World Cruise 2012

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Athens & At Sea - April 17-20, 2012

The next evening after the ship sailed from Egypt, guess what was on the dinner menu – pigeon! It was quite tasty.
At sea lectures:
A lecturer on ‘The Sahara’ provided a good recap of the history and explanation of some of the mystery of this large multi-national and multi-cultural portion of Africa. We definitely know we are not ‘sand people.’ (An interesting factoid: The original Star Wars movie was filmed in southern Tunisia and place-names used in the movie are actual locations in The Sahara.)
Final lecturer on the Concorde and speculation of the future of fast airline travel.
Interview with Master of the Queen Elizabeth, Captain Julian Burgess – he’s been working ‘at sea’ for 33 years which is remarkable given that he is only 50 years old. He was on the P&O cruise line, Princess cruises and now Cunard.

Tugs helping

The morning of April 18 upon arriving at Piraeus, Greece, the port to disembark for Athens, the wind speed is over 65 knots and the rain is pelting the decks. The Captain makes an announcement to reassure everyone regarding their safety and continues to provide updates about efforts to enter the port. The ship has picked up the harbor pilot and has made an attempt to enter to dock, then is directed to return to sea. Then we learn the port has been temporarily closed. Our ship has to move further out in the Saronic Gulf and the ship lists quite a bit as we come about in the strong winds. The Captain tells us that as long as the wind is this strong, the ship will not re-enter the port. The ship is turned into the wind so as not to list and sits in the Saronic Gulf awaiting port-authority word on whether to reattempt entry. Finally, 3 hours later, the wind has abated, the port has reopened and we are given clearance to dock. We require two tug boats to help us to the berth because of the narrow entry to this port and reestablished winds. Since the ship is docked perpendicular to the wind and presents a rather huge profile to the elements, the two tug boats remain, fully engaged, along side of us, keeping the ship pushed up against the dock, with the fulltime assistance of the ship’s stern azi-pods and bow side-thrusters, and with the ship lashed front and back with all available lines. It’s like a day-long rugby scrum between Nature and the devices of man.

Street Scene from Bus

Athens side street

Odeum of Herodes Atticus

Everyone heads ashore on tours. Some tours have been dramatically shortened because the ship is still planning to depart on schedule at 5 PM. For example, the tour to Corinth will only allow for a traverse of the canal and no tour of Corinth itself. We decided on a tour that is just the Acropolis and a drive-by of other Athens architectural highlights. Our tour guide is young and friendly. A few questions about the unrest are deflected although she does tell us that the bitter oranges growing on the trees were used as projectiles by the protestors. There also seems to be a lot of graffiti which she laughingly says that yes, it is young people doing it but graffiti is a Greek word! And she also says we won’t see any protestors or demonstrations today because it is raining and people therefore will probably just go to work…..form your own thoughts about the future of Greece!

Where Paul preached (Acts 17)

View to Parthenon

Eroded detail

Rennovation at Parthenon

Back to the past, Greece has such a long history with a rich culture. Along with the many islands and coastal towns, it is a destination requiring much more exploring than what little time we have today. The weather also isn’t cooperating as it is a little drizzly and the wind is blowing in excess of 25 mph. You can imagine how windy it is on the rocky Acropolis outcrop. It’s even difficult to hold the camera steady enough to shoot pix. We wander around and explore, snapping pictures and taking in the amazing views. Even though the site is constantly under restoration/renovation, there is definitely more there to see than one would expect. Yet, like Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and the Egypt’s pyramids, your imagination has to come in to play.

The Parthenon other side

The Caryatides

The Erechtheion

Temple of Zeus

Temple of Hephaistos

Back on the ship, our planned departure is delayed due to the winds again picking up. Finally around 9 PM, four hours later than planned, the Captain-and-crew, pilot and three tugs jointly direct a logistical ballet to somehow launch us out of the wind-blown, tiny-and-maze-like ship-filled harbor. We note that along with us, one of the other cruise ships also wisely waited to depart. The departure was a very interesting operation to watch from our balcony at night.

Puzzle Pieces Numbered

The Arch of Hadrian

Now the ship is back at sea and sailing into a 32 knot headwind. We are notified at noon by the Captain that the ship will be making an itinerary change. Because we are not able to sail at the speed we need to arrive on time at Civitavecchia (the port for land-tours to Rome and Tuscany), the ship will take an extra day at sea and skip Monte Carlo, the port after Civitavecchia, in order to have a full day in the area of Rome. For us this is not a big deal as we have both been to Monte Carlo before. While Monte Carlo is an interesting city, the surrounding Cote d’Azur/Provence area is definitely of more interest to us and we wouldn’t have had any time to really see it. So……we are at sea for another day and then Civitavecchia on Saturday. We hope that the weather will cooperate for Lisbon, Portugal (next Tuesday, and the last port of this trip on Steve’s bucket list), our final port before disembarking in Southampton to change ships.

The Stadium (marble!)

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Sail Away from Athens

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Alexandria & Pyramids - April 16, 2012

Once you’ve seen one set of four-thousand-year-old great pyramids, you’ve seen them all. Literally. And now we have! More on that below.

Alexandria

Docking Alexandria

The ship arrives at sunrise in Alexandria harbor. Off the ship by 7 AM and on to a bus for today’s tour. It turns out to be one of those perfect, Forrest-Gump kinds of days. Remember Forrest, the guy who always seemed to turn up at the right place at the right time to witness something momentous? Well, ours perhaps was not “momentous” but it certainly was spectacular. First, it is Queen Elizabeth’s maiden visit to Alexandria. Second, it is an Egypt-wide holiday called Spring Day – falls on the Monday after the Coptic Easter and is the annual somewhat-belated-but-traditional celebration of the first day of spring – so the city traffic is light and the Egyptians are out in force, enjoying their holiday. Third, it is one of the first tours of the pyramids conducted by our tour guides since last year’s events leading to the Egyptian version of “Arab Spring”. Fourth, our bus, the first of a long convoy, has as its onboard tour guide “Hany”, who was previously selected to guide Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Majors of the UK through the pyramid complex. Hany made it a very special day indeed!

The tour began with a brief drive-by tour and Cliff-Note history lesson of Alexandria, followed by a two-and-one-half hour bus ride to Cairo and Giza. Hany loaded us up with information during the bus ride, about Egypt and its history, people and culture, the pyramids, the forthcoming shopping opportunities and how to avoid the hassling by the local vendors. Amazingly, tour guides are able to talk non-stop for hours! Did you know? Cairo has a population of 18 million people (80 million in Egypt) making it the second largest capitol city in the world behind Mexico City and the largest city in Africa.

The sights along the highway between Alexandria and Cairo include refineries, irrigated farms, orchards and vineyards, abandoned buildings, billboards announcing new communities being built not too far from Cairo and lots of pigeon towers. Pigeons are a popular food item here, which is good from our perspective because they are noticeably absent from Alexandria and Cairo. Perhaps it should become a menu choice in Chicago and New York City.

The Pyramids

Standing next to a pyramid

Lynn w/Pyramids

Steve just outside boat museum

Sphnix

The Cheops Boat

The Camels for riding

As we reach the Giza plateau, the pyramids come into full view, the last remaining wonder of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. A one-day visit allows only for quick touring around the complex. The tour guide reminds us about the vendors as we disembark the bus to take our photos. (The saying “in your face” must have come from here.) First, we view the three Great Pyramids (with young Egyptian boy in red standing in everyone’s picture). Next we view the huge (125 foot-long) wooden boat, inside a building next to oldest of the Great Pyramids, that of Cheops. The boat was discovered, in an unconstructed kit form, in a separate crypt-style enclosure in 1954, to be assembled and magnificently displayed thereafter. There are also six smaller pyramids, those of various queens and one for a king’s mother, in various states of disrepair. Last we visit the Sphinx, the guardian against evil spirits for the pyramids, looking small in comparison to the pyramids. At this time in the day and accentuated by holiday and cruise-boat visitors, it’s a circus atmosphere, making for some interesting cross-cultural people watching. It’s also an attention-grabbing, time-contrasting view – the ancient pyramids on one side, the semi-modern city of Cairo on another and the seemingly timeless/endless Sahara on the third. Rides on camels or horses are available into the desert for improved photo opportunities. No time for this today…..maybe we’ll come back someday for the light show at night; it must be spectacular to see these ancient desert structures, at sunset, in the encroaching night shadows.

Locals enjoying holiday

Perspective

Off we go to our lunch at a local hotel right next to the pyramid complex. We didn’t catch the name; the hotel was built in 1869 and is where many of the celebrations for the opening of the Suez Canal were held.

Next stop is a papyrus store attached to a souvenir shop. Gold, papyrus paintings, Egyptian onyx statues, etc. all available to buy and yes, they take dollars!

El Tahir Square

American University

Next our tour guide wants us to see some more of Cairo, especially El Tahir Square, the stage on which “Arab Spring, Egypt Edition” dramatically and memorably played out. Driving there he takes us along one of the streets where vendors are allowed to sell just about anything – including small herds of sheep and goats – right on the street. This, after all, is the largest capitol city on the African continent, our tour guide says, so anything goes! Once we arrive at El Tahir, the bus circuits the surrounding traffic circle so we can sense the atmosphere and see the tents and residents still present. Across from the square is an American University building and not so much further are many embassies. We are left wondering – is the strange mix that Cairo is, modern r not?

Artichokes for sale

Crossing the Nile

Entertainment

It’s now time for our Nile cruise experience, one-hour Readers’ Digest version. Those who have taken a shortened river cruise in almost any world venue can picture the boat and the related experience: Inside and outside seating, average-or-worse snacks, coffee or tea, cheap wine with extravagant pricing. The value of the experience increases geometrically when the small band starts playing and wailing ancient Egyptian standards while a quite accomplished belly dancer and a youngish whirling dervish entertain us. After the show, there is time to sit outside and enjoy the sights along the Nile. Fairly modern structures – office buildings, apartments, hotels and restaurants – all along the sides of the Nile and disappearing in perspective into the enormity of Cairo. So much history on this river – and we note the Nile River is quite clean considering the streets here are quite littered.

Vision down the Nile River

Along the Nile

After the Nile Cruise, back on the bus for the three-hour ride back to the ship. Scenes along the way – a mosque attached to a gas station, buildings that aren’t finished on purpose so the people only have to pay tax for the portion they live in?!

Buildings unfinished along road

Sailing away from Alexandria, we reflect on our leaving the Middle East & Africa part of the world for the Mediterranean Sea and Europe – what we tend to think of as “civilization”!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Suez Canal Transit - April 15, 2012

The ship travels through the night to the entrance of the Suez Canal. As planned, we anchor at 2:30 a.m. in the Suez Gulf to submit paperwork, board a pilot and obtain a position in the northbound convoy of ships. The time estimate the previous evening is that the ship will start moving into the canal at around 6 a.m., somewhere in the middle of the northbound convoy. We awake at 5:15 a.m., surprisingly to the unmistakable feel of a moving ship – WOW! – Queen Elizabeth had the honor of being assigned lead position in the convoy and had moved into the Suez Canal at 5:00 a.m.

How very different is this canal in comparison to the Panama Canal! Desert, not jungle, on both sides and armed guards visible all along the way. Most of you, regardless of adolescent love affairs and flying spitballs, aced 8^th grade geography, and there is lots of information on the internet you can read; ergo not-so-many boring factoids in this blog. The long Egyptian history in the area between the Sinai Peninsula and mainland Egypt is itself interesting. Weave into that the building this canal, the second or third version of a canal in this area to connect the Red and Mediterranean seas at the nexus of three continents, and it becomes a fascinating tale from the past!

This version of the Suez Canal was completed in 1869 and has been nearly continuously under enlargement and improvement. It carries 25,000 ships a year and was once known as “the highway to India.” However, many of today’s massive cargo ships, mostly due to bridges that they cannot go under, are unable to transit the Suez Canal to India so they must go around Africa. This is the same problem that the Panama Canal still is trying to address, even with its new wider and deeper lane almost complete. Along with its inability to handle the largest ships, the Suez Canal’s ship-count is also down because today – with much larger ships, more efficient container-shipping techniques and improved shipping logistics – far fewer ships are required to move goods around our planet.

We will remember this transit both as our first and also because it occurred on the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Surely everyone reading this has also heard of this anniversary. Today our ship observed a minute of silence at noon in memory of all of those who lost their lives at sea on the Titanic. Another fact of onboard interest is that the Carpathia, the liner that steamed at speeds well beyond its rating (by waking and deploying all of its off-duty coal stokers) for over 100 miles to save all the 750 or so passengers who survived the Titanic disaster, was a Cunard ship and the Carpathia’s illustrious Master (aka captain) would subsequently become Master of the entire Cunard fleet.

Now that the ship is through the Suez Canal (2:30 p.m.), we enter the Mediterranean Sea. Tomorrow’s port is Alexandria and we will take a tour of the pyramids and a Nile cruise. Check another one off the ‘Bucket List!’