By the time the ferry arrived back in Melbourne from Portarligton after our visit with Peter and Deryn we had missed the last tram back to our hotel so we took a cab. The driver warned us that it would be expensive because many of the streets around the hotel were blocked for a festival and there was heavy traffic going to the festival. We had planned to call it an early evening but I had to ask the concierge about the festival. It was the Antipodes Festival, or “Zorba ‘till you drop.” A Greek street festival. So much for early to bed. We went out, turned the corner, and heard an unmistakable Balkan beat with the melody carried by a trumpet. Music to warm my Balkan soul, even though I’m Irish American.
There was a two level stage, the upper for musicians, the lower for dancers. The smell of grilled meat was everywhere. A deep breath gave me all the flavor and none of the calories. We did not get to bed early.
The next day we had planned to visit the Fitzroy neighborhood and Federation Square downtown, but, of course, headed around the corner instead and stayed there all morning and into the afternoon. There was dancing, music, a Greek coffee making contest, cooking shows, entertainment on three stages and booths with all sorts of Balkan food and tchotchkes along with Chinese and Indonesian food and tchotchkes (and a display of Chinese electric cars, which are popular here. It was a street fair mixed with state fair.) I liked souvlaki and chips stand.
But I really enjoyed the Greek Coffee, which I almost called Turkish Coffee. That’s what they call it in Albania and Serbia. The Oasis Coffee Roaster sell decaf Greek and Turkish coffee (Oasis sells packages to serve both ethnic groups. I suspect there is no difference in the coffee inside. They did not display “Turkish” branded coffee but Suzi found it on their website. When Suzi asked for decaf when we lived in Albania Albanians asked “why?”)
But the hit of the festival was Baclava Ice Cream. Good on a muggy day. It was honey vanilla ice cream with bits of chopped baclava and an extra scoop of pistachios.
On the mainstage I saw something I had not seen before. The MC was narrating the mic check, interviewing each of the musicians backing headliner, Greek contemporary singer Konstantina Touni, as they were playing their licks to check mics and monitors. It was a lot more interesting than a plain old sound check. At the end of the check we got some great tunes, a preview of the act we would miss to end the festival tonight because we would be on the ship. This is the first folk festival where I saw police, in uniform, jump up on stage to dance!
We were not sure when we were supposed to get back to the ship. All Aboard was posted for 4:30 but having been off the ship for eight days we thought we may have to go through customs. I emailed both the ship and Holland America in Seattle. I got no response. I asked a friend to check with Guest Services on board to see if we needed to be back at any given time to clear customs. They told him we had no need to clear customs so if we got back by 4:30 we would be cool.
So, we stayed too long at the fair. We got a cab to the port, again it took a while because of the traffic, and arrived just before 4, with, what we thought was a half hour to spare. The cabbie refused a tip. Tipping is not part of the Aussie culture. When we got to the ship we were held up until an officer could come out to see us. He told us we had to go back into the terminal and clear customs and immigration.
He had gotten my email and consulted with Seattle. The Seattle office was supposed to call or email me to tell me when to get back. They did not. So, we cleared customs quickly, they were very pleasant, and we got to the room at 4:10, just before the lifeboat drill. We found a note, from guest services, IN THE ROOM, telling us to report at 3:15 to clear customs and immigration. I got an embarrassed call from Guest Services later that night, inviting us to dinner at the Pinnacle Grill, the ship’s upsell restaurant, in a week’s time.
During the lifeboat drill we heard from our new Captain, Thomas van Benthem. He is not the captain advertised for the second half of the cruise in the pre cruise publicity. He was called in at the last minute. This is his first captaincy, and on a Grand Voyage to boot!
Thomas is no novice to Grand Cruising. He was the Staff Captain on Amsterdam when we sailed with her on past Grand voyages. He’s approachable and we had a chance to chat a little. I sent a message to his old boss, Captain Jonathan Mercer, who was delighted that his staff captain had been made Ship’s Master and told me his old captain congratulates him.
We sailed out of Melbourne and when we stood off Ocean Grove to drop off the harbor pilot, my cell phone dinged. Peter wasn’t sending Morse code, but did send me a photograph of Zaandam putting the pilot aboard the pilot boat at sunset.
