Piraeus (for Athens)

Thursday 6th December

What a day to land in Greece: St Nicholas’ Day when all the shops are shut! The tours went ahead, of course, but I’m told there was no one around in the shopping areas. Those who like to shop must have been disappointed.

I spent the day resting. Cough mixture does not agree with me! I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I did not know if it was my body battling the infection, or my systems depressed from the cough mixture, or if the infection had triggered a bout of CFS. (A week earier, Trevor had reminded me that although doctors don’t know what causes CFS, they do know that it can be triggered by a simple infection. That’s why it’s so important to rest, even if the infection is a minor one.)

I had room service lunch. I sat in the sun on my balcony. I read. (I have now finished 4 books. It took me 12 days to get through the first one and a half books, but 2 days of illness and I’d read two and a half more books! I think that shows a little of the change in me during this cruise.) Trevor phoned at 4 to check up on me. Bless him. He can’t stop being a doctor even when he’s on holiday!

I briefly visited the sale of latest season Radley handbags (50% off) but did not fall for any of them, and felt the prices were too high. I’m used to buying them from an outlet centre.

Once again I felt impelled to go to dinner as I’d been asking the Head Waiter when we would be having empanadas for dinner, and the night before he’d pointed out that they would be on tonight’s menu, and implied that they were there because he’d asked for them. I didn’t like to point out that they were the vegetarian option, while I like the spicy meat version! I arranged to have my main course while everyone else had starters, and then went back to my room to rest and have an early night.

Kusadasi

Wednesday 5th December

Having been to Kusadasi twice before, I was in no hurry to get out there. I’d decided not to visit Ephesus again, much as I love it, as my priority was to visit a pharmacist. I actually made three trips out during the day, as the ship’s berth was only 5 minutes walk from the town.

The throat was not as bad this morning, but the voice was beginning to go. I was also weary, which is often my reaction to an infection.

Woody had given me directions to a pharmacist who spoke English. Unfortunately I went up the wrong street. He’d said uphill. I chose the road with a steep uphill path (puff, pant) rather than the gentle uphill one. I found it eventually, on my way down the intersecting road. I bought a box of wound pads for the blisters, so I could continue dancing, antibiotics, and cough mixture. Total? €35! I had a quick wander through the bazaar but could not see anything interesting.

My second trip out was to use the internet, again at Starbucks. However, this time I could not connect and had to go through a different free wifi system. Seeing I had to sign up for it, I used one of my game-playing aliases to be on the safe side.

At the end of the day, about 90 minutes before we were due to sail, I decided to go out again and wander the bazaar. I bought apple tea and looked in a couple of carpet places. They don’t believe me when I say I’m not buying, but if they want to show me lovely carpets, then I’m happy to look. One man told me that we are the last cruise ship of the season. They will now close up for 4 months. He would be happy to sell me carpets at a loss, as it’s money to get them through the Winter. I saw silk carpets for €450, the size to put beside a bed. I would have been prepared to start bargaining from that price if I had seen one I loved. The only one I really loved was huge and would have been more like €3,000! As I walked back to the ship, the shops were busy putting up metal shutters. I was obviously one of the last tourists of the season.

Dinner was a bit of a nightmare as I could hardly talk, and it was a real effort and painful to do so. I sat next to someone who kept asking me questions and could not hear my one-word answers and would ask me to repeat them! After dinner I tried one dance with Woody but could not follow him. I decided I was suffering from the effects of the cough mixture. He was also on cough mixture and was dizzy. Not a good combination! I went back to my room instead.

When I told Trevor about my medication, he told me to be careful of cough mixtures. They knock out the cough reflex. If you are unlucky, then all the gunk can go to your chest. He ended up in hospital with pneumonia after eliminating his coughing! I decided to only take the mixture at night.

Kusadasi - or not?

Tuesday 3^rd December

As I had not gone to bed until 2am, I put up the ‘Do not disturb’ notice and slept and rested until 11.30. My throat was sore and I definitely felt under the weather. In other words, it felt like a slightly bad day with CFS! I’m on paracetamol but I think I will take up the offer of another passenger and take some of her soluble aspirin to gargle with. They don’t sell the soluble aspirin on the ship and Doctor Trevor says that’s the best!

As I write this, we are sitting outside Kusadasi harbour, waiting for the weather to behave as forecast. It is now 2.30 and the Captain has been giving us updates since midday. The pilot has finally managed to get onto our ship, but the waves are washing over the harbour in Kusadasi and the wind is too high. We have made an approach to the harbour but it was unsuccessful. This is definitely a Magical Mystery Tour. We were due to land here at 1pm and stay until tomorrow evening. Meanwhile the entertainment director is rushing around organising events to keep us happy.

Unfortunately my entertainment involved washing underwear to see me through the rest of the cruise! It has to be done some time so this seemed as good as ever.

This cruise is unlike any other I’ve ever been on. Because of past experiences of needing lots of rest, I brought along about 15 books. I haven’t even finished the second one and it’s Day 13! I also brought along lots of chocolate (which I need when I get overtired) and I’m not getting through that at the same rate. Perhaps the morning phenylalanine tablets (an amino acid found in chocolate) are providing a substitute for me. The chocolate doesn’t even taste as good now that I no longer crave it for its effects on my system.

We finally pulled into the harbour around 3pm. It’s a slow business and I watched much of it from my balcony, seeing we were mooring on my starboard side (that’s the blue carpet side, for those who know the ship – port side has red carpets).

 Unfortunately I went inside for a drink during the 5 minutes when we magically moved sideways a metre or two. Do they pull us in by ropes, like on the narrow boat holiday I had on the Thames? I had only seen ropes at the front of the ship, not at the back. (Photo taken before my drink)

The waves were still interesting to watch. I can only imagine what they had been like before, when we could not get into the harbour.

My only visit to Kusadasi for this day involved over 2 hours in Starbucks checking emails and posting my blog on their free wifi. I bought a cup of coffee for 5 and gave them the change so I could sit without guilt for such a long time.

I rushed back to the ship late for my 6pm dinner session, but I knew I had to get there as I had ordered grilled salmon. It would not have been polite if I had not turned up for my special order! I got to my room by 6.20, changed, and was in the dining room by 6.30. Phew!

The evening followed its usual pattern of dinner and dancing, though I skipped the show. With the loud band music it was a bit difficult talking with a sore throat. I was surviving on Strepsils and aspirin.

At sea

Monday 2^nd December

I decided it was time to get up at 9.30, though I have little doubt I could have gone back to sleep if I’d let myself! When did I last sleep for 12 hours? I must have been more tired than I realised. Unfortunately I seem to have the bug that’s going around – sore throat and a bit of a cough,though I have not yet developed the cold that’s also going around. Seeing I only get colds about once a year, and I had dose myself with echinacea before coming away, then this is very unusual! In eight cruises I have only been ill twice, both times on the Queen Victoria with cough/cold type illnesses.

The morning was a leisurely one, catching up on emails on the expensive ship’s system (over $50 for 2 hours – though luckily I get that amount free as a loyalty reward) and then on my diary and photos on my own computer.

The dance lesson today was tango – a revision of what we had done before, with another added step. Chris did not come to this. I met Lisa (Japanese, from Tokyo) who had been brought along by Alan for her first lesson.

I had planned to go to the cinema for the afternoon but instead I saw Lisa in the Lido and she invited me to join her as she met up with Alan to learn shuffleboard. (I’m not sure what Alan thought about that, but he was a perfect gentleman and welcomed me! Afterword: he said it was an advantage as then he could go off and leave us and do other things.) We took part in the shuffleboard tournament. Most of my practice shots went right to the end of the board and out the other side. In the game I actually managed to score 7s and 8s, but a better player on the opposing team knocked them out! Such is the competitive nature of the game! We were eliminated in the first round.

Lisa and I went to the Lido for coffee and then met up with Alan for afternoon tea, joined by another solo traveller who is very brave in the way he walks up to strangers and sits down with them (the one who offered to show me round Valletta – insensitive but brave).

I went down to the medical centre to see if they had any large plasters to cover my blisters. To my surprise after all the horror stories I’ve heard, they gave me three free of charge – and suggested I find more in Kusadasi as they don’t have many of that size. I also worked out that I had two wound plasters in my first aid kit and looked at them closely. They have thicker padding. One of these worked beautifully for the dancing, which means that in future I could cut a cosmetic pad to the required shape and put that in a large plaster for extra padding. Dancing problem solved!

There were a couple of disasters at dinner tonight. First we heard a great crashing noise as a waiter had obviously dropped a laden tray of dishes. The pecking order was admirably displayed. The waiters all went running to see what had happened. Along came their line manager to send them back to work and fix the solution. Then along came the next highest in line. After that was fixed, our under-waiter dropped a glass of water over Dorothy’s dress, so she had to go up and change. If disasters come in threes, we saw someone at a nearby table talking to a chef, and by the look on his face as he returned to the kitchen, he hadn’t been complimented!

There was one evening where I hadn’t liked anything on the menu, so asked for the safe option of grilled salmon (which someone had told me one could do). Ever since then the head waiter brings me the menu the night before, so that I can see if I want the salmon. That way they can serve my dinner at the same time as the rest of the table, not 15 minutes later as happened that first day (not that I complained – I kept reassuring them that I didn’t mind at all). Chris is also shown this menu now, as she also had a night where she ate the dinner but later told the head waiter that it was not good and the other selections were not appealing.

Once again, the evening consisted of dancing until after midnight. It was good to be able to get out on the dance floor again, after a couple of nights out of action because of blisters. Trevor co-operated to dance a couple of quicksteps with me so it could be videoed to prove I’m dancing again. Unfortunately the only one that showed up well was a very slow one; we were actually doing a quickstep to a foxtrot tune. Oops. It shows the steps but not as well as I was dancing a few nights earlier, the night that caused the blisters! This can't be posted to the blog but I'm currently downloading it to facebook.

  

Cyprus

Sunday 2^nd December

I was awake at 8, ready to leave on tour at 9.30.

I had been told that Limassol was boring and the shops would be shut on a Sunday, so four of us booked a tour to Paphos in order to see the Roman remains. It reminded me why I don’t like tours! We were in a bus for an hour each way, stopping once on the way out to see the birthplace of Aphrodite (the .rocks at Chris’s shoulder). As we got onto the bus, the non-English-speaking driver caressed Chris’s cheek and said ‘Aphrodite’!

The sea was beautiful!

Before leaving, we had been told that we could stay on the bus to go just outside Paphos for a short visit to see the tombs and the mosaics. Chris, Peggy and I were keen on that idea. The half hour there was very short by the time we queued to pay our entrance fee, then queued for the toilet, then walked to the tombs, only to discover that it had been badly explained and the mosaics were back in Paphos! We then rather impatiently waited for the 6 people who were up to 15 minutes late back to the bus.

We found the mosaics in Paphos and they were incredible. (See my shadow in the second one? I thought I’d put myself into the picture.)

The ruins were being restored by a group from Poland (I think), which seemed a very unusual pairing.

Then we sat by the harbour with a drink and a toasted sandwich before boarding the bus for the hour’s drive back.

I asked at the port if there was free wifi and a couple of officials thought about it and tried to direct us to the Seaman’s Mission, where we would be able to get it. Trevor and I wandered around for 5 minutes with his phone, but could not find it. I didn’t think I had time or energy to catch the shuttle bus into Limassol to look for an internet cafe so gave up my search.

At dinner, those who stayed in Limassol told us they had a wonderful time. They found a fabric shop with beautiful fabrics (if you had someone to make them up!) and leather handbags on sale for €5, and a lovely harbour to stroll along. It sounds as though it’s a choice between Roman remains or a pleasant day!

I spent a few minutes reminding Chris of the steps in the quickstep, but then went back to my room. I was in bed before 9. I’d intended to read for a couple of hours and then sleep, but was too sleepy to read. I slept for over 2 hours and then woke up so had my sleeping pill to be sure I’d sleep through the whole night. I woke a few times but managed to go straight back to sleep each time.

Rhodes - or not!

Saturday 1^st December

I was woken about 8 by the Captain’s announcement that we could not dock in Rhodes at that time as the winds were higher than forecast, gusting up to 50 knots. That meant that the pilot could not even leave the harbour. We sailed past and came back for another try, but it was no good. I decided to go back to sleep. It was a bit of a waste by the time the entertainments director started announcing all the wonderful things put on for our entertainment, then my cabin steward knocked on the door, opened it and saw all was darkness and went away again (hasn’t he learnt yet that I sleep in on sea days and as this was an unexpected one, I could not put out the ‘Do not disturb’ notice?), and then the Captain gave the final announcement that we would miss Rhodes. With lots of phone calls to ports, they had managed to rearrange so we will arrive in Kusadasi early and get an extra afternoon.

I wandered down to a brunch of a baked potato and then went to the theatre to see the second half of ‘The Last Exotic Marigold Hotel’. Partway through it the film stopped so the entertainment director could make her ship-wide announcement about all the changes in programme. We were almost booing her. When she finally stopped we all clapped and cheered!

By going to the film I’d missed the last-minute Samba lesson. Oh well, I could never Samba well!

After lunch with Chris and Peggy, we found a semi-deserted corridor near the lifts so I could drill Chris in the quickstep. I went barefoot because of the blisters! It’s amazing how far she has come after only 10 days of ballroom dancing. No doubt childhood ballet lessons helped.

After dinner I attempted one dance but struggled to get around the floor with Ron. One never knows whether to dance through the pain or whether to rest in order to avoid doing greater damage. Seeing I’d forgotten to put plasters over the blisters, I went for the latter. Perhaps I could have danced through the ache in the left hip and the right knee, but not the worry about what I was doing to the broken blisters without covering!

We went to the cinema instead, and saw ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’. It was a lovely film. Afterwards we watched the dancing for a bit, and saw that nothing deters a true dancer: the 83-year-old dancer who had fallen yesterday, was hobbling around the dance floor tonight. No bones were broken though the swelling had been bad. (On the last day she said she was in a lot of pain around the hip area. Trevor thought she should have had an xray of that area in case of a minor fracture and recommended she get this done on her return. Seeing she was flying elsewhere within a couple of days she was not keen to do so. It sounded as though she wanted to complain about the pain but not do anything to help herself!)

I chatted with Chris and Peggy, and later with Trevor, and finally got to bed about 1am. Oops!

Time to rest?

Friday 30^th November

We put the clocks forward another hour overnight. Not enough time to sleep, especially when I had to be up and breakfasted by the midday dance class! I managed. I have to set my priorities, after all.

Today’s lesson was tango. It was well taught, though I think the professionals chose the wrong steps to teach us. The first bracket had 8 beats while the second bracket only had 6 beats. When we string it together and try it to music on the dance floor, what will happen in those other 2 beats? Perhaps we should have been taught to do the second section twice in a row?

After a quick lunch in the Lido buffet restaurant with Trevor (while Peggy and Chris had a slow lunch in the restaurant) I returned to my room for a slow afternoon and a bit of a rest.

The daily programme includes dance practice to recorded music between dinner and the show. Tonight the ballroom was in use by sequence dancers, so the latin and ballroom dancing was upstairs in Hemispheres, the night club. For those who are looking for a cast list, two dancers in front are two of the dance hosts, Ron and Woody. The lady on the right is an example of what can happen on the dance floor. Later in the evening she was dancing with someone who’s a bit of an exhibitionist and she tripped and fell. Doctor Trevor rushed to the rescue and made the decision that at her age (83) she needed an x-ray as the foot was swelling badly, even with ice, and pulled rank and insisted that someone be sent up from the medical centre. He suspects a broken metatarsal. For someone who has been dancing all her life, and still continues even with scoliosis, this is really upsetting.

Chris came for a short time. See the wonderful chandelier!

While the others went to the show (violinist) I did odd jobs and got back to the ballroom in time to stake seats for us. It really is difficult to get enough seats together after the show, made more difficult by the fact that we never know quite how many will join us. The tables and chairs start off neatly, but are soon disarranged so that everyone can see the floor. Just imagine me pulling two tables together, gathering six chairs and staking each one out with a camera or dancing shoe or handbag. It’s the only way to stop others pinching them!

Cast list again: Trevor and Chris in the first photo, Allan, Peggy (Chris’s mother) and Pam in the second photo. That’s the six singles from our table. There are two couples who come occasionally, but we six are the hard-core dancers.

Tonight seemed to focus on the quickstep for me. The floor was not as crowded and when I danced with Trevor (several times) and Woody (once) we managed to virtually fly around the floor taking lovely long steps, with lots of locks and spin turns. In contrast my quickstep with Ron consisted of tiny steps in a pattern I could not recognise. As I sat panting after a quickstep with Trevor, I asked him what the difference was between that and running. No difference – just more enjoyable! I also did a few cha-chas and rumbas.

One sour spot in the night was that I felt one of the hosts was a bit too familiar. I will start being less friendly to him if he does not know the boundaries his role entails.