May 26, 2019
Saturday, May 25th, day six of our cruise, offered another free half day excursion to see the ruins of the Knossos Place and the Archaeological Museum. Neither of us wanted to spend hours traipsing through more ruins. We make have overdone it in Pompeii last May ? Instead we chose to walk into Heraklion from the port and do some exploring of the town. Apparently many others made the same choice. A lovely city port city which is the capital of Crete. Guarding the city’s Venetian port is the 16th century Koules fortress. The old fishing boats along the shore were interesting as the bright yellow fishing nets. There was a very young girl trying so hard to make a sound with her accordion that it was almost painful to watch. She did had so much trouble with the instrument and I felt sorry for her so I put some coins into her empty hat. I hope that her day got better.
There is large pedestrian only area in the old town which makes for easy meandering. In the middle of this we came upon St. Titos Church where a funeral was taking place. It was an elaborate affair set up with refreshments and huge flower displays outside of the church, a receiving line inside, prayers being said by a priest and all the while tourists were walking though the church. There was a poster naming the man with a current photo and a description in Greek of course. Inside the foyer there were many tourists mixing with the mourners and many priests as they waited to sign the guest book. Next to that was a photo showing a younger man. The church was packed yet folks were walking into the main body of the church. Once I figured out what was happening I quickly left. It must be a common thing but I felt badly that the family did not even have privacy for the funeral. Several hours later we passed the church again on the way back to the ship, the actual official appeared to be taking place and there was a hearse waiting outside along with local television cameras. He must have been an important man. I sent up a small prayer for him and his family.
We mostly walked and walked and I kept a constant hand over my cross shoulder bag as it was very crowded being a Saturday. Colin found a great pair of shoes from Moreno, Spain at an extremely reasonable price and I found yet another lovely scarf and a one Euro bracelet that caught my eye. I still wear my one Euro bracelet from Rome several times per week. We don’t have room for anything in our suitcases nor back home. Once we got back to the port we had to line up and go through a very thorough security check before boarding. We enjoyed a light lunch on the upper deck and then I stayed up there in the lovey heat ( sitting under and umbrella )and finished a novel on my iPad. Colin did what ever he does but still came up twice to make sure that I was okay.
After a lovely sunset it was time for dinner. I started with octopus deep fried balls with fave beans and Colin had the bulgar salad. We both had the creamy pumpkin soup flavored with Anise as well as the Arcadian spring salad that even had pomegranate seeds in it. The only main that appealed to us was the vegetarian entry of zucchini spaghetti al pesto tossed with fresh pesto and topped with sun-dried tomatoes. It was much better than we anticipated. The food has been consistently excellent. Dessert was white chocolate bread pudding with a warm rum sauce. Much as I love this cruise I am glad that it is almost over as my body needs to get back to its normal much lighter and much less eating.
The show was called ‘Odyssea’, a musical voyage all over the world. It was well done with Indiana Jones character teaching the globe for something and in each country a song, a dance or both were performed. After that we should have gone to bed but instead we were drawn to the music in the Eros Lounge featuring our favorite Cuban band playings rhythms of the 70s and 80s. We managed a few dances and Colin got in a good jump jive. Another long day followed by a late night but we are having such a good time.
Yes that is snow up there.
…and we are off to sea again.
I just want to add that at the moment I have no control over my individual paragraphs, they all seem to mush together. Also the photos should be separated. Such is life at sea.
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The food sounds fantastic. Great picture of the two of you.
Looks like you are having a great time. We spent 10 days in Crete a number of years ago with some friends. Rented a car and made our way around. Absolutely loved it!
Another fun port to visit , looks like you ad a good time there.
I know it is much easier to do text then pictures and it’s working just fine. Read the text, look at the pictures…no problem. I agree I would get tired of more and more ruins, a walk through the town seemed much nicer. Enjoy!
Loved your walk through town. The food on the cruise looks very good and beautifully presented so enjoy. You do a lot of walking so you will be OK.
I so wanted to purchase a scarf/stole while in Mexico in March and looked at the markets in LaPenita and Rincon de Guayabitos and finally found one I loved on first sight but when I checked the label it was make in China! The vendor said he had none made in Mexico – sad face here.
Have so enjoyed your trip.