A double drowning in Athens and a big blow in Kusadasi

No photos of two drowned idiots who ventured to do a hoho (hop on hop off) in Athens. Decided at the last minute to join a tour of Athens which went like this..........a bus to the Acropolis, off it to join a tour of Athens and then back to Acropolis and return toPiraeus. As we started off it decided to rain so when we reached the Acropolis we decided to abort the tour and return to Piraeus.

The bus company said no worries another bus in 15 mins. Then it decided to p..s down, we had umbrellas, all be it badly bent by now, so wait until after 1 hour a very crowded bus appeared and some 20 or so angry wet people tried to get on. We managed to force our way up top to get back to the port even though we had to put up with the rain and wind for a trip of an hour? We were frozen and wet to the skin. D...heads!!!! We did warm up eventually.

Our cruise to Kusadasi was our first uncomfortable night, 35 knot winds, but made it without any problems. Tonight the highlight was to be a night of Opera at Ephesus the ancient theatre, however due to the rain and wind it has been cancelled but all is not lost, the orchestra is coming on board to entertain us.

So today we walked into a very nice town, so different to the one we knew, heaps of shops all selling the same gear mainly carpets, leather bags, shoes, polo shirts and jewellery. Looks like another rough one tonight, hold on tight!

Photos below are of 4 big ships in Port, with about 8 thousand passengers in total, managed to have a shoeshine and a sample of very fresh fish at the fish market.

Mykonos

Today started with a really warm day. After a lovely breakfast of fruit etc we headed down the gangplank for a look at the lovely island of  Mykonos.  Sailing in, it was a great hill of white buildings, some with coloured doors, imagine in Australia if everyone had white houses, yuk I think but looks good here. The tender only took 2 minutes to shore and then we took a right turn and headed for the windmills, six in all and not quite in the same condition as they were about 8 years ago. Some really in need of paint and repairs as lots of other buildings do also. But we enjoyed wandering around the lanes looking in the many jewellery shops, clothing, shoes with heels 6 inches high and of course the souvenir stores.  All very small and seeing there were 4 ships in town not a lot of people in these shops. Walked for nearly two hours until we felt in need of a cold drink, so sat in chairs facing the shore and did some people watching while sipping on our drinks.  Then it was back on board for a lovely lunch. Must say the food is particularly good on board. Also have met some nice couples from all over the globe and exchanged some good jokes and a lot of laughs. Lot of people getting off tomorrow at Piraeus and feel lucky we're still on for another 28 days.  Thanks Mum. Well it's that time of day again so until next time stay well and happy as we are.

Our first sea day and then onto Rethymnon (Crete)

Our first sea day was highlighted by the Galley Lunch. The cooks prepare a huge array of food as well as a large nuber of tales with lots of appetisers and sweets as you can see from the photos. We see Gloria tasting some Schnapps and then a series of  different food.
Yesterday we sailed to Rethymnon the third largest City in Crete, which has been our best port so far.
We had a few words to the Captain yesterday and he informed us that Quest is the largest ship to visit this City. Quite an honour for him as he is retiring when we get to Athens tomorrow. The old town is a mass of tiny streets with many shops and heaps of restaurants. We also strolled over the huge Fort that is the headland to the City.

These are some shots of the lovely City of Retmymnon, the first looking up to the fort,the second of a typical narrow street.the CAptain and Gloria at the back of the ship you can also see the Zodiacs the crew continue to train. A tasty example of some of the seafood offered around the various restaurants and the Venrtian Port.

Civitavecchia ( Rome), Sorrento and Messina (Sicily).

We'll it's hard work on this I pad, can't seem to get any photos up,  but we'll keep trying and maybe they can be posted on Facebook . Our day in Civitavecchia was not what we anticipated. Our plan was to catch the train into Rome for the day, but that changed when the heavens opened up and it p.....d with rain.
While all this was happening we had an unexpected call from Joshua, Our eldest grandson who turned 11 with his new tablet, that was a nice interruption. Ended up in town and that was not a highlight.
The next day we tendered in Sorrento. it is such a nice place so unusual I would show you in a photo or two, but woe not to be just yet.
Our excursion took us to Pompeii, the ancient city frozen from its last moments by the eruption of the  volcano Mount Vesuvious. Both of us have been there before, in fact this was Gloria's third time, but it was a fabulous reunion as it had been so long ago.
Today we arrived in Messina after a lovely voyage through the Messina Strait a narrow passage just three km wide from the Southern tip of Sicily to Calabria in the southern part of Italy.The captain had stopped the ship at five am at Another active volcano, Mt. Stromboli, only it wasn't active so back to bed for a couple of hours before going to the gym for a work out.
There were three ships in town with a total capacity of about 7 thousand passengers so it was very busy. Not much on here did some window shopping so G could buy a new nighty and a new jacket as it has been a bit cool at times. No such luck! Well it's sad there are no photos all I can suggest is a visit to google they are sure to have better ones than ours.

Ajaccio Corsica

So far so good, we've had smooth seas keep it up big fella. This place is a very popular destination for British tourists but it was pretty quiet. It is the birth place of Napoleon so there are lots of memorials of him.
We chose a small HoHo that went along the coastline and back in about an hour it was a nice day although the wind is cold.
Last night we had dinner with a pommie couple who were nice and we went on to the show, a singer comedian, she was good.
Today we are in Rome so will catch the train into the City.

 Coastal graveyard. Hundreds of crypts.

Palamos Spain and St Tropez

Our first day was spent in Palamos a lovely waterfront city not all that far from Barcelona.

We found it very clean some nice beaches, and small streets. We really liked it and could even live there if necessary.

Yesterday we spent in Toulon France which would be familiar with a lot of rugby league followers as many has been players end up there.

We chose an excursion to StTropez a drive of about 1 1/2 hours thru some nice country, lots of vineyards and olive plantations. St Tropez where all the rich and famous visit or live was interesting! Always related it Nice or Cannes, but totally different, narrow streets, older style homes and a lot of  upmarket shops and restaurants. We had a lunch of Grilled sardines and mussels. Whacko, they were beeeautiful. When we arrived back on board they had a great sail away with two opera singers. Gloria   Loved them of course, but they were very good.

Loved them of course, but they were excellent. Think I've managed to work out this ipad at last, 

This is our new boat!

 

Phew, Thought we would never make it!

We booked to Barcelona from Sydney, because we had never flown on an A380 as they do not fly from Brisbane.
Left home about 7.30 am to get from Gold Coast to Sydney which was quite uneventful.
After about three hours there our flight was just great. The plane was so quiet and thoroughly enjoyable, worth the extra hassle to do it this way.
After a long four hour stay in Singapore we took off for Barcelona via Milan and landed there twelve hours later and then onto Barcelona. It was so good flying into B as we flew right over the coastline and could see our Seabourn Quest among another eight or so bigger ships.
The airport is only a short distance from the port, so from landing, through customs to our transport and onto the port in about 45 minutes. But, in total about 36 hours!
The ship is very nice only about 2 years old and our suite is on deck 10 where there are only about a dozen suites and close to the Observation Lounge.
Once we get over our shell  shock (jet lag) we hope to get some photos up, with a new I pad and slow IT it ain't easy.

Building the new Aquatic Centre for the Comonweath Games in 2018

it's a long way off. But here is a preview of the site for the above Games.
This is the view from our balcony, it is a huge projected but as you can see it is coming along nicely.
the Centre will be finished next July and will be used for the Pan Pacific Games next August.

OUR EXCITING ITIERARY

Singapore and finally Home

Well after 50 days away of which 46 were at sea, we have finally made home again with few problems other than a sniff or two and maybe a couple of coughs.

We had a great time in Singapore, 2 days with the ship and almost 2 on our own.

The excursion we did was called " the way we live' which was all about just how ordinary Singaporeans live day by day.

We visited the Marina Barrage which is the expensive scheme designed to stop the flow of salt water into the Singapore River and to create another water catchment. A excellent project that actually works, to their credit.

The Marina Barrage.
Visited a typical apartment out in the suburbs, which gave us an insight how they live in such confined spaces.

From there we caught the local subway to a working type area gave us an insight how they travel and shop. A very interesting tour. Of course we went to a Buddhist Temple, and a very nice one at that.

After disembarking Voyager where we were farewelled by the the GM, the Cruise Director, the Concierge and Chief Receptionist ( what a fabulous crew) we spent a night at the Swissotel Merchant A nice hotel near Chinatown and Clarke Quay.

Clarke Quay from our hotel room.
We couldn't be in Chinatown without having a delicious meal of Chilli Crab and that didn't disappoint, even found the same restaurant where we had been eighteen months previously.

Yesterday we caught the Subway to The gardens by the Bay a development near Marina Bay Sands which only opened in June.

 This is an overview as you enter the aArden

Christmas decorations were just amazing

 Colour in the flower dome

What a magnificent job they have done; an area of 250 acres featuring the best parkland you have seen, dominated by the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest (suggest you google it to get a very much better idea than I can provide), but it is mind boggling. The Singaporeans have it all over the rest of the world when it comes to such cleanliness and beauty and clever design of construction. It is a credit to them.

 The Cloud Dome is over 35 meters high and represents a rain forest at 2000 feet.

Looking up at all the plants, thousands of them.

 Looking down from the top.

We have just come home from Brisbane airport by train and the graffiti is just such an ugly glut on our landscape. It's disgusting, of course there is none in Asia because people get penalised for it. Pity we couldn't follow suit, but it aint gonna happen!

I'm going to finish off this blog with a statement about Qantas. We have travelled with them several times booth good and not so good, but last night's flight was a doozy!

It is no wonder they make a huge loss, why on earth would anybody want to travel with them.

The hosties are tired, too old for the job and as one fine politician said, "Just a few old boilers,"it just lacks any good service at all. Maybe they can't attract any nice looking hosties or are they all working for Virgin or some other airline

After 1 hour in the air the first thing done was to  deliver bottles of water to each passenger.

We had to actually say, " when are we going to get a real drink". The meal if you could call it that, was disgusting and breakfast was a croissant. I'm not sure whether they are under instructions not to provide a service or what.

So after all that, I'm not sure you would want to read any more blogs of ours so we will sign off and say goodbye.

Kuala Lumpur - What a great City

The only bad thing about KL was the cruise terminal which is 11/2 hours drive away from the City.

We found it much different to the last time we visited and we were very impressed.

This is an example of some of the new buildings happening in KL there are cranes everywhere.

 The Kings Palace cost something like two billion to construct.

The statue of the fallen soldiers is very striking

 We went to the Central Market didn't buy anything but a fish massage as you can see Gloria loved it.

Once you get used to the little critters biting it is not so bad.

 Petrunas Twin Towers

Lovely Christmas decorations.

And similar scenes right through the Shopping Centre.