Friday, 26 October 2018 -- Heraklion, Crete, Greece

We thought we'd start with a map of our route so far. If you recall from our previous entry we diverted south of Crete to sail in more protected waters. Our route (white line) will document this diversion. (For those of you paying attention, 'yes' this map is dated 28 Oct, but the blog entry is for 26 October.)

Friday 26 October 2018 cruise map

Some in our stateroom saw this almost full moon and this perspective of a cyprus tree loaded with bougainvillea.

Almost full moon Crete

Cyprus tree w/bougainville

If there's one thing we continue to be humbled by as we travel, it's how recent and young our country is in comparison to almost anywhere else in the world. Seems to present us with a wonderful opportunity to learn from history. . . .

Anyway, our excursion took us both to Phaestos Palace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaistos about a 90 minute ride from Heraklion. This palace was constructed in 2000BC, the middle of The Bronze Age!  Its history was fascinating. You can learn more by checking out the wiki link above.

Phaestos Palace

Phaestos Palace

Phaestos Palace

So an observation about the guest list onboard for this leg of the cruise: they're much younger, which we're guessing has to do with the itinerary. And the pushy Asians are getting on Cap's nerves. Also a few nights ago at Toscano we shared a table for 8 with one couple being from Scotland. Cap naively asked them their perspective on Brexit never anticipating they'd ask about Trump. Oh well...

Wed/Th October 24-25, 2018, At Sea

The first 36 hours onboard after departing Athens at 1800 hrs were rather eventful. Two to three hours after setting sail for Rhodes, by now it was dark, the captain came on the PA to announce we had a medical emergency onboard and we'd have to return to Athens. Because of this we lost 8-9 hours of sailing time for Rhodes, which meant we couldn't arrive in time to accomplish any excursions. Corporate out of Miami instructed us to proceed to Heraklion on Crete thus skipping Rhodes. This probably worked out for the best as there were northerly gale force winds forecast so we sailed the long way to Heraklion around the south (lee shore) side of Crete sheltered from the winds. Seas have been very calm with little motion.

A bit about Oceania, their ships and our stateroom. They own 6 ships, 4 680-passenger R-Class boats originally owned by Renaissance Cruises and 2 O-Class 1260-passenger ships. By the time we arrive in Miami we'll have 15 cruises with Oceania. This trip makes the third time in an O-Class ship, but for the 1st time we're in a 1,000 sq. ft. Oceania Suite. Can't say we're roughing it with two full baths, media room (technology is pretty old), full wet bar, large living/dining room and master bdrm with walk-in closet and large bath. Oh, and Suzy gets her butler.

Media room

Here are a few photos of our stateroom.

Master bath

Oceania deck


To the right is a photo of La Reserve. It's a room
used exclusively for wine dinners.
For an extra charge, there are periodic 7-course
wine-paired dinners held here.We've found them to
be quite a lot fun and sell out quickly.

lvrm/bar/dnrm/desk

La Reserve

Tuesday, October 23, 2018--Athens

Our third day in Athens was low key, and we'll share with you a few observations about Athens. When we first planned this trip, we thought we'd want five days in Athens. A dear friend suggested that we cut that in half, which made sense since we (a) weren't going to make a lot of day trips out of Athens, (b) didn't plan to do the many antiquity museums, and (c) are going to visit plenty of temples and other ruins on the way to Venice. Thanks, Sherry!

Our observation of the Athens architecture is that it's relatively boring, unless it's 2000 years old. One fun thing is that many of the apartments have extensive gardens (forests, sometimes) on the balconies. And we saw a few grand houses--but many of the municipal buildings (even Parliament) have a lot to learn from other European cities. It's really neat, though, to see the ruin of Hadrian's library, for example, right in the middle of a bustling neighborhood. And there's a temple or other ruin around every corner, it seems. Like in Vienna or Paris or other former Roman territories, lots of antiquities are discovered when the city starts digging for a subway.

Ruins of Hadrian's library, with the Acropolis in the background.

Athens is a foodie town--we didn't get to the market while it was at its busiest, but found lots of other food trends in the streets. And the dinner we had at Tudor Hall atop our hotel was one of the best in recent memory.

Produce stands on the streets were full of lovely fruit--just look at the size of these chestnuts. They were huge!

The gyros here can be made from many meats--lamb, of course, but also beef, chicken, or pork. We think that might be chicken on the spit behind the server.

Lots of other tasty options--fanciful gelato cones and all sorts of pastries. There are very few Starbucks here, but the Greeks do love their coffee. There must be a coffee shop & bakery around every corner.

If there's a spice from somewhere in the world, it's either in these bags or in the jars inside the shop.

And, finally, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns under Parliament was a special sight--visible from our hotel window.

Tomorrow we board Riviera.

Monday, October 22, 2018--Athens

Our first full day in Athens started with a beautiful breakfast atop the hotel, overlooking the Acropolis and Parthenon, followed by Hop-On/Hop-Off touring. At the Acropolis stop we skipped the long ticket lines thanks to a guide who was soliciting customers. She took six of us throughout the Acropolis and shared wonderful insights into what we were seeing. Truly a worthwhile investment.

Some Acropolis highlights:

Some of the many folks scrambling to see the Acropolis and Parthenon inside; can't imagine what the summertime crowds must be like.

What a vantage point the ancient Greeks had from here.

 We learned so much about the design and construction of the Parthenon--fascinating--and the work still goes on. We learned that it can't be a 'restoration' unless 25% of the original remains (not true here), so the many, many small parts of these structures (see below) are being used to try to keep it stable and as much like the original as possible.

The story of Athena and the olive tree charmed us (this one next to the temple of Athena is 'believed' to be a descendant of the original tree that she sprung from the earth), and the history explains why the olive is so important to the Greeks.

More relics.

More HOHO, then back to the hotel to get ready for a roof-top dinner at the Hotel Grand Bretagne, sister hotel to ours right next door. Not too many restaurants provide tables that look over the Acropolis by night. It was an elegant and delightful evening.

Sunday, October 21, 2018--Athens

Arrived Athens a half-hour early on Sunday. Never been in such uncomfortable, unadjustable Business First seats in our lives (American, on an Airbus 330). Neither of us got any sleep. Fortunately, the lovely King George Hotel had our room ready in a half hour (they upgraded us to a Grand Suite 😀), so we napped a bit, then headed out with our driver Michael, who took us along the coast on a beautiful drive to the Sounion Peninsula, where the Temple of Poseidon stands high on a hill overlooking the Aegean Sea. The weather was lovely except for considerable haze, which Michael said was dust coming across the Mediterranean from Egypt.

Michael and Suzy at Lake Vougliagmeni overlook.

The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion Peninsula.

After touring the ruins, we returned to Athens, stopping at a charming, very local seaside restaurant for a light supper. We picked out a red snapper from the day's catch iced in drawers, and the three of us thoroughly enjoyed both it (turned out to be 1671 grams--3.5+ lbs!), a bottle of Santorini wine, a Greek salad, and the friendliness of the staff. It was the perfect end to our first day, especially since rainy weather is due tomorrow and worse on Tuesday.

Here are some choices of fresh, fresh, fresh fish at Taverna Kalamia, along the southern coast.

And this red snapper was the choice.

Enough salad for six . . .

And plenty of fish for three--nothing wasted!

Friday, October 19, 2018--Enroute to Athens

Flying today from Denver to Philadelphia, spending the night at the airport (first time before an international flight--think it will turn out to be a good idea), then direct to Athens arriving Sunday morning. We'll have three days in Athens at the King George Hotel, and will board Oceania's Riviera on October 24. Here's our cruising itinerary (back-to-back cruises):