Adriatic Cruise 2023

 Still exhausted from yesterday we were up early to be at the Vatican for our tour. We took a taxi at 6.45 that got us to the meeting place with a bit of time to spare and we sat and had a coffee until the tour at 7.30. Even with the early start there was a fair queue to enter St Peters. Once inside we went up in a lift to the main roof where we could look down. Then I climbed to the top of the dome while Lynn had a break. Piazza San Pietro, Obelisk Stairs inside the dome walls Once I got back down we had time to walk around the cathedral. Next we went to the Vatican Museums, which meant walking around to the other side of the Vatican and re-entering. The museums is a huge complex of rooms and buildings with endless rows of statues, tapestries, maps, all in rooms that are as impressive as the collections. The crowds also got progressively denser, although we were able to keep moving. The last stage in the museum was the Sistine Chapel, in which you can't take photos. It was packed ...

 Today we woke up in Athens. And while we were keen to get out and explore a new city, our tour wasn't until the afternoon and it was going to be 40 degrees. So rather than exhaust ourselves by midday we decided to entertain ourselves around the ship. It seemed like almost everyone else had gone ashore and we had the ship to ourselves. We started down in the spa again, because I really like the whole hot/cold thing. Then we went up to the main pool, which was very humid and also deserted, and finally to the small plunge pool on the back deck. After reading for a while we had a light lunch and then it was time for the tour. This drove round a couple of the sights - the harbour district of Piraeus, a few public buildings and the old marble stadium. Then we were droopped off at the National Archeological Museum. This was very well presented and in many ways similar to yesterday's museum in Crete - it had a lot of Cycladic artifacts and then moved on to the Hellenic sculptures and ...

 Another day, another Greek island. This time Crete and we awoke as we were mooring in Heraklion, the largest city. After breakfast ikt was a short bus ride up the hill to the heart of the town. Most of the morning was taken up with the museum. This was a really excellent museum and orientation to Crete's history. It's laid out chronologically, so as to lead you through most of ancient history. It starts with the neolithic period and then the bronze-age Minoan period, which is when Crete particularly flourished. So the items represent the development from carving to pottery to casting bronze. Then from about 1200 BC the iron age brought by the Greeks. Finally a bit of the Roman period, though this was not so emphasised. Lots of pottery, bits of buildings, caskets and the remains of frescoes. After that we wandered around the town, mostly the area made up of cafes, clothes and jewellery shops. We avoided the tourist market. The only things we bought were a couple of items in Mar...