May 25, 2019
5th day of the cruise mostly about eating
We decided to take a day off and just do what we wanted which involved reading and playing Colin’s wee guitar. It was sunny and the view of Santorini off our balcony was pleasing so we just enjoyed our very comfortable suite. With four places to sit inside and two outside we were able to stretch out at will and a nap may have been involved as well. There were a least fourteen activities to participate in from arts & crafts to a dance lesson to games and five different locations to listen to live music. I imagine that there are those that just go from activity to activity but not us.
I noticed that one of the two dining rooms was open for an a la carte lunch, a nice change from the buffet. Great decision, the food was so wonderful that I forgot to take any photos. We started with deep fried seafood & vegetable Accra in a tangy soy sauce followed by a sherried onion soup. For our main we both had the grilled supreme of yellowfin tuna served with sautéed zucchini in garlic. My tuna was lightly seared and red the way I like and Colin’s was prepared exactly how he likes his. The seafood quiche looked wonderful as did the fried organic tofu served with stir fry vegetables is a soy chili dipping sauce but the tuna is my favorite. How we could I turn down Key lime pie with Limoncello sauce for dessert. We were joined at our table by fellow from Japan who currently lives in Waikiki but wants to move to Vancouver. He was quite the character with tales of all his travels, he is on a three month trip and only goes to where it is warm on a spontaneous whim. He says that he and his wife are complete opposites and she prefers stay home and watch sports on TV. He appeared to be at least 75 years of age, likely older so I was surprised when he said that he was 69. He thinks of himself as older and maybe only has a few years left to travel before he gets too old to travel. There was also an interesting couple from Germany. They had lived in the US for a period of time because of his job and he had had the opportunity the stay in the US permanently but chose to go back to Europe as things are too far away In America. They love being able to hop on a plane and be somewhere with a few hours maximum. They could not imagine that we had to travel so far to get here in Greece. His vision of living in Canada is that we have lots of space to go hunting. He repeated that several times. The last couple to the table were from Reno and had just come off an 11 days cruise before boarding this vessel. This is their 32nd cruise and they did not like this ship, the food nor the service but they liked the itinerary.
We caught the last half of a classical concert before the captain’s cocktail party. However instead of just going into the party we had to line up to have our photos taken by the ships photographer. It was taking forever and we had no intention of posing for the photo anyway, when Colin saw that there was now a lineup to get into the cocktail party. So we decided to skip the event and went out on deck to take in the sunset before going in for the second sitting for dinner. I just realized that this was what was called an elegant evening and I didn’t even have a photo of us. Suffice to say that we looked presentable.
Dinner was another interesting meal. We started off with salmon gravdlax ( as written on the end ) with a dill sweet mustard followed by a langoustine bisque flavored with Metaxa brandy. Colin had ordered oven baked root vegetable served with quinoa & barley pilaf for his main so asked for a second bowl of soup first. I had the seafood symphony Vol au Vent with nantura sauce. Our waiter, new to us this week as we often are in another section or in the other main restaurant, decided that Colin needed a second meal so served him both mains ? Dessert was one of the highlights of the cruise, a chocolate mousse cake in a glass, caramelized hazelnut ( total yum , double chocolate mousse and praline. I almost ate it all but just could not finish it, it was so very rich. I had only taken the first bite when our waiter presented us with a plate of fruit along with a second desert ?. The other dessert was called Vacherin, Italian meringue, strawberry ice cream and mango coulis. I wasn’t even going to have any but took a bite of just the ice cream. Best strawberry ice cream ever, obviously homemade with a rich taste of real strawberries. If I had to do it again, I would order the strawberry ice cream instead of the mousse which says a lot.
The spectacle as the Europeans say was ‘Welcome to Cabaret’. Many songs from that musical plus others from ‘All That Jazz’, etc., the more risqué songs from over the past few years of which I had never heard before. We sailed about 30 minutes before the end of the show and I was certainly feeling the sway, especially as I watched the set lights move to and fro. At one point I wondered if it was the Greek liqueur I was sampling. Tentura ( I may have already posted about this ) is exclusively produced in Greece, the taste, aroma and color are attributed to the extracts fo spices, daily cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Perfect for fighting off a cold. Turns out it was the swaying ship that put me off balance. We did not even attempt any dancing as a fall would ruin my entire vacation. So off to bed shortly after midnight.
I have been meaning to add that I am using three mini battery candles at night to light the path to the bathroom. Perfect illumination and they take little space.
This and the next photo are to show the various levels and differences in the various layers of volcanic action.
I had to have porto for the chocolate.
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LOOKS AS IF COLIN IS FEELING BETTER AND THANKFULLY IS ENJOYING THE CUISINE. SOUNDS AS IF THIS IS A VERY RELAXING PART OF YOUR JOURNEY. HUGS.
Please know that I don’t comment much but I truly enjoy your writing and details of your fabulous trip. Thank you for taking us along.