Just back from our week away on our cruise.
We had a week aboard Thompson Celebration for a cruise through the Aegean with stops in Turkey, Cyprus and Greece.
Days were out in the sun, soaking up history and the evenings were on board eating, drinking and enjoying the light entertainment.
Day 1 was Kusadasi in Turkey where we took the trip to Ephesus, postal destination of some of St Paul's letters, and site of one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, though only 1 pillar remains and it wasn't commented on. Time and earthquakes have taken its toll so that only 15% has been excavated at present, but it is breathtaking. We arrived at the top of the town, the rich bit, and worked our way down to the more common area. We got to see the 2 theatres, the brothel, the library and the public toilets. Incredible to think this has been here since 900BC.
Day 2 was Mykonos. Today's trip was by boat to Delos.
The boat was too big to get into Mykonos so we were anchored outside the harbour and used tenders to get into port. From where we took the ferry across to the island of Delos and its abandoned city. Delos is famous as the birthplace of Apollo (and his seldom mentioned twin sister Artemis) and its history has been built on this. As a centre of pilgrimage it flourished and eventually became quite wealthy. But again time passes and things change so it was eventually abandoned, before year 1AD. The tour guide we had was fantastic - she really brought it all to life.
Day 3 was a Bike ride in Rhodes.
A bit more active today with an 18 mile cycle through Rhodes. This involved cycling on the 'wrong' side of the street, crossing against the lights, and going the wrong way up a one way street. I brought my Garmin but it wasn't behaving properly so it only logged the final 3 miles back to the boat. It was saying the temperature was 35C but that was in a backpack.
After the cycle we headed into Rhodes to try and find a USB cable for my camera. We found one and a wee beer.
Day 4 was at sea, sailing to Cyprus. Apart from lounging in deck chairs, and cooling off in the pool, we did laps of the boat. The promenade deck said that 5 laps was 1 mile. We did 6 laps but we were steaming at the time (that's a nautical term for moving under power - we we also steaming later but that was wine, gin and cocktails) so my Garmin trace has us covering 7 miles in 32 minutes!
Day 5 was in Larnaca in Cyprus, and another bike ride.
Today's ride was about 19 miles. It was hotter than the other cycle but easier as there was little traffic. In fact there was not much of anything as there seems to not be too much in Larnaca.
We did stop at the beach and had a paddle though...
And again the Garmin took a hissy fit and only logged the cycle back to the boat from the beach. It logged temperatures between 34C and 40C so I'm hoping its just the fact it was in the backpack.
Day 6 was back in Turkey in Alanya.
Today's trip was a castle, cave and city trip. First stop - the Castle at the top of the headland. With 5 miles of wall we could only see a little bit, so we were brought to the Sultan's inner castle.
Next stop was the cave which had brilliant stalagmites and -tites. But it was very humid. We made out way back outside to the 30C where it felt cool.
Then it was the City part. Unfortunately neither Fiona nor I actually brought any money, not acent, so window shopping only. Difficult with the local vendors.
Day 7 was back to Marmaris, the coach to the airport and the flight back home.
