Capnpugwash’s adventures continue to the Black Sea.

[Catherine Janaway]

I haven't played whist for about 20 years - My ex and I used to go to a lot of them when visiting his parents in Devon.

 

I may have to try it again if they play it on the Azura.

[capnpugwash]

Update No 16

 

We have just returned from breakfast on the aft deck outside the conservatory and despite my dislike of buffet restaurants, it was really quite pleasant. the food was fine and to be able to sit outside was wonderful, we sat there for almost an hour, it was that good. When we got there Captain Box was eating his breakfast happily chatting to a couple of passengers. It is a really nice touch that he is seen most mornings either in the buffet or walking around the ship. He is very approachable and will always have time to stop and chat. He answers any questions that are posed and seems to be a thoroughly charming captain.

 

What a lovely town Kusadasi is! And what lovely and friendly people the Turks are. We just spent a couple of hours wandering around the town having coffee and looking at the wonderful items on display in the shop windows. Yes the salesmen do come out and try to entice you in but they speak excellent English and really understand humour. Our walk and the coffee was good fun. We have called here before but on that occasion we headed straight out to Ephesus and so missed the charm of this town, there are quaint buildings, hidden squares and free internet at most cafes. Marvellous!

 

The weather was getting hotter and hotter and it was a real pleasure to get back on board and into the pool, there were only a few people up on that deck and only 3 of us in the water. After quite a long immersion I got out and sat in the sun for 25 minutes but that was enough for me, I rushed off to sit in the shade with a cooling soft drink to listen to my book. I had a light lunch in the buffet and returned to the shade until 2.30 when I headed to the spa. After that I watched Scotland get beaten by Argentina in the rugby and then had a go at the individual quiz, I needn’t have bothered as I was 4 behind the winner.

 

As I am nice and clean I am in the cabin writing this and sampling the champagne, it is nicely chilled and very tasty. It would be nice to have some nibbles to go with it but I don’t have any to hand. I suppose that I could go and get some but it is all too much effort.

 

We left Kusadasi at 6pm and are now heading to Lesbos and the port of Mytilene where we are due at 8am. It is only 75 miles north of us so it won’t be too difficult to arrive as planned. Our speed is 12 knots and the sea is very slight, it has cooled a little to 25/77 from the 31/88 degrees that it reached earlier. Lesbos is renowned for several things and I quite fancy strolling along one of the beaches and perhaps dipping a toe in the water as the weather is forecast to be very nice.

 

Tonight is the Indian buffet in the Conservatory, I would normally go to it but I have found that the curries are dumbed down and have very little taste or spice for this event. Some of the daily ones are still good though but tonight I will be in the main dining room.

 

More later.

[Highly Sociable]

Could be worse Jim You could be wathing the X factor at home.:)

[capnpugwash]

Update No 17.

 

After dinner we went to the syndicate quiz and I think that we had our worst result ever with 11/20, some of the questions were very odd but not to make excuses, we were rubbish. Tonight is another night of course.

 

We headed east-north-east from Kusadasi and now we are heading north past the island of Khios in the Aegean Sea as we make our short trip to Lesbos or Lesvos as it is known locally. The air temperature has risen to 30/86 degrees and there is a 27 knot wind blowing but the sea is fairly calm. We are making 12 knots and have 65 miles to go and a little over 8 hours to achieve it

 

Today is Monday September 26th and the sun is just rising as we head west into the harbour. We only have 1 mile left to run. The sea is a little choppy and there is a cooling 20mph breeze from the north, by all accounts we are set to enjoy another day of pretty perfect weather. It is now 7am and we are still a way off the small quay but as we are anchoring today we are probably as close as we are going to get. In fact there is a tremendous rumbling happening right now which I think is the anchor chain rattling as the starboard anchor is being let go.

 

The wind has increased a little and the sea has waves of around 6 to 8 feet, this makes tendering quite hazardous both on the loading and unloading passengers at the ship and also on the journey back to the ship which is directly into the wind and waves. One of the early tenders returned without having unloaded the passengers and it looked to be a most uncomfortable ride as the waves were breaking over the foredeck and almost over the roof. The upshot is that tendering has been suspended for the last hour and this decision will be reviewed regularly throughout the morning. We are due to sail at 4pm for Istanbul as we have 150 miles to sail.

 

Only one of the two scheduled tours has gone ahead and the second has been cancelled due to passengers being unable to get to the coaches, this means that the ship is quite crowded and the sun beds around the pool are much in demand, with the breeze blowing it is perfect weather for severe sunburn as it feels cool. I will keep my eyes open for lobster impersonators later.

 

More later.

[capnpugwash]

Update No 18

 

It is almost noon and the wind speed has dropped somewhat, this has also reduced the wave height. The combined result of these two factors is the resumption of the tender transportation just now. I won’t be going ashore unfortunately as by the time we get there, it will almost be time to come back. The sea here is quite unpredictable as 2 hours later it was back to 6 foot waves and whilst the wind is less than 20mph, it is still making the return journey interesting. It is 3.30 now and the last tender is leaving the dock soon as we shall sail before 4pm.

 

We actually weighed our anchor and sailed at 4.30 we will sail anti-clockwise around the island of Lesvos and then turn north in the Aegean and head to the Dardanelles through which we shall sail at around 9.30pm tonight, unfortunately it will be dark but the English and Turkish war memorials are normally floodlit and clearly visible. We shall then traverse the Sea of Marmara and enter Istanbul at around 7am tomorrow. We have 148 miles to travel and 15 hours in which to achieve it, it should be no problem but the Dardanelles are quite narrow and we may have to reduce our speed as we sail through them.

 

The Gallipoli memorial was erected by Turkey in 1934 and bears the following very moving inscription,

"Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well."

I am sure that this brought some comfort to the families of those troops from foreign lands that fell in this battle; it is certainly a marvelous sentiment that comes from a sadly bygone age.

 

I am very keen to get to Istanbul which I think is a great and historic city and it clearly demonstrates how 2 distinct cultures and religions can coexist peacefully without confrontation and all that goes with it. Mrs P and I are going on a P&O tour which will include the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, the only reason that we chose this trip is that on Tuesdays the Palace is closed to all but tour groups and we are there on a Tuesday of course. I believe that our dock is with a couple of hundred yards of the palace as we are so small a ship. The cost of the tickets was £38 each which seems a lot but at least it guarantees us access which otherwise would have been denied to us, so it is money well spent. We have been to the Grand Bazaar before and it is a very vibrant and lively place, unfortunately we are only in Istanbul for about 15 hours in total and then we head into the Black Sea which sounds so very exotic and of course is new ground for me, so I am really looking forward to experiencing it.

 

More later

[tom_uk]

Update No 18

.....

I am very keen to get to Istanbul which I think is a great and historic city and it clearly demonstrates how 2 distinct cultures and religions can coexist peacefully without confrontation and all that goes with it. Mrs P and I are going on a P&O tour which will include the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, the only reason that we chose this trip is that on Tuesdays the Palace is closed to all but tour groups and we are there on a Tuesday of course. I believe that our dock is with a couple of hundred yards of the palace as we are so small a ship.

....

 

I shall be interested in this as well. Normally ships dock at Karakoy, across the Galata bridge from the heart of old Istanbul. There are rows of ferry landing stages on the other side of the bridge, but I'm not sure about cruise ship berths. When we were there in late 2009 we were on Solstice which is much bigger, but berthed alongside us was Regent Seven Seas Voyager which at 42,000 tons isn't a lot bigger than Adonia.

[tom_uk]

It looks as if Adonia has indeed docked the other side of the Galata bridge, away from from Karakoy. She's berthed at a dock to the north of Gulhane Park. I think her webcam is showing the view from the asian shore.

[laktex]

greetings from the Queen Victoria as we await berthing from our current anchor position

[capnpugwash]

Update No 19.

 

Dinner was very pleasant and we went to the quiz and came away with no prize but we did have a little more satisfaction as we were only a couple of correct answers behind the winners. That is sufficient for us, at least to be in the chase.

 

Today is Tuesday September 27th and we are sailing north east towards Istanbul on the Sea of Marmara, the city is some 8 miles distant and the sea has small wavelets in the 20mph wind. It is 7.15am and the sun has just risen, the sky is somewhat cloudy but that will burn off as the sun gets higher in the sky. The temperature is forecast to be no more than 24/75 degrees which is nice walking around weather.

 

The marine traffic heading along the Bosphorus and into the Golden Horn was very busy so we had to wait about 25 minutes until the port control permitted us to enter and manoeuvre the ship through 180 degrees to moor on the Old City side at Istanport or Sarayburnu, this is on the opposite side of the Golden Horn to normal and we are very close to the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, San Sofia and the various bazaars. We finally got off the ship at 9.45am, some 25 minutes late; this delay was a combination of the traffic jam and the very poorly arranged disembarkation system. Well to tell the truth there was no system. Everyone queued for at least 20 minutes to descend a single staircase to a single gangway. They should have operated both gangways but for some reason they didn’t.

 

We went on our tour to the palace and it was quite disappointing, the trip comprises a 400 yard stroll through three different park-like areas to a central park area where there are ome very old buildings and 6 or 7 rooms containing ancient artefacts. There are vista points where we could look at the town or the water and then we left. The bus then took us to the Grand Bazaar in about 5 minutes through horrendous traffic where we were disgorged into the street, some time later the bus could be reboarded to return to the ship. The trip was £38 each for a 4 hour trip and was overpriced in my view. Obviously because it was closed other than to groups it was worth it but the palace itself certainly isn’t. We had a local guide who told us that on public days there are queues to enter every room that can take up to 45 minutes each so to avoid that the money is a good investment, but the artefacts and everything else is not worth it in my view. The other thing was that we had to follow him along as he held his stick aloft with the big red 8 on it, I really like that.

 

While we were there I saw Cunard’s Queen Victoria approaching and as we were due to meet my cousin who was a passenger on board I was quite relieved, of course nothing runs smoothly. We were due to meet at 1.30 for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the harbour. At that time the ship was still fiddling about trying to dock, it transpires that the berth was 6 yards too short and the port was crowded so there was no option but to anchor off the dock and tender the passengers ashore. I wasn’t aware of this decision so as the ship appeared not to be docked we went ahead and ate a fantastic Turkish meal, meze with bread and then a lovely kebab. At 2.35 as we were about to pay and leave, my cousin and her arty arrived and joined us, so it all worked out well in the end. The restaurant is The Hamdi Restaurant, Tahmis Caddesi Kalçın Sokak No:17 Eminönü – Istanbul.

Tel: (0533) 658 80 11 - (0555) 992 38 78 - (0212) 528 03 90

Fax: (0212) 528 49 91

info@hamdirestorant.com.tr

http://www.hamdireatorant.com.tr

It is certainly well worth the visit; it sits right by the bus station and ferry terminal and has glorious views along the waterway and Galena Bridge. The other questionable bonus is the Turkish delight and Baklava shop on the ground floor.

 

It is about 800 to 1200 yards from the ship, whichever side it docks and the cab driver worked some magic with his meter and it showed 38 Turkish Lire which seemed to be a rip off, so beware. Even with that sum, the lunch was still well worth it and I wish that there was somewhere like that local to our home.

 

More later

[capnpugwash]

Update No 20

 

I went to Anderson’s Bar on deck 5 before dinner for a couple of G&Ts which were very welcome, sitting there I thought that it was a real pity that we, unusually, would not be staying in port overnight. That certainly seems to be the more usual scheduling. The fact is that we weren’t so one has to accept the fact. We sailed during dinner and our table companions and us were treated to a spectacular display of shimmering lights from the city and in addition all the bridges were decked out in strings of lights which automatically changed colour or display pattern every so often. It was really charming. It took us about 2 hours to reach the Black Sea and as soon as we entered it the ship started bouncing around on the wind and waves. The wind was howling on the open decks and it felt more like the North Atlantic but combined with the tiredness, the rocking sensation ensured that I had a really good nights sleep. Did I mention that we won the syndicate quiz for the 4th time? 18/20 points with a clear 4 point margin.

 

Today is Wednesday September 28th and the sun is just rising, the sky is a little cloudier than we have become used to but it looks like a pleasant day awaits us in Bulgaria. We have been instructed that if we go ashore we will need to go through immigration and have our passports examined, it is really no big deal other than the fact that Bulgaria is part of the European Union, so I fail to understand why they want this extra work. It is not as though illegal immigrants want to go there; they are already in England and the USA.

 

We are due to arrive in Nessebur in 75 minutes time and the sea is much calmer than overnight. It is a tender port so I wonder whether there will be any problems actually getting off the ship. I hope not, although I have no real plans but Mrs P has a tour booked to a local chateau. I will probably go off and have a wander around the town in search of coffee.

 

More later.

[capnpugwash]

Update No 21.

 

We had breakfast on the stern deck outside the Conservatory which is a real treat and we were about a mile offshore when we stopped moving and turned around. I couldn’t understand why until the Captain announced that because of the 4 foot swell we would not be able to commence the tendering operation for safety reasons. He also said that he was exploring alternative destinations locally with the harbour pilot and 30 minutes later we had started moving again and he announced to us that we would be going to Bourgas which was only 10 miles away. This is quite ironic really as we were originally scheduled to call there until 3 months ago when P&O announced a change to the itinerary; it shows that what goes around comes around as they say. We will be able to moor at the dockside in Bourgas which obviously eliminates any tender problems. It is all fairly academic really as neither of us has ever heard of either Bourgas or Nessebur, so it will be an adventure whatever happens, this does of course mean that I will have to go ashore with Mrs P to do things together, bang goes my peaceful morning!

 

The clouds have cleared and the sky is baby blue, it is quite a lot cooler than the Mediterranean and Istanbul, almost sweater weather at 22/72 degrees and we are heading west into a sheltered bay area so the swell isn minimal and we have a 10mph breeze. Our speed is 11 knots currently.

 

The tours office have just announced that they have been able to rearrange the original tours from this town so I can revert to my original plan whilst Mrs P goes off to discover Bulgarian culture. They say that the sun shines on the righteous don’t they?

 

We arrived promptly at 10.05am and the first lines were ashore 5 minutes later. Within 10 minutes we were all secure and the old soviet bureaucracy which must still prevail in this area took over. There were heavily armed police with dogs, local officials and in all about 8 people came on board at 10.30 to clear the ship, this has been accomplished and they are still here at 11.15. Those passengers on tours boarded the buses about 20 minutes ago and have now departed. The remaining independent people have only just been allowed off as the local regulations forbid foot passengers within the dock area so the local town is providing shuttle bus service the short distance between the ship and the dock gates. They are still only using one gangway so the farce of yesterday is being repeated, with queues of people waiting on the stairs. I can’t help but think that there must be a better way to do it.

 

I would say that the port is a dump, but that is being unkind to dumps. There is scrap metal piled high on the quay, lines of ancient dusty buses parked as they are no longer required to transport prisoners to the Gulags, broken concrete fences and old rusting containers. The press were here in force as well, I imagine our arrival is news, maybe we are the first cruise ship to ever enter this harbour, or maybe they want pictures of people who are mad enough to do so.

 

Just the other side of a rusty spike topped fence is a beach, there are a few people walking along it and the mandatory few joggers. It looks quite nice but I will not bother getting off to try it out.

 

It is 1.35 now and I have returned to the cabin after a nice sit in the sun and a steam, I walked through the Conservatory earlier and all of the local officials were in there having lunch, you can’t really blame them as the food on here is so nice and it must be very different to what they are used to. The press people are also being shown around the ship taking lots of photos. Mrs P should be back within the next hour I think, so until then I am going to put my feet up and relax some more.

 

More later.

[u2cruiser]

Wow! You just never know what might happen on a cruise.

Did Mrs P enjoy her tour in Bourgas. Was there much to see?

 

You are missing our own little heatwave here, but nothing beats being at sea. :)

[rolfecms]

...we went ahead and ate a fantastic Turkish meal, meze with bread and then a lovely kebab. At 2.35 as we were about to pay and leave, my cousin and her arty arrived and joined us, so it all worked out well in the end. The restaurant is The Hamdi Restaurant, Tahmis Caddesi Kalçın Sokak No:17 Eminönü – Istanbul.

 

It is certainly well worth the visit; it sits right by the bus station and ferry terminal and has glorious views along the waterway and Galena Bridge. The other questionable bonus is the Turkish delight and Baklava shop on the ground floor.

 

I made a dinner reservation today at the Hamdi Restaurant for our Nov 5th visit. Thank you for the recommendation, Capn. :)

[capnpugwash]

Update No 22.

 

She eventually returned after 3.30 so her 3 hour tour had swollen to over 4 hours. She described this area of southern Bulgaria as very poor and dusty with grey concrete buildings left over from the soviet era. She was disappointed with the tour in its entirety, very uninteresting countryside and the chateau after which the visit was named was in fact a small modern enclave of half a dozen Swiss style chalets, each of which had an artisan working inside it. Metalworkers, confectioners, potters etc. it seems that it is not so much a chalet but more of a supermarket. She was told that laws have recently been enacted directing that all the old soviet structures must be demolished and rebuilt to more modern standards and quality.

 

They are very keen to remove all visible evidence of the previous regime having existed. Her trip included a brief visit to a local beach resort which was filled with hotels, bars and restaurants, just like Benidorm was her view. She also drove through Nessebur which she thought looked quite pretty. I spoke to several people who had ventured into Bourgas town and they all thought that it was very nice with inexpensive restaurants and bars so it seems that the state of the port is not a true reflection of the town. They have built a brand new breakwater around the harbour and are embarking on a drive to encourage more cruise ships to visit the port. I think that Bulgaria is trying to improve its reputation and position and I hope that they succeed, I also believe that their chances might be improved at Bourgas if they got rid of the scrap metal and rusty old containers and made the dockside more attractive.

 

It is just 7.15pm and we have let go our lines and using our thrusters are moving away from the dockside, we will turn in the harbour through 180 degrees and then sail out between the breakwaters and turn north east to begin our 36 hour journey to Yalta. The air temperature is 22/72 degrees and we will have a tailwind of 15mph. We are anticipating some movement on board and a wind shift to become northerly and increase to 25mph which will bring cool weather overnight with possible minimum temperature of 5/41 degrees although nearer to 21/70 degrees during the day.

 

We had drinks before dinner and then after we had eaten we went to the syndicate quiz as usual, having won last night we were handicapped by the deduction of one point and again we were victorious by a margin of two points. The result of this entails us being deducted 2 points tomorrow night, winning that would be a pretty impressive achievement but anything is possible I suppose.

 

Our course is slightly north of east and we are well out into the Black Sea, the sea feels relatively slight and there is no real wind to speak of in spite of the forecast. The evening felt quite balmy as I walked back over the open deck unless it was the afterglow of victory.

 

More later

[Summergee]

Thank you for finding the time to share another of your exploits with us.

I look forward to reading more in the next few days.

[capnpugwash]

Update No 23

 

Today is Thursday September 29th and we have a sea day ahead of us. It is so welcome after 6 port days, one after the other. We are only making 9 knots and we have 214 miles to travel until we reach Yalta in about another 24 hours time, so there is no real reason to rush. The sunrise is due in 12 minutes at 6.57am. Our course is unchanged through the somewhat choppy sea; it seems that the waves are whipped up by the 25mph wind. This is causing a little motion on board but it is a fairly slight lateral roll with no fore and aft pitching.

 

I have just realised that there is only just less than two weeks left on this trip!

 

After breakfast I went to the solo traveller coffee get-together and had a nice chat to one of the Janes, and then there was a lecture by Mick Testoni, who served with the Aldeburgh lifeboat as coxswain for 23 years. He was talking about the old days before the RNLI was officially formed and how the rescuers rowed out to the ships that were in trouble. They were and are such brave men who not only risked their lives for no reward but sadly also often lost them. This is the first of 7 lectures that he will be giving, he is not the most polished presenter but his subject is so very interesting that small things like that can easily be forgiven.

 

The sun is out and the temperature is 22/72 degrees but the wind chill is reducing that by about 10 degrees to be quite chilly.

 

It is now 3.15pm and we continue on the same course, we are 135 miles from Yalta and our speed is 9 knots. The 20mph wind blows from the north and the air temperature has fallen to 20/68 degrees but still feels significantly lower unless you are in a sheltered area.

 

Whilst the sea is relatively calm it does keep dramatically altering its appearance, sometimes it is a beautiful deep blue, earlier today it was as black as coal and now it is battleship grey, I wonder if it is more to do with the colour of the sky being reflected than the sea changing.

 

Tonight is the Black and White Ball and so is a formal dress code, this doesn’t happen too often on this cruise, there are only formal evenings in the 26 days. The remainder are a mixture of casual or jacket required. I can understand and appreciate the formal code but to me the jacket required makes little sense as it is basically casual but with a jacket.

 

More later

[rgaudet]

Update No 23

 

Today is Thursday September 29th and we have a sea day ahead of us. It is so welcome after 6 port days, one after the other.

 

While reading your updates, I was wondering how you were coping dealing with all those port days!! :D

[Andiamo]

While reading your updates, I was wondering how you were coping dealing with all those port days!! :D

 

Me too.

[FoghornLeghorn]

I love traveling along with the CapN....

and

not only is it entertaining, but also educational :)

 

 

I have learned about:

• Niggles
  
• Strictly Come Dancing
  
• Whist
  
• Strawberry Blancmange
  
• Kedgeree
  
• Meze
  
• and Coxswain
  

and I love to hear people use the word "whilst"

(I love that word)

:)

[Oahucruiser]

I have learned about:

• Niggles
  
• Strictly Come Dancing
  
• Whist
  
• Strawberry Blancmange
  
• Kedgeree
  
• Meze
  
• and Coxswain
  

and I love to hear people use the word "whilst"

(I love that word)

:)

 

That's hilarious as I have Googled all of the foods to figure out what they are.

[capnpugwash]

While reading your updates, I was wondering how you were coping dealing with all those port days!! :D

 

Rob, as you may be aware I am not a great sightseeing fan, but having said that you have to make the best of it.:)

 

Update No 24

Both dinner and the quiz were uneventful; we tried hard but only managed to tie second before the deduction of our handicap. Tomorrow we start unencumbered so we will have a better chance. The sea is bouncing the ship around a little at the moment; we have high seas and a 28 knot north-easterly head wind. We only have 60 miles to go until we arrive at Yalta, hence our speed of 9 knots.

Today is Friday September 30th and from the bridge camera I can see Yalta in the far distance. I woke this morning at 5.30am to calm seas and Tom Jones singing Delilah inside my head, I can offer no explanation for it but you know how these things are, once you start thinking about a song it is with you for hours. It is now 6.25 and the sun is about 20 minutes from rising but the eastern horizon is a gorgeous pink and orange hue on the palest blue sky that you could possibly imagine. There is a band of cloud very low on the horizon but the rest of the sky is totally clear. I think that this is really the best time of the day, there is something clean and hopeful about it if you know what I mean. We are sailing at 8 knots as we approach our destination of the day which is now less than 3 miles away. I think that I will go up on the deck to see us sail in. this ship has never been here before so this maiden call may have some special ceremony attached to it.

What a pretty town this is, there is a backdrop of mountains which seem to surround the town and the buildings are lovely, nothing whatsoever like I expected them to be, no grey concrete monstrosities and the port has the look and feel of a fishing port, not at all what I expected of a busy cruise port. My first impressions are extremely favourable and I am looking forward to stepping ashore later and exploring more, hopefully we will be able to get a cab to take us on a local tour and then over to Sebastopol bringing us back in time for lunch in a local restaurant. Perhaps a little caviar and vodka might be appropriate!

It is quite cool and I think that a sweater may be required but the sun is shining and I am on a ship, so all’s well with the world, or at least with my part of it.

More later

[CASPALL]

This brings back happy memories for me!

 

One of my best "cruise moments" was sailing into beautiful Yalta.

It was a sunny day and we took a taxi up to the palace where Churchill was in the wartime.

 

Hope you have a wonderful day Captain!

 

This is better than reading the paper! Thanks!

 

Caryl

[capnpugwash]

Update No 25.

 

As we made our way to breakfast this morning the corridors and lift lobbies were filling up with people waiting for the announcement t commence disembarkation. They are told not to do it but they insist on standing outside the lift doors and blocking the walkways, truly moronic behaviour that demonstrates that age is not always accompanied by wisdom.

 

We fought our way through the crowd and went up to deck 9; we had breakfast in the buffet, or rather on the stern deck outside the restaurant. At one of the tables was the harbour pilot who was busy sampling the western cuisine offered on board. The ship was cleared by the local officials fairly quickly and 3 of the 5 tours have already departed. Apparently we have 640 passengers on board and 550 of them are on tours today, which should swell the coffers of P&O I think. We are back in the cabin preparing to go off the ship. We are required to show our passports today when we leave and when we return, it just shows that the old soviet ways are not necessarily confined to history quite yet.

 

The examination was truly cursory when we got off just after 9am, the quayside was a bit cluttered with boats that had been removed for winter storage and maintenance but it was 150 yards to the terminal building, we were approached by a young guy who wanted to take a group of passengers on a 2 hour mini-bus tour to several local places of interest, he was only charging 17 Euros per person which seemed ok, we got a party of four but he wanted more people so we left him to it. He did make a call on our behalf to a local cab firm and we were able to negotiate a 3½ hour tour of the surrounding countryside including Sebastopol for 100 Euros which was a real deal. He took us along Lenin’s Embankment, by the Chekhov Memorial, the Nevsky Cathedral and Gorbachov’s Dacha. We had a great time, covered about 165 kilometers and saw what we wanted to see. Valeri, our driver even stopped by the roadside and bought us some grapes which he washed for us to eat, they were so beautifully sweet.

 

He had very little English and my Ukrainian is appalling but we had the names of two local restaurants for lunch, he said that they were both good but required local currency which we didn’t have. He recommended the Bristol Restaurant which is 150 yards straight left out of the terminal which took cards. We went there and had Ukrainian Borscht, a shish kebab with a Greek salad followed by ice cream and coffee. I proffered my card but the waiter said that their terminal had been broken for 4 months so we couldn’t use it. I naturally offered Mrs P’s dishwashing services but fortunately for her they took Euros. The exchange rate is 10 Hryvnias to 1 euro so I gave them 50 including the tip and we were all happy. What a wonderful meal it was and frankly most of the dishes were the size that could have been shared had we known. 4 courses plus coffee for £16 each, great.

 

The other two restaurants were Khutorok Lya Mer and Harem, they are both in Sverdiov Street which is very close to the ship and is shown on the P&O map. I would definitely use the Bristol again and would like to try the other two as well.

 

During our trip as we rounded a bend there was a police car straddling the centre linewith his lights flashing, we pulled over to the right as another approached and we then pulled off the road completely. The cars were followed by about 500 cyclists racing through this mountainous region, they were followed by all their support vehicles and took nearly 5 minutes to pass. The last cyclist who was trailing by 300 yards was a 70 year old in the lycra gear but wearing what strongly resembled a Russian soldier’s helmet,

 

We encountered them all again as we returned to Yalta but the old man had either caught them all up and he was in the pack or he had second thoughts and had given up. The car that we were in was Mazda that had a quite overwhelming odour of petrol, I don’t know how old it was but I can safely say that it was a post war model. I kept my window down which not only gave fresh air but also served as a handhold as we hurtled along the three lane highway. I am not complaining, merely observing and frankly I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

 

We are due to leave here this evening at 5.30 to sail to Odessa, I can guarantee that we won’t be leaving without the passengers from the 9 hour Balaclava tour, I can be that certain because the Captain has gone with them and the deputy is not going to sail without him!

 

We are safely back on board, quite full and in need of a little bit of quiet time, Mrs P has gone to the laundrette thinking that very few other passengers will be there, which seems to have some merit. I am going to put my feet up and do a little Egyptian PT.

 

More later

[Balernocalling]

Your daily updates are fantastic!!!I am looking forward to being on Adonia in December.

You are very successful at the Syndicate Quiz........congratulations!!! I hope you have enjoyed the wine!!! keep up the good work!

[marinefish]

Cap'n

Don't worry about singing Delilah inside your head It's Not Unusual !