Saturday, September 22, 2012

Flying and Sailing


Although we have been cruising for 5 days now, let’s start this blog with our flight day a week ago. 
Because the flight left at 630am out of San Antonio we had to leave house at 4am!  B went to bed but I decided to just stay up all night…  So although the day was loooong, I slept through most of it on the plane.  At 6pm est we boarded the plane that took us to Europe.  We had first class passage (using airline mileage) so the meals were good and the seats stretched out fairly comfortably.
It was a 10 hour flight across the pond – we landed in Lisbon, then flew to
Barcelona.  Only 2 of our suitcases managed to arrive with us – we could do lots of crafts and dress up in formal wear!  But if we needed shorts or t-shirts we were out of luck!  After another hour of processing that claim we finally arrived at our hotel & I realized I felt like crap!  We were supposed to go to lunch with friends so we met them and walked over to a nearby restaurant.  Normally the food would have looked delicious to me: tappas, mussels, pizza etc; but feeling nauseous, it all looked and smelled icky.    We had an enjoyable visit – a mini WG gathering – then back to our hotel, whereby I proceeded to sleep for 12 hours.  Oh our luggage finally showed up at the hotel so we could wear more that tuxedos and long dresses – yeah! 
The next day we boarded the ship and had 3 days to relax and recuperate from jet lag and whatever nasty bug I might have picked up.  And I know most of you will find this unbelievable, but on that 3rd sea day, I got up at 8am and Brian slept until almost 11am!! He only woke up cause the Captain was running a crew fire drill & the alarms were clanging throughout the ship…  Of course that is the only time I will see 8am this cruise – lol!
Gythion, Greece  Th 9/20
Our first port of call was Gythion in Greece.  This is the island that Sparta is located on.  It is a wonderful fishing village. B & I got off and meandered around the shops and the outdoor market.  B found 2 grocery stores and purchased some soda, ouzo and chocolates for the crew…  I met a local author who runs a shadow puppet theater and has written about the history of shadow puppets.  He was quite charming and I had fun talking to him.  The weather was gorgeous and the seas have been very calm.  Except for being a tender port (meaning you have to ride a small boat to the dock) we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Gythion.
We had a sort of sea day the next day sailing the sea of Mamara after passing thru the Dardanelles.  I played trivia, B gambled and we both ate and played sporting events such as putting, bocce, ping pong and bolongo.  So far, B has won more competitions than me, but my trivia team is finally taking shape… 
We arrived late, 6pm, in Istanbul and will stay a full 24 hours in this fascinating port.  I am excited to see the sights and shop in the Grand Bazaar.
Happy Sailing

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