ATHENS

We woke up to a glorious sky blue sky with not a cloud to be seen. It was seriously HOT. So hot, we sweated all over the seats of the HopOnHopOff bus.

We passed the Olympiakos Stadium,

and the 2004 Olympics Basketball Stadium,

and got off at the Acropolis Bus stop (as you do).

 We were immediately whisked off to the roof of the nearest toiletblock. News reporters reporting from Athens usually have the Acropolis in the background as they give their report. To get this view they have to stand on the roof of a toilet block to get this as the backdrop. So now you know :)

"Acropolis" means City on a Hill. 

UNESCO Pavement

The HopOnHopOff bus ticket included a free walking tour of the city and we started at

 the marble hill of Areopagus,

famous for being the hill on which St Paul debated with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers about the identity of "The Unknown God" and preaching the Gospel of Christ and the Resurrection.

Acts 17 v 16-21

This is the metal plaque with the Greek text of St Paul's sermon on Christianity.

We had been up the marble hill of Areopagus before but hadn't been as entertained as we were this year - this was our guide Dimitri, and he was hilarious.

As well as various adultery stories we had the animated story of how Ares, the God of War, (also known as Mars to the Romans) was put on trial, on this hill,  for the murder of Poseidon's son Alirrothios.

View from front, Stoic building

Looking left,temple of Zeus' wife I think

Looking back

View of Lycabettus Hill (been there, done that, got to the top)

I hate to admit it, but we actually lost Dimitri walking through The Plaka (oops) in fact we nearly got swept up by another tour. He was walking as fast as he was talking (!) and we were at the end of the tour (3hours!) He had been great entertainment and certainly lightened the mood after us not visiting Mykonos....

so, having lost the group we hopped back on the HopOn bus

and passed the government building

and the Panathenaic Olympic Stadium...

and we hopped OFF at the National Archeological Museum.

It was still ridiculously hot and the sky was getting bluer.

The museum was full of statues, mind boggling when you considered they started out as a lump of rock.

I needed Husb to stand next to one so I would remember how HUGE they were.

THIS one was PERFECT POSING material !!

I struck my pose, getting it exactly right, right down to the position of my fingers and angle of feet

when the security guard came along and said "NO POSING"

NO POSING??????

Whaaaaat?

But that's what I DOOOOO!

I felt like a naughty child.

I would have loved to peep my little face over this.

I would have posed beautifully with this m'laddo had the guard not been lurking.

I could have replicated this perfectly too.

I even had my shawl with me, I could have done a lovely pose with HIM.

And I thought this looked fun... piecing together fragments of pot/ceramics and making a picture out of them.

We remembered  Dimitri saying how aesthetically pleasing spirals and circles were, and they are prominent in Greek decorations.

We love horses..

and we like racing. Winner of the 2.20 at Haydock?

So the hopping on and off was a huge success, it was a great day in Athens.

Next day was a day at sea with dressyuppydinner. 

That was interesting, as Mary and Stewart were dining in the speciality restaurant instead of being on our rabbletable, so their places were taken by an odd Israeli couple who actually didn't eat ANYTHING. That wouldn't have been a problem, but by this point in the cruise we were all ordering 2 starters,or extra chips, or 2 dinners, or more breadrolls please and can I have the chicken off that meal with the baked potato off that meal with no sauce please and is it possible to have extra veg etc etc so to say we felt like porkypigs is a bit of an understatement. I blame Andrew. He started it haha.

BODRUM, TURKEY next!

Mykonos (NOT!) and TYSON FURY

Mykonos! 

We were SOOO excited about going to MYKONOS because  Ed and Rachel were on holiday there...and we could meet them on the beach!!!! Yes Yes Yes!

So we ordered breakfast in bed - cereals, muffins, yogurts, fresh fruits and tea...

so we would be quick off the boat and have maximum time there. 

Tender? 

Who said anything about a tender? 

Since when did the QE NOT have a berth but had to take passengers across on tenders? 

This was NOT in the brochure.

There was doubt that we would actually get on to Mykonos, it looked so rough in the bay.

We hadn't seen or felt a single wave on the whole cruise so far but would you believe it, it was so choppy as the QE tried to drop anchor.

 But why were they so surprised? Mykonos is KNOWN as the "Windy Island".  That's why it is such a great place to go for water sports like windsurfing and sailing. 

The announcement came that we would NOT be stopping ay Mykonos.

We were so disappointed as we had been looking forward to meeting up with Ed and Rachel, but at least we didn't have a wedding to go to like a party of Greeks on board who were furious.

We all understood that a lifeboat transfer to shore on a sea that rough 

would be dangerous, but WHY didn't the QE book a berth???????

NOT HAPPY.

So it was another day at sea. We frazzled. It was so hot.

The paddling pool for adults was full of bodies just cooling off.

We set sail for Athens and when we arrived at 5pm no one was there haha

The port (Piraeus) was deserted.

We went ashore anyway for a couple of beers and some free wifi and then...

 I sweet talked TYSON FURY !

WOW! What a high man. 

SIX FOOT NINE

We had a lovely chat. I told him all about 100happydays....

I gave him the sob story of not meeting up with Ed and Rachel, and that I hadn't got a 100happydays photo for that day as we hadn't visited Mykonos and, bless him, he obliged with a hug and a pretend punch. 

I was made up and I don't even follow boxing :)

VOLOS, GREECE

I'm not too sure why we docked at Volos. It wasn't a turquoise and white island, sparkling in the sun. It was an industrial town on mainland Greece which looked like Hull when we sailed in.

It did have Argo though. 

Argo was the name of the ship that Jase sailed in, in his quest to find the Golden Fleece

We tootled about the town, in and out of shops...

...in and out of yellow flowers...

...in and out of the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen...

...and in and out of MARKS and SPENCER!

Oh my goodness Husb found a MARKS!!

(With a sale on!!)

 We were feeling the lure of afternoon tea with waiters wearing white gloves, so we headed back to the QE for warm scones with a dusting of icing sugar followed by a mile and a half on a treadmill and colourful dress for dinner. Certainly not a bad day (great weather, good food, good company etc) but  most definitely not the best.