Med Cruise May 2016

[Dave]

Another holiday and another lot of photos. This holiday was different as neither of us had been on a cruise before and we did not know what to expect.

Well the result was we had a great time and the ship was fantastic. The food is great and flavoursome, you know when on an 'All Inclusive' package holiday food is a bit bland, well the ship food was nothing like that, you could easily identify the flavours and it was cooked to perfection, even the snacks were the same.

The only thing we felt a little let down by were the excursions the ship lays on at an extra cost. We found that if we had trusted our instincts and just got off the ship and jumped on the first city tour bus we would probably have seen more in some locations, especially Athens.

Any way that said here are some of the photos we took on our journey.

The first image below is of the itinerary

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Firstly here are some photos of the cabin.

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First port of call was Bari

If you didn't know is a port on the eastern side of Italy. Lot's of churches and back street alleys with little shops.

A view of the small gap the ship got into to dock and a burnt out ship on the right

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Here's a photo a the layout of the old town

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As you walk into the old town along the main road you come to the castle

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After a quick site seeing tour inside the castle we walked to the new town.

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A view of the stern of the ship docked

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On the move again, now going to Katakolon

Although in Greece the 'n' on the end is missing. This is the day of our first excursion, once getting ashore we had a 30 minute coach trip to the Olympia site. I have to admit I was very disappointed once we got to the site. I expected more ruins to be standing all in all there wasn't a lot to see but there was a lot of history to learn.

The first photo below is of the first 'Stadia' used for the first ever original games. This is where the word 'Stadium' originates from. You can see the built in start line, there is a similar built in finish line at the other end. A view of the arch which is all that's left of the tunnel that lead from the training areas to the 'Stadia'

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Here's Shirl hugging a column

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Here are a few more general photos from around the site.

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This last photo shows the shells in the stones that were used to build the buildings

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Back on board ship and now on our way to Santorini.

The first photo is a map of the area

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The next photos is of the queue for the cable car to take you to the upper part of Santorini

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A view from the cable car going up

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Now a few of the scenic shots from the top, the first one a panoramic photo

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The street view and the donkeys making there way back down.

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The steps going down to the port.

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A distance photo of the steps from port to the upper town. I walked down these as there was a very long queue waiting for the cable car to go back down again.

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And we're on the move again, this time to Athens.

Here is a sunrise on our arrival at Athens.

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This was the second of our ship bought excursions.

The first stop on the coach was the Olympic stadium. The first modern Olympic games were held at this stadium in Athens 1896. Click here to go to the official website.

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Now for the Acropolis. I am just going to post a few photos of the area, there is so much history to this place I could run out of space. Needless to say it was absolutely amazing, again due to the restrictions on the excursion we could only go to the lower level, but should we ever go again I will go to the top.

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Now a few photos of other things. The tomb of the unknown soldier, a tour bus guide and a sunken ship in the harbour.

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All aboard to Corfu

Unfortunately when we arrived in Corfu the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it started raining, so it was not a very good day out, but we're British and we wont let a bit of rain stand it our way...well not much anyway 

I did get to eat the best pasta carbonara of my holiday here 

First photos of Shirl with her umbrella up and the wet alleyways, then just some general photos.

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Time to push (a ship expression :biggrin) off and go to Kotor

It was amazing the way the ship navigated through the Bay of Kotor and the narrow channel of to get to the port.

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The weather was a bit dull when we arrived but it didn't rain and ended up being a lovely sunny day.

It was a lovely place to visit. The little narrow streets with the shops were great and we bought our one and only gift to ourselves here, a fishing boat to go by the pond.

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When she grows up Shirl wants to be a photographer 

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Another panoramic photo

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The next lot of photos were taken on out way out of the bay

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Now on to Venice

The following photos were taken as we arrived. The canals are great and the Plaza San Marco is a lot bigger than the photos show. As you will see with the last but one photo it does tend to get a bit busy on the canals

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[Choppa]

Some great shots there Dave.

Didn't realise that Shirl was so petite 

(In case this is unclear, I am referring to the bench picture)

[Dave]

Thanks Choppa

She's petite in real life too 

[Geek]

I would love to go on another cruise