Sunday 27th April

I opened my eyes this morning to see desert slipping past our cabin in the early morning sun which was also shining directly into the cabin. We are high enough up to see over the banks of desert sand that has been excavated in the massive dredging that has taken place over the years to enlarge the canal. The odd small building occupied by a lonely looking official also slips by occasionally but other than that there is just miles and miles of desert. Our speed is a steady nine knots which this close to land seems remarkably fast and before very long we were entering the first (smaller) bitter lake at 8:15 am. On the banks of both lakes were new holiday resorts which look very expensive as they extend into the lake on narrow isthmuses a bit like palm island in Dubai. By 10:00am we exited the greater Bitter Lake into the main part of the canal heading for Ismailia, the halfway point. We then passed through a large section of Lawrence of Arabian type desert before reaching areas that started to look greener on the Port side, these were being irrigated by manmade tributaries of the Nile, then as we got past the halfway point green bits started to appear on the Starboard side where fresh water was being piped under the canal in an attempt to make both sides more productive. The canal zone is heavily militarised and we were buzzed a couple of times by a military helicopter and armed guards patrolled the whole length of the canal. In the final stages the landscape became more and more urban (and therefore more interesting) until we finally entered the city of Port Said. Then pop! Before we knew it we were out in the Mediterranean Sea. This was my fourth transit of the Suez and having now sailed the Panama I think I can say that I prefer the Suez. Panama is impressive but Suez has more to see and watch. Nine and a half hours and we were back into Europe (well almost) two weeks today and it will all be just memories.

Saturday 26th April

Sailed back down the Gulf of Aqaba during the night and morning found us passing Sharm el Sheikh quite close inshore we could see all the sunbeds lined up on the beaches and one or two early risers paddling on the edge of the sea staring out at us passing. We then sailed back out into the Red Sea before looping round and entering the Gulf of Suez, we will anchor of the canal entrance at 4:00pm tomorrow morning waiting for our departure time for transit of the Canal which is expected to be about 7:00am. Queen Mary is hard on our heels coming up the Red Sea, but we have not been told if she is transiting the canal with us or a day behind. After yesterday’s hike we didn’t do much except go to the talks ‘Romans and what they ate’ which was interesting from how they got their information as much as what they ate. They put the evidence of tomb frescos together with analysis of fossils, shipwrecks etc. Next was another space talk, satellite analyses of amongst other things temperature of the earth’s surface, interestingly here was another scientist pouring scorn on the climate change doom-mongers. Saying more or less what the other guy said, that climate change is happening but it hasn’t got much to do with us or CO2, the gas with the biggest influence on global warming in the atmosphere by far, is water vapour.

Friday 25th April

Early start today 6:00am showered, up to breakfast, where we watched the mountains pass by. Part of the granite mountain range of Aqaba they looked like the mountains you see on computer games, so even and repetitive with the same repeating three colours that they looked false. Then down to register for the trip to Petra and luckily we were on the first coach (out of twenty). Not only was Queen Elizabeth sending twenty coaches, but an Italian liner moored behind us were also sending a batch. It was a two hour drive to Petra and it was all uphill, we climbed 1500 metres through some really spectacular scenery, gradually leaving the granite mountains behind and moving into a sandstone landscape which was a more rounded, softer profile. We passed Bedouin camps and goat herds as we climbed up through the passes looking a little odd with four by fours parked outside their tents. Our guide Youssef was a fierce Bedouin who said Bedouins were Lords of the desert. I didn’t want to argue with him. His favourite expression was ‘if I may be brief’ before launching into a description that used every adjective known to man, preferring those which contained lots of the letter R which he rolled round and round his tongue before finishing the word. And woe betide you if you spoke while he was speaking.

We arrived at Petra (which means rock in Arabic – very apt) and after a dire warning to stick together and if you fell behind you were to make your own way down and back because he wouldn’t wait longer that a minute or two. Then we were off at a brisk walk downhill all the way stopping at various places where Youssef launched into one of his lengthy descriptions of the various rock formations finishing each one with the words ‘onwards the best is yet to come’ and to be fair he was right, each section was better than the last, but as we descended I couldn’t help but wonder how some would be able to get back as they were already showing signs of distress as we progressed deeper into a narrow canyon called the siq which means the shaft. It was an impressive journey through the siq of about a kilometre, (if a bit crowded), the canyon sides almost touched above our heads in places and years of erosion by the rain had woven incredible shapes and colours in rock. By now we had walked about three kilometres and we were nearly at the first stop, the treasury building the one you see first through the gap in the canyon wall, the one Harrison Ford made famous as Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade or was it Raiders of the lost Arc? After a photo stop there Youssef rounded us up with the cry ‘the best is yet to come’ and so we followed him down the path, stopping at various photo opportunities listening to his magnificent descriptions. Down and down again for another three kilometres we continued past tomb after tomb until we reached the almost the end of the valley where we stopped to admire what was left of the Greek theatre.

By this time our original 46 was down to about 15 and we walked on down to the Temenos Gate a huge three arch gate which was the end of the tour and the point where Youssef told us that if we wanted we could continue on down to the bridge which if we crossed it and climbed the hill to our right we would see a beautiful Byzantium church with a mosaic floor which is almost as good as the day it was laid. It was at this point that the fifteen became four and even Youssef didn’t continue. Myself and Carol together with a Swiss couple continued on down we crossed the bridge and started on up to the church. Half way up we heard Youssef’s voice floating up from the valley below ‘turn left now’ so we waved and obeyed climbing higher and higher until we reached the church. The heat was by this time intense and the coolness of the church welcome. We took a few photos and a video and then followed the track back down to another bridge trying to find the route back to the main street, by now there was just Carol and me left, we still don’t know where the Swiss couple went.

After about 20 mins we found our way back on the main route and by now were heading back up the way we came. It was a long hard drag but we were glad we were not being passed by anyone and passing many exhausted people who were a lot younger than us. Through the heat of midday we passed people collapsed on the floor, being helped to their feet by their colleagues, couples having domestics and others saying get me one of those camels. The camels, horses and horse & carts were doing a roaring trade carting exhausted tourists to the top and then galloping down for the next in the queue. In much the same way taxi drivers in the UK pray for rain, these guys must pray for hot sun. When we finally reached the top we must have walked a total of 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) half of that uphill. I drank a litre of water in one go when we got to the restaurant (on top of that we took with us). Unfortunately the walk continued to take its toll, a lady collapsed waiting to board her coach after the meal (heat exhaustion). The restaurant was a bit empty that evening, but it was a fantastic day and well worth seeing.

By the way you may remember some time ago we heard a story from William about his escape from the twin towers, if you are interested in reading it you can see it here (he has just OK’ed my version and added some bits.)

Monday 28th April

Well here we are in Haifa and I have to say I am not impressed, I understand that Cunard are now American owned and they wish to support Israel. The reaction of those around us echo our feelings, I was speaking to someone who said it didn’t make sense, the reason that we didn’t go to Egypt was because there was civil unrest, so they bring us to a country that is permanently at war and I have to agree with him, the sense of unease shown by the security personnel does nothing to reassure people and the constant body scans are unsettling, why on earth did Cunard bring us here? If you were being cynical you could argue that it’s because the only thing to do here is to take Cunard trips to Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem et al, if you were being cynical that is, but from the reactions of those that took them it seems that some of them were not very successful either. Two of our table companions had the bible read to them the whole of the trip there (2 hours) and all the way back! People at breakfast were complaining that they spent much of their trip in traffic, so it looked like we had the best of the deal.

We followed Janet’s suggestion and visited the Bahia Gardens at the top of the German Colony which were truly beautiful, however after the mandatory body scan and the lecture on not chewing gum (does anyone these days?) not walking on the grass, picking flowers, touching the water etc. We climbed to the first gates where there was a notice saying we could go no further, and to access from the top we had to go back down, bypass the gardens through the adjacent streets and enter from the top, as it was sweltering and the climb was steep we gave it a miss and it was just as well because Anna (our waitress at dinner) did go to the top only to be told access from the top was forbidden. I would have been just a little cross if I’d decided to go. Anyway it did not detract from the immaculate garden we did see and we wondered why these were so well maintained and pristine when the surrounding area was so grubby and badly maintained (in fact the whole of Haifa is). Then we spotted the reason. On a plaque by the main gate was a sign saying they were maintained by voluntary subscriptions from Bahia communities around the world, nuff said!

We learnt today that one of the passengers on our deck has acquired fleas from a camel in Petra. We were all warned about the camels and how good looking they were, but love is blind, (holiday liaisons seldom end happily), anyway it’s all been sorted and the unfortunate passenger has had the fleas expunged by the ships de-lousing team and been left to reflect on the folly of being seduced by cheeky charm and sexy smiles, the handler that is, not the camel.

Tuesday 29th April

We decided not to go ashore today, Haifa is not the sort of city one can really relax in. Even on board the tensions ashore are apparent. Sirens from emergency vehicles are almost non stop and from various locations simultaneously. The military airport across the bay is more active than any during the Battle of Britain the sky overhead has twisted vapour trails from aircraft carrying out manoeuvres and lower down, heavy surveillance aircraft continuously circle. We share the harbour with the military and watch throughout the whole day as patrol vessels come and go continuously, many at high speed as they either respond to, or rehearse responding to emergencies. High-tech destroyers looking like alien space craft with their radar invisibility designs slide in and out, very visible to the mark I eyeball. Two American destroyers sat alongside us on the opposite pier with ratings closed up at their gun stations. When I went to the duty free shop I asked one of the friskers if anything was happening and she shrugged and said, no this is normal. It might be normal for them but many people breathed a metaphorical sigh of relief when we finally left, it wasn’t just the ex-military people on board who detected the high state of readiness Israel currently maintains, but as we sailed the mood improved and by dinner the mood had significantly lightened.

Friday 2nd May

We snuck into Naples just as dawn was breaking, doing our normal pirouette in order to berth facing the way out. We settled in snugly alongside Norwegian Jade, which was moored on the opposite side of the pier. Breakfast was later today as we gave all the trips time to clear first and when we finally left the ship the sky was beginning to darken and the Cunard curse was just beginning to fall. Fortunately it wasn’t heavy and the streets of Naples are so narrow, not much actually gets to street level.

We followed the ‘Grand Walking Tour’ which was quite good and a big surprise that we could follow the Italian names/instructions. We went into more churches than I’ve been into for a long time, but the sad thing was they were all heavily vandalised on the exterior with graffiti and I don’t think it’s possible to get spray paint out of white marble. However following the instructions we managed to see most of Old Naples and returned foot weary in the afternoon.

We had an early departure and all tagged out in our winter woollies watched as we slipped our moorings together with Norwegian Jade and we both sailed out and across the bay side by side until eventually she went North and we went West. The phrase See Naples and Die must have been coined in its heyday because its once magnificent buildings have fallen into such a state of disrepair that the residents must be dying of shame. Graffiti covers all reachable surfaces and trees grow out of every available high crack. However it looks like they are fighting a determined rear-guard action as we saw several attempts to clean buildings and monuments, but how long would they would stay clean after completion and the berries taken down is anyone guess.