The unexpected tour guide in Athens -Cruise part8

For all my cursing facebook for being so addictive and stealing my hours... there are sometimes when it really does prove its worth. Our first day in Athens was just such an occasion!

I had decided that since I had enjoyed just wandering about in Crete that when we arrived in Athens I would do the same there. However, we docked at Piraeus. Which is a half hour drive from Athens so I took my first ever hop on hop off bus. I enjoyed the experience (if not the cost!). 

It was great to pass by the orange trees laiden with fruit... 

My first stop, the Parthenon? No.

The temple of Zeus? No.

The botanical gardens? Yes! 

 (I cannot describe to you the scent of the lilac trees while walking down this street in the gardens... I really felt drunk from it!)

Not your typical tourist sight perhaps but you have to remember I live in Cairo and I love plants! I don’t get enough green in my life and wandering around these gardens was like inhaling valium! I mean- just look at this cheesy grin!

 I took lots of photos... and facebooked a couple... and while there I found a reply to the shout out I had placed the day before to see if I knew any bellydancers in Athens!

Georgina studied in Edinburgh. While there she was interested in Salsa and in Bellydance. She never made it to my classes there, because I had already moved to Egypt by the time she went there, however thanks to facebook being all it is, she and I share many common friends and when I asked if there was anyone who wanted to meet up in Athens she replied and came to meet me Outside the parliament building. 

There was a small protest there which of course made me think of Egypt. However it was so small and contained and calm that it really wasn’t anything like protests I have witnessed in Cairo!

Georgina and her friend wandered around downtown Athens with me.

 It was lovely to chat with locals and see the place through their eyes and hear their stories.

 In the Plaka, the main town centre, there were some boys doing streetdance.

 I wish I had videoed it. They were dancing to Greek hip hop. What a fun sound! It was also ironic because I hadn’t been able to sleep the night before and had sat up watching street dance 2 on the TV in my cabin! Sometimes I really do feel like my life is scripted.

 (I was amazed at how much graffiti there was everywhere we went around Greece.... and a lot of it, like in Egypt, political too)

(another poor man destined to be forever more a pigeon perch)

We went for some food and I tasted my first gyros. (Which I imagined to be what I had handed out all those years ago when I worked in the benefit agency in UK!) This was a much tastier version! Basically a shawerma, wrapped in a cone of pita bread. We had sakanaki too.

 A fried cheese which is salty and very tasty. More Greek yogurt to finish. This time with candied quince as a topping, which is seemingly the local delicacy!

It was also very interesting to discuss the similarities between our three cultures. Scotland (since she had studied there for 3 years), Greece and Egypt. Some simalarities were so strong it made us both question which culture greek or arabic, had started the trends....... 

( Backgammon - Arabic or Greek? )

(far right.... does look a LOT like an OUD doesnt it?!!!) 

(a 'toot' tree in Athens. Mulberry. Seemingly silk worms in Egypt are given Toot leaves to munch on to produce the silk- something I found out much later but I love it as a fact so had to throw it in!) 

I enjoyed my day so much and felt really blessed to have met such a lovely person and taken around her beautiful city.

Thank you so much Georgina and friends!

 I love that dance has brought me into contact with so many phenomenal women (and men) from all around the world. I miss my days of having my own ‘Hotel BellyLorna’ where I would welcome people to Cairo, however, being able to go to new places and meet new people there too is a gift too! I Love that dance and music transcends language and culture and country. I am so very thankful that I have dance in my life. That it is my life. 

Tourism and Teacher -Cruise part 7

Waking up in a completely different place than the one you went to sleep in is a wonderfully addictive feeling. To wake up not only thinking, what will i do today, but also where are we...? It’s fun!

‘Today’ we were in Iraklion, Crete.

And today was my first day as a proper solo tourist. It was good to get out and take lots of photos. it is have a look at Lorna's holiday snaps time........... 

(I especially like this shot with the fort and harbour in the foreground and the MS Noordam in the distance!) 

Strange to walk into a church and see locals walk in with their short sleeve on and kiss and the icons, light a candle and leave. 

(Sorry this one is fuzzy, but I was trying to take the photo without people realising I was shooting them mid prayer!)

Me playing with my Zoom... Jesus ( I presume it is he) not looking too happy up in the centre of the high ceiling!

Amazingly beautiful detailed ceilings. They reminded me of the coptic churches I have been in in Cairo.

So very different from the experiences when I have been a tourist, visting ancient mosques!

Can anyone explain to me what the point of the metal discs with body parts on them that were hanging from some of the icons in the cathedral?

Of course I had to try the local temptations... This is an orgasm in a tub... (not their name for it- but definitely mine!)

And after taking this opportunistic shot... which I am rather proud of...

of course I also got caught by charlie chaplin himself for a photo... as one does. Not exactly sure what the link is between Mr bendy legs himself and Crete. But it was entertaining! Especially when he tried to get 10Euros out of me for having a photo with him! I did actually laugh out loud in his face.

I felt a little sorry for this next chap. Imagine being so important in the history of your country that they made a huge statue of your face, so that pigeons can deface it for centuries. So kind...

Really enjoyed my day. More than I thought I would. I am not good at being on my own, but actually, there were moments that I actually enjoyed it, just sitting taking in the peace and beauty, and greenery!

What was funny though was being a complete tourist in a new place, wandering on your own and hearing (about 5 times that day) ‘Look.... its the bellydancer....’ and ‘hi teacher!’. Everywhere of course was full of guests from our ship. I felt like a celeb!

Then, at night, I went to the show ‘dancing with the stars’ where guests were actually competing in ballroom dance on the huge stage. That was fun... and I got chatting with some of the guests afterwards, in the dining room, one of whom actually said that he had been so impressed by my show that that is what had encouraged him to dance with way he did. He said that I looked so happy on stage that he knew that as long as he kept smiling he too could make people enjoy his show too. How sweet is that?!!! It was nice to feel appreciated, and useful! 

so... I admit it. I do like this cruising thing......well... it has it's moments anyway!

Rock and Roll and Resolutions. Cruise part6

After the MS Noordam sailed away from Alexandria, I forgot completely that we had had to change our clocks so it was by complete chance that I woke up that next morning with only about 10 minutes to get to teach my class! A rocky start to a rocky day.

I had not been aware at all of the movement of the ship up until that day. It is very interesting trying to teach dance when the ground is literally moving about underneath you. My balance was seriously challenged. I spoke with many of the guests who were repeat cruise attendees and who were telling me all sorts of stories about the sizes of the waves at sea and it made me realise I should feel grateful that actually the Noordam was an exceptionally smooth sail! Still, despite feeling grateful, it is a very strange feeling trying to rock your hips from side to side when the ship is rocking you front and back at the same time. Really enjoyed teaching though. It's lovely to see how many of the ladies keep coming back over and over again. I love the giggling and female comradery in every class. I have to try and do more teaching. it always makes me feel good!

Other than teaching two classes on that day at sea I also went to see their stage show Droom. I couldn’t get over the professional quality of the shows on board the ship. Amazing costumes and sets. Breathtaking dancing and singing. And this was on the stage I had done my show on while we were in Alexandria...!

(photo taken from google! not mine!)

(My photo- which isn't exactly clear, sorry, but gives you an idea of the colour and spectacle that we were treated to!)

During my trip I also managed to the Gym I think 3 or 4 times. Each time I went, I wished I had done more though. How can you be a dancer, yet feel so unfit. It is scary how I can dance for literally hours and hours without even stopping, yet put me on a treadmill and I am out of breath and deep purple! The body really is an amazing thing. I must try to cross train more often though. It can only be good for my body and for my dance!

(photo taken from google! not mine- since I was too busy working hard in the gym to think to take a photo- honest!)

 Many of the guests on board took evening strolls (or speed walks!) around the decks and by the end I was doing what many of the repeat cruisers were doing which was using the stairs constantly rather than the lifts. It was 150 steps from my cabin floor to the dining area. I figured if I climbed that rather than use the lift I could eat an extra homemade cookie with my ice cream! I still managed to put on 3 kilos in my 12 day trip. That shows you how good the food on board was! Mind you... perhaps it was my choice of food...

 (you couldn't just try one could you? well, I couldn't!)

 (I cannot begin to tell you how good the food was.......... I suspect the photos speak for themselves...)

(and what a breakfast to wake up to each day... I did try to resist. but, well, I wasn't as strong as the pull of pancakes! Apart from those days where I had eggs benedict instead!)

One lovely couple I met from Australia were kind enough to send me some photos they had taken during their trip. Here’s me after my first show on board.

(Aren’t you impressed with how well the sunburn clashes with my costume? Impressive huh?!)

Days at sea are strange. Busy, since these are the days I work the most, which is fun, but also somewhat isolating too. I suspect strongly that has more to do with my facebook addiction and not being able to get online rather than anything else!!! Thankfully, I was prepared and took some reading material with me. During the whole trip I managed to get through 3 books. I love reading and need to try to switch off the computer more and open a good. My mum taught me that reading was never a waste of time and it has always made me relax and distress which is quite often the complete opposite of what facebook does to me. Yes, more reading is needed....

So- today’s blog is about remembering three main resolutions ... 

-more teaching

-more general exercise that is not dance

-more reading/less social media (she says writing a blog which she will advertise via twitter and facebook, Doh!)

Hmmm- wish me luck!