Today is our third and final Day at Sea. Those wonderful days spent on a floating hotel with no options but to be mildly busy and mainly relaxed. And the barely functional internet is especially fun.
We woke up this morning to a treat! A new friend visited!
His name was Bartholomeu Chripy III, and he wanted to say Good Morning.
A closer view of Mister Chirpy. He hung out on our balcony long enough for us to worry he was hurt, but he was only resting.
Eggs, bacon, Sausage, Fruit, Orange Juice. Good.
A sunrise is nice, but if the clouds are scattered and sea in view, the hours after sunrise are equally beautiful.
We hit our third and final bridge lesson. No pictures again. But I will tell you this; we got a taste of bridge and liked it. The odds are against our pursuing this hobby when we are home, but we can legitimately claim that our boundaries have been expanded.
For lunch... they turned the pool area in to a massive USA BBQ Buffet.
The results of my BBQ grazing.
The results of Barbie's BBQ grazing.
After the BBQ we kept busy with relaxation, a DVD, a stroll.
We stopped in the cafe for a coffee and sweets. Nothing beats swirling your cafe mocha with a stock covered in sugar crystals.
Soon enough it was afternoon, and we knew that we were in the Dardanelles. The Dardanelles, known to the Greeks as the Hellespont (Sea of Helle, named after the Helle character from the Jason and the Argonauts myth), is the narrow 38 miles strait that connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. But what you should really think of it as that of the natural waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the the Black Sea.
Believe it or not, I braved a massive face wind to get you this picture. But what you see above is two continents at once.
Delineated.
For the record, Europe and Asia are the same land mass and one can argue the same continent called Eurasia, but if I get into how geographers have reclassified all the continents since we learned them in school it makes all the old people upset that what they were taught has become wrong. Like Pluto not being a planet, what you think are continents are not. BUT... the geographical areas of Europe and Asia do exist as continents, and always will, which means that the picture above does in fact show two continents on either side of a waterway.
This map should make it more clear. We are in the yellow shaded area, and tonight we will cruise through that Sea of Marmara in the center, and arrive in the red shaded area by morning when we awake on the coast of Istanbul!
You want to know why this seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean might be the most important seaway in the Western world? It connects these countries with Black Sea ports (Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia) to every other port in the world, including Western Europe, Africa, and even North and South America.
Besides the importance of shipping goods through, think about how important this seaway was during wartime, and then you can see why the Greeks, Persians, Romans, Ottomans, Russians, Austrians, French, British, Germans, and more societies that I cannot bothered to be named fought over this waterway in a dozen major wars.
Hey, the only battle any of us can name from World War I is Gallipoli, and that battle was solely about controlling the flow of ships through the Dardanelles.
Sunset in the Dardanelles.
Are you ready for dinner?
Barbie started with the Oxtail Consomme with Truffles, Vegetables, Mushrooms and Sherry, baked Under a Puff Pastry Dome.
I starred with the Cream of Asparagus "Argenteuil" with Lemon Croutons.
My main is the Combination of Lobster; Lobster "Thermidor" and Broiled Rock Lobster Tail, Served with Fresh Garden Vegetables, Chive-Truffle Rice Pilaf, Melted Lemon Butter and Sauce Hollandaise.
With her sinus infection still not gone, and with shipboard perfumes still assaulting her in various parts of the ship, Barbie actually skipped the main course.
Barbie's dessert, Refreshing Kir Royale Sherbet.
My dessert, R+French Vanilla Creme Brulee with Fresh Fruits.
And that was our momentous day spent cruising through one of the most important waterways on Earth.
Until tomorrow...
We woke up this morning to a treat! A new friend visited!
We hit our third and final bridge lesson. No pictures again. But I will tell you this; we got a taste of bridge and liked it. The odds are against our pursuing this hobby when we are home, but we can legitimately claim that our boundaries have been expanded.
For lunch... they turned the pool area in to a massive USA BBQ Buffet.
After the BBQ we kept busy with relaxation, a DVD, a stroll.
Soon enough it was afternoon, and we knew that we were in the Dardanelles. The Dardanelles, known to the Greeks as the Hellespont (Sea of Helle, named after the Helle character from the Jason and the Argonauts myth), is the narrow 38 miles strait that connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. But what you should really think of it as that of the natural waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the the Black Sea.
For the record, Europe and Asia are the same land mass and one can argue the same continent called Eurasia, but if I get into how geographers have reclassified all the continents since we learned them in school it makes all the old people upset that what they were taught has become wrong. Like Pluto not being a planet, what you think are continents are not. BUT... the geographical areas of Europe and Asia do exist as continents, and always will, which means that the picture above does in fact show two continents on either side of a waterway.
You want to know why this seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean might be the most important seaway in the Western world? It connects these countries with Black Sea ports (Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia) to every other port in the world, including Western Europe, Africa, and even North and South America.
Besides the importance of shipping goods through, think about how important this seaway was during wartime, and then you can see why the Greeks, Persians, Romans, Ottomans, Russians, Austrians, French, British, Germans, and more societies that I cannot bothered to be named fought over this waterway in a dozen major wars.
Hey, the only battle any of us can name from World War I is Gallipoli, and that battle was solely about controlling the flow of ships through the Dardanelles.
Are you ready for dinner?
With her sinus infection still not gone, and with shipboard perfumes still assaulting her in various parts of the ship, Barbie actually skipped the main course.
And that was our momentous day spent cruising through one of the most important waterways on Earth.
Until tomorrow...
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