54 Days on the Moon

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And the cemetery.Saw the cannon last time we visited Valetta. We were a little late this time.

The next day we were in Souda Bay. I slept in and only had half an hour to showere,get dressed, have a very quick breakfast and head out on excursion. We started off heading to the Commonwealth War Cemetery. The Australians and New Zealanders were heavily involved in the battle for Crete in WW2. Once again let down by the British Command. Even though they knew the German plan they left a lot of the force at the harbours Thus giving the German paratroopers a better chance of securing airfields which they did although they had a large number of casualties.
First some scenery on the way.


And the cemetery.








What I didn't know was that there were more than twice the number of New Zealanders that died here than Australians. This next picture is about a third of the NZ section of the cemetery.

 

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Can't help being a little overwhelmed visiting a war cemetery and noting how young most were.










Now off up the mountain to the Agia Triada monastery

 

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Their museum of priestly garb.






And icons.

 

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Now the monks also made wine and olive oil so down to that museum next.

 

[vmile]

The next day we were in Souda Bay. I slept in and only had half an hour to showere,get dressed, have a very quick breakfast and head out on excursion. We started off heading to the Commonwealth War Cemetery. The Australians and New Zealanders were heavily involved in the battle for Crete in WW2. Once again let down by the British Command. Even though they knew the German plan they left a lot of the force at the harbours Thus giving the German paratroopers a better chance of securing airfields which they did although they had a large number of casualties

I am certainly not an expert on the Crete campaign, but I understand we cannot totally blame the Brits for this one. They (The Brits) had, as I understand it, through Enigma transcripts, determined that Crete was to be invaded by Air, not Sea. Our commanders of the time could not accept this. It was a bit of a very sad disaster.

Loving the Trip Report, thank you.

 

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And they had a shop. Even had Greek Delight. Not heard that name before.


Balsamic creme tastes fantastic.

 

[drron]

I am certainly not an expert on the Crete campaign, but I understand we cannot totally blame the Brits for this one. They (The Brits) had, as I understand it, through Enigma transcripts, determined that Crete was to be invaded by Air, not Sea. Our commanders of the time could not accept this. It was a bit of a very sad disaster.

Loving the Trip Report, thank you.

Though the British had command of the Crete Forces until April 30th which was after they knew of the German plans and despite that kept half of their forces at the ports. Unfortunately there had been 7 British commanders in the preceeding 7 months so preparation was not ideal.
On 30th April the New Zealander General Freyberg took over and it was NZ troops who were defending the first airfield to be taken by the Germans. Freyberg got severely criticised for not sending reinforcements but he had authorised reinforcements but there were way too few vehichicles to get them to the airport and attack the Germans on the first night. During the day the Germans had heavy air support so the counter attack was repulsed.

 

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Now off to Akrotiri where the father of modern Greece is buried.




We passed a NATO Army and Air Force base.


Now at the Memorial.

 

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Now we drive to the City of Chania to visit the old town.

 

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Several layers of past civilisations revealed. Earliest Minoan,

 

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Now to the old harbour. Free time to walk around.

 

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Back to the ship and Lunch at Spaccanapoli.ojaan has her usual porcini pizza and I try the quattro formagi whic is very good.

 

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An afternoon departure from Souda Bay.







Part of the naval base.








And we pass the naval base.

 

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That night we had dinner at Silver Note. A couple of nights previously our waitlist had cleared and we got a message that the booking was for 9.30pm. We cancelled as usually asleep at that time. That night we received the mid cruise Questionnaire so I made a suggestion that due to the obvious limited number of bookings that they limit the bookings to 1 or 2 per suite per voyage. That night the Restaurant Manager visited us in Atlantide and asked if we would like a booking for the next night. However we had already arranged dinner with another couple for that night. So he said leave it to me and I will send you a message for a booking. When we return to our suite after dinner I always check our messages. One was from the restaurant manager with a confirmed booking for 2days time at 8pm.

So here we are. First the restaurant. We were the second couple to arrive.






And the menu.