She had a very shaky end to primary school and a shaky start to secondary so we were apprehensive about what we may find out at parents evening. This was the big one where you pretend to make an appointment with each and every form tutor but in reality, you shoulder barge people, stand on feet and sprint to an empty chair in front of a teacher as soon as you see one.
What can I say, we were told some fantastic things and came away incredibly proud. Not that we weren’t already proud, but when you have every single teacher telling you that your daughter, who was painfully timid at the start of the school year, has come along in leaps and bounds, has made the most progress, has produced work beyond her year, is a pleasure to teach, is a fantastic drama student who has the teachers and class in stitches and who words very hard and is ahead of target in most classes, its hard not to swell with pride. Well done Bets.
The second bank holiday Monday in May, the kids, granny and I slipped off on this..
Specifically this one
All sneaky like. Well not too sneaky, but we did book quite late on our Ancient Wonders cruise. Leaving Beech behind to look after the Beecher menagerie (complete with strict instruction on who to feed, when and what) we caught an early plane Monday morning and arrived into Turkey just after lunch. The transfer from the airport to the port of Marmaris took just over an hour and twenty minutes, some of which time we had torrential rain. Just what you want after taking off from a cold, wet UK really. Thankfully it didn’t last long and on arrival at the port we had sunshine. Phew. After being photographed and processed we left our luggage on the quayside and boarded the ship (NOT boat, as the captain said, if you call her a boat, you will have to walk the plank) for the first time.
It was quite different to the Thomson Destiny that we travelled on in 2007, it seemed smaller from the outside and perhaps not as pretty in shape. Our cabins were on deck 1, below quayside, in the dungeons, back to back with the crew cabins and thankfully next door to each other .I was very pleasantly surprised to see that they were roomier than on Destiny with lots more storage space. Ben and I were sharing, as were Granny and Betsy. As our cases wouldn’t turn up for another couple of hours, we went to find some lunch/tea at the 24 hours Lido restaurant and have a bit of an explore to find the most important bits, the family pool...
and the shops...
Which arent allowed to open until we've set sail due to duty free laws. We were then able to unpack, met our very friendly and helpful cabin steward ‘Idris’ and make our way back to Deck 6 in anticipation of the ‘sail away’ party, that erm never really seem to happen. On Destiny they made more of an event of sail away, disco, a band but on Celebration it was almost like she snuck away with just a few people watching the quayside…
and we were on our way.
It was easy enough to get to sleep the first night, a 4am start that morning, lots of travel, first night buffet syndrome (you know, where you eat one of everything and go back for more just because its there) added to the gentle rock of the ship meant we were away the minute our heads hit the pillows. We woke bright and early to a day at sea which although nice and relaxing, the one downside was it meant everyone was on board. Which sounds daft but at port, you have people on shore on trips etc which frees up the sun loungers and tables on the open air decks. After the full safety drill of life jackets and 6 floors of stairs to run up, we were free to enjoy the day. We eventually found 1 sun lounger which we decided to take turns on, and a table with chairs for Granny to sit at to appease the trapped nerve in her back.
It didn’t look particularly sunny, a bit dull to start with. It was at this point I realised my camera wasn’t working properly. I think mums ‘sitting on a ship’ face did it. I stress that’s ‘ship’ face, don’t say it quickly.
Only joking mum, see, heres a nice one.
For some reason it kept whirring but not focussing and on further investigation, it became apparent my favourite 50mm lens had fallen apart. Which was incredibly sad (save for the fact that I almost almost almost had just brought that one lens as it was in my hand luggage and I didn’t want to lug heavy stuff round, but at the last possible minute, had shoved my tamron and zoom lens into Ben’s suitcase). Otherwise I wouldn’t have had a camera.
Now that would have been devastating.
Obviously being at sea meant there wasn’t a great deal to snap so there are many daft photos of all that I wont subject you to. Ben took first turn on the lounger..
and this was the one and only day he had those sunglasses because shortly after, he lost them. Typical lad. It was also the start of him sunbathing under a towel. Weird.
Guess who else came with us?
Why Harry of course! For anyone that has read my blog over time, you’ll know that Harry the tiny green Bang on the Wall Hippo goes on holidays with several members of the family. He’s been to Ibiza, Turkey, Iceland, Portugal, Lanzorote, Rhodes, Austria and France. I’d imagine he’s the mostly worldly travelled hippo. Im not even sure why, he just does. Anyway, as usual, Harry is photographed in various places, the photos of which are sent to his mum, Billybob, with the phrase ‘Where’s Harry’. Daft family game but we like it.
So Harry came out..
He went where no hippo has gone before at this point, but I know mum would proper batter me if I post that particular photo.
And Betty, water baby that she is, went in the pool.
And did her bestest Bruce Forsyth impression.
She wont like that so heres a nicer one
We took part in the daily quiz, did quite well and following that was the fancy cocktail making display thingy. Which I tried to miss in that it was my turn on the lounger and I was trying to sunbath, but the sounds of ‘Suz, you have to see this, come see this, you must see this’ dragged my from my relaxed state and had me taking lots of photos that are now very boring.
Here’s one anyway
The rest of our day at sea was spent in much the same way, sunbathing, eating, sunbathing and eating. I think this was the night we decided to eat in the main restaurant, which involved dressing up a little, which we did. I remember was a nice meal, hampered only by Betsy suddenly feeling ill and having to go back to the cabin prior to her dinner arriving. I think it was a touch of sun, swallowing pool water (which was just filtered sea water) and previous night buffet syndrome, a.k.a you stuffed your little face too much Betsy syndrome.
Day 2 and we woke up in the port of Istanbul to this sight.
Being the organised peeps we were, we’d picked our shore excursions the afternoon we boarded, for each day, chosen for ease of walking and half day trips to avoid child whinge syndrome and overtired adults. So, after a quick breakfast we’d jumped on the coach for our first tour. That I cant remember the name of. Lets just call it ‘Looky round
There were a couple of photo stops here
Cept I cant remember what that was called because we weren’t close enough to the guide but it looked good. Did you know there are about 3500 mosques in Istanbul city alone? Or something like that. They are all very pretty too. We set off again, this time to cross the Bosphorus Bridge, which spans the Bosphorus Strait, making Turkey a Euroasian country as it is in both Europe and Asia.
So pretty cool really to go from one continent to another in the same city. This photo was taken of our ship docked in Europe while I stood in Asia...
Onward again and some free time to sit on a bench in the sunshine. From our viewpoint we could see the Hagia Sophia Palace…
The blue Mosque…
And Harry enjoying a fountain.
Back on the ship just in time for lunch and the daily quiz and a relaxing afternoon. Not quite sure what was going on here but it made me laugh.
Then, as we turned in for bed, we discovered a new friend on Ben’s bed…
From Idris. Bless.
Day 4 and we woke up in Lesbos (much to Ben’s amusement). Cant remember the name of the tour again so lets call it ‘Looky round Lesbos’.
We stopped here for a quick photo op..
and went up this little street towards a chuch, but again don’t know what it was called as we weren’t near the guide, but it was very pretty
Besides, I couldn’t concentrate on what was being said because the brats were revolting and I was more interested in the pack of dogs that were tootling around the group.
We found our way to the church, but once again I didn’t listen to the guide as I was too busy trying to do penetrating stares at the back of my kids’ necks as they were sat a few rows in front of me. No etiquette, they were oblivious to the dirty looks they were receiving from sitting in church with hats on and I was too far behind them to do that parental annoyed hissy thing at them. At one point a strange local siddled up to them and for one moment I thought he was going to physically remove them (the hats, not the kids) but he just stared with disgust.
Anyway one, not great, churchy shot.
Soon as the guide stopped talking and the group moved, berated the kids and back down the cobbled street to spend free time in a café and buying odd wooden stuff from little shops like this
Im sure you’ll agree, every granddad in the world needs a carved dog headed catapult which is exactly what we bought him. What was our towel animal that night?
A Rabbit.
Day 5 and we were back in Turkey at the port of Izmir to visit the Ancient Agora (ha I remembered!). Constructed during the rule of Alexander the Great, what little is left remains because of Faustina, wife of Marcus Aruelius she said, sounding remarkably like Wikipedia.
In fact, this is Faustina...
How nice to be remembered by your face in an arch.
Its an open air museum don’t you know, not riveting but photogenic all the same.
More memorable for the fight I had with the toilet roll dispenser and lost. Kids were thrilled to be there.
If they thought that was boring, they were horrified when we pulled up outside a Turkish museum. Too many steps for mum so we left her sunbathing on a bench while the kids were horrifically argumentative around a hot, stuffy and incredibly boring museum, (not that I told them that, after all, I am a grown up) and I almost lost the will to live. Ben's ears pricked up at the mention of camel wrestling, only to have his hopes dashed when it became apparent it wasnt just a Turkish wrestler called Camel.
When the realistatiion came that it was none one,but two Turkish museums, even I balked at that one and we all stayed outside on a bench. Found another doggie.
and Harry went exploring...
Boarded the coach again to somewhere that involved a long walk which didnt best please us so we spent our free time being totally misunderstood by an ice cream seller (who didnt understand our Turkish guide either when he stepped in to help) and sunning ourselves on a bench, much to the disgust of quite a few locals who obviously didnt appreciate our clothing. In fact, one very old local lady, dressed head to foot in black, tried to tell mum something. When mum indicated she didnt understand, the woman cursed her and walked off. Or least thats what it looked like, she brought to mind the evil stepmother from Snow White, disguised as the apple seller. Look, here she is..
Very strange. On the walk back to the coach we saw another pretty Mosque..
and a clock tower thingy
But again no idea what they were as we werent near the guide. Nice though. And that night? Captains night. A night to get dolled up, attend a cocktail reception and meet the captain for a dreadful photo.
Names Bond. James Bond. We tried to pass off his black cardigan as a tux and the effect looked ok until you got to his feet and saw that crap mummy had forgotten his black shoes so he wore white trainers. New ones for the holiday and thankfully ones he’d managed to keep bright white so they could have almost passed for dress shoes. Almost.
In our finery we made our way to the reception, joining the huge queue to have bad photos taken in front of pretend atriums. They used flash for a start! Not flattering. Finally got to the captain, shook hands, had bad photo and joined the party. I have to say though, he was very funny when he addressed the room and we were introduced to the senior staff on board. On to the grub and disappointingly, the meal was nothing special but I suspect the reason for that came later.
Betty looked glowing (having burnt her face a day or so before), it had calmed down by then. Once we’d eaten, we did what any normal people would do and returned to our cabin to slip into something more comfortable. We’d set sail by this point and mum mentioned how windy it was on deck 6 in the open air so we went to play.
Windy??? Gale force!
We played ‘hang on to the handrail for dear life’
While I hung on one handed in order to take funny photos
Captains Night was also the night of the Buffet Magnifique, where the kitchen staff excelled themselves in fruit and vegetable carving and food sculpture. During the afternoon we’d seen a demonstration on deck of ice carving by one member who in twenty minutes had carved a sculpture from a large block with just a chisel. 11pm the buffet opened for photographs. It was incredible.
Those were my favourites, birds made from melon.
Flower made from oranges, carrots, beetroots and onions.
Chocolate Gladiator! Unfortunately we were all too knackered to stay for the opening to eat at 11.30pm but it was stunning to look at.
Day 6 didn’t work out so well in Athens on our 'Looky around Athens' but we did see the Acropolis from our viewpoint and with my zoom, caught the Parthenon atop.
Shame about the scaffolding. We visited the museum at the foot of the acropolis which is built on stilts as everywhere they try and excavate in Athens, they unearth some more ruins, that they then cant build on top of. This is the way around it!
Back on the ship, Ben was doing wrestling moves and karate kicks in the pool...
That Bethany tried to copy. Fail.
No towel animal for us that night, but Betsy had an eagle in her room.
I think my favourite stop was day 6 when we stopped off in Crete. The view from the deck as we went to breakfast was beautiful (if you ignore the port side activities of course).
There was promise of some time at the beach on this tour, so kids were prepared in their costumes and we set off. Didn’t really turn out to be as we’d hoped as we had perhaps 30 minutes at ‘the beach’ as the guide talked a lot. She pointed out the mountain named after the Goddess Hera..
Do you see her profile there?
Shortly after this photo was taken,
an accident happened that resulted in a scream, and this…
As Ben over swung and his pebble ricocheted off Betsy’s head before plopping into the sea. Aww.
Id personally checked with the on board excursion team that there wasn’t too much walking on this tour, as in Athens, there was far more than mentioned in the description. I was told there was a little and a few steps, but nothing much at all. Liars! Up and down cobbled streets with a tour guide that made me feel increasingly more uncomfortable with her political views (and Im not political at all!) meant that by the time we came to our next free time stop, all we wanted to do was wee, eat ice cream and sit in a café. Pretty streets though
We saw a vast amount of the island as this was a ‘panoramic tour’ which took the coach up incredibly high all around the island and our last stop allowed us to capture views like this..
And a rare moment of sibling love that just had to be documented.
Back on board ship that afternoon we were given a demonstration on how the towel animal are created, its dead clever you know. A hand towel and a coat hanger none the less!
Swan
And a Monkey
Ace. Being our last night, it was also the Baked Alaska Parade in the main restaurant. Bizarre I know, but basically it involved lots of chefs and waiters, legging it round the restaurant holding flaming puddings much to the surprise of the kids. Unfortunately they were too quick for me and camera without flash see..
Back to the cabins to pack as our luggage was to be left outside by 2am, ready for transfer to the quay side at Marmaris once we docked there the next morning.
And a lovely morning it was at port..
That was the end of our Ancient Wonders cruise, back to rainy Manchester!
1 comments:
I am excited!!! I come from Lesvos!!!! But i live now in Athens! Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing with us!!!!
Post a Comment