Tour over, sad goodbye to Kearie and some new found friends...

Hey everyone,

I am back, for better or for worse, but here I am.... What an awesome trip, I loved it....

After my last post we visited Nauplia, Mycenae and the Corinth Canal. We visited a museum with the Golden mask of Agamemnon and heaps of other stuff, then we went to another site of ruins, I was kinda over ruins by this stage, Greece is full of them... Then we went to the Corinth Canal, that was pretty amazing. We then returned to Athens and spent a day, Kearie and I spent the evening in the Laundromat, a real necessity when you are travelling for any length of time. We said goodbye to 7 of our fellow travellers in Athens as they were not doing the cruise part of the tour, so best wishes to Marie, Irene, Christine and Jim (US), Claire & Daniel (Kiwi's) and Simon (England). We have really met some lovely people on this trip.


This fort had 99 steps just to get to the bottom of it, then more if you wanted to go to the top. 7 of our party climbed it, but I wasn't one of them, like you would believe me if I said I did, what a waste of good energy. But they said it was really great and the view was spectacular, well good on 'em, when they put in an elevator, let me know!!


The golden mask of Agamemnon. Bit too flashy for me, but nice all the same.


A tomb that was uncovered, but alas all the treasures were already looted.. ancient little sods...


The Corinth Canal.

We then started our cruise, early on Friday morning we boarded the ship. It was Kearie's first cruise and she loved it. She got the ship news every evening and marked all the activities she wanted to do the next day, it was great to see her enjoying herself so much. She organised some of the Cosmos folk into a trivia team, she had folk entering name that tune competitions with her and all sorts of things, she didn't miss much. I think she had a really brilliant time, even joining in the karaoke... Needless to say I didn't do anything musical with her as I can't sing and couldn't recognise a tune if it bit me on the butt!! But she always found someone to have a go with her so me and my musically challenged voice were not missed. I did watch and take pics though, you know for prosperity!!!


Kearie & Mary, doing a Man against Woman name that tune, mind you Mary's husband helped.... And yes the girls won!!!!


Karaoke with Jackie...

Our first port of call was Istanbul (Turkey), we were late arriving as one motor had packed it in overnight, but we got there in the end. It was a really great place to visit and the shopping was good, we had lots of fun searching the local stalls and shops of the bizarre. We visited the Byzantine Hippodrome where the chariot races were once held, then the blue mosque, Hagia Sophia and the official residence of the Ottoman sultans. The jewels on display at the Ottoman palace were amazing, everything was jewel encrusted, even a suit of body armour... jewel encrusted chain mail, I ask you!!! No pictures were allowed though, so you can't see it, sorry!!


The blue mosque, the tiles inside are blue, not the outside, which is what I thought.... Doh!!


Some special kind of monks, I can't remember their name. They spin and spin until you can barely see them, we weren't allowed to wait that ling, so we just saw them starting, it was pretty amazing to watch though. They only do it sometimes, so we were lucky to see any of it really..

Our next stop was at Mykonos, Kearie and I didn't do any tours here, we just wandered around the place and took pictures, it was a really lovely Island, very Greek. We couldn't find anything we wanted to buy, which was pretty amazing, but we enjoyed the day.


A street in Mykonos, it was a lovely little town, what you expect of Greece. We liked Mykonos very much.


Me in front of the windmills, shitty picture, but it was windy okay??

Next day we had a day at sea, so lots of activities to do, with Kearie setting the pace and me just following along, it was quite event packed. She has lots of energy, I can tell you!! See pictures above...


The chef gave us a demonstration on carving fruit & vegetables, note the apple swan on top of the watermelon rose, he was good


See...

Israel was our next stop, we visited Jerusalem and then went to Bethlehem in Palestine.. Very biblical and really overpriced.... We started in Jerusalem and followed the points of the Crucifixion of Jesus, all through the city, passing lots and lots of shops and stalls and they wouldn't let us shop, well they lost me right there, I was pissed!! Lots of goodies and no time to browse, most of us were really annoyed, not just me. We then headed for Bethlehem and the church of the Nativity, supposedly built on the site of Jesus Crucifixion, had lunch and were taken to a shitty shop that didn't have very much variety. Lots of wooden crosses that Aussies can't buy as we cannot take them home... Shitty, shitty shopping and no one was very happy, not just me. Joe from Canada wanted to start a revolt, right there in Jerusalem... that would have been interesting..


A view of Jerusalem..


An altar at the Church of Nativity, supposedly built over the rock on which Jesus was crucified... The people bending are touching the rock itself. How fortunate for the tourists that the place he was put on the cross, the crucifiction site itself, the place they washed his body and the burial site are all within a stones throw of each other, close enough to all be in the same building.... am I the only one sceptical about that??

The next day we arrived in Egypt, I was so amazed at the poverty in Egypt, the place is filthy, really filthy and the houses are awful. Kearie was told how beautiful Alexandria was, but we must have only seen the slums as it was woeful... Cairo was no better, it was disappointing to only see the seedy side of the cities and not get to see the both poor and affluent suburbs. The pyramids were incredible, and the sphinx was amazing. Well worth seeing, we both enjoyed them, but the little locals were a nightmare, constantly hassling you. We were told not to have a ride on a camel as apparently the handlers tell you it is 10 Euro but once you are on they either take you out to the desert or refuse to let you off, until you give them another 50 Euro, they are very corrupt and would slip your throat for a pittance. I was thinking of returning to Alexandria myself to see Great Uncle Williams memorial, but not after seeing just how bad Egypt is, not alone, not on your life!! I would only ever enter Egypt on a tour and it would have to be a big one, with lots of people to keep an eye on each other, it is a really unlawful place to be.


In front of the pyramid


The Sphinx in front of the pyramid, really wesome to be there!!

From Alexander we sailed to Crete, we only had about 3 hours on Crete and Kearie and I only saw a bit of it, as we needed to find an internet cafe to book her some accommodation in London and me a flight to my next destination. I have a week to fill in before I join my next tour. I love the tours, not having to trudge around with my luggage, having everything done for you, it is awesome, like a holiday, within a holiday... I think I got spoiled!! Anyway we did like what we saw of Crete, it was really pretty, and it has a little lake in the town of St Nicholas that was really pretty, we sat in a cafe overlooking it while we made our bookings.


The view of the lake on Crete, from the internet cafe balcony. Really lovely place

We then sailed back to Athens and had one last night in the hotel, we had a farewell drink in the bar and some of us went out for tea together, it was sad to say goodbye to new friends that you will probably never see again. It was a really good group and everyone got along really well, most of us got quite friendly. Kearie and I parted at the airport, but we will see each other again in about 2 months or so, before I head home. Kearie is now in London and I am in Barcelona, Spain.... I am going to get that bull charm I didn't get 30 years ago, I am very determined, even if it takes 30 years to accomplish what I set out to do, "never say die", that's my motto!!

All of the English people we travelled with, plus Daniel, a young Canadian teacher, who has been living in London for the past year have traded details with Kearie. They have all offered to help her if she has any problems or just needs to chat. I want to thank them very much, now she has a support network around her and I feel much better about being thousands of miles away. She always had Sheonagh, my lovely Scots friend, but now she has even more and I am very grateful to them all. so a big thank you from me to all of them.


The entire Cosmos crew, sadly without Alexia, our guide, she took the picture for us.. A wonderful group of people...

Gosh, what a long post... I hope I haven't bored you to death. I will stop now, talk to you again soon

Cheers

Lones