Minerva

Cruise Ship Minerva was embarked at the Athens port of Piraeus with our friends Chis & Annie Drayson and John & Liz Reilly and 344 other passengers. This is small by cruise ship standards and was part of the appeal plus the availability of lectures centred around the places we visit on route. The other passengers are inevitably like-minded and like-aged or, from appearances, somewhat older! We and our travel companions eat together at a table for six, enabling us to choose our contacts with other agreeable fellow passengers.

Our balconied cabin enables us to escape the madding crowd and sit in the sun but there are many places around the ship to relax or, if one is inclined, go to the gym, spa or walk round the Promenade Deck - 8 circuits for a mile.

Minerva is the Roman name for the Goddess of The Arts. The Greek name is Athena. Our first excursion is to Athens and to the Parthenon. This temple was built in honour of Athena, who had a multi-dimensional personality with many epithets ascribed to her, including Parthenos (the virgin).

Robert Cole