Uh-oh. I jumped the gun and told you about Cyprus and left out the day of the tour we cancelled. Sorry, this is the day between Jerusalem and Cyprus!
So, we let our tour go for today. Very sad that we couldn’t see all the most important places of Israel. As it turned out we found out that Captains have a two-hour leeway for sailing, so we might have been okay. Too little info too late. Apparently, that is the standard with two rules applying. One; there must be no other ship waiting for the space, and two; you might be required to pay the extended docking fee out of pocket. The second is not likely but in popular ports like Ashdod, the first is definitely iffy.
I did meet someone in the elevator just coming back from the ship tour as we sailed that said due to traffic they had less than 30 minutes to swim! That would have been disappointing based on my personal interest in the ruins and the interest in the swim….float!
This morning we had a leisurely, quiet breakfast in the restaurant. Cosmopolitan is open in the mornings. Then Carol and I scored a first place in the morning trivia. We decided to go for a ride on the shuttle just to see Ashdod. It is a very modern city with high rise apartments or condominiums. Many office buildings bore the names of major international companies.
We got off the bus and thought we were going into the Sea Mall. As soon as we entered a guard said, “no shopping.” He repeated it a couple of times, so we quickly turned and left. It was an office building. The mall was across the street and was genuinely nice. Modern, trendy looking, bright, and clean it was a pleasure to walk through. I priced a few things just for fun and they ran about 15% to 25% more than in the U.S.A. We did not buy anything or even get a drink or snack at one of the many restaurants.
It was interesting to me that the food places were at half-floors. Not a full floor above but halfway and to one side. Almost not even noticeable as you took the escalator up or down. In the basement was a limited grocery department. We made our way back to the shuttle stop and boarded the bus with many of the crew. They were carrying bags with some necessities and lots of snacks that they had found somewhere. The crew always knows where the salty snacks can be found!
It was a nice ride around and interesting to see how clearly this modern city sprang up from the desert to support the larger cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. A pleasant day and relaxing. But not what we really came all this way to see!
In the late afternoon we joined our friends for general trivia. There was an N! game but when we looked up N! we thought he was a rapper. I found out later it was meant to be No. 1 Trivia. The top tunes of certain years. Carol is very good at that. The show this evening was Andrew Derbyshire. We really enjoyed his energy which was to the point of craziness. His voice is great, and his repertoire crossed into all genres. Things I recognize and enjoy. We hope he does another performance on this trip.
Tonight, we will sail to Limassol in Cyprus. Carol and I are both excited to add Cyprus to our countries visited. We have a tour booked so I will let you know how that goes. (But, oops, I already did so you already know!)
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