Grand Final Day. A TV had been set up in one of the lounges to telecast the game from 7am but there was no satellite signal coming through until after the game was over would have been fun to watch with other Aussies. We did get messages through from Matt hosting the boys at our place and he was very, very happy. Don't know if he had a hangover next day. As we were sailing through the Bosphorous Strait we were sailing all day. I went to the gym, in the hot tub ...

Sinop is called The Happy City is a charming little town with a population of 50 000. The Celebrity Constellation is the largest passenger ship that has ever docked there. It was an easy walk into town and we walked to the top of the town to visit the prison fortress which was constructed initially in the 7th century BC when the city was re-founded as a Greek colony from the city of Miletus. It was extended and repaired several times in its history by Persians, K...

Trabzon is located on the coast of the Black Sea and the Port is the gateway to Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan which were all located on the Silk Road and provided good access to European Markets. It is only ten minutes walk to the town. We chose to do a tour from the ship to Sumela Monastery which was a 45 km south of Trabzon. It was a Greek Orthodox Monastery built during the Byzantine era. It was abandoned in 1923 when the Turk...

After our day in Constanta it was good to have a change from the usual San Marco restaurant where dinner is served each night, we dined instead at Ocean Liner one of the speciality restaurants. We had pre purchased 3 speciality dinners. (Thanks Matt chose your birthday for that one you shouted) It really is a speciality restaurant, special attention from all the staff, (could have sent some of them to the dining room where service can be slow.) The chef comes ou...

Spoke to Matt this morning to say Happy Birthday, he is feeling confident that the Hawks can have another win. We have been experiencing windy weather and waves up to 4.5 metres. The ship has been rocking a little but nothing too disturbing. Today we are in Constanta, Romania. We took the courtesy shuttle into the city and though the bus went round and round we ended up not very far from the port. The maps they provide are pretty useless but do show points of in...