At 9am we met Barbara, our Aristotle guide, at the port and boarded our cruise ship, the Cristal Louis line. Over the years we have mainly been on the Golden Star line, but this is now the only remaining line in this area because of the economic down turn. There are many workers on the ship from Indonesia, the Ukraine, Russia, etc. All corners of the world. They were all very professional. At noon we sailed for Patmos, where John wrote the Book of Revelation. The group disembarked by tender boats and toured the island where the apostle Paul was exiled to, along with visiting the monastery of St. John the Evangelist and the Grotto of the Revelation. At 9pm we set sale for Rhodes. This ship has two buffets up on the ninth deck, and restaurants on the 3rd and 5th. Christian prefers the formal dining room because he doesn't like the hustle and bustle of the buffets:) Tea time from 4-5pm was wonderful. Scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, butter shortbreads, muffins, etc. At lunch each day you have a choice of different buffets, and also a gyro bar, taco bar, and a stir fry bar on the last day. The pool is in the middle of the buffet area but it was cool and windy for swimming. We went to the Greek show after dinner to see the folk dancing. The boys stayed up watching a soccer game on TV, and the seas were very calm. The following morning we docked at Rhodes at 7am. The local guides were on strike, so all paid excursions were cancelled. I didn't mind a bit:) we have been there many times in the past, so Terry showed the students around and then we joined him around 10:30. We visited our favorite sword shop and the boys chose a new Swiss army knife(Jordan), and a scary 3 dimensional knife on a mounted stand (Christian). We also picked up some knights for the four grandsons:) we have had no trouble finding little gifts for the girls, but there just isn't as much to buy for the little guys. In ancient times, the Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world. This stronghold was built by a Crusading Order, which originated from Palestine. We sailed at 6pm for Heraklion, Crete. The main show tonight was an International show featuring Russian dancers, ballerinas, etc. A large variety that were all good. There was also Karaoke and other entertainment. You could take dance classes, yoga, towel folding, magic shows,Greek cooking classes, etc. I enjoyed spending the time doing some handwork in my cabin looking out over the seas from our cabin window, or reading. I enjoyed visiting with Barbara. She is from Northern Scotland, near Inverness. Her Dad is part of the Royal Force, and when the Queen and her family are staying at Balmoral Castle or the Queen Mother's former estate, he is their driver. The only Rolls-Royce in the area is owned by the local butcher, so whenever anyone important comes to town, he heads to the butcher to borrow his car!
The following morning we arrived at Heraklion, Crete at 7am. Because I have visited several times:) I slept in while Terry took the students to visit the Minoan Palace of Knossos, legendary home of the Minotaur. At 11:30 we sailed for Santorini. Christian had just woken up! We arrived at Santorini at 4pm and disembarked by tender boats. The four of us took the cable cars up. I was not sad to bypass riding the donkeys up the mountain! It is now 4 euros for the cable cars and 5 for the donkeys...each way! We enjoyed the beautiful views from the white-washed town of Thira which is perched high on the rim of the ancient volcano. Tradition has it that this is the town of Atlantis, written of by Plato. We bought ice cream ( and a cute new pink floral scarf:), and ran into our students being interviewed by a Japanese news station on the Greek economy. Around 6:30 we walked down the donkey trail to the town below. It is a loooonnngg walk, with incredible views, we stopped and picked some daisies along the way. We has smooth sailing the entire cruise, and not one student needed any Dramamine. Success!
Friday morning we had to be out of our cabins by 7am so they could prepare for the new passengers. Sakis, our Greek driver friend, was there to meet us and drove us the 45 minutes home from Piraeus to Porto Rafti. It was great to be home. I have now finished the seven loads of laundry, and have packed for our England trip. Our LAST trip for a good while. Our travels with this group of students are now behind us, with the exception of our flight from Athens to Atlanta on the 18th. Saturday night we are taking them to Glyfada to TIFridays for dinner and shopping to celebrate the end of our semester. They will all be leaving on Monday for their free travels in Northern Europe. We will be flying to London on Wednesday, and then heading to Oxford for two days. We want to visit some CSLewis sights and take the boys to see some film locations from the Harry Potter movies. On Saturday we will be settling in for a week at Wells Cottage in Bourton-on-the-Water. A long time dream for me. I'll take lots of pictures!
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