Limassol, Cyprus

Limassol, Cyprus, November 3, 2011

Limassol will not be very high on our list of favorite ports of call. We were in port for only five and half hours. The ship docked in the middle of the industrial port so, unlike the past two days, we did not get a chamber of commerce view of Limassol from our ship. After lunch, we took the shuttle bus from our port to the city center. We found a small café that had free WiFi and order a beer and took care of computer business. Computer time on board is very expensive so if we can find free computer time on shore we use it to post our blog and check e-mail. After we finished our computer work we took a short walk about the city. Limassol is famous for lace and we saw many shops featuring quite detailed lace work. We also visited several small art galleries that featured locally produced art work. There were excellent examples of glass, copper and other metal works of art. Limassol was not any prettier in the city center than in the dock area. We were only off the ship for about two hours.

This morning Tim did laundry while Lynda slept in. He had an interesting encounter with another passenger who was folding his freshly washed and dried Michigan Football t-shirt. Tim quietly enjoyed hearing the Michigan fan admit that we had kicked wolverine ass again this year.

The high point of the day clearly was our private tour, with the ship’s executive chef, of the ship’s galley including a demonstration of how the fresh pasta is made. The machine used to make the pasta is quite involved. Lynda teased the chef as to whether he was a chef or a machinist. The machine the kitchen uses can make all of the pasta for the evening meals in less than an hour. It was fascinating to watch the chef switch the different bits on the machine to make the different shapes of pasta. For tubular pasta such as penne the machine is fitted with a special device that automatically cuts the pasta to the desired length. For longer, flat pastas like spaghetti the pasta is cut by hand. The chef also demonstrated the machine that makes the stuffed pasta, ravioli for example. The machine can make 60 servings of ravioli in 15 minutes. After the pasta demonstration we were shown the rest of the galley. There are 42 chefs in the galley who work in different shifts because our ship has 24 hour room service. The executive chef explained how the orders are brought to the kitchen and organized so that the executive chef can monitor how many orders of each entrée are being placed. We learned that the chef must keep track of the many regulations for each country that is visited. These regulations apply not only to the food served, but also to the bin in which each type of garbage is disposed. We were rather surprised to discover that the “soft” trash, peelings from vegatables, lettuce and the like, is crushed and put into the sea once we are over 15 miles from land. Tim asked about the meals for the crew and found out that there is a separate galley, with its own budget, that prepares the food for the crew. They are not allowed to eat any left overs from the dining rooms for the guests. While we are sure they are well fed, we are also sure the crew does not get the dining options that we choose from each evening. We felt quite special because we saw another group of about 6 passengers come in for a tour that was not as extensive as the private tour we received. It was certainly another example of the outstanding service we have been receiving.