Cruise to Egypt & The Holy Land

On September 12th I was fortunate enough to fly over to Turkey to embark on the Thomson cruise ship Celebration at Marmaris for a cruise to Egypt, The Holy Land & Cyprus.

Our first port of call was Alexandria where I was able to join an excursion to visit the War Cemetery at El Alamein. Whilst there I managed to locate the grave of a friend's relative and placed a couple of tributes from family members against the headstone.

He was Sergeant Albert John Coombes, affectionately known as Jackie, aged 20, from Plymouth, Devon, UK. He was a rear gunner in a Wellington bomber which was brought down by German anti-aircraft fire. He bailed out but sadly his parachute failed to open. A truly emotional experience considering I was the first person to pay homage on behalf of the family to his grave since the airman was laid to rest on October 6th. 1942 following the ferocious, but successful battle led by Field Marshall Montgomery to repel the Axis forces.

I also visited the War Museum and saw many of the armaments recovered from the desert battle. I must congratulate the British War Graves Commission for maintaining the cemetery in such immaculate condition honouring in perpetuity almost 8,000 Allied service personnel who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the defence of freedom and democracy which we enjoy to this very day.

My next port of call was Port Said from where I travelled down to Cairo and visited the Egyption National Museum where I saw the artefacts from the tomb of King Tutankhamun including the Golden Mask. I also saw the mummified bodies of ancient royals including Ramisees II and other Pharoahs, Kings & Queens. After the museum I visited the pyramids and Sphinx at Giza. A truly memorable experience which has given me the desire to learn much more of this ancient civilisation.

My next port of call was to Ashdod in Israel from where I travelled to Jerusalem and visited many of the Holy sites including the Western (or Wailing) Wall, the garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives,the Dome of The Rock or Temple Mount, the Via Dolorosa and the 14 Stations of the Cross leading up to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Calvary where Jesus Christ was crucified and three days later resurrected. I also visited the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem in Palestine where Jesus Christ was born. This was a return visit for me as I had previously undertaken a pilgrimage to The Holy Land in 1996 and it was spiritually very uplifting for me to be back in the birthplace of Christianity, the faith of which I am so proud to profess.

After The Holy Land we sailed to Larnaca in Cyprus and finally to Alanya in Turkey before returning to Marmaris for disembarkation.

A tiring but extremely informative holiday which I would recommend to anyone interested in the history of civilisation as we perceive it today.

Finally, I would like to pay a huge tribute to the officers and crew of the Thomson Celebration. Their service throughout the cruise was fantastic. The cuisine was superb and the nightly Broadway style shows were magnificent. Special thanks to Ruli & Benny, both highly efficient waiters from Indonesia and also to Joel, a very cheerful barman in Horizons Bar, whom I had met on a previous cruise. He hails from the Phillipines. Congratulations and many thanks for a truly wonderful cruise.