Loving This Boat

Now I woke up in Olympia, where the first Olympics in the world were held. Amazing!!! We got off the boat so we could catch the train, but we missed it by 5 minutes. So we ended up taking a cab. We first started off at the museum. I learned that the word GYM came from the Greeces, meaning training naked. I also learned that women weren’t allowed to compete in the Olympics, they weren’t even allowed to be in the stadium. We went to the ruins site. There was a whole bunch of random ruins, we saw the oldest running track in the world and we also saw the oldest swimming pool in the world. After all those ruins I think its time to go back to the Jade!

2nd Day of Lug jury

Today I woke up on a cruise ship in Nauplion, Greece. Slept like a rockin baby and ate like a king! We went to the café on deck 10 and we had some Jello, Eggs, Pan Cakes, Hot Chocolate, Fruit Loops, Rice Crispies, Honey Nut Cheerios and Raisin-Bran. Then quickly went to the escape boats so we could go explore on the Nauplion Island. Once we got off the boat we walked down the side of the water and saw fisherman fishing with bread, it worked quite well. Continued on and saw a perfect view of the Jade. I looked down in the water and saw hundreds of sea urchins I found two stick and I polled one out and pocked it and it started leaking black and then I pocked it harder and blood gushed out. Wooooops!!! We kept going and we found a nice rock beach. The water was cold, but the sun kept us warm. We stayed there till 4 cause the boat leaves at 5. Better be safe than sorry!!!

First on board!!!

We got out of our hotel caught a cab and went to the docks… At the docks the staff offered some apple and orange juice. When we signed into the Norwegian Jade and they gave us our room key that was also our sing in card and credit card. But you have to pay at the end ☹. After we singed in we ran straight up to our room on the 9th floor with our big bags and got in our room and it was the size of my bedroom, accept with a bathroom in it!!! Once we unpacked we went to the pool and went down the water slide a thousand times. That wasn’t all after that there was a BBQ with stake, ribs, rice and it was all-free!!! ☺☺☺☺. Then we watched the sun go down as we ate our FREE food.
Later we went down to the room and cleaned up and went to bed.

About the Norwegian Jade

When we first got on board we got offered FREE drinks. The Jade has 16 floors and 16 999 guests rooms and 1200 staff members on board, 300 were Canadian. We went to our room at 1983 on the 9th floor and unpacked our bags so we could explore… We first checked out the pool on the 12th floor. It had a water slide 6 hot tubs and 2 medium size pools. Then we found a workout room, it wasn’t spectacular but it had a nice view. After we went to the reception and asked about what to do they said that there is a basketball court, a kids club and tons of other things like. It has 30 restaurants and 10 were free. The Jade has 2 Casinos and a show room that was really big, that has shows of comedians, stunt men, musicians and singers every night. There is also a store with jewelry, clothing, alcohol, souvenirs, nail polish and tons of candy. Everyone gets a card to get on and off the boat and to buy whatever. I would definitely come back on board!

Cruise Itinuary

Oct 21 – Athens (Piraeus Port), Greece  – depart at 6:00
Oct 22  – Nauplion, Greece  8am -6pm – First Greek island stop – We walked around the town, watch the fisherman fish with bread, spend the day on a rocky beach with locals and swam in the ocean.
Oct 23 – Olympia, Greece 8am-6pm – Took a taxi for 50e to visit the archeological site of Olympia (Temple of Zeus, famous stadium, etc )and one of the archeological museum of Olympia
Oct 24 – at sea
Oct 25 – 26 Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt 7am to 6pm (2 days) Tour included a stop in Memphis Egypt (first capital of Egypt), where we visited the ruins of the temple of Ptah, the monumental statue of King Ramses the 2nd and the Alabaster Spinx at the Mit Rahina Museum).  We also visited the funerary chambers of the Mastabas (a rich person).  We had lunch in a fancy hotel. Visited the Pyramids of Giza, the Mighty Sphinx and the pyramids of Saqqara.  We learned that they have uncovered already 142 pyramids in Egypt and much more to be found.  Our last stop was at a Papyrus Institute, that introduce us to the process of paper making from reeds We drove across the Nile
Oct 27 – at sea
Oct 28 – Crete (Heraklion), Greece 8am-6pm – We took the public transportation and visited the ruins of the Palace of Knossos (The court of the legendary King Minos, whose wife, Pasiphae, gave birth to the Minotaur, half-bull/half-man.
Oct 29 – Santorini, Greece, 7am-9pm. A group of islands that was formed from volcanic eruptions 3600 years ago.  We took a boat excursion for 25e x 3 = 75e. to 1- Active Volcano on Nea Kameni Island- the island was formed by volcanic eruptions started 430 years ago- it is still active, last eruption was in 1950- there was 8 eruptions in order to formed both islands, 2- Hot Springs on Palea Kameni Island – Green sulfur warm waters (can reach up to 37c), 3 -on an  island to eat an expensive lunch, 4- The town of Oia with blue dome church
Oct 30 – Mykonos, Greece 7am-9pm – We walked the narrow cobblestone streets of white buildings with red and blue roofs.  We viewed the ancient windmills. The museum was closed so we did not get to see some of the artifacts of the Trojan war.

More Ruins

We went to the brand new Acropolis Museum. There was a lot of original sculptures that once were part of the Parthenon and Nike Temples. Once we went through the museum, I then understood and appreciated the ruins. Some stuff was as old as 800 B.C and was still in really good shape. The parthenon has had a rough history, but still stands after a large fire, earth quake, and bombing that blew one whole section up. It has been conquered by many other countries and religions like the Moors, Turks, Romans and Greeks. On our way back from the museum, we stopped and talked to an amazing guitar playing street performer. He played a couple of songs for us and even let me play his guitar. He was once in a very famous Greek band and was one of the most talented musicians I have ever heard. This was our last day in Athens and we were excited to get on our cruise.

Day Three

We got on the bus to see the great ruins of Athens! We walked up the steps of the amazing Acropolis and visited the famous Parthenon and Nike Temple. Then we visited the Temple of Zeus! There isn’t much there, only some of the large pillars. Then we visited the down town area of Plaka where we saw a street performer on a 15 foot high unicycle while juggling knives, he was amazing!!! Then we bought some coco nuts and bananas and took the bus back to our room.

The Market

We took the bus down town and walked to one of the most famous markets in the world called The Monastery Market. There their were street performers street merchants selling items like umbrellas, coconuts, fruit and lot’s of junky stuff. I bought a splatting tomato. They stick on the wall or glass they’re fun! Then we went to the Acropolis, but it was closed for the day. Greece has a lot of stray dogs lying around the sights. We then climbed some cool rocks and look out at the amazing white city of athens!!! We climbed down and went for supper it was great! Later we went to catch the bus back to the Congo Palace!

Athens, Greece

Tonight we arrived in Athens, Greece from Paris. We stayed in a 4 star hotel called the Congo Palace. It was really nice!!! It had a pool in back and we were close by some Canadian and American well known restaurant.

Andorra the middle of nowhere

We arrived in Andorra and discovered that it was very mountainous. We stayed in a small village up the mountain at a ski resort. The weather was cooller than we expected and a mountain stream ran right outside our balcony. We toured around and  discovered several meat shops that gave out free samples of cheese, meat and wine. Then the girls discovered that Andorra is one of the most inexpensive places in the world to  buy perfume, so we went to a perfume factory and bought two bottles. Later we went to rec center and for the first time on this trip we saw an indoor hockey rink and it made me wish i brought my skates!!! The next day we went to the major city in Andorra and visited a really cool spa. It had hot tub pods that looked like the future and the place was very expensive! Downtown had all the big brand names that I like, but it was very expensive as well! It was a neat  country this is one of the places I wouldn’t come back to!!!