SATURDAY JUN 16, 2012 ATHENS, GREECE - BOARDING THE WINDSURF
Another glorious day - it’s blue skies, hot and sunny outside and the wind is still blowing very strongly. The wonderful news is that we slept for 9 hours last night and have started to recover from the long flights, and the 10 hour time difference between Vancouver and Athens, and the jet lag that comes along with it! This morning was spent with some work on the internet and getting ready to board the Windsurf - the largest of the 3 sleek yachts with large white sails in the WINDSTAR cruiseline. The Windsurf carries 300 passengers when full, whereas the Windstar and Wind Sprit carry 150 passengers. It is going to be a glorious 8 nights and we are ready to enjoy every moment!
WE checked out just before 12 noon and back at the Metro station bought another ticket for 7E each to head into Athens, then transfer out to Piraeus Port to board the ship. Remember me telling you how windy it was yesterday? Well that was like a slight sea breeze in comparison with today which was like a hurricane! We were just about blown away down the track while waiting for the 12:33pm train to arrive! I hung on to our ticket like glue - if I had let it go it would have been in Athens in a minute or two I think!
On the train we sat with our luggage and enjoyed the 40 minute ride into Athens. Today we went 1 stop past Symtagma station to change from the blue line to the red line at Monistraki where we continued on to the port of Piraeus. Today the train was nowhere near as full as yesterday, I guess that is because it is Saturday. We had no problem with luggage, you could roll from the platform on to the train, but I didn’t see any elevator for wheelchairs, we just went up and down on escalators or stairs. Some of the cars have luggage racks. .
Arriving at the end of the train line in Piraeus we caught one of the bright yellow taxis parked outside. Our ensuing trip immediately reminded us of being contestants on The Amazing Race - the taxi driver spoke no English and we spoke no Greek! He knew “ship”, we didn’t know where the Wind Surf was docked, but we knew he was headed to the freight terminal (wrong!). At least we knew that we were not going to win the million dollars so no need to panic too much just yet. We finally got out a piece of paper with a photo of the ship and he finally understood - and started down the road at breakneck speed. We saw the ship and he headed straight through the gate to take us to her! Much yelling by the security guard at the gate brought the taxi to a quick stop! Soon we were deposited at the correct drop-off point along with guests of Seabourn, Sea Dream and a second Windstar ship the Wind Spirit that was on its way from Athens to Istanbul.
There was no immigration to go through (its the EU, everyone it seems can quite freely go anywhere) and a cursory security screening. The mandatory duty free stop where we bought 4 bottles of wine to take on board (you can take on wine but not liquor) and then a short 2 minute bus ride to the ship where we were welcomed onboard and were checked in quickly and were offered tint hors d’hoeuvres and mimosas while filling in the short medical questionnaire. There was no check of our bags for liquor (so we could have bought that G for G&T’s) after all and no lines.
Our luggage arrived at our stateroom at the same time as we did, so we hung most of our stuff hung and even managed a reservation at Candles restaurant for 8:30pm (its the only restaurant on the ship where you need to reserve). We decided that would be a great way to start the cruise - having a steak out on the back deck around the pool as the sun set and we sailed away from Athens.
“All Aboard” was set for 4pm so everyone was up on deck waiting for the ship to cast off to watch the other ships leave port while we were pulling away from the dock by 5:30. One hour later saw us enjoying cocktails up on the Flying Bridge which is at the very top of the ship under the five massive 200 foot white sails. Being on the Windsurf with all the sails into the wind was such a romantic and exciting way to leave Athens and head into the Aegean sea .
All too soon it was time to head down for dinner where the strong wind was quite a challenge for the poor wait staff. We sat right at the back of the deck watching the wake behind us and we had to spend much of the dinner with elbows firmly planted on the tablecloth to keep it from blowing away! (There were also clips to help hold the tablecloth onto the table). We loved every moment, and it was much better than having them close the restaurant due to the weather! WE enjoyed a fabulous dinner - caesar salad and filet mignon followed by creme brulee - with a lovely bottle of chilled New Zealand Venus ? sauvignon blanc wine.
No comments:
Post a Comment