From Istanbul

 Istanbul is one of the most interesting ports in the world. A skyline of buildings from many generations and cultures and many craft of all sizes and shapes on the water.

Overnight in Istanbul meant pizza on Deck 11 to take in the views. Which was very brave, considering the low temperature.

The new cruise terminal in Istanbul is enormous. Beneath it is a huge vehicle area for cars, buses and deliveries. The signs said it was 3 minutes walk to the Silver Moon but they did not change for several minutes and the walk was rather longer.

The excursion was to the Dolmabahce Palace, which was built in the nineteenth century in European style. It is extremely opulent, even by the standards of British royal palaces. It was a Sultan’s palace but its claim to fame is that it was the death place of Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

Not a great day for TSH, who was not allowed take pictures inside the buildings, because it rained quite hard for a while and he still does not have his long water-proof coat.

A conversation with Silversea London revealed that the 40+ bags involved have now been located and removed from their container in Koln. However, the normal next stop would be in Paris, where there is currently a strike, so that might not be such a good idea. But TSH was assured that the bags were on the move. 24 hours later, the tracking system shows his bag still in Koln, with no projected delivery date.

 

In which TSH falls foul of Diva and the Turkish Army

 After anchoring near the port of Dikili, the Captain announced that the swell was too great for safe tendering operations. Eventually he obtained permission to land guests in a protected fisherman’s harbour so tours could commence. Diva looked at the water and decided to stay on the Silver Moon. TSH set off alone on the carefully selected, easy, non-exciting tour. Except he managed to get on the wrong bus and instead did the ascent to the Acropolis – involving climbing and a cable car. During the tour, the group paused near an army installation and were told in no uncertain terms to move on.

The evening meal included 2 favourites – TSH’s deconstructed fruit crumble and Diva’s lemon meringue.

TSH and Diva made a rare appearance at the after-dinner show. Diva enjoyed the Queen tribute but TSH wondered what Freddie Mercury would have thought of the top hats and twirling umbrellas.

Still no news on luggage.

Lemon meringue - increased to 22 blobs 

Deconstructed fruit crumble

Lunch on pool deck in Istanbul

Busy cruise

 TSH and Diva are booked on a lot of excursions for this leg of the cruise. In Rhodes, they did a walking tour and a visit to the archaeological museum with a knowledgeable guide. It is one of those places which has been occupied by many many countries over the centuries, so there are remnants of Greeks, Romans, the Ottoman Empire and modern Italians. Many of their artefacts have been stolen and some of the impressive mosaic floors have been moved there from other places. The old town and castle are built from stone which is in a very good state of preservation. The Colossus of Rhodes – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – no longer exists, but they were shown the probable site where it stood. 

In the museum, the guide was talking about weapons in the ancient world and invited the guests to identify a partly obscured one in a picture. It was TSH who correctly suggested ‘boomerang’.

On arrival in Turkey, the first visit was to Ephesus. TSH and Diva have been here before but thought it worth a second visit. The site is very impressive, with many identifiable remains, including houses and the famous library. Ephesus was the site of the Temple of Artemis – impressive statues in the nearby museum – the 2^nd wonder of the ancient world on this holiday. The guide was approached by a Silversea guest who had lost his own group and needed help to find them again. TSH was very sympathetic, remembering his own scary experience at the terracotta warriors.

Silversea continue to make the luggage situation worse. TSH received a letter offering $1000 as compensation for the inconvenience (not for the bag, which it is assumed will still arrive at some point). On enquiry, it turned out that they would only reimburse what people actually spent and produced receipts for. TSH, along with other people in the same position, has no wish to go shopping for unsatisfactory clothes in a strange port. He wrote another widely circulated email and they have agreed to pay him the money anyway.

 

From the middle of the volcano

The Silver Moon moored in the middle of where the volcano used to be. Modern Santorini is the part of the island which did not get blown apart three and a half thousand years ago. The archaeological site is like Pompeii in being a site of a sudden natural disaster. It also had expensive sophisticated art but experienced disaster more than 1500 years before Pompeii. The excavation has been covered by a complex structure whose foundations went down far below current ground level.

During the afternoon, Diva asked reception if she could have some face soap, as, unusually, there is none in the suite. She stressed that this was not a complaint – just that the butler did not understand what she wanted. This resulted in total mayhem in the suite after dinner. The butler manager, the butler and the cleaner all visited and it became apparent that there is no face soap on the Silver Moon (!!). Instead, they brought masses of other toiletries, a whole stack of facecloths and many apologies. But they forgot to replace the bottle of water or bring the flask of hot water which TSH and Diva had requested. This is not an experienced ship.

TSH’s bag, along with many others, is still with Fedex.

Worst embarkation ever

 Over the last week or so, TSH and Diva received communications from Silversea stating that they required a certified PCR test 72, 48 or 24 hours before embarkation. Supposedly because of EU or Greek regulations. The fall-back was a pier-side lateral flow test. So many guests, including TSH and Diva, failed to meet this moving target that the pier-side facilities were totally overwhelmed. All 150 or so of the Grand Voyagers were brought to the pier within less than an hour, other guests arrived randomly and there was no organised queueing system. For a while, people sat down and waited when they were asked to. Until they realised that later arrivals were walking past them. At which point it became a free-for all. TSH, a well-trained Englishman who knows how to queue, was told by an American (!!) to ‘stand in line’.

After 2 extremely uncomfortable hours, they were finally allowed to board Silver Moon.

TSH’s bag still with Fedex.

Athens

 Once more, at the start of a Grand Voyage (See January 2017), TSH and Diva got lucky in the upgrade stakes. Their accommodation at The Astir Palace in Athens has  large sitting room and bedroom, a utility area with a sink and a bathroom with loo, basin and what turned out to be an excellent shower. Later they found the main bathroom with bath, twin washbasins, another loo and more towels than they were likely to need during their short stay. Turn-down service arrived before he had found the main bathroom, so TSH insisted they left more towels. Also a walk-in wardrobe and a huge balcony overlooking the sea. 

On arrival at the hotel at 18:15, they had decided that, after snacking all day, they would not bother with a meal. But they were informed that dinner was at 19:00. They exploded their suitcases across the sitting room, showered, and located clothes for the evening. The food was extremely plentiful - like a meze except that everyone was given a plate with huge portions of everything (perhaps a Covid thing?). Three generous courses. Wine from Santorini, where they will visit in a few days time. 

Fedex are now showing an interest in the whereabouts of TSH's luggage. The issue now appears to be properly escalated. Maybe results in a few days time?

TSH and Diva are very loyal to their local Manchester airport, which has served them both well for many years. They are reluctant to disparage it but have to say that their experience on Tuesday morning was appalling. The airport website suggested turning up at least three hours before a flight, but at that time, there were no open check-in desks. When they did open, there were not enough staff and everything seemed to take a long time. The long, closely packed, queues for security were a public health hazard. Whilst accepting that the small cannisters in inhalers must represent a potential risk on a flight, Diva has never before experienced them being taken out of their plastic bag and touched by security personnel wearing gloves which had also touched everybody else's luggage. A lot of remedial cleaning was required. By comparison, Heathrow was peaceful and by any standards Athens was efficient and welcoming.

One half-sleep to go

 Taxi pick-up at 3 am tomorrow. TSH still has no news of his luggage, which has been marked 'in transit' from Germany for a week by Fedex. So it is not the best possible start to a Grand Voyage. Diva's bag and the one with shoes and toiletries are already at the port of Piraeus. 

PCR tests done this morning but no results yet.