would have been like to live in a medieval castle - but no access this time. In fact, if I had done my research more thoroughly I would have discovered that this castle is mainly used for exhibitions now. All the interesting bits are off limits, the interior walls are all rendered and white-washed, belying the promise of those formidable exterior walls.

Even though we got a late start on this visit, it's a fairly small old town area so we felt we'd covered enough to say we've seen Bari and were happy to make our way back along the sea shore at dusk.

and be safely on-board for our 5pm staff meeting (aka drinkypoos/beer o'clock).

sailing

Venice to Bari

We really hit the ground running when we arrived in Venice, which is easier to do when you’ve been able to catch some Z's on the plane, and we've covered a LOT of ground on foot over the last couple of days. Today there was just a little more shopping time before we bid farewell to the delights of Venice. Did I mention that we were in Venice for the Black Friday sales? We don't have this sale in Australia but apparently it's big in the States and is spreading around Europe too. It celebrates the first shopping day after Thanksgiving and marks the start of the Christmas shopping time. I am very happy about this sale to the tune of a gorgeous leather back pack, thank you America for this shopping trend!

Today we packed up our happy in our old kit bags and smiled our way to the Alilaguana, the boat that was to take us to the port and our home for the next seven days - the Costa Luminosa. 

It’s sad to leave and at the same time the idea of the next leg of our journey is very enticing, come along with us as we bid an evening arrivederci to Venice ...

I love cruising. I haven’t done a lot but what I have done has been enormously pleasurable. And we are not slumming it on this trip, not one bit. We have a suite right at the pointy end of the boat (ship, I am supposed to call it) with our own butler and all the trimmings. 

We also had priority boarding, it is really awesome being waved to the head of the queue – a very celebrity life style, about which I feel no guilt and from which I will squeeze every ounce of pleasure. 

No celeb treatment for the mandatory emergency procedure drill though. We arrived at our designated rally point, replete with life jacket fashion accessory, were lined up in orderly, extremely compact (no personal space required in evacuations) straight lines (which I'm sure is how it would go if this wasn't a drill) ... waited, waited, waited, drill, drill drill in Italian (then English). Officially educated in on-board safety we were dismissed to begin getting into holiday mode. MGM said we have access to a very swish restaurant, I thought how swish is swish?...

it's this swish

I won't post pics of all the meals (it would be too cruel to you dear reader) but I just have to share my first meal with you.

octopus and olives

grilled prawns

 Oreo creme

It was a long and happy day so then I kissed Michael and went to sleep ... for 12 hours!