My Cruise to Greece and Turkey: Part 2: Crete, Marmaris, Bodrum

Mon. July 10--Crete

Our guide Karen at the Phaestos Palace site

We rose at 6am to get to our excursion for the archeological site at Phaestos from the Minoan era (12th century BC). The trip to the number one ancient palace Knossos was full, so we had to take number two, Phaestos. We docked and took abus for 1 hour and 15 mins. to the site. Our guide Karen was very informative. She is originally from the Netherlands and has lived on Crete for 30 years. She gave us lots of information about Crete and its occupation by the Romans, the Byzantines, the Venetians, the Ottoman Turks and finally their union with Greece. She also gave us her thoughts on the current Greek economy, the European Union, etc. 

We were too tired to do anything after the four-hour tour including the long drive back to the boat. After lunch and lounging on the pool deck, I played Team Trivia, scoring 12 out of 15 (I correctly guessed that Elizabeth Taylor had been married 8 times to 7 different husbands). Then high tea on the Horizons deck. The string quartet played unusual selections like "Three Little Maids from School" from The Mikado and The Beatles' Yellow Submarine as I sipped Earl Grey and munched little salami sandwiches and sweet pastries, just like at Harrod's. 

Next was a cocktail party for first time cruisers with Oceania which means FREE DRINKS! (Almost everything is included in your fee except alcoholic beverages. They do offer an alcohol package but you would need to drink like a boozehound to make it worth the price at $70 a day per person.) So any opportunity for a gratis cocktail should be taken. 

Dinner was a Greek buffet with delicious antipasto, seafood salad, baklava and honey cakes. Jerry and I played Scrabble from 8-9:30PM. He won but it was a tight game. I don't care who wins or loses as long as it's competitive. 

The Barricade Boys

The 9:30 entertainment was a male singing quartet called The Barricade Boys, so named because they all had been in Les Miz in one venue or another, either the West End, Broadway, international tour or in the movie. They were quite professional with excellent lights, sound and projections, singing selections from musical theater (mostly Les Miz of course) as well as Motown, and Jersey Boys with a knockout rendition of Queen's difficult Bohemian Rhapsody. 

Tues. July 11--Marmaris, Turkey
I took an excursion called Panoramic Marmaris which Jerry decided to cancel and stay on the boat. He didn't miss anything. It was basically a bus ride to a little village outside this Turkish resort town where we were given a snack. I hesitate to call it even that. It was a few slices of pita bread and a choice of soft drink. That's it. We stopped at two other sites for a total of 20 minutes to take pictures and then back to the boat. That was the whole thing. Some panorama.

That honey cheese cake

I elected not to go right back to the boat, but hung around the town, eating lunch at a somewhat seedy beachside cafe. The meal consisted of a perfectly acceptable cheeseburger and a delicious honey cheese cake. I waded in the water at the public beach, walked around looking for refrigerator magnets and postcards.

Finally back on the boat, there was a get-together for LGBTQIA passengers but only six of us showed up. We had dinner in the Grand Dining Room and had a good time. (Sidenote: our cruise director Julie told me they used to refer these events in the ship newsletter as parties for "Friends of Dorothy," now-outmoded code for gay people. One time, a passenger named Dorothy showed up and asked, "OK, I'm here, where are all my friends?")

Wed. July 12--Bodrum, Turkey

Another port, another castle. A bright hot day. We strolled on Bodrum's waterfront not sure what to do. First we went to the town's medieval castle which also serves as a museum of shipwrecks. After viewing many pieces of nautical antiquity, buying Jerry a pair of sandals, and a lunch of ham and tunafish sandwiches with cats begging at our feet for any scraps, Jerry was ready to get back on the boat. I elected to stay in town. My feeling was I would never be here again and didn't want to miss anything. Also I really wanted to take a boat ride around the harbor and there were so many little boats in the marina, I was sure I could find one that would get me back in time for our sailing at 6PM.

Sure enough, there was a boat offering a three-hour pleasure trip with two stops for swimming and I would be back to the pier in time to catch the shuttle bus to the ship at 5PM. The price: only 400 Turkish lire which is less than $20 US. The boat was fun, but I neglected to bring my bathing suit or a towel. Fortunately, the woman in charge of the boat saw I was sans suit and offered to sell me one. First, for 350 Turkish Lire, then marked down to 250 TL which is only about 11 dollars, so I said yes to a Versace decorated pair of black trunks and jumped in the water off the boat. She then rented, not sold, but rented me the use of a towel for 100 lire. Lesson learned: always bring your bathing suit with you when going ashore. 

Here's the boat I took for
a three-hour ride out of Bodrum

Back on the boat, we had drinks (I tried a Mohito and quite liked the minty flavor), dinner (an interesting potato vegetable pancake thing) and heard the British comic's second show. Mostly gags about aging, his wife, sex, and the ship. I didn't think he said anything remotely offensive, but one disgruntled gentlemen did stand up and gave the act a thumbs down as Julie was making her post-performance announcements. Everybody's a critic.