Suez Canal & Athens, Greece

Since we have fallen behind on the blog and will be in port most days from now on, we're going to keep our entries short and sweet! We'll try to let the pictures speak for themselves without too many embellishments from us.

May 10^th we traversed the Suez Canal. The scenery was quite different from our trip through the Panama Canal – instead of lush rainforests we could only see sand with the occasional village and oasis. It was beautiful in a completely different way. Unlike the Panama Canal there were no locks but just a wide channel dug through the desert. Because of very strong winds we were unable to stop for refuelling at Port Said but instead soldiered on across the Mediterranean towards Athens. We arrived in Piraeus on the morning of May 12^th. It is so lovely to be back in Europe – the weather was gorgeous (cooler) but just as sunny. Our tour took us to the old Olympic Stadium and then to the National Museum which was full of golden treasures, statues, frescos and pottery from the ancient Greek civilization. With our limited time we were only able to get a taste of the displays, but that was better than nothing! After a delicious buffet of traditional Greek dishes at a local hotel we were dropped off at the base of the Acropolis for the climb up to the Parthenon. What a thrill it was for me to see it for the first time and for mum to see it again after more than 25 years! The view was incredible, and even in their incomplete state the buildings were magnificent. When our time on the Acropolis was over our guide led us on a million mile march down steep stairways, through narrow streets and passageways and into the Plaka, the old part of Athens. While some shopped, mum and I were happy to find a Starbucks where we enjoyed a cool drink on a shady bench with some of our fellow travellers. There is absolutely no room in our luggage for any more souvenirs, so why torture ourselves? We have now added Athens to the list of “Places we have to go back to and spend more time”. Surprise, surprise!