On the road again... part three

In Rome we boarded the “Legend of the Seas” for a 12 day cruise around the Mediterranean Sea. It was a great way to see the region & to have some dedicated relaxation time. Our cruise docked at several ports along the way. Below is a quick summary of the ports & the local sites:

Athens, Greece
Our first port of call was Athens, the capital of Greece and home of the first modern Olympic Games. The highlight of our city tour was the Acropolis of Athens, including the Parthenon, the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus and the Propylaea.

Mykonos, Greece
Mykonos is a charming village of white houses with typically blue coloured doors and window frames. With a maze of narrow streets originally constructed to confuse attacking pirates, the town is now a perfect spot to confuse unsuspecting tourists. Once successfully through town, we had a peaceful day enjoying the sun & swimming in the warm sea temperatures.

Rhodes, Greece
The ship docked near the medieval Old Town of Rhodes where the Colossus of Rhodes (a statue of the Greek god Helios considered one of the seven ancient wonders of the world) once stood. After enjoying another dip in the sea we had a chance to wander through the World Heritage Site.

Kusadasi, Turkey
Kusadasi is a resort town on Turkey’s coast. From here it was a short drive to Ephesus for our “Biblical Ephesus” tour. The trip included a visit to the Basilica of St John and the house of the Virgin Mary, as well as a biblical lunch. Each menu item was referenced to a meal in the bible – great concept, but I’m glad I don’t have to eat what they did on a regular basis! The definite highlight of the day was visiting the ancient city of Ephesus. The photos include the 44,000 capacity open theatre and the public water closets. If you are thinking that the marble would have been cold to sit on in the winter days, don’t worry… they had slaves to warm them up before you attended to business!

Alexandria, Egypt
Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt & is a popular Egyptian summer destination. We travelled in an escorted convoy for 2½ hours to visit the only ancient wonder of the world still in existence – the Pyramids of Giza. The largest pyramid is believed to be built around 2500BC for King Khufu. In front of the pyramids was the impressive Great Sphinx of Giza. Our tour also included a trip to see the first Egyptian Pyramid of Djoser and the ancient city of Memphis where we had a closer look at the Egyption hieroglyphs.
Corfu, Greece
Our last point of call was on the Greek island of Corfu. We had pleasant walk through town to see the old & new forts as well as admire some of the architecture.

In terms of relaxation, we had four days during our trip that were sea days. During this time we had plenty of opportunity to unwind in the pool & spa, read books, win the occasional key chain in trivia, enjoy the company of fellow travellers and eat to our hearts content – 110% relaxation!

The photo on the right is of an active volcano on Stromboli, a small island near Sicily, which we passed on our final day. Check out the smoke coming out the top!

A final novelty factor on the boat was to see what creature our room attendant would create each day…