Hello Heraklion and a day in a life aboard

We were on our way back to Australia but instead of the usual long haul flights to get back we were on a sea voyage aboard the beautiful Queen Elizabeth cruise liner.

The trip was going to be 28 days long and we were both slightly concerned that we might find the trip a little tedious or maybe even boring but we couldn’t have been more wrong!

There really was something for everyone aboard – for some there would be lots of deck games, for others laying by one of the two pools and having an occasional cool dip.

For others it was exercise classes or ballroom dancing lessons, gambling in the casino or playing bridge, learning to play other card and board games, doing jigsaw puzzles or even how to paint water colours.

There was a fantastic library spread over two floors with a wide choice of books, and lots of sunbeds scattered around where you could read in peace.

Our favourite organised activities included the many daily high calibre lectures. We had some wonderful speakers for example British journalist and film-maker Jane Corbin who has made over a hundred documentaries, mainly for the BBC. She gave three presentations about her fascinating career.

Another engrossing speaker was the Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk who holds the Canadian record for the most time spent in space (204 days 18 hours). Again, he gave a series of lectures, each more interesting than the one before.

Other wonderful speakers included the hilarious Irish writer and podcaster, Marion Keyes, a retired prison governor who regaled us with tales from the wrong side of the tracks and a retired detective who recounted a couple of real life murders and challenged us to decide who the murderer was!

There was music in different venues around the ship from morning until late night – a string quartet, a traditional Irish duo, jazz and classical pianists, a sax player, singing duos, a guitar player – options for more or less everyone.

Sue and I played Scrabble most afternoons and ended up with 10 games all!

After just three days we arrived at our first destination – Port Heraklion the capital of the island of Crete. Unfortunately Sue was feeling unwell so she and John spent the day aboard while Jonathan and I disembarked to see some of the sights.

We caught a shuttle bus from the cruise terminal into town and once there we jumped onto a double decker hop on, hop off bus, from which we had a great view of the various sites including the Venetian fortress, ancient city gates, defensive walls, bastions and other fortifications.

The highlight of the day was the amazing Minoan palace at Knossos. The first palace was built around 1900 BC but the site has been inhabited since around the 7th millennium BC.

This site is the second most visited archeological site in Greece and is associated with the wonderful Greek myth of Perseus and the Minotaur.

Back on board that evening we stood on the promenade deck and watched the Queen Elizabeth gracefully drop her lines and steam off slowly – heading for our next exciting destination the entrance to the Suez Canal at Port Tawfiq.