We left Istanbul at midnight to travel into the Sea of Marmar.
This morning we woke in our room after a very pleasant sleep in comfy beds. After making a cup of tea, we opened the door to our verandah to look out at the Turkish coast.
Day 1 was the only day we are at sea all day. We cruised down through the Dardanelles and went under the Çanakkale Bridge. Looking east and west we saw fields, coast lines, and small hillsides. It was quite spectacular and I can’t think of anything that really compares….I’m so used to there being land one side and sea the other. In the early afternoon we passed the western side of Gallipoli. To look at the landscape, both Fi and I were in awe of how our troops could have possibly garnered the courage to attack, and defend. We were reminded more than once by Turkish people we met that ‘Australians and Turks are friends!’. A couple we met on the boat had done the 12 hour round trip from Istanbul to visit Anzac Cove and said it was very moving …something to put on our bucket list for the next visit.
While on board, we took the time today to visit a few of the different parts of the ship. We walked the running track…completing a few kilometres and having a funny conversation with a couple from Istanbul.
Feeling like we had more energy we learnt to play pickle ball, meeting some fellow Australians, Rob and Nicole from Sydney. After a cool drink to refresh, we sunbathed on lounges on the deck and when the sun got too strong, we went inside to eat at the Explora buffet (freshly grilled prawns, chicken gyros freshly made to order and baklava, Katafi….washed down with a little French rose!).
Suffering from food coma, we ventured to the conservatory pool and bar…found some lounges and had a quiet afternoon snooze before hitting the whirlpool to warm our muscles and do some stretches before heading to the Journey lounge for a little GnT and to listen to a ship ‘Luminary’ talk about the using of soft and hard power in politics and diplomacy, which I found extremely interesting as it brought together and forward elements of marketing, public relations, leadership and business strategy and techniques.
We headed back to our room to change before our booking a Fil Rouge (French themed restaurant) where I enjoyed 72 hour aged Angus beef rib and Fi had Lobster Thermidore, served by a lovely young lady from Bali - Suti!
After dinner we went back to the Journey lounge and caught the end of the ABBA music trivia, enjoying an espresso martini while we chatted to Melissa and Scott from Colorado, who were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary and renewing their wedding vows the next day.
Today we docked in Syros around 8 am. We decided to not do any of the of shore tours, and preferred to make our own way around, so after enjoying a nice breakfast we left the ship to walk the port. The town of Hermapolis is located on the side of a very steep hill. Not all thoroufares are car friendly and they weave back and forth - east to west slowing climbing the hill. To head uphill faster if you are walking, you can take the steps. We decided to walk slowing toward Anos Syros, however about three quarters of the way, we realised that it was quite a long way….with many stairs to go and decided we should have caught the bus up and walked back. So instead we headed to the west slightly and the next smaller peak, to a Greek Orthodox Church of the Resurrection of the Saviour, which was lovely but had the best viewing platform in front of it…looking directly down to the port and our ship.
After having a wee rest to give the knees a little break, we headed back down the hill a different way, and had a coffee next to the town square and people watched for a while before walking the small shops and boutiques. Fi purchased a new hat, we both found some lovely polished flint stone necklaces …haggling a little for the price for two, and then headed back to the ship for lunch. We visited another church at the bottom called Saint Nicholas - much grander than the other and very calm and peaceful which made it a lovely place to sit quietly, reflecting and cooling down slightly.
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| Saint Nicholas Church Syros |
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| Looking down to port….see those steps! |
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| Saint Nicholas |
We ventured to the buffet again, this time on the recommendation of one of the hosts, we had grilled prawns with an americano tomato chilli oil sauce on papperdelle pasta - just delicious and washed down with a glass of rose.
Dinner was in Sakura Restaurant last night - Asian themed, and servings designed to share. We enjoyed Gyoza, sushi, lobster pad Thai, and delightful deserts again….we will roll off this ship!
We met Brigadier David Allfrey - ex producer of the Edinborough Tattoo - and had the most marvellous and fun dinner chatting to him. The three of us then went to the Journey lounge to watch Max and Anastasia - Russian dancers who performed a show that took us around the world with dance - with a beautiful intergration of multimedia.
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| Sunset from the back of the ship….an end to a great day! |
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