1 May,
Tuesday
Today is Labour Day (May Day) in Greece, and it is a national holiday.   Even many of the tourist sites are closed.  Most of the places we were to explore we could not enter.

We were able to get up a little later this morning: the bus didn’t leave until 8:30.  Marieka first had Demetrius take us up to the Castle of Palamidi overlooking Nafplia. It was an impressive view of the city.  This fortress is under restoration.  We could not enter, but we could see that repair and maintenance on the walls were done with the intent of keeping the building standing, not maintaining the integrity of its antiquity.

We then moved on to Mycenae to visit the city fortress there, but of course this site was closed as well.  We had to settle for the local gyide to explain everything from the outside.  This was of course another story of war and treachery even among families.  This myth was about Agamemnon, hero of the Iliad, the daughter he killed, and his brother Atrius   What we were looking at were the archeological digs.  Not much of material value has been found there, but the acrchelologists have located beehive graves, the palace on the top of the hill (the Actopolis), and many other houses in groups as they word thier way down the mountain.  Nothing was left in the graves to identify the person buried there.  The date from the 1th century BC before these people had developed a script.

We then moved on to the Agora Art Gallery.    This was actually the showroom of a workshop that turns pottery, hand paints it and the bakes them in the kilns to produce original porcelain in the old styles of the ancients.  Thay also sold ceramics cast in moulds and with designs applied with decals.  We bought some souvenirs at this shop.

We went to the King Menelaos Restaurant for a late lunch, then drove on to Sparta.  Sparta does not have much saved from the past.  There is an archeological site, but notmuch is left in it.  Most of the materials had been removed for “recycling” before antiquities had become very important.




NO PICTURES TODAY FOLKS.  WE'RE BOTH REALLY TIRED.   Dick

Parthanon  

Dick with arms spread at mars hill.

Post on 1 May

Despite our late arrival, we didn’t sleep that late.  After breakfast at the hotel we went for a walk to try and find a store the front desk told us might have an adaptor for our N American style plug, good thing I didn’t buy one in Spain as they are different here.  We couldn’t find it so returned to the hotel.  Later I went out alone and asking directions several times and walking by the shop about 4 times, I found it.  No, they didn’t have them but they gave me good directions to a hardware store that did. 

We tried to catch up on the time change.  For lunch we went to Greek’s answer to MacDonalds, It’s called ‘Goody’s’, yes, just like the place in the Bayview Mall which is run by a Greek.  The Gyros were really good.  Again we spent the afternoon relaxing and went for a dip in the hotel’s “laps pool/whirlpool”.  It wasn’t very hot and we had trouble getting the ‘features’ to work properly, but it did feel good.

The optional evening out was postponed until the end of the tour as several of the group only arrived shortly after 7 pm.   There was a meeting of the group where logistics were settled. 

29 April
Sunday
Sunday has most things closed but we took the optional cruise of three Greek islands, Hydra, Poros, and Aegina.  The only motorised vehicles on Hydra are the fire truck and the ambulance.  All other travel is by foot, donkey or mule.  Eva bought a cap to replace the one she left in Barcelona and a lovely ceramic bell.  We decided not to take the extra excursions on Aegina and visited a few shops then went to the beach and dipped our feet in the Aegean Sea.  Nothing more as is was Lake Ontario temperature.  We followed this with a drink in a local waterside restaurant of wine/Greek beer. 

We found the cruise was crowded and noisy.  The meal they served on board was a sampling of some Greek foods.  Eva liked some and not others.  I wasn’t impressed, feeling it took a special talent to make chicken breast tough and stringy.

30 April
Monday
On the bus at 8 am, yuck! A tour of Athens with a visit to the Acropolis and the temple, currently undergoing reconstruction.  I climbed on the rock at Mars Hill one of the places where the Apostle Paul preached to the Athenians about Christ.  We have so many photos it will probably be necessary to wait till we get back to show them.

Canal at Cornith  

Theatre at Epidaurus  

At Corinth we viewed the canal that Nero proposed building and it was obvious why it was abandoned. The walls are 52 metres high at its highest point.  The Corinth Canal is a 6.3 kilometre-long (3.9 miles) cutting through the Isthmus of Corinth which saves small ships a journey of about 700 kilometres (430 miles) between the Sarconic Gulf and the Aegean Sea.  We shared a Greek salad and souvlakia for lunch.  It was delicious!

Next we went into the Epidaurus where we visited the ancient open-air amphitheatre at Epidaurus which can seat 14,000 people and is still used during the summer months.  We were lucky enough to be on the top tier of seats when a group tried a choral rendition on the ancient stage.  We could hear them fine and I think I have it captured on video, with sound. 

When we arrived at Nafplia, where we would spend the night, the group checked into the hotel, had an hour’s free time, then met our tour director in the hotel lobby to begin our evening’s activities.

We boarded a small caigue (motor boat) and the pier, and road out to a The Fortress of Boutzi, small fortress in the middle of the harbour.  Originally constructed for the defence of the harbour, it has also served as a prison and later as the “hangman’s castle”.   The local hangman lived out there, and people were brought to him when sentenced to death for whatever reason.   It is now an historical site.

When the group returned to the mainland, we had a traditional Greek dinner in a local restaurant.

27 April
Friday
We didn’t have anything planned for today other than to explore the neighbourhood around the hotel and visit the former ‘Barcelona Bull Ring’ which has been converted into several floors of upscale shops.  For lunch we had ‘paella’, a traditional rice based dish with vegetables and meat.  About 4 pm we collected our bags and took a taxi to the airport.  We were really early, but decided we would relax better sitting around the airport departure lounge than the hotel lobby. 

 

Boarding was shown at 19:00 for the 19:30, but the gate wasn’t announced until 18:55 and the plane didn’t arrive until 19:05.  It took 20 minutes to deplane then we boarded and left about 15 minutes late.  With the 1 hour time change we arrived in Athens at 23:30.  The airport is some 20 miles (32 km) from the hotel and there is a bus which stops 20 m from the hotel.  The cost is 3.90 € but as seniors, we only paid 2.5 €.  We got to the hotel about 1am.

25 April
Wednesday
We were up at 6:30 this morning to finish packing and get breakfast.  Disembarkation no later than 9:30.  Actually we left about 8:30.  Immigration was a formality and we were waved through customs.  We met a couple from Kingston on the bus from the port to Las Ramblas who knew Barcelona and they showed us where to catch the subway.  We misread the signs and went the wrong way so had to reverse our direction.  Barcelona has a lot of diagonal streets and 5 or 6 roads entering an intersection.  It took a while to find the hotel and we had to wait a while for a room to be ready.

After checking in we went to the city centre to pick up our tickets for the Hop-On/Hop-Off 2 day tour. We started with the ‘blue line’ trip and first got off at the ‘Sagrada Familia’ church.  This tremendous structure has been under construction since the 1880s and it will be many more years till completion.  Finances habe been one of the delays.  We bought tickets for entrance and the audio tour after waiting in a very long, but fairly fast moving line.  The inside is tremendous and I can’t describe it here.  (Do a search on ‘Sagrada Familia inside’).

Next stop was ‘Parque Guell’.  A beautiful park and I can only say, look at the photos which really don’t do it justice.

These two stops took up so much of the day that we were really beginning to get tired.  We carried on and transferred to the ‘red line’ which had a stop not too far from our hotel at ‘Plaça de Espanaya’, From there we walked back to the hotel, about 10minutes getting back about 6 pm.

Before dinner I ran some errands, to find and electrical adaptor for the computer as our plug has a ground and our adaptor doesn’t.  Then a bottle of wine and a 6 pack.  Then back out for a corkscrew and bottle opener.  After relaxing for a w hile we went out of a light supper.

26 April
Thursday
We headed out to  ‘Plaça de Espanaya’ this morning to take the ‘red line tour’.  Our first stop was ‘Poble Español’.  It was built for the 1929 World’s Fair to show Spanish architecture and culture with the intention of clearing it out after.  However it proved so popular it was continued after the fair.   Franco used it as a prison and after his fall it was refurbished as a place for artisans to make and sell their crafts.

Our next stop was ‘Museo d’Historia de Catalunya’ on the waterfront. However it was about 1 pm and we stopped for tapas.  The museum was very good, and since we are over 65 years, free.  We spent over 2 hours exploring it’s many exhibits.  A group of school children were going through about the same time and an instructor, from the museum I think, was instructing them, sometimes with hands on demonstrations.  We got as far as the 18th century and were getting museumed out, so decided to leave and have an ice cream cone before reboarding the bus.  We switched to the green line but didn’t get off.  When we connected again with the red line we switched, got seats near the rear, took off our shoes and relaxed on the ride back to ‘Plaça  de Espanaya’.  Back in the hotel we relaxed until about 7:30 then went out for dinner.

We promised you some photos when reached land and had a better connection.  Here are some, finally.

 View of 3 decks at once, decks 5, 6, and 7

 Eva and I with 2 of the performers in Cirque de Dreams

At the stern on deck 15. 

Eva in our cabin after we moved to a balcony from an inside cabin.

The Norwegian Epic docked at the Azores

Dick at 'Fire Lake', (A dormant volcano) in the Azores

Results of a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration on deck 5

Dick, Eva, and our Chef at the Teppanyaka Restaurant on board the Epic

Barcelona, one of the Hop-on/Hop-off busses

23 April
Monday
Today we passed through the Straights of Gibraltar.  The ship didn’t seem to be moving as quickly during the day as the captain promised we would go through during daylight, starting about 6:30 pm.

We had a late lunch and went up on deck 18 to watch the passage and do some sun bathing.  We thought of going up to the small deck 19 but then realized it was the “adult” deck where everything hangs out, literally.

The weather was warm when out of the wind and we really enjoyed it.  As we approached the straights we met more and more ships coming from the Mediterranean.  At one point I could see 10.  It was interesting to note that the town of Gibraltar was some distance from the ‘Rock’.  We took a lot of photos from both sides of the ship but will wait to really cull them until we get home and have a better screen and lighting.

After passing the rock we went below and had dinner in the ‘Taste’ dining room about 8:30 pm.

Tonight was also the night of the ‘White Hot Party’.  We changed to white and went up to the H2O club at the stern to find that due to weather, very cool and windy, it had been moved to the ‘Bliss’ Lounge.  They were a little late getting started and very very loud.  After about 20 minutes, they were still on the first piece of music, we decided that was enough.  We returned to our cabin and read until we went to bed.

24 April
Tuesday
Today is day 11, the last day of the cruise.  Not much we were interested in during the morning.  At noon I (Dick), failed miserably in the paper aeroplane competition.  (It worked fine on deck 6 but when I threw it for the competition from deck 6 to deck 5, it did a nose dive.

While Eva took a nap I went and watched a show in the theatre, 4 men singing acapella..  They were very good.  Later Eva joined me for a presentation by talented crew members.  At the end several of the 1700 crew filed on stage to say goodby, including the captain, 1'st officer, chief engineer, some 25 chefs etc.

In the evening we watched the duelling pianos, ‘Howling At The Moon’ whom we have enjoyed previously.  Then back to the cabin for an early evening and early departure from the ship.

21 April
Saturday
   
Our day in the Azores.   The Azores are beautiful.   Ponta Delgada is the main port, and it was their that we docked.  To make it simple, we took a tour coach across the island to Ribeira Grande, a very old town on the north side of the island.  We then visited Caldera Velha, a series of hot springs on the side of an inactive volcano.  The Azores are entirely volcanic.  The last eruption was in the 15th century, after settling had begun.  The steam from the volcanos are being tapped to provide electricity for the islands.  From the springs we travelled on up to the top of the volcano to see Lagoa de Fogo (Fire Lake), named because it was formed after the last eruption, which sealed the lake bottom and sides so that the crater held water.  The whole area is naw declared a natural reserve.

From there, we were taken to a pineapple plantation.  Here, the pineapples are grown in greenhouses because they do not thrive in the volatile climate.

After returning the port, we looked around the town a bit before boarding.  The pictures we’ll b e posting when we leave the ship will tell a better story than any written account could accomplish.

22 April
Sunday
Another relaxing day of sun and good food.  We have been very fortunate in regard to the weather, often sunny and I don’t think any day was less than 60 F.

After dinner we saw two shows, ‘Second City; Living in America’ at 7 pm then at 9:30 we saw Comedy Magician Jeff Hobson.  We thoroughly enjoyed both.







We will be posting yesterday's story with our trip through the Straights of Gribralter after we check into our hotel in Barcelona.

19 April, 2012
Thursday
Breakfast this morning, again late and especially so because of the time change, (ahead 1 hour),  We went to the ‘Taste’ dining room.  Excellent meal but way too much food.  We think there were probably 5 or 6 eggs in the scrambled eggs on each plate plus hash browns, ½ dozen slices of bacon, juice, yogurt, and toast.  There seems to be something in the air there because this is the second time my nose, Dick,  has started to run when visiting there.

It was a little too cool and windy to sit out so we spent most of the day inside. At 12:30 we went to the “Murder Mystery” performed by ‘Second City’.  This included lunch with a choice of roasted chicken or grilled fillet of salmon.  It was an impromptu show and audience participation was high and the show was designed so that the audience did not correctly guess the killer, although they had selected who would die. 

In the evening we went to the ‘Headliners’ club to hear the ‘Duelling Pianos’ again.  Settled down to sleep about midnight.

This Cruise Facts;
- Average age on this curise is 59 years
    - Top 5 Guest Nationality Breakdown; US - 1131, Canada - 276, Germany - 203, Sweden 161, United Kingdom - 102
- Onboard Guests represent 41 different Nationalities ,  Crew represent 71 different Nationalities
- The youngest guest is 1 yr old and the eldest is 92

20 April, 2012
Friday
We didn’t sleep as late this morning but this sleeping in is becoming a habit. Putting the clocks ahead an hour last night also made it seem later

In the morning we went to a talk about the new Norwegian ship ‘Breakaway’ being built in Grt. Britain and being launched in 2013.  The afternoon was warm and sunny so we spent it on deck 15, the pool deck.  We had a late dinner in ‘Taste’ restaurant then went looking unsuccessfully for some quiet music.  The blues music in the ‘Fat Cats’ Jazz Bar was nice but way too loud and we soon left. We settled around the corner from a piano/singer.  His music was noce but we felt he used too much amplification.

The clocks go ahead another hour tonight so we’re going to bed shortly, about 11pm. 

15 April, 2012
Sunday
Slept in this morning — a real treat for us. Didn’t get up until about 8:30. We went to a regular style restaurant, ‘ Taste’, for breakfast Sunday. We both had eggs benedict on and English muffin, Eva’s with smoked ham and mine with smoked salmon. After breakfast we decided to enquire about moving to an outside cabin. The ship is only half full so there are a lot of vacant cabins. We decided to go ahead and take a lovely large cabin on the 9th deck. It is designed to hold 3 people so there is a lot more room and the balcony is considerably larger than most of them.

If you’re wondering why there are no photos it’s for 2 reasons. The satellite connection is slow and it costs .75 cents per minute. Pictures can take a lot of time to upload.

Most of the day we just relaxed. For supper we had a reservation at the restaurant ‘La Cocina’. We had a very good meal and just before dessert the staff brought us a ‘Happy Anniversary’ cake for our 46th last Monday and sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”.

We have just gotten back from watching a lovely sunset accompanied by the William Tell Overture. We then went for a soak in a hot tub. It was a cold walk back

We move our watches ahead another hour tonight.

17 April, 2012
Monday
Another relaxing day. We sunbathed for a while, but the wind was cool. To get out of the wind we had to move into the shade. We’ve rearranged our entertainment schedule a little because the ads for the Blue Man Group were just to tempting to resist. We signed up for the 7:00pm performance, so we had an early supper in the Manhattan Room. Almost all of the early diners were going to an early show, so the dining staff were in high gear. We were finished in lots of time.

The Blue Man group is a comedy team of 3 men up front and a 3 man band dressed so that under the lights they looked like puppets They were great, worth the price.

18 April, 2012
Tuesday
We watched a Tepanyaki demo this morning. Wasabi cooking was also demonstrated. The Chef was fun to watch as he handled his knives. We will actually have dinner at the Teppanyaki Restaurant on Wednesday evening.

Tonight was Cirque Dreams and Dinner, a comedy and acrobatics show while we ate dinner. We enjoyed it very much, both dinner and the show. As with the Blue Man Group, no photography was allowed during the show, but we got some photos later.

After the show we went to the Bliss Lounge to watch the show there, but the music was very loud, so we left and returned to our rooms. Our clocks are now 2 hours ahead of Belleville.

Last night when I went to review the video's I took I accidentally pressed the wrong button and wiped out the lot. Oops!

Eva and Dick

14 April, 2012
Saturday

Breakfast was a bust. At 8:10am the Honduran restaurant still hadn’t open, Subway’s was still closed. We ended up back at the hotel café, which was ok, but pricey for what we got.

The shuttle picked us up and delivered us to about 50 ft from where we boarded the ship. The luggage was unloaded and after checking to be sure it was there and tagged properly, we went on board. The boarding wasn’t that different from boarding an aircraft, complete with security scanners. Once on board, about noon, we went up to deck 15 to the Garden Restaurant, a large buffet style place that was packed with so many people arriving and not really knowing the options, and killing time until the cabins were ready. However the food was varied and excellent. We were able to get a table at the bow window and kept it so we could watch the departure. We followed 4 smaller cruise ships out of the harbour, a regular congo line and we were the biggest.

About 2 pm the cabins were ready, (but the luggage didn’t arrive until some time later). Our room is very small and dark as it is an inside cabin with no window. After unpacking we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring, a big job on this 1071 ft long ship. Our watches were moved ahead one hour before going to bed.

Sunday
Slept in this morning — a real treat for us. Didn’t get up until about 8:30. We went to a regular style restaurant, ‘ Taste’, for breakfast Sunday. We both had eggs benedict on and English muffin, Eva’s with smoked ham and mine with smoked salmon. After breakfast we decided to enquire about moving to an outside cabin. The ship is only half full so there are a lot of vacant cabins. We decided to go ahead and take a lovely large cabin on the 9th deck. It is designed to hold 3 people so there is a lot more room and the balcony is considerably larger than most of them.

If you’re wondering why there are no photos it’s for 2 reasons. The satellite connection is slow and it costs .75 cents per minute. Pictures can take a lot of time to upload.

Most of the day we just relaxed. For supper we had a reservation at the restaurant ‘La Cocina’. We had a very good meal and just before dessert the staff brought us a ‘Happy Anniversary’ cake for our 46th last Monday and sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”.

We have just gotten back from watching a lovely sunset accompanied by the William Tell Overture. We then went for a soak in a hot tub.

We move our watches ahead another hour tonight.

13 April, 2012

The first day of our vacation. Last night we drove to our daughter’s place in Markham and spent the night. This morning I drove to the airport and she took the car back to her place while we’re away. The flight to Miami was uneventful.

Our Miami hotel, Days Inn Airport North, has a shuttle which picked us up. Arriving in our room we found a very serious leak in the shower’s hot water, quite loud so that we requested another room. They were very accommodating and moved us to an even nicer room near the pool with a garden in front of the room. The weather was warm and humid with drizzle.

Dick in the garden at the Day's Inn Miami Airport North

Just up the street is a Honduran restaurant and we were able to enjoy Honduran tacos and papusas, something we haven’t had since we were last in Honduras 3 years ago. Boy were they good. They open at 8 am so we may return for breakfast.

A shuttle leaves the hotel at 11 am for the port so we won’t have any trouble getting to the right place. We board our cruise ship to Barcelona, Spain between noon and 2 pm.

Next post, ????? Dick & Eva

Another Trip, But this time just for fun!

For various reasons we are unable to take a 3 month mission trip this year so we decided to take our first cruise. It is a repositioning cruise on the Norwegian Epic, (see www.ncl.com ), leaving from Miami on 14 Apr. (We fly to Miami on the 13th.) We head for Barcelona, Spain, arriving at 5 am on 2 May, with a short stop in the Azors along the way. We got a really good price for the 11 day trip. We probably won't be updating this blog while we are on board, but then again, maybe we will.

Then we decided that since we were already in Europe, why not see a little more. Therefore we will be in Barcelona 3 days then fly to Athens for a tour of Greece, returning to Canada on 7 May. We are taking the "Best of Greece" tour,
( http://cosmosvacations.ca/Product.aspx?trip=26670&source=CO_Product_Greece_Turkey )

Our grandson, Robin, will be staying here while we are away.