Back home

After breakfast it was straight off to the airport. Flew back with easyJet, stopped at Marks for a couple of hours and had a luxury taxi back home for 8:00pm.

We had a good holiday with plenty of exercise but disappointingly cold weather.

Athens 2

Disembarked at 9:00 am and took a taxi to the Melia for the last night of our holiday. We still had another day of our bargain €20 HOHO, so after a coffee and pastry we jumped on and did part of the circuit. We __HO near the parliament and enjoyed a stroll through the ornamental gardens. The ceremonial guards marched past as we left the garden. We had lunch in the roof restaurant overlooking parliament square, then went down to watch the ceremonial changing of the guards.

HO__ as far as the archealogical museum and walked back to the hotel in time for dinner. Melia had upgraded us to executive room with bubble bath, which was fun. 

Athens

Cruised back to Athens arriving just before sunrise for an overnight stay on the boat in port. We bought a 2 day HOHO ticket for today and Monday, when will be overnight in Melia hotel again.

We caught the HOHO to the top of the Acropolis, passed on the Parthenon visit as the queues were too long, just walked down to Arch of Adrian and found a nice restaurant for lunch. Rosemary bought some unusual cookies which hopefully will make it back to Croft. It was the coldest day of the year (again!) but at least it was mostly sunny.

We watched the last theatre show which featured some very talented acrobats and then packed.

Crete

After a windswept 'rocky' night we arrived in the very cold soggy port of Heraklion. Interestingly our Fitbits could not record sleep until we docked at 7:00 am! It's a busy commercial port with containers stacked like Lego bricks. It dried and brightened up a bit later so we took the shuttle bus into town and had a short walk around. Nothing to write home about except the designer shops, M&S and lots of coffee shops. We had a massive pork gyros and chicken souvlaki in a fast food taverna. Read about some Cretan history in the museum, which had a Ukrainian antiwar demo outside later, then caught the bus back. It's felt bitterly cold on the strong northerly wind and we can see snow on the surrounding mountains. We were expecting this to be the hottest destination, but it was officially  the coldest day of the winter in Crete.

Rhodes

We arrived in Rhodes on a cold, windy but sunny morning. We walked around the harbour and through the St Mary gate into the old town. Visited the Palace of the Grand Master, I did both levels via the big stone stair case while Rosemary found another best friend. A lot of shops and restaurants in the old town were still closed for the winter season.

We stopped at a small taverna, by the side of a mosque, for a cheap snack and coffee then walked back via the winding streets for a late lunch back on the ship. The sun was on our balcony again so we sat with a glass of wine, or two, until we departed at 4pm.

Gales were forecast for later on the overnight cruise across to Crete. The show featured the four group singers and was a high standard again.

Sea day 2

The second sea day started with Captains announcement of a named storm coming from the North would deposit snow on much of Greece. At sea it was windy with plenty of white horses, cold but sunny. 

We went to the art auction for the glass of champagne (and a laugh) then the music matinee. It's smart attire with lobster tonight and a Ukrainian balancing act in the theatre, which could be a bit of a challenge. We went to the Senior Officers party for a Margarita, missed the show but enjoyed the signature dinner (surf and turf and baked Alaska). Early night for an early start, maybe.