Santorini - Sunday 29 September

It must have been at least 30C in Santorini. We made our way over to shore at around 10 am by way of a tender, after the main crowd had moved on. Luckily there were no other big ships today, and it was quite pleasant in the main town of Fira.

We have visited Santorini before, and love the views across the volcanic caldera (still active), and from towns perched right over the cliff tops. Considering they had a devastating earthquake in 1956, we weren't too impressed with how things were built now! We headed up on the cable car, and walked along some of the paths/streets we didn't have time for last time.

We had a look in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral and then took Rick Steve's advice and visited the Museum of Prehistoric Thira, nearby. It had excellent displays of artefacts found on the island at the ancient site of Akrotiri. This was the largest settlement outside Minoan Crete, 2000-3000 BC! However, the site had been abandoned around 1630 BC when Santorini had a massive eruption, bigger than Krakatoa. This museum was really interesting, with clearly marked displays and good explanations of what we were seeing. We also enjoyed its air-conditioning!

We had a look in some of the shops along the alleyways, rather like those in Mykonos, but a lot more pleasant somehow. We wanted to have a cool drink with a view over the cliffs, and settled for coffee frappes at one place. These were excessively priced, but you pay for the view. We ended up talking to a couple at the next table who were also Kiwis. They were in a group of four who had chartered a yacht and were sailing around the Greek islands, sailing the yacht themselves. They were from Auckland. It was a very pleasant conversation.

We wandered around some more, and were going to head back to the ship when we discovered another walkway right along the cliff-tops, heading towards the town of Oia. We only walked for about 20 minutes - you really had to watch your footing and the views were very distracting (stunning, actually). We ended up taking a very pleasant break in another cafe along the way. I had a Coke, and David had some Mythos beer.

Then we headed back towards the main part of Fira, joined the now long and growing queue for the cable car (we weren't going to repeat the donkey track after last time!), and headed back to the ship for a late, light lunch - arriving about 2:45 pm.

We headed poolside on Deck 15, our favourite spot for relaxing, and in the shade. We read our books and talked to some Kiwis from Orewa who were relaxing in deck chairs next to us.

Sail-away was magnificent, and then we had dinner at a table for two. There was a sale on watches this evening and David bought a new watch, then we headed for the show by an absolutely amazing pianist (he called himself 'Count Dimas'). He also played the piano accordion, a wooden recorder-type of instrument that sounded like a flute, and some other 'instrument' he created himself from rubber balls. His music ranged from classical to modern and he got a well-deserved standing ovation.

Athens - Saturday 28 September

My word, what an amazing day we had in Athens! We had a more leisurely start than many others, having booked a private taxi tour with Athens Tours for just the two of us - a little more expensive (but still way cheaper than any other taxi or transfer we've used anywhere - David was sure I must have been mistaken about the price, and had me worried for the rest of the day). This gave us the freedom to see what we wanted and move at our own pace.

We were out of Terminal B earlier than my requested start time of 9 am. I had booked an 'extended half day tour' of 6.5 hours with this company that I had found on TripAdvisor. Having seen most of the key sights during our 2009 visit to Athens (and walked the soles off our feet in the process), I wanted to visit some sites that were more spread out and thus too hard to walk to.

As it turned out, our driver (Christos) was also early, and by 8:45 am we were on our way to my requested stops, and many more along the way. We stopped at the Panathenaic Stadium (a marble stadium build in the 2nd Century AD, the site of the first modern Olympics, and where the Marathon finished in the Athens Olympics).

We were driven up Lykavittos Hill for fantastic views from the highest point in the city. Being driven up saved us the E8 each for the funicular, each way, and was much faster. We did have to walk up the last few steps to the top for the amazing views across Athens in all directions. Christos stopped to buy us a bottle of cold water each before we began the climb, and was careful to point out any slippery sections of the steep pathway and steps.

We had a quick walk into the National Gardens, rather like some parts of Hagley Park, and very peaceful. We drove past the temple of Olympian Zeus, the Arch of Hadrian, Parliament and Syntagma Square (an area of recent rioting), and Monastiraki Square, all places that we had walked through in 2009.

We drove past other parts of the city that we had missed - Thissio (an upmarket area), the University, an area with meat/fish/fruit and vegetable markets and a flea market area.

We'd seen the guards on our previous visit, but this time we were taken past the Prime Minister's home in time to see the ceremony involved in the changing of the guards. They march as if in slow motion, and flick a leg out in front and lower it slowly (their boots look like they have giant pom-poms)! There is a long history involved here, related to the 400 year rule over Greece by the Turks.

Rick Steve's audio guide helped us tour around the key areas and highlights of the National Archaeological Museum in just over an hour (entry there was free for the day). We listened to him at double speed on my iPhone. It was very interesting.

We had a drive through different parts of the city, and then had a further hour at the newer Acropolis Museum, this time using a tour in Rick's guide book. This houses archeological finds from the Acropolis and surrounding area, and is very well done. This is the space they hope to use to house the Elgin Marbles removed from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin, and on display in the British Museum.

Lastly, we were taken on a long drive along the 'Athenian Riviera' (a long beach resort area) for a scenic tour and then a nice lunch at the Zaxos Restaurant, where we shared a great value lunch of a large Greek salad, and then a dish of sliced chicken with pita bread. Actually, it was too much to eat, even though we were effectively having lunch at 3 pm. We've noticed how amazing the tomatoes are here, really flavourful and you get served generous portions of goodness knows how many tomatoes.

I was getting a bit worried because we should have been finishing our tour at about 3:15 pm, according to the pick-up time. But Christos told us not to worry and assured us there would be no further charge for the extra time. Nevertheless, I was a little worried, because you hear these stories of Greek taxi drivers stopping before your final destination and demanding extra money. So we gobbled what we could on this amazing, hot day (unusually so, apparently, for the end of September), and got on our way again. Christos declined any lunch, saying it was too early for him to eat (!!) and that he normally ate around 10 pm at night, and the Greeks did everything late, and got up late the next day as well. As he drove, we asked about his family and found that his wife is Swedish and that his 18 year old daughter is going to live in Sweden next year with her grandmother. She will attend university there, and study.... Economics!

Christos toured us around the yacht area of Pireas, in no hurry, and then delivered us back to the ship just after 4 pm. Before we left him, he gave us a signed book about Greece and the sights to see, and a map of Greece including the main archeological areas and ancient sites. We managed to get a photo of him with his taxi, and another of us with him. He was an amazing host - a quietly spoken gentleman, with excellent English (he said he'd taught himself with tapes and books, and had been driving taxis for 30 years, after first doing the two years compulsory military training on a rusty bucket of a Greek naval ship).

It was nice to catch up with the Barrows over dinner, and hear about their private tour with a Cruise Critic group and a wonderful guide who helped Rick Steves write his Athens chapters! Then we attended a comedy show that had us all laughing.

Mykonos - Friday 27 September

We both had a great sleep last night - I think I must have slept more than nine hours! This morning we continued the journey from Istanbul to Mykonos, so we had a leisurely start to the day, David reading his book and me writing up the blog post about Istanbul. We lay in loungers out on deck. The ship anchored just offshore from Mykonos, around 12 pm, and there were lots of people wanting to be tendered off, so we hung around until 2:20 pm, had a light lunch at the International Cafe again, did our laundry and got it dry, then headed off when there were no queues. It was very scenic, coming from the ship, towards the dry, barren hills, covered only with white buildings - no other colours except the occasional blue top of a small church..

We had been to Mykonos before, but didn't want to go to the ancient site on the island of Delos. So we just retraced our steps from last time, but had a better look at the Little Venice area. We had a quick look at the windmills, and wandered through the narrow alleyways and down to the foreshore where we sat at a bar and watched the people go by while I had a Diet Coke and David had two stubbies of a Greek beer that he said were really nice.

It was a really hot day so we didn't linger, and headed back to the ship after an hour and a half - I think others were finding the same thing. The tenders back to the ship were very handily located, right in front of the town.

We headed back up on deck and back to our books. Later, we freshened up and headed for dinner at 6 pm, a table for two again, but this time Michael and Danica from our tour yesterday ended up at the table next to ours. So, we had a great conversation with them over dinner.

After that we went to the Piazza to see a couple of high energy dances from the Russian ballroom dancers. Then we went to the Princess Theatre to see the night's show by a 'Comic Magician' - he was hilarious. We checked out the photos we'd had taken at dinner on our last formal night, with Jan and Steve, and purchased a copy of each.

Istanbul - Thursday 26 September

Our ship docked in a great spot near the key sights in Istanbul. We could see the minerets of the Blue Mosque from the deck. We docked a little early, so were able to get off early for the private tour I'd arranged with a company on TripAdvisor - Daily Istanbul Tours. They had been very good to deal with and I'd organised a tour for a group of us on Cruise Critic - Jan and Steve, Paul and Connie, Michael and Danica. We were met outside the cruise terminal by Mrs Ebru (she said to just call her Ebru) and she quickly called up a large air-conditioned van to transport us to our first stop, the Blue Mosque. She quickly ushered us through the already growing crowd and negotiated with the guide of a large group from a cruise ship to let us merge with his group for quicker entry to the Mosque. We had to remove our shoes and put them in the provided plastic bags, and women had to cover their heads. Men and women had to have their knees covered, then we squeezed in with the crowd.

The Blue Mosque, also known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is one of the most revered masterpieces of the Islamic world, famous for its blue ceramic tiles and its six minarets (this number having been built instead of the intended four, because of a misunderstanding).

Next we visited the Byzantine Hippodrome, the centre for entertainment, amusement and sports (eg chariot racing) in the city during the Roman and Byzantine Empires. We saw the amazing Egyptian Obelisk, the serpentine column, and the German fountain of Willhelm II (the latter under renovation). We heard the amazing stories associated with these places, including one terrible one about the slaughter of 30,000 in this hippodrome.

Our next stop was the Hagia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom. This is an amazing architectural creation, and was first used as a Christian church, and later as a mosque during the Ottoman Empire. It is now a World Heritage site and a museum. They are still uncovering old mosaics on its walls.

We were able to walk between all these sites, and our next stop was one I'd requested specially be added to our tour - the Cistern. This is an amazing underground cistern (there are several under the city, and this was the biggest) built in Roman times to supply the city with water. There was enough water stored to supply the city for 6 months during a siege. The ceilings are supported by columns pillaged from other Greek sites, but there were also some interesting statues of Medusa. Carp swam in the water that is now only shallow, but once filled up to the ceiling, and the whole area was bathed in gentle red light. It was very crowded.

It was difficult getting photos in all of these places, because of the crowds, and also Ebru was constantly on the move to get us around everything - we were terrified of losing sight of her amongst all the people. I always thought I was pretty good and slipping around and between people in the malls, but she would leave me behind in a cloud of dust!

Across the road was a small cafe where Ebru took us for lunch, choosing from a good selection of pre-cooked foods. She picked out some foods for me, and we all sat at a table together for a very pleasant lunch, and a welcome chance to sit down. The others had a chance to try some of the baclava. Ebru had also handed out small samples of Turkish favourites during our walk - some turkish bread, spread with Nutella, and later some hazelnuts. This was all included in the price for the tour. She pointed out the stalls on street corners, selling typical Turkish 'takeaways' of chestnuts, Turkish round breads, corn on the cob, and hazelnuts.

After lunch we walked to Topkapi Palace, the former imperial residence of the Ottoman sultans and one of the oldest and largest remaining palaces in the world. Today it is a museum, but once it was the heart of the empire of the sultans, and you will have probably heard stories of life in these times. There was much to see there, but it was very crowded, and several sections were in unavailable due to renovations. We didn't have time to see the Harem area and were told that it wasn't very interesting anyway, being just small empty rooms. The kitchens were also unavailable, but once cooked for as many as 15,000 people daily! We did see an interesting display of clocks, old weapons, a collection of ornate kaftans, and amongst a jewellery collection was the world's third largest diamond. I enjoyed just walking rough the various courtyards, further and further into the palace, and imagining life back in those times. Having read some historical fiction set here, I found it very interesting, although by now we were all starting to wilt. The temperature was around 26C. There were some good views out over the harbour, from the Palace, and you could easily spend more time here.

The van picked us up and delivered us through the traffic jam to the Grand Bazaar, the oldest and largest covered market place in the world, with almost 4000 shops - it was described as a city within a city. You would want a whole day to explore this area, but we had said we didn't want long, and 45 minutes was plenty at the end of the day. In fact, we were all out early and waiting together for our guide! We were all scared of getting lost, and not being able to find our way back out of Gate 1. The section we were in was mostly carpets, jewellery, scarves, clothes and handbags. I was interested in a couple of bags, but the prices were ridiculous and I wasn't in the mood to bargain. We were too tired.

We had a short walk through a newer shopping area to pick up our van, again through the traffic jam, and then we were safely delivered back at our ship in plenty of time. It was an excellent day, and we wouldn't have been able to see nearly so much without our great guide. It was interesting watching the number of people arriving back late from shore excursions, even Princess tours.

We were a little late sailing out of Istanbul, and there was a big party out on deck to see the sunset at 6:55 pm. We stuck to the quieter part right on the back of the ship, where today I'd had my first swim (in the Terrace Pool). The water was 'refreshing'. We had a good spot to sit and read our books before the sunset and sail-away.

Then we nipped down to the restaurant and were lucky enough to have a table for two. Mind you, there's no chance of a private conversation, with other tables only 30cm away. As usual, I'd ordered my gluten-free meal from the menu the night before. David ordered a nice bottle of Gewurztraminer, and instead of my usual none or one glass, I had three! A gentleman from Vancouver was sitting on his own at the adjacent table for two. He had been part of a group with other family members (all women - wife, two sisters, cousin, and a couple of their women friends, and he was in need of a break)! We ended up having a good chat with him, and found he has a daughter who is an economist for SAP, a son who had done a legal internship in Wellington, a niece who had come to Auckland as a member of a rugby team and met and married a Cook Islander and lived in Canada, and he himself was a retired psychologist who had some interesting stories to tell about his work in the prison service.

I definitely ate too much at this meal, because on top of my pre-ordered meal, Murat (our Maitre Di) also specially ordered me a goat's cheese soufflé that he'd had a chef make specially for me as a surprise...

Day at sea - Wednesday 25 September

Today was a quiet, relaxing day - we had a holiday! We dined in the Da Vinci Restaurant from the a la cart menu. They even had gluten-free pancakes, although they weren't a patch on the ones we make at home. We relaxed on the deck by one of the pools and read our books, then had a small, light lunch in the International Cafe down in the Piazza, with a wonderful pianist entertaining everyone.

Next we sat down early at the Art Auction, where free bubbly was also handed out. We both found the art beautiful and the whole process fascinating. There were very good prices, but I decided not to bid on my favourite piece that had a reserve price of $84,500. There were plenty of pieces going for US$400-$1000. I was there for two and a half hours, and David for a couple of hours!

Where had the day gone?! Now it was dinner time, and another formal night. So, we all got dressed up and headed to the dining room for 6 pm. We enjoyed just having ourselves and the Barrows at a table for four, and had a lovely meal. We have the Ruby Princess Employee of the month as our Maitre di in this restaurant, and boy is he good. He goes the extra mile with gluten-free, too, without me even asking.

We had half an hour before the show we wanted to see at 8:30 pm, so we checked out the display of photos taken as we embarked the ship. Ours is a good one, so we coughed up US$20 for one copy.

The show was good - a Welsh Comedian, and she sang well, too. She had us all laughing, and Jan and I now recognise ourselves as being anorexic.... (ask when we get home)! The show was only 45 minutes long, so David is enjoying the earlier nights.

We were told that we would be passing ANZAC Cove at 9:45 pm, so many of us were lining the deck at this time. We could see the monument, all lit up on shore, not far away - it was very emotional and I felt my eyes welling up, thinking about the ships that had been in these very waters, carrying the men who would lose their lives on that shore. I noticed that it was the Aussies and Kiwis who were on the deck (surprisingly, almost a third of the passengers on this trip are Aussies).

Corfu - Tuesday 24 September

We arrived in Corfu this morning. Corfu is in the Ionian group of islands, and is one of Greece's northern-most. It is also one of the biggest and greenest of the Greek islands. It has been ruled by the Romans, Venetians, French, English and Germans. It is only about 5km across a channel to Albania.

We had set the alarm for 6 am for our early start, made even worse by the clocks needing to be moved forward one hour - so it was like setting the time for 5 am! At 7:30 am we gathered with others doing tours, for our first ever Princess-organised tour.

We came to Corfu on our 2009 cruise, so had already covered a lot on our own. The Princess tour covered a lot of ground that we hadn't seen, in a half day of 4.5 hours.

First, we headed by bus to the beautiful Achilleion Palace, built in 1890 by the tragic Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Sissi). She was assassinated in 1898. Jan and I keep hearing about her, ever since we visited the palace museum in Vienna when on our 2011 river cruise.

Our next stop was at a picturesque viewing point on the Kanoni Peninsula, overlooking Mouse Island, and the area where the town was first situated in ancient times, up until 600 AD. From here we could also see planes coming in to land at the airport with a very short runway.

Next we toured the villa/palace of Mon Repos. This was the birthplace of Prince Philip in 1921. It was built in the 1820s, and was eventually the summer palace for the Greek royal family.

 

Our tour guide was really excellent, and made both the Greek and the more modern stories come to life in a clear, simple, and humorous way. She was very clever and entertaining. As well as her story-telling, one fact I was particularly interested to learn was that it takes 5kg of olives to make 1 litre of olive oil.

Refreshments were included as part of the tour, on the waterfront looking towards the Old Fortress (built by the Venetians). There was to be a very short walk into the Old Town (that we'd already seen a lot of in 2009) and then a return to the ship. So we decided to say farewell to our Guide, and tour the Old Fort ourselves.

The Fort and surroundings were very interesting, and the views from there were worth the steep and slippery climb in the 29C heat. We checked out the adjacent Neoclassical Church of St George, which looks strangely out of place.

Then we headed into the maze of narrow streets in the Old Town in search of a shop where we could buy some much sought-after Koum Kouat liquor, grown from the local citrus fruit of the same name (that only grows in Corfu). With that successfully accomplished, we walked out onto the square near the New Fort, and were just in time to catch a packed local #16 bus back to the cruise terminal.

Crew members on the dock were handing returning passengers cool flannels that were much appreciated. Once back on board we had a late lunch at the buffet.

I knew that the draw for 500 free Internet minutes would have been done last night, so we headed down to the Internet Cafe to see if I'd won. As we looked around for a sign announcing the winner, David was telling me that I wouldn't be the winner. Moments later I turned around and spotted..... a sign with MY name on it! How exciting, and very deserving of course!

Next we sought out some loungers on deck and relaxed, reading (or in my case, starting on this blog post). We enjoyed sail-away at 5 pm - it was very beautiful leaving Corfu and heading south for our journey towards Istanbul.

Tonight we were freed from our late dining time, and at 6 pm we headed with the Barrows to the Da Vinci Dining Room for our first night trying 'Anytime Dining'. We were put with another couple at a table for six (much easier to hear the conversation around the smaller table). We had a very pleasant and quicker meal with this older, retired couple from a Vancouver suburb. The waiters handled my gluten-free meal very well, and the Maitre Di took my order for tomorrow evening. David and I splashed out on an after-dinner Limoncello each, also purchasing the souvenir Princess shot glasses.

After dinner, David and I wandered around the shops on the ship. We also enjoyed looking at the Art Gallery, where original art is displayed before an auction. The works shown are amazing, and one large painting caught my eye as being very suitable for our Family Room, until I discovered the Reserve price.... $84,000! There were some other nice, smaller pieces for under $1000, but we then need to add 15% GST plus shipping costs, assuming we won any piece at the auction (being held tomorrow).