As we didn’t have any excursions booked today, it was around 8.00am when we got up this morning, shortly after the Balmoral docked in the port of Agios Nikolaos, Crete. We hadn’t visited this island before, so we looked forward to exploring, especially as it looked as if the weather was going to be warm and sunny today. 🙂
From our balcony we had a good view of the harbour and I had a look at Google Maps to see if there was anything interesting around. Indeed there was; it was short walk to some unusual sculptures with a little bit of Greek mythology attached to them. In addition, a quick look at the Geocache app showed that there was a cache not too far away, so that would add another pin in my Geocache map. 🙂
After a light breakfast in the Thistle, we returned to 9088 and had a look at the Daily Times, to see if there was anything on this morning, before we went ashore.
Much as we enjoy the excurions and learning about history, geography and culture, it’s good to have a relaxing day which isn’t too taxing on the brain or the body. Last month, during our fantastic tour of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, the trip was very fast-paced and there was not much time for relaxation, so this cruise was a pleasant contrast.
We saw that they were holding a game of baggo in the Lido Bar at 9.30am, so we decided we’d play that, then go ashore. We’d probably get knocked out fairly quickly anyway, as we’d been rubbish so far this cruise.
When we arrived, Ken, the host, put our names down, but he also said we’d be playing in singles rather than pairs. When my turn came to play, my partner was a lady called Dorianne, and she was very good indeed. In fact, it ended 5-5, so we had to play a tie-breaker. We each missed the board on our first attempts, then I got my bag right next to the hole. Dorianne really needed to get her bag into the hole to win the game, and indeed she did. 🙂
Trevor didn’t fare any better, getting knocked out in his round after a tie-breaker, so we left to disembark and to visit the nearby landmark we could see, called the Horn of Amalthea.
As we walked along the harbour wall, we marvelled at the crystal clear water and the rugged coastline. What a lovely placed it looked! Even though it was not yet half-past ten the day was already very warm and the sun very bright.
We took a slow stroll around to the Horn of Amalthea. I was intrigued by this interesting sculpture, some of which was made of glass which apparently lights up at night, as a beacon to mariners.
When I started grammar school age 11, we had to do Classical Studies, much of which was Greek mythology. I vaguely remembered something about the boy god Zeus being brought up on goat’s milk, from the goat Amalthea. One day, when Zeus was playing with Amalthea, he accidentally broke off her horn. To make up for it and as a sign of gratitude, Zeus blessed the broken horn, so that its owner would find everything they desired in it. It became known as the Horn of Amalthea or better known as the Cornucopia or ‘horn of plenty’, an eternal symbol of abundance. When Amalthea died, Zeus used her hide to create his thunder-shield (the Aegis).
Very close to Amalthea’s Horn was another statue, this one also connected with the god Zeus. The statue was called the Abduction of Europa and depicts Zeus, who transformed into a bull to abduct the Phoenecian princess Europa. The bull carried Europa to the island of Crete and it was, supposedly, how the continent of Europe got its name.
You have to admit all the Greek stories about gods and goats and bulls and princesses are pretty far-fetched, but they are interesting nonetheless and many modern-day names originated in mythology. 🙂
From here, it wasn’t far to the geocache. We had to walk along the harbour wall, and go down a few steps, and look for something in the wall. Trevor found a crack between some of the stones and saw that there was a little metal container inside which contained the log, which we duly completed. 🙂
We continued walking along the shoreline which was very pretty and not too crowded. We came across the marina and boatyard of Agios Nikolaos, as well as a lovely little beach with loungers and parasols that had made me wish I’d had the foresight to bring my cossie and a towel. 🙂
We enjoyed walking along and admiring the scenery. At one point we came to what looked vaguely like a park, with trees and bushes and wooden benches at intervals. It was a respite from the hot sun. We spotted several stray half-grown cats, so I delved into Trevor’s rucksack and brought out the pack of Whiskas cat biscuits for the furry little waifs.
What started off as about four cats quickly became around 10! They clearly knew the sound of the bag rustling and they crowded around my legs, miaowing and making other little noises. Most of them were too wary to eat straight out of my hand, so I had to throw the biscuits on the ground in front of them. One of the kittens was much smaller than the others and I felt sorry for her, as she was bullied out of her share of the food. In the end, I did manage to get her to eat out of my hand and she inadvertently gave me a nip with her little needle-like teeth. Ouch! 🙂
We reluctantly left the cats alone and decided it was time for a cold beer (or two), soon finding an attractive looking bar with seats outside. We each ordered a large Alfa beer which went down a treat. I then spotted the bottle of Aperol, so I followed my beer with a very good Aperol Spritz. Trevor had another beer. 🙂
It was now nearly one o’clock, so we decided to return to the Balmoral for lunch, which we enjoyed in the Thistle self-service. We had wanted to take our plates outside onto the pool deck, but all the tables were (understandably) taken in the fine weather, so we just ate inside.
Afterwards we thought it would be good to enjoy our spoils from last night, our winning bottle of cava from the “Majority Rules” game. It would be just spot-on sitting out on our balcony with the well-chilled fizz. I took my book out on the balcony, put my feet up on the glass partition, and thoroughly enjoyed the fizz. When we finished the bottle, we’d timed it perfectly, because we had half an hour or so to get ready before the usual Bubbles and Speak session at five o’clock. 🙂
Tonight we were going to give dinner in the restaurant a miss, as we wanted to be ready and in the front seats of the Neptune Lounge in good time for a very special presentation. Yes! We had Mr. Fred Olsen Sr. himself on board, and he was going to speak about his reminiscences on the early 1950s and his days at sea. 🙂
We therefore got washed and changed and hot-footed it up to the Lido Lounge for Bubbles and Speak with Ivan, as it would be the last one of this cruise. So we enjoyed another free glass of fizz courtesy of Fred, as well as the lively discussion and Q and A session with Ivan, who had been a mine of information.
As we set off towards the Thistle restaurant, we saw that the Balmoral was underway again, and there was an interesting sky with a rainless rainbow in the dark clouds.
In the Thistle, I didn’t eat too much, just enjoying some chilli con carne with a spoonful of rice followed by some cheeses and onion chutney. We were out of the Thistle in good time, and we decided that 6.30pm wasn’t too early to go and stake our claim for seats in the Neptune Lounge, as Mr. Olsen was due on at 7.15pm.
In fact, when we arrived, we were surprised to see that the Neptune Lounge was almost full already! We did manage to get some seats down at the front (which we wanted anyway) – it’s strange to me how many people avoid the front row seats.
We each had a voucher for a free drink (another freebie!!). This was to make up for there not being an Oceans Club cocktail party on our segment of the cruise, as there had only been one sea day. It entitled us each to a choice of house wine, cava, gin and tonic, sherry or Buck’s Fizz, the sort of drinks they give out for free at the cocktail parties anyway. I opted for a glass of house rosé wine and Trevor chose a gin and tonic. When they arrived, the friendly barman had given us doubles. More free drinks on Fred! 🙂
Soon Jack Harrison, the cruise director, introduced Mr Thomas Fredrick Olsen to the stage, on which had already been placed a large chair and table with a glass of water on it. Mr. Olsen, using two sticks, slowly walked onto the stage but, while we thought he would sit down, he discarded his sticks and stood behind the chair which he held onto with one hand for support. Behind him on the stage was a large screen onto which was going to be projected some slides.
Mr Olsen is the fourth generation of the family (he has a daughter, Anette, and a son Fredrick the fifth, who are also directors of the company) and is 96 years old. He was a marvel; he spoke without any notes or prompts and remained standing all the time. There was some unintended humour when he asked for the next photo and the guy in the projection booth either couldn’t find the correct photo or displayed the wrong one, much to the increasing frustration of Mr Olsen and the empathy of the audience who felt for the poor chap in the booth and wondered whether he would still have a job in the morning!
After the general talk, there was a brief Q and A session with members of the audience putting their questions to CD Jack Harrison, who in turn repeated it to Mr Olsen, who was hard of hearing and wore hearing aids. It was all very interesting and it was such a pleasure and privilege to be in the company of the owner of the whole cruise line! Trevor and I found it highly amusing the way the staff all fawned around him, completely subservient and sycophantic towards him.
Afterwards, we just remained in our front-row seats for the show in half an hour’s time, enjoying another drink while we were waiting.
Tonight, the performance featured the Balmoral Show Company, the first time we’d seen them on this cruise. It was an excellent, colourful and exuberant interpretation of rock music and we enjoyed the singing and dancing immensely. Later on it would be time for our turn in the limelight, as the Lido Lounge was putting on Karaoke at 10.15pm, after the quiz. 🙂
We hotfooted it up to the Lido and grabbed a table for the quiz, hoping that Steve and Tracey would join us; we hadn’t seen them all day. As it happened, they didn’t show, and we only scored 11/15 which was not enough to win another bottle of fizz! 🙂
Shortly afterwards, members of the entertainments team came around with the karaoke books. I felt as if I was starting a cold and didn’t know if I would be able to sing. I tentatively practised a few scales and decided it would be OK – no-one expects you to sound like Maria Callas in karaoke anyway! 😀
I waited to see if anyone put their names down first before I did – I didn’t want to be the first one up! A bloke got up to sing and he was quite good; I then put my name down to do You Know I’m No Good by Amy Winehouse, and I was called up straight away.
And so various male and female singers got up, some singly and some in duets. I got up to sing again; this time I did Will You by Hazel O’Connor. Then a couple of ladies got up to do Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf. They’d clearly done it before because they didn’t have to look at the screen and they had all the mannerisms and musical nuances down pat. They weren’t the best of singers, but they belted the song out like true rockers and we really enjoyed their performance. It was certainly different from your run of the mill karaoke!
Once the karaoke finished around 11.30pm, we had a nightcap before returning to 9088. We were due to arrived in Rhodes tomorrow which would be our last port of call, and we were quite sad that we only had two more nights to spend on board the wonderful Balmoral.
We slept well.