Someplace Familiar?

Heraklion, Crete, Greece, November 9, 2011

Today we left the exotic east and returned to the comforts and familiarity of the west. We will not miss the filth, particularly in Egypt, nor will we miss the overly aggressive hawkers on the street selling their cheap souvenirs, but we will definitely miss the atmosphere that speaks of foreign lands. Maybe we have spent so much time in Europe that it has become so comfortable that it does not feel like we have left home. We hope not.

We did not take any of the ship’s tour offerings but opted to walk on our own into Heraklion. We were joined by our friends, Gerry and Sue from Tampa by way of Brighton, Michigan. It was a beautiful day, temperatures in the upper 60’s and we strolled along enjoying the shops, and chatting like old friends. Heraklion is very clean and was filled with stores with names we recognized: Mark and Spencer’s, Zara, Ben and Jerry’s, Starbucks (Ugh!). We stopped at one or two tourist sites, nothing special, but mostly window shopped and bought some gifts for family! Is the family excited? Even the small shops were hosted by very quiet, friendly shop owners. After an hour or so of strolling, we found a café with WiFi and each of us caught up on e-mail, etc. After more meandering we discovered that Tim had gotten us semi-lost. This became abundantly clear when we came upon a lovely little square we had already been through when Tim thought we were several blocks to the east. Fortunately, there was a restaurant in the square where we could get a beer and a snack and reassess our position and further route. As we were at a restaurant it is time for a culinary aside.

We have been to several restaurants in Detroit’s Greek Town where we have had saginacki, a deep fried cheese that is brought to your table where the waiter pours booze, probably ouzo, over the cheese, sets it on fire while everyone yells “Opa”. According to Jerry and Sue this is also done in “authentic “ Greek restaurants in the Tampa area. We thought it would be very Greek of us to actually do this in Greece. We are sorry to report that this is a “Greek” tradition that must only be done in the States. We will continue to conduct further research in Athens. It is the least we can do for our faithful readers. After a delightful repast of fried cheese, minus the “Opa”, and beer, we continued our leisurely trek that eventually returned us to the ship. The afternoon was spent reading and napping in no particular order.

Tonight was the Captain’s farewell cocktail party. We have learned that crew members generally sign 6 month contracts with Silversea with little or no time off during that time. As the cruise season is ending in the Mediterranean, this is the final cruise for many of the crew which made for an interesting party tonight. This has been the nicest cruise on which we have ever been. The level of service has been incredibly high. Every time we encounter a crew member we are greeted with a smile and a “how are you today”, many times by name. Within the first couple of days all of the maitre d’s in the restaurants knew our name as well as most of the waiters and bartenders. Of course it helps that there are only about 235 passengers on board the ship, but still. The food has been excellent. Our last cruise a summer ago was 14 days long and by the end of the cruise we were a bit bored with the food. Not so on this cruise. We are already making tentative plans for another cruise with Silversea. After dinner we took in a show which featured singing and dancing from different countries around the world. As shipboard entertainment goes, it was quite good. We then went out on deck and observed the beauty of the full moon and returned to the Panorama Bar and danced the night away. Ok, it was one dance, but it was a long one.