Melaka

On Saturday we travelled down to Melaka for a couple of nights. Our hotel looked over KG Morten which is a typical Malaysian village. We did a cruise on this river - was a bit smelly!

Whilst in Malaysia there was a big Indian festival. This decoration done with rice was in the hotel foyer.

I loved the colours in the bamboo.

On Sunday we decided to use the trishaw as a means of transport - we actually needed 2 as the seats were rather small - or were our seats rather large???

Wayne in front of me - the trishaws were hired to take us to the ferry but the men came back and collected us and took us around for the rest of the day. Much easier than walking in the heat and they went fast enough to create a bit of breeze - not an easy way to earn a living!

We visited the King's Palace which is now a museum.

Not a typical Malaysian lunch but very nice anyway.

Not sure I'd want this mixture???
The next day we headed back to the KL International Airport and flew back to Australia - another lovely holiday over!

Kuala Lumpur

We had a stop over for a few days in Malaysia on our way home. We stayed at The Traders Hotel and had a lovely room on the 31st floor. This was our view of the Twin Towers at night.

And in the daytime.
This park is between Twin Towers and Traders - the pool in the distance had lots of fountains playing at different times.

Children swimming in the pool area.

We walked through the park and were fascinated by these trees with the hairy roots???

One day we rode in the hop on off bus and stopped at this Tower and went to the top.

One of the views over KL from the Tower.

And on a level with Twin Towers.

A mosque in the distance.

This is a huge net which is used to house a bird sanctuary.

Athens

The cruise being over we did a quick tour of Athens on our way to the airport. This, of course, included a walk around The Acropolis - here is a photo of 2 of the columns without the crowds of people!!

Part of Athens from the Acropolis.

The theatre which adjoins the Acropolis. There appears to have been quite a lot of work done to this since we were here before.

Mykonos

Mykonos is a beautiful Greek Island and, I must say, one of the cleanest parts of Greece that I've seen.

I walked through the town and eventually found my way to the windmills.

A close up of the hairy part!

And from the windmills you look down on Little Venice.

These photos are typical of the town - and of course more doors!

The lovely clear water - almost made me want to have a swim!

Crete

Crete was different to what I expected - I was really interested in going there as my father was on the last ship to escape before the Germans occupied the island in WWII.

We did a tour to the Lassithi Plateau which meant driving up yet more mountains! The Plateau is where a lot of the produce is grown and has numerous little villages dotted throughout.

Our first stop was part way up the mountain at the Monastery of the Panayia Kera where there was a service taking place. It was very interesting to go into the monastery after the priest had finished and see the way the people were worshipping.

This is a shrine just outside the main building.

And the view from the monastery. Apparently there are only nuns in residence but what a lovely view.

And another view from further up the mountain.

We stopped for a snack at a restaurant and this is one of the windmills for which the area is famous - unfortunately there are not many left in their original state as they have been left to the elements.

These gourds were growing in the garden.

Back in Iraklion this is the Venetian part of the port.

Montengro

This was my birthday and turned out to be quite an adventure. We sailed up the inlet and arrived at Kotor. The weather looked threatening but we were hopeful. Wayne and I were doing a bus tour up the mountain and down the other side!!! What they hadn't told us was that the roads were quite narrow and had 26 hairpin bends on the way up - and the rest wasn't very straight. Quite a lot of reverse driving was undertaken to enable other cars and buses to pass. Because of the traffic and the weather we were unable to get out of the bus to take photos so it was a little difficult at times. I might have got a few more if I'd looked at the view instead of the reverse driving of the buses!!! It rained for about 3 hours and included hail and thunderstorms which echoed around the mountains. We did stop for lunch at the top. On the way down there was flooding in the streets. But it did stop when we returned to Kotor which gave us a chance to wander around the old city.

This is looking down on Kotor and our ship (the black one) from part way up the mountain before the rain came.

And looking over the other side this is the airport!! I think I would rather sail in.

Kotor and the mountains from the ship.

The old city of Kotor is enclosed in a wall - this is part of the wall.

You all know I love taking photos of doors!

The Roman Catholic Church.

Another door.

San Marino

I can't claim to know much about San Marino except that it is a separate land locked country located in Italy. Wayne went there on his tour so I have included some photos he took. He avoided the rain to some extent.

Ravenna

The weather caught up with us at the next stop which was Ravenna which used to be the capital of Italy many years ago. Because of the rain photography outside was severely limited! We visited the Church of S. Vitale which was began in 525 A D. The mosaics are magnificent with lots of gold.

The urn in this mosaic gives the impression of being in 3D. It may well be but you cannot get close enough to see!

Apparently Ravenna is only a few feet above the water so there is constant work being done to ensure that the building doesn't sink. This part of the floor was lifted at some point and you can actually see the water in the space that was left. The design on the right is the original swastika design which was used by Hitler with some alterations.

Part of the actual floor - it was a bit difficult to photograph with so many people walking over it. Because of the water problem they have found it is better preserved by not covering it as the humidity would cause more deterioration.

We next visited Sant'Apollinare Nuovo which had more mosaics.