Greece!

Again, I'm still having difficulty with embedding pix, so without further adieu, I will describe our Greek Islands cruise without the visuals for now.

Picking up where I left off....

We boarded our Cruise, the Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas in Venice. It was a nice ship, a bit older, holding 2000 passengers. We checked in, and checked out our 2 adjoining staterooms, mustered for our lifeboat drill, and set sail. We went to the pool area and watched Venice disappear as the band played some Latin music. At dinner we met our tablemates, a couple of very nice women from Canada (more Canadians!) who were very nice and fun.

Our first port was the very next day: Split, Croatia. We visited the Diocletian's Palace - an ancient walled papce which now houses a contemporary marketplace. We took a tour and learned about the history of the Palace and area. The Palace walls have not held up well and it was quite challenging to envision what it was like in its glory days. We also climbed up to the top of the Bell Tower and enjoyed the amazing view of Split. The water was sooo blue and peaceful and the Tower's arches framed the view beautifully. We ate lunch at a lovely seaside restaurant, and then J took the kids to the beach while I looked around the shops. J described "the beach" as a concrete area with a field of woodchips with a 5 inch strip of sand. He said that the kids had a great time nonetheless. Back on board, the kids swam in the pool until dinner. J&T entered a family Scavenger Hunt in the kids club and won first prize! We had a lovely formal dinner, and then the kids went to their kids/teen clubs and had fun while J& I indulged in champagne.

Bell Tower

Easter Sunday: Corfu

We had a great day in Corfu.... however, it was so wierd that it was Easter, the Greeks were all dressed up, gathered in large groups, presumably with their families, observing their sacred traditions. ...we, on the other hand, were milling about in shorts and sandals snapping pix of their lovely churches, but off exploring ruins and looking forward to some beach time. We started out the day visiting an old Roman Fortress. It was cool. Then, we took a cab to the beach. The beach was fairly deserted as peak season had yet to begin. The kids had a great time digging in the sand, making forts of their own and playing in the cold sea. They had a blast. We managed to find a little beachfront day resort/restaurant and planted ourselves there for the day, sipping wine and Ouzo in the afternoon. The kids loved jumping in the cold surf, building forts with moats, and soaking in the sunshine. It was so relaxing with the warm sun and slight breeze. It was good to see my hubby kickin back for a change. : )

Monday, no ports, just a day sailing the sea. J played shuffleboard, and golf with T. K & I treated ourselves to mani/pedis at the spa. It was incredibly windy, so much so that the top deck was closed. We had a lovely formal dinner and I managed to upload one pic of us all heading to dinner. The kids spent most of the evening at their kids club and loved it. J and T won the kids club scavenger hunt and received medals. The kids swam in the pool and we had a relaxing day.

Tuesday, April 26: ATHENS! Wow - how do I describe this amazing city? We hired a cab from the port area, I believe it was 150Euros to have this driver spend 5 hours driving us around to & from the various sites. His english was poor, but we managed to communicate enough to see the major sites, and arrange times for pick up from the sites. With T as our tour guide, we were all set. T was in his glory. He loves Greek Mythology and is very knowledgeable. He seemed a bit quieter than I would have expected, given how this trip was his dream come true. He later told me that he hadn't expected all of the big buildings and that he sort of expected to see people walking around in togas. So cute! Actually, I was surprised what a cosmopolitan city Athens was. Car and trucks, and people were scurrying around the monuments which were just spread out amidst the office buildings. I would have imagined these historic monuments would have been more sheltered from the city's rat race.

Athens was built to honor the goddes, Athena, which is, of course, T's favorite god as he feels he "is like her - the goddess of wisdom and strategy." Upon arriving at the Acropolis, T knelt down and hugged and kissed the sacred ground.

Our sightseeing started at the Acropolis, the big hill that houses the Parthenon, and ancient temple. The hill was crowded with tourists all wanting to see these amazing structures. It was awesome to see something so old, that had endured so much, and still stood, a bit crumbly, but impressive. I still can not wrap my head around how they actually built these ginormous ornate structures with such primitive tools. It is also incredible that the designers and builders built them to honor their gods, where thousands of years later, we pay respect and honor the designers and builders instead.

We walked around, marveling at the structures, the views, with T explaining the history of the buildings, the gods, and even the olive trees. Surprisingly, he became impatient with my taking a zillion pictures... I reminded him that he will thank me one day.

We climbed the Aeropogous (sp?) Hill for a breathtaking view of the Agora and Athens. It was just amazing to be there.

Next, we went to the Archeolagical Museum. It was spectacular from start to finish. A gorgeous museum filled with ancient artifacts. Some statues were missing heads, others missing limbs, or portions of the torso. We joked that we could just mix & match and assemble some complete statues and save quite a bit of space. T loved the statues of owls - the symbol of Athena. The floor of the museum were all glass so you could look down and see the floor below. On the bottom floor of the entrance, there was an excavation site below and we could peer down to it....super cool.

The Parliament Building was our next stop where we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. We watched the very odd, high stepping, pom pom footed Changing of the Guards. It was a sight to see !

Our next location was the remains of the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch, all situated on a large grassy field in the midst of the bustling city. We also saw the ruins of the Roman baths.

We stopped by the Olympic Stadium of 1896, the site of the first modern Olympic games.

Our driver was really pushing for us to go to a favorite restaurant of his for a "beeeg Friiiish Feeesh Deeennner" We didn't really feel up to stopping for a big meal, especially since the ship was overloaded with food, so after much verbal wrestling with the driver, we finally got him to stop for a small lunch at a local cafe. We were glad to stop there as it was so cute and served some delicious ordinary Greek food. A had a Ham & Cheese pie and loved it and asked if we could make these back at home. We shared some chicken gyros, greek salad, and the kids topped off their meal with ice cream.

Next, we went to the Roman and Greek Agoras. These would be the center of ancient life housing some honorary temples, and the seat of government. It is just amazing how many ancient artifacts and structures and sculptures remain. I will try to upload pix!!

Shortly thereafter, we headed back to the ship with great memories.

Wednesday, April 27 Mykonos: What an unfortunate day. It was FREEZING AND POURING RAIN. Completely miserable. I had booked us on a trip to the Island of Delos - a short boat ride away from the port. We all decided to bundle up as best as we could and take the tour. Delos is amazing. It is a very small island that was once the Head of the Delian League - the association of all of the independent city-states of what we now know as Greece. The amazing aspect of this Island is that it is a very well preserved ancient city whose structures are still somewhat in place. It gives you a true picture of what an Ancient community was like. We saw the remaining walls of the city agora structure, the marketplace, 2 mansions with their mosaic floors, bathrooms, kitchens, etc. It was freezing, but fascinating. We returned to the ship on this miserable day around 1pm for lunch and warm up

Hubby braved the weather and returned to Mykonos to spend the afternoon exploring a bit. He scaled some rock walls or cliffs to get to a beach, drank ouzo by the water, and texted me, trying to lure me out to join him, but I couldn't shake my chills. I headed for the hot tub, where serendipitously, I met a Canadian/American family who is living near Geneva Switzerland. We had a good time swapping adjustment stories as only those who endure it could. We later met up with them a few times over the next week for drinks and laughs & tears of frustration!

We went to bed that night hoping for better weather.

Thursday April 28, Santorini: Possibly my favorite island due to its well developed and GORGEOUS. The Weather was better, but not great. ..At least it was dry and warmer. We left the ship and immediately took the funnicular (cable car) to the top of Santorini, and had a gorgeous view of the harbor. It was still quite cloudy and gray, but a magnificent view anyway. Then we walked thru the touristy shopping area over to the public bus & taxi stand ( the only one for the whole island), and took a bus to the greatly anticipated black sand beach. The " black sand" is actually volcanic rock so it is quite rough and not as easy to play with. It was very fun to explore and see this beach flanked by tall cliffs and a rocky jedi in the midst. The kids enjoyed playing in the surf and it always makes me think how lucky they are to have each other to grow up with. They had such fun....

Around lunchtime, we spent quite a bit of effort trying to get a bus or taxi back to civilization. We managed to take a taxi to another beach - also a black sand beach, Perissa I believe. We were famished and set ourselves up at a lovely beachside restaurant. Hubby ordered his Ouzo and my white wine. I was thrilled with the menu - they had hummus and pita - oh how I have missed hummus (there is one store in Zurich that sells it, but it requires me going out of my way to get it and doesnt really feel like its worth the effort). Then we had stuffed mushrooms - ok -I exaggerate...there was no "we" eating them...it was all me. There was a darling cat that lounged around the restaurant that was sooo cute. K had a great time in the waves - she went far out and had a ball jumping in the waves and diving in the surf. When she came in for lunch, she was COVERED in sea grass - just covered in it. Her hair looked like Medusa with these shiny brown grasses hanging off of her head. She was a mess. We did our best to clean her up in the bathroom sink which was the size of a cereal bowl. It was challenging. She didn't care - she wanted to eat and get back to the beach.....We had a great afternoon.

We then took another taxi to Oia. There was a long windy road to this mountainous village. The skies had cleared up and it turned into a gorgeous spectacular afternoon. We explored the village (really just artsy touristy shops & restaurants as far as I could see) and went to the edge of the cliff to see the amazing view. This is the view that you are most familiar with of Santorini/Greece- the white stucco buildings with sky blue domed roofs, arched windows, and churches with big bells. It is postcard perfect. I could have stared at it all day long. As similar as every building looks, they are all actually so different.

As if that was not perfect enough, we decided to try a donkey ride from the top of Santorini down to the port where the cruise ship was docked. We all saddled up. The crazy greek donkey guides put K&T on a donkey together and they were very scared. They could barely hold on and began to cry. They decided to walk down the path to the port instead :( The mean man would not put them on the donkeys with J & me, despite my requests. They were happier walking anyway. I must admit, it was a bit scary going down a mountain riding a donkey - make mental note, it would likely be best to ride UP the hill on the donkey, rather than down. There was a concern about these donkeys slipping on the path, sometimes they would scrape up against the walls, walk into the brush. Also scary was the fact that all of us were tethered together....except my 13 y/o A - he was not tied to anyone - he was a free-range donkey rider. I was very concerned. The ride took about 20 minutes or so, with gorgeous views during the whole ride. Once we got comfortable and confident, it was a very beautiful, cool experience.

On board, we showered, went to dinner, went to show, met up with the Geneva couple for drinks, picked up K&T from kids club around 10, and returned to the cabins. Our big guy, A, had a great time - he'd usually eat an appetizer with us for dinner (sometimes he'd stay for the whole meal as K&T did), then go to the big buffet and meet up with his friends around 7pm and return to the cabin around 11pm. He had a blast and it is always fun to see him running around, hanging out, or eating dinner with his posse.

In the cabin, I would catch up with the major world happenings on CNN and BBC. The next day was the Royal Wedding. I confessed to my hubby that I was conflicted in my desire to hang out with the family, and to stay onboard and watch the wedding. I HAD to see what Kate was wearing. I am sure he couldn't understand, but he empathized.

Friday April 29 Chania, Crete: This was another spectacular day, besides being the Wedding Day. We arrived in Crete, and took a bus to the beach area. We found a lovely resort called Caldera, which offered beautiful pools, a nice beach with beach chairs, topless sunbathers, a restaurant and a beachside bar. Besides all of these ammenities, more important was the fact that the beachside bar had 2 tvs showing BBC & CNN coverage of the Wedding. It was perfect. J& kids spent the morning on the beach and I manned the TV. I would call my daughter over at critical times so that she could see the best moments. I was having a marvelous time watching the wedding, chatting a bit with the bored bartender. I must have established a quick rapport with him as he started talking incessantly with me about his life story - he just arrived in Crete a week ago from Bulgaria and continued to tell me how dreary and depressing life is there, he was lucky to get out, his father's a jerk, he's got a girlfriend who also came with him who is 10 yrs his senior, he treats her so well, other guys are such losers, yada yada. I don't think he realized how serious I was about watching this Wedding - I was foregoing beach time with my family to watch it. I had to discontinue eye contact, and resort to just a few disinterested occasional nods to let him know I was really there for the Wedding, not for the company. Finally, he found something else to do, and freed me to watch the wedding. I watched the wedding until Kate's arrival. Once I saw her arrival, saw the crowds, saw the dress, I knew the rest of the story....so I rejoined my family in time for our beachfront lunch.

K&T's meal arrived quickly and they gobbled it down quickly, anxious to return to the beach. J, A & I took our time, enjoying the lovely weather and surroundings. During the meal, I saw a surprising sight. I grabbed my camera, made eye contact to try to share the sight with hubby. He looked shocked "put that away!" he hissed. "No, I've GOT to get a pic of this," I retorted. "You can't take pictures of that!" I didn't know what he was talking about. I quickly snapped a pic and he said"what did you take a picture of?!" The surprising shot was of A using a fork to eat french fries! My son would normally have no problem handling dirty animals and eating with his fingers. I was so surprised to see him eating FF with a fork. I quickly explained it to hubby who was equally surprised, and asked "what did you think I was going to take a pic of ?" He said," Oh, I thought you were taking pictures of the topless sunbathers!" Men.....

Now that I was out and about in Crete, I could assess my surroundings. The water was a wierd brown....not the normal tourquoise. The bartender explained that the huge storm of Wednesday had stirred up the surf so it was not simple blue. The weather was still a bit chilly, breezy, but nice enough. We spent the rest of our time lounging in the sun watching the kids play.

In the evening, we attended the British Pub Trivia contest that was held nightly - very fun. I must say I did fairly well with the Royal Wedding trivia....likely better than some of the Brits.

Saturday April 30 Katakalon, Olimpia. This port is on the mainland Greece and houses the site of the original Olympics. Most people were heading to the ruins. My family refused to do any more ruins and sightseeing. I was outnumbered and surrendered readily. A taxi driver took us to a beautiful oceanfront resort....which unfortunately was closed. We spent the morning on the beach playing in the sand. I should mention that my kids (and hubby!) NEVER tire of the beach and sand and swimming. We hung out there for the morning, was picked up by the driver and returned to civilization. We returned to the ship in the afternoon and hung out by the pool.

Sunday - our sea day & our last day. We spent most of the day with K&T swimming in the pool. We packed, the kids spent a lot of time with their friends and kids club. We got haircuts on board since it is easier than making appointments here in Switzerland! We were pleasantly surprised by the reasonable pricing. J's cut was $25, the boys were $17. We were shocked when K's stylist charged $90!! She has long hair, and had 3 inches cut off, but no bangs/fringe, nor layering. Her haircut took less time than the boys! I complained, and the manager reduced it to $60. I tried to not let it bother me all day, but it did. That evening I filed a complaint with the Purser's office - who immediately reduced it to a $17 cut. That's what I like to hear..... but not how I wanted to end my fabulous vacation.