Wed Oct 2, 2024
Hi All! If you’ve tracked along on all our travels you know how we love sea days. Sleeping in, hanging on the balcony, lounging by the pool, listening to various speaker topics and playing trivia. What’s not to like??
In the morning, the first speaker topic was “The Creation of Modern Greece and its Struggles through World War II”. He discussed how all the various Empires ruled over the Greek people such as the Byzantine, Ottoman and Roman empires. Did you know that the Parthenon was converted to a mosque when ruled by the Ottoman Empire?
During the Roman Empire, they split the area in two. The West was based in Rome and the East was based in Constantinople (now Istanbul). The Roman Catholic Church ruled in the West and the Greek Orthodox Church ruled in the East. Other things he mentioned were that the Byzantine empire lasted thousands of years before the Ottoman Empire took over. The Sculptures from the Parthenon are on display in the British Museum in London. And the British poet Lord Byron went to help liberate Greece so he’s considered a hero there.
After the speaker we went to the presentation on future Regent cruises. We sat there and learned about (and dreamed about!) traveling to places like the South Pacific, Asia, Africa and Australia. It pretty much reinforced our dream of taking an around the world cruise. Why not go to all of those places in one trip!In the afternoon, the speaker topic was “Greece – From Civil War to Debt Crisis”. He discussed how in 1944, British and American troops helped Greece fight off the Communists.
In 1946, civil war breaks out in Greece. By 1977, $5 billion dollars in aid had been given to Greece. But the 2008 banking crisis and Covid really hurt Greece. Eventually the total Greek debt ballooned to $485 Billion dollars. But their focus on tourism lately is helping them whittle that down. After the speaker we played trivia. Oh my, we did terrible! We only got 6 out of 15 questions. Who knew an octopus has three hearts. Geez!
After trivia we got ready for our evening festivities. I’ll send another update after dinner tonight.
The Wandering Italian 