Another magic day weather wise. Lazy breakfast on deck 18, then walked into town. Our first steps on Greek soil. Beautiful little beach town (although I use that word lightly as it was the pebbly variety, unlike our beautiful sandy beach at home). We had no organised tour for the day so just wandered aimlessly. Lots of lovely little waterside cafés, all with free wifi so was a good opportunity to phone home to catch up on all the news. Ran into Lu and Tony who seemed in good spirits and really could have sat there all day, but John was excited as he had heard there was a Greek Invention Museum. You can imagine my excitement, but I feigned enthusiasm and paid 2 euros to head inside the derelict looking building. Well what a pleasant surprise - those ancient Greeks were certainly a clever (and decadent) lot! Who knew they invented the first female robot for wine pouring - still popular today, but now called 'a wife' :) John loved all the surveying equipment and wine pouring utensils - amazing how technology has not changed much from the fundamental principals of that time.
Back on board as we had an early departure - perfect timing for first Mojito of the day (Meg, I think of you every time I drink one ;) and a lovely loll around the pool. Unusual for John, he fell asleep whilst lolling and ended up a tad red! (See pic). Apparently it is well known amongst season cruisers on MSC, that one night is promoted as Gala Night and it was last night. Who on earth carries ball dresses and dinner suits in their luggage? Obviously a lot of people! As we headed to dinner it was like a glitterati red carpet event, and I still really can't work out why. The only thing I could see on the daily program, slightly upmarket, was, that if you were prepared to stay up until 11.45, you could dance with a steward! As tempting as this was, we gave it a miss, preferring an early night and a quick dance around the cabin before bed:)
Dinner was again a masterpiece. We have worked out that there are only max. 200 people staying in the yacht club compared to 4000 'outside'. Easy maths really to explain why our pool, bar and restaurant areas are never crowded. Waiters have time to pour your water for you, peel your grapes and hand pick the mint for the Mojitos:) A little poetic licence perhaps but truly the contrast is that great! We pay for nothing! Fresh water abounds, great coffee, tap beer, French champagne flows all day, cocktails - everything gratis ! In the 'other' area, apart from food, you have to pay for everything - even water! I worked out it has cost us an extra $100 a day to stay in the Yacht Club - value for money? Hell yeah. I reckon we would drink $100 in cocktails and champagne each day! Tomorrow is our only organised bus trip to Ephesus. Early start so had to cut our Casino visit a little short - good for John, bad for me as I was on a roll! Always tomorrow night. Xx