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WELCOME TO CORFU, GREECE Thank you Gilly. It was very nice to hear that you stayed at the hotel that we had lunch at during our drive of the Amalfi Coast. It is a stunning hotel. Thank you so much Emily. You are right. We are sailing a wonderful area of the world. Last night was Black Tie Optional (BTO) on board Serenity. There is only one BTO night on this cruise given that it is a ten day cruise. We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in our room. These are the dinner menus from Waterside. We dined at Prego with friends Lieve and Hector. Hector is an internationally acclaimed Organist who performs on selected Crystal Cruises each year. He is absolutely amazing and we have enjoyed his many concerts on-board Serenity and look forward to his upcoming performances as we close out World Cruise 2019 and on the voyage that comes after this one. Keith and Lieve share a passion for playing Paddle Tennis and that is how Keith first met Lieve and this led to the four of us getting to know each other on previous cruises including having drinks together as well as dinner. We are very happy to be sailing with Lieve & Hecto. We enjoyed an absolutely wonderful dinner with them which included non-stop conversation, delicious dinner, great service and the ambiance of the dining venue.  These are photos from the food that Keith had. He had a Lobster/Octopus appetizer, followed by Caesar salad (light on the dressing) and for his entree Bronzino. Anne Marie had a Crab Tower for her appetizer, the same salad Keith had and Veal as her entree.    Prego was very busy last evening as we expected it would be. We have a full ship and with it being a sea day it is a nice time for people to visit dining venues such as this one. The waiters work as a terrific team helping one another. This includes helping each other serve the courses and clear the dishes from the table. The seas were calm as we sailed throughout the evening to our next port-of-call of Corfu, Greece. It was nice not to forward the clocks by one hour as we did the night before. Keith was up early and enjoyed another workout at the Fitness Center before we had coffee and breakfast in our room. Today is Palm Sunday. There is always a Catholic Priest on-board. On the World Cruises and on selected voyages that celebrate major holidays there is a Rabbi and Reverend on board. Reverend Ed is on board as today was Palm Sunday and on the next voyage he will continue as Easter will be celebrated and a Rabbi will be on-board to celebrate Passover. The Catholic Pam Sunday Mass was scheduled for 4:00 PM and the Protestant Palm Sunday Workshop at 5:30 PM today. Our only visit to Corfu was on-board our first Crystal Serenity sailing in 2005. Corfu is a Greek Island located in the Iornian Sea. It is a popular destination island for tourism. Its overall population is 100,00 residents. Highlights include: Palace of St. Michael & St. George which was built between 1810 and 1924 and presently the palace house the Museum of Asian art of Corfu. Antivouniotissa Museum which includes the old collection of icons from Corfu's Museum of Asian Arts. Liston Promenade which was build between 1807 and 1814. St. Spyridon Church which was built in the 1580s and houses relics of Saint Spyridon and is located in the old town of Corfu. Corfu Cathedral this is one of the oldest monuments in Corfu. New Venetian Fortress which was built by the Venetians between 1572 and 1645. We arrived to Corfu on schedule. We didn’t book a tour since we had visited before. We were the only cruise ship in port other than smaller ships and ferries. Contrast this to when Serenity was here in the summer and five passengers’ ships were docked and three were anchored. With thunderstorms and rain in the forecast we went ashore once the ship was cleared. These is an in-port shuttle taking guests from the ship to the cruise terminal but since we were allowed to walk we walked to the terminal. Crystal offered a complimentary shuttle over to the old town area but we decided to go by foot. Upon our arrival to the old town we walked up and down several streets. We made our way to the New Venetian Fortress. New is a funny way to describe a fortress built between 1572 and 1645 and current buildings within the fortress that were built by the British during their rule of the Island in the early to mid-1800’s. We made our way over to other sites. It was early and a Sunday so the area was very quiet. We returned to Serenity by foot. We encountered a short drizzle on the way over to the old town. On the way back there was no rain although once we were within the port, we could hear thunder and see lightning from a distance. As it turned out, we were wise to take the walk as early as we did. We enjoyed the rest of the day on Serenity. This included having lunch at Marketplace followed by a walk for Anne Marie and Paddle Tennis for Keith. When Keith first went to play there was some water on the court and we dried it off. Later while playing there were some raindrops and a little while after that the sun came out and it warmed up. This is the daily Reflections Program from today. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith
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