Greek Islands

So we indeed missed Alexandria last week, and had a sea day instead.  Many of my friends were disappointed that they missed their chance to see the pyramids, but everyone is resigned to the fact that it is much better to stay away in light of all the political unrest and anti-American (even general anti-Western) sentiment.  So we stayed at sea....and added a stop in the lovely island of Rhodes, Greece.   It was especially fun this time having just watched an episode of Poirot which takes place there.  For anyone who may not know, Poirot is the Belgian detective created by novelist Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express).  She wrote over 60 stories about this character, and a British company ITV set out producing tv versions of every story.  It was a major project lasting decades, but now the actor David Suchet has successfully portrayed Poirot in every story ever written about him.  Nick has the box set, and we've been slowly working our way through the episodes, which has become a near-daily ritual.

We've been stopping at a number of other lovely Greek islands as well, reminding me often of my first contract, which was spent in these ports.  It has been fun taking Nick to my favorite places, and also discovering new ones together.  Mykonos remains my favorite Greek island, I think.  Beautiful buildings and narrow picturesque streets, crystal mediterranean waters, and nutella crepes and free wifi around every corner.....what more could you want???  Today we are in Katakolon, the port of call for the guests to visit the ruins of Olympia.  I have already been, so today we stayed in the small port of waterfront cafe's and shops.  However, we first found a path that wandered up and over the surrounding hill, through some olive groves and a small pine forest.  The smell reminds me of home.  We stumbled upon a gorgeous small hotel with a fantastic view of the harbour, and happened to meet the owner, who not only owns that hotel and a restaurant in town, but also is the official pilot for ships coming into port here, for over 20 years.  It was neat to meet and chat with him.  It's amazing the things you stumble upon when you wander off the beaten track.  We eventually made our way back into town for a lunch on the waterfront of traditional Greek delights - stuffed vine leaves, bell peppers and tomatoes, Greek coffee and baclava.  Yum.

In a few days time we will be arriving in Venice, where the process will begin of bringing on and installing a brand new show in the theatre.  All the set has been driven down to Venice by truck, all the way from England.  It will take a lot of work just to get it on board, involving opening extra shell doors in the side of the ship and the use of cranes.  Nick will be very very busy.  I have heard rumors that the composer and musical director of the show is coming on board, to work with us as he makes final changes and tweaks, and will be recording all of us as potential "sick tracks" in case a player is ever missing at a performance.  It should be very interesting to see how this all plays out! More on that later.  

Israel and the Med

We have had our first few weeks in the Mediterranean, and it has certainly been hot! It is hard to believe that the biggest summer heat has come and gone - I would hate to be walking around in July and August out here. We have had a wonderful time exploring on our own. We went to Lucca and Pompei in Italy, which were both lovely days. A few days ago we were scheduled to have a day in Mykonos, but due to weather we had to cancel it. Instead we continued straight on to Kusadasi, Turkey, arriving there the night before we were due. It is always lovely for us to have an overnight - nearly the whole crew stayed out much of the night and were too tired to go out the next day. After our show finished around 11:30, Nick and I wandered out, found a late - night Starbucks still open, then continued on to try some Turkish coffee, beer, and some other specialties of the area. It was a wonderful evening out.

The last two days have been the absolute highlight of the voyage so far - Israel!! On the first day I took a short tour to see the highlights of the port city of Haifa and also the crusader town of Acre or Akko. I had never heard of it before, and was really impressed with everything there is to do there. Back in town for the afternoon, Nick and I walked around and managed to find fresh falafel stands for our lunch, then a baklava bakery which had countless types of the stuff. We bought a boxful to bring back with us - it was amazing! Since we had the night off in the theatre, we managed to get approved to eat in the dining room for dinner, which was really nice. Then we were up bright an early the next morning for our big tour - Nazareth and Galilee!!! It was absolutely incredible. I found myself overwhelmed with emotion from our first stop - the church of Annunciation in Nazareth, Mary's home where she was visited by Gabriel and told she would bear a son. I found myself overwhelmed that this was the actuall place the event occured - it brought tears to my eyes. We visited Joseph's home, drove up all the way around the Sea of Galilee, and made a stop at the Jordan River. It was there we discovered that not only did we have an hour break there, but this was the site of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist, and there was a baptismal facility available for use (robes, showers, changing rooms etc). It seemed absolutely meant to be - Nick has been waiting to be baptised and hasn't had a chance yet. We were with one other Christian lady from our ship, and the three of us decided we felt called to do it, and we would simply baptise each other. So we did....and Nick got to be baptised for the first time in the Jordan River. We were all overcome with emotion, and prayed together before and after. It was an absolutely incredible experience, something we will always treasure. Afterwards we continued on to visit Capernaum and the Temple on the Mount, as well as the site where the feeding of the 5,000 took place. What a day....more than I could have imagined we'd see on our crew tour.

Today we are in Cyprus, and we had a fairly low-key day of just a couple hours wandering in town. There is a medieval castle near the old port.

Tomorrow we are meant to be in Egypt for the guests to make the trip to Cairo and the Pyramids. In light of what's been on the news lately (anti-american sentiment and demonstrations) I will be very surprised if we continue there as planned. If we do I'm not getting off the ship anyway, so don't worry, Mom. But I will be interested to see if we have a sea day or go somewhere else instead. Exciting times...I promise to post again soon! Sorry about taking so long!
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