Last night, we attended the second of three World Cruise evening events. The event was held at the Zappeion Magoran Building in Athens Greece. The facility was very elegant. We left the ship at around 6:15 PM and arrived at this location at 6:45 PM. It is located a few blocks from the Presidential Palace. As we arrived at the entranceway there were several people who greeted us wearing ancient Greek outfits, each carrying a lighted torch in their hands.
After entering the building, we were offered a choice of wines and champagne before dinner. There were actors inside the building who were also dressed up in ancient Greek attire.
At the conclusion of the cocktails we were escorted into another part of the building for dinner. We sat with five other people, which included another couple who we have come to know very well during the cruise, two single travelers, along with one person from Crystal Cruises.
We enjoyed a wonderfully prepared dinner with Greek dancing and Greek music. The dinner began with an appetizer of a crispy tartlet filled with spinach which was covered by a fresh marinated fish filley, followed by a baby spinach salad, followed by an entrée of roasted rack of lamb with yogurt sauce with traditional roasted potatoes, which was followed by a crispy tart filled with cheese cream covered by dried figs for desert, which was followed by traditional Greek halbas filled with raisin and nuts along with coffee and tea.. We also were served wine throughout the meal.
During the course of the meal dancers and musicians entertained us. A couple of times during the evening we joined some of our fellow passengers in a Greek dance. Yes, we felt like we were at a Greek Wedding. There was also a great slide show which had pictures from the various Olympics along with some of the previous Olympic athlete such as Dorothy Hamill who we had the pleasure of sailing with during our World Cruise Games.
The evening was wonderful. These events are first planned about eighteen months in advance and we really appreciate all of the thought and effort in making them very special events.
We enjoyed the drive back to the ship as the city of Athens looked so nice at night. When we arrived back at the ship there were hot towels for us and complimentary champagne was served to us in the lobby area. We stayed and talked with our fellow passengers for about thirty minutes. The ship left port at about 11:00 PM.
Today, we enjoyed a wonderful day at sea as we cruise to Istanbul. Tomorrow morning many passengers will be leaving the ship as this is the end of the current world cruise segment and other new passenger’s will be joining the ship. The ship will be lightly loaded this segment as only about 500 passengers will be on board this segment.
We awoke early this morning and had a wonderful breakfast in the Lido Café. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center with Anne Marie working out on the treadmill and Keith working out on the elliptical machine. Unlike most days, there were not many passengers working out. We suspect this is because those passengers who will be getting off in Istanbul were packing and others were sleeping in to get extra rest since we got back fairly late from last evenings World Cruise Event.
Later in the morning we attended a lecture given by former FBI Profiler and Television News Analyst Clint Van Zandt. His final lecture of this cruise was titled “Hot to Protect your Family from Acts of Terrorism: Information Every Traveler Should Know.” He also shared with us his views about the Iraq situation.
We then went to Team Trivia and this was the final game of this segment. Once again, we came in second place during this segment. With two segments to go hopefully we will finish in first place one of these times.
We had lunch today in the Lido Café and then spend the rest of the stateroom taking care of some errands around the ship.
Before dinner we went to the Friday night Sabbath Services. We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner n the main dining room.
Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Istanbul, Turkey.
Keith & Anne Marie
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