GREECE!

Hello All!

This marks another cruise down and ONLY ONE TO GO!

What will you do without my exciting adventures? Hah. I’m sure you’ll think of something. Well, it’s not the end yet, there will be this cruise I’m posting now, and the next one to come, and then most likely a few photo uploads!

From Civi we continued our Italian journey southward bound to the cliff town of Sorrento.

We set anchor, and tendered in. Remember tendering? I was very excited to go ashore with Gemma! She had a few hours off, so we took the shuttle up the cliff, and decided to walk through the town to the sea. The town was nice, but it was all about the incredible views over the edge of this high cliff sea town.

We walked down an incredible stairway carved into the cliff itself, and were at the pebbly beachside dipping our feet in the crystal water as soon as poss. We headed over to the port area and were coerced into having a coffee (slash milkshake, slash pizza) in a little Italian restaurant overlooking the harbor. It was all in all a lovely day out with a lovely lady.

Our next port was the amazing city of Livorno, Sicily, Italy. A dusty city, but a cool one; the stores like Zara, and H&M were in modern buildings, next to three hundred year old marvels. The traffic of Livorno was a site to see, from anywhere. You had to be careful, I almost got run over by a motorcycle…on the sidewalk! It came blazing at me from behind, on the sideWALK! (I thought you were safe as a pedestrian there, but apparently not! Lol) I did a little shopping and headed to the ship, BUT not before trying my very first Italian canoli with Celina, our DTP. What an AMAZING thing to eat! I can only describe it as being close to the taste of the sweet cream-cheese filling of the Cream-cheese Pretzels at Disneyland! What a tasty morsel! YUM

We then had a day at sea, and headed on over to GREECE! (It’s the word, after all.) My first day spent in Greece, was on the island of Corfu.

It was a nice island, the water so light blue that I felt like I was on a set. The town we saw from the ship was a bit rundown, but after we passed a fortress, we hit the “old town” and it was a wonderful pedestrian area with restaurants and little shops as far as the eye could see. It was packed with people of all kinds, as there were two giant ships also in port with us. While wondering I ran into Gemma, Celina, Tim (our guest relations manager), and Maria (our shore concierge assistant) all having lunch, so I joined, naturally. Ha.

Some real Greek food on my first Greek adventure was amazing.

After Corfu, came Itea, but I was on IPM; however as if was the only rainy day, I was glad I had it inside! We then sailed onto Katakolion, which was a a three street town! This was the first time I caught a glimpse of the Grecian Fakes! They had fake bags, belts, and wallets lining the street, from Louis Vuittton to Prado to Borberry, and everything in between. I had a look-see, but didn’t find anything worth taking, so I continued my stroll and then sat down for some ice-cream with Ares and Nina and when I was done headed back to the ship.

Next came one of my favorites, Mykonos!

It was such a beautiful island, with its tiny streets of white walls and colorful stairs and doors of blue and green. The shops that lined the streets are hard to describe, as you could just take a turn walk by some houses and then come up on some amazing little stores without knowing where you were!

It was so nice to be able to roam around and walk into whatever store we chose. I came across a little store called Loco, and got the most beautiful hand made knit shirt, which is very much like something the people in Greece wear. Gemma, Nina and I stopped for lunch and we had the most delicious Taromosalata and Tatziki, with delicious crusty bread and of course a coca-cola as it is the soda of the world. We then headed over to see its famous windmills, and boy they were beautiful, sitting near “little Venice” where the houses jut out over the water.

Our next island adventure was Santorini.

This has to be one of my favorite places we’ve been to so far. Sitting atop of a sunken volcano, the whitewashed town looks like snow from the window of the ship.

It is just amazing to realize that the closer you get the more it starts to look like an actual town. You can take a long smelly donkey ride up the hill or a cable car…I opted for the cable car (obvi). Once atop the mountain, you’re in the heart of its biggest town Fira. Karen (the boutique manager) and I spent the day together, and did a bit of shopping, where I finally got the white linen pants I’ve wanted for a few years, and did some wine and olive oil tasting. The man also refused to not let me try a whole olive stuffed with garlic (a specialty of the island), even after I said I wasn’t a big fan of the olives themselves, and so I ate it. For the rest of the day, Karen and I could taste those giant olives (they were awful for non olive lovers) and I think I can still taste it every now and again. Luckily we found a great little very Greek restaurant and sat down to the best meal Ive had off the ship on the trip. I had my first taste of a real Greek Gyro! (btw, it’s pronounced e-you-row for all those Americans who pronounce it gy-i-row like I did.) It was the most delicious thing, the chicken cooked in the most gorgeous way, with delicious Tatziki sauce, lettuce, and fresh cut thick steak fries. When I asked for ketchup, he said to me in a thick Greek accent, “ketchup was made to cover up mistakes, those are hand cut fresh fires don’t waste them.” Then he smiled, and handed me ketchup. I tell you folks, of ketchup was made to cover up mistakes, I must love mistakes. Anyway, delicious lunch, is the point.

Our next and final stop for this cruise was Piraeus, Greece port for Athens. I put myself on as the escort for the in-transit (meaning the people who are staying for the next leg of the cruise) tour to the Acropolis and it’s museum, as I’ve always wanted to see the Parthenon. We headed into Athens, when there was a strike of all public transit (lucky we had our own bus), and went to the beautiful Acropolis museum seeing many of the original statues of the Parthenon, and then headed to the Acropolis itself. We saw Dionosys’ theatre, where Greek tragedy was born, the beautiful Roman amphitheatre where greats like Pavarotti have performed, the temple of Athena Nike, and others, and of course sitting atop the hill the (un-equaled in architectural beauty) Parthenon. I was literally in awe with my mouth hanging wide open, staring up at this gorgeous building, and of course got a great snapshot. It is absolutely stunning to see in person, and to think that it’s been there for thousands of years. WOW.

WHAT A TRIP!
Well, I’ll see you all for the last cruise from Piraeus back to Lisbon!

Lots of love all the time,
Rhett

ONLY 3 LEFT! PART 1: Lisbon to Civitavecchia

HOLDING UP THE LEANING TOWER!!

We’re starting to hit some of the same ports again, so I started to hit the beach. I figured, for the most part, if I hadn’t seen the place I should do that, and then I’d hit the beach! Well, that proved to be a good plan, but it definitely had its hiccoughs. Once we hit the beautiful beach Praia da Rocha in Portimao, I layed out in the glorious sun and came back to the ship as a steamed lobster.

On the way to the beach:

With some Aloe vera and four days time, the burn has turned into a bit of a tan, which is good, because I would usually peal from a sunburn like that. (meaning I almost emptied a bottle of aloe vera!) Of course that changed my plan for a few days, and when we came back to Cadiz, I wondered around town in full on protective clothing (a t-shirt and long shorts vs. my usual tank and regular shorts). Our barbeque in Palma de Mallorca got rained out, which was very sad, so we did our deck show in the theatre instead. Cooler in temperature, but way less fun! While in Mallorca, I hit the shopping mall to get some wifi and got a good dose of Fbook, and sent some very important e-mails that needed sending.

Our next stop was Port de Mahon a port in Menorca, which is a little island off the coast of the bigger island of Mallorca, off the east coast of Spain. It had a charming little town, with winding shopping streets that led up to a big market square, right next to the port. We walked off the ship in a huge group, climbed a few stairs, and were in the center of the town Mão. Olga and I continued to walk around for a bit and then, (after purchasing some ice-cream and a postcard) headed back for the ship.
Spanish jamon:

Next came Ajjacio, Corsica. An unbelievably beautiful coast line surrounds the French island of Corsica, which I need to go back to in my life:

The French people, unlike Paris, are very friendly and the surroundings are gorgeous. The water is the clearest water I’ve seen in years and was a lovely temperature, I just jumped right in. The only drawback was that the beach we went to was literally fifteen feet from wall to water, and maybe, MAYBE, the length of one football field from rocky point to rocky wall. But I’m sure there are other beaches and that one certainly did the trick!
A side street:

We then hit Italy for the first time on the ship to the port of Livorno, and man, was it a great day! I left with most of the cast, and Juliana (who was our Jewelry manager), and Alix one of our receptionists. We were all headed to Florence for the day, but while I was on the train, I met a lovely young man from Pisa, who offered to show us around his town and take us the leaning tower. Of course I said yes, and Juliana and Alix came with me. We walked around as I chatted with Cesare, (pronounced Chess-are-eh) about his home and then we arrived at the stunning Leaning tower.
Juliana, Alix, myself, and Cesare:

We all took some photos, Cesare left off to a dentist appointment, and then the girls and I headed back to the station and on to Firenze (Florence). Arriving in Florence we were greeted by one of our receptionists that was on vacation (who lives in Italy) and it was really nice to see her. We walked around, and saw the Duomo and Baptistry, the Piazza della Signore, and while on the Ponte Veccio, I took a photo (for my mother) of me in the same place I sat 10 years earlier when I was visiting with my mother:

The orginal of me is sitting in her living room (hi mum!) Then we went for a beautiful Italian Pizza lunch, and the lovely Alessia bought it for us!
Jules & I at lunch:

She said, when she comes to our countries, we could buy her lunch. (so sweet!)
mmm pizza:

We “Romed” the streets a bit and then headed back to Livorno and the ship. A great day indeed!

The next day we were in Portofino, and I would love to be back there. A charming little Italian yacht town with high end shopping, what could be better? Have a million dollar yacht and a million dollars to spend in the shops of Hermes, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Zegna, Feragamo, and more! The crystal blue deep water harbour was a tender port, so looking back to the bay and seeing our ship in the middle of the sea surrounded by twenty thirty fifty foot yachts was quite a site!
Portofino:

and the yachts:

After Portofino, we sailed into Civittavecchia, the port city of Rome, and we there docked with The Silver Spirit! As we were in rehearsals with the Spirit, I came to love the cast like my own, so it was very exciting for me to see them all and to go on board the ship to see what it was like!
me with claire and Annie of the Spirit cast:

A much larger ship (but still fairly small comparatively) it houses 540 guests, unlike our 290 guests. With a few extra decks the theatre is actually smaller then ours, but has no tables for drinks, so it feels more like a theatre then a lounge. However their theatre is one deck, so you can touch the lights on the ceiling, where as ours is two, so its much more roomy and open. Their dressing rooms are much nicer though, but we have better accommodations. So, like with all things, you win some, you loose some. After giving Claire (one of the dancers on the Spirit) a tour of our ship I did a bit of Embarkation work and then went out to lunch with her and Annie (the female singer on the Spirit from California!) It was amazing just to spend some time with them and to see what they had been up to the past five months. I felt so sad to have to leave them after spending the day together, especially, since we were loosing quite a few of our favorite staff members on board; however, at 5.45, I heard the wonderful sweet voice of Judie our original cruise director (who had been on vacation) booming over the speakers, and it was all better. Oh how we missed her!

That concludes this trip. Please turn over to side B to hear about next cruise! (Hehe)

Lots of Love with two cruises to go,

Rhett