Day 8--Cyprus/Turkey in One Day

We left the ship at 8:40.  Today we had to carry our passports as we had to cross the border into Turkey.

Bill has his dressing on his hand changed every morning, so we leave breakfast and go directly to the infirmary.  We had to pass through the harbor security but all we needed to do was show our ship pass.  

Once that was done our local guide met us and escorted us to the bus.  We are docked on the southern part of the country in Larnaka, Cyprus.  

It took about 50 minutes to drive north to the capital, Lefkosia. Did I mention they drive on the other side of the road? This capital is the only one located in two countries.  We walked a short way to the border.  We showed our passports and then walked through the buffer zone which is controlled by the United Nations.  There was no where to go in the buffer zone other than stright ahead to another border control.  Once we cleared passport control there was a Turkish escort that stayed with us.  It was night and day difference in that short block.  Seemed like a third world country.  Cyprus was very modern and clean and Turkey was just the opposite.

This was a very nice "caravan hotel" back in 1574 on the Turkie side.

We had some time on our own and I wanted to find a battery for our camera as I forgot to bring the charger. I did find a Christmas Ornament from Cyprus but all I could find from Turkey was a small flag for the travel Christmas tree.  

We were told not to get anything to eat until we returned to the Cyprus section.

That's as far as I got on the blog.  Bill and I got home very early this morning.

I should have taken notes.  I do remember we had a lot going on and no time to even sit down at the computer.  We enjoyed one day at sea with a very busy schedule.  Members of the Sir Edmund Hillary club were invited to a cocktail party.  Harry and Dee just completed their 30th trip.  We have completed 16 trips, it's a shame I can't count the ones we signed up for that were cancelled.

We were told that 47 of the 74 passengers have all completed 3 or more trips.  The captain told us that they were paid during the pandemic.  No wonder they were so great.  

I gained a pound and half.  I'm sure a lot of that is from sampling all the canapes.  They were all so pretty and different.  The waiters kept trying to encourage us to try all of them.

The farewell dinner, of course, offered lobster tail and baked alaska with some other alternatives.  

The following morning we disembarked the ship in Haifa.  Israel is very different than most countries.  They don't stamp your passport, they give you a stamp with your photo on it.  

Our first stop was the Baha'i Gardens.  Once again it's difficult to describe.  Can you imagine cutting grass with sicissors?  

If you look closely you can see the ship in the harbor.

Here's another photo of the gardens.

From here we visited Caesarea.  I'll have to tell you about that in the next blog.

Turtle Safely.......

 Day 7--Rhodes and Day 8 at sea

Playing catchup with the blog, is not something I like to do.

The crew must have been up all night decorating the ship for Halloween.  Bill really appreciates anyone who can carve.  

The waiters all dressed for the occasion to serve our meals.  The menu for the day had a halloween description, I forget the name they had on the lobster tail.

Our tour in Rhodes began at 9:20 with our guide and also a local guide.  The four groups always leave at different times to reduce any crowds.  We were the only ship in the harbor at that time.  Vasilis told us that many shops are closing on October 31 for the season.  

Rhodes is the largest island of the Duodecane.  We could see Turkey which is 11 miles away.  The weather was once again perfect.  Our guide showed us the three gates of this Old Town.  We've been here before, but different guides all tell you different and interesting things.

After touring the Old Town we proceeded up a long hill.  This road was one of the oldest in the world and led us to the Palace of the Grand Master.  Our group was the only one in the Palace. 

The Palace had an additional 70 steps to get into it.  There was no handrail and the steps were very steep.  

The Palace has been rebuilt after an earthquake.  There are mosaics on the floors everywhere.  It's hard to imagine these are 1,700 to 2,000 years old.   

As we were walking back to the ship a big ship was coming into the harbor.  It was so nice not having a lot of tourists in town while we were there.  After dinner, the tour guides had a nightime walk through Old Town but decided not to go.

Beer and wine are included with this tour.  It's not one glass at dinner but anytime you want one.  They had free cocktails and wine today.  I might also mention that we have free wifi.  Tips are paid to all local guides porter, and drivers.

We had a magic show for the nightly entertainment.

Today we had another beautiful day.  After breakfast we had a talk "The Church of the Holy Sepulcer and the Status Quo".  It was very interesting and well presented.  A half hour later we had a towel folding master class along with bloody marys.  

After lunch we attended a discussion on Cypress Conflict.  This was followed by the people that have taken three or more trips.  The couple we were sitting with had 30 trips.  Makes our 16 trips seem like nothing.  They received a very nice gift.  The canapes and champagne were very good.  

We were told that of the 74 passengers, 47 are in the Sir Hillary Edmund Club--three or more trips.  They also told us that many companies went out of business during the pandemic.  Anyone that had a trip booked during the pandemic were offered their money refunded or the option to rebook.  The vast majority said they'd wait for another date.  This allowed the company to pay their employees,(not 100%) even though they weren't doing trips.  

Tomorrow we arrive in Cyprus.  While we have a tour of Cyprus, it was announced that we will also have a tour of Turkey.  We'll need to have our passports with us.  I always wanted to visit "Checkpoint Charlie" so this will be the next best thing.  I can tell our tour guides are nervous and they want this to be a good tour.

We had a tour of the ship's bridge.  Bill sat in the Captain's chair.  We learned what it takes to sail this ship.

We skipped tonight's ships crew show, which I'm sure was good.  I wanted to finish this and try and catch up before tomorrow's tour.  

The doctor says Bill's hand is coming along.  He changes the dressing every morning.  

Turtle Safely........