THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

5 November 2008 - Athens In the distance, behind the cruise ship Thomson Spirit, a funnel appeared with a picture of the hauntingly beautiful Mona Lisa. I recognised her instantly. Not because of the picture, but the ship underneath her. This was the old ocean liner Kungsholm. Kungsholm has played a major part in my life (almost as much as the Cunard Queens). She was built at John Browns Shipbuilders in Clydebank, the ship before QE2. Between her and QE2, the shipyard went bust. After a while travelling transatlantic for the Swedish America Line, she was bought by P&O Princess and renamed Sea Princess. I took my first ever cruise on her in 1986, and I visited Ephasus, Santorini, Jerusalem and, of course, Athens. I owe her a debt of gratitude because it was through her that I first developed my love of Greek history and architecture. In 1995 we was moved to P&O cruises and became the Victoria. I travelled on her again in 2001. I was almost 6 months pregnant at the time and made ...

From tomorrow, my blog will slightly change as I will be heading on board QE2 for her last proper cruise before she goes off to Dubai. I'm not sure whether posting this blog from QE2 will be easy or not, so it might be a little sporadic.  I am in port on these dates: 29 Oct   Lisbon (last time I was here it was so foggy I couldn't see the huge bridge across the Tagus! We were right under it!) 31 Oct   Sardinia  1 Nov   Naples (Pompeii)  2 Nov Sicily (its a Sunday - everything will be closed)  3 Nov Dubrovnik (gorgeous)  4 Nov Zakinthos (there's nothing there - I'll get to practice my Greek on the locals)  5 Nov Athens (The Acropolis)  8 Nov Gibraltar (Shopping - ye-hey!)  9 Nov Vigo (its a Sunday again - 4th time lucky, I'm hoping to finally get to visit this place!) 11 Nov Southampton (a big party!) We're taking two stowaways with us: Oscar, my daughter Evie's school teddy, and Rex, the rhinocerous from my aunty's work.