The SS Uganda was part cruise ship and part School ship. The front part of the ship was equipped for paying cruise passengers who had all there own amenities, including games rooms, dinner rooms, saloons, swimming pools and elegant decor which would have graced any ship in the P&O line of it's day. Accommodation was by all accounts excellent. At the rear of the ship things were more practical in the school part of the ship. We sleep in dormitories that had been converted from the cargo hold, ate in cafeteria that could seat 300 in one sitting, classrooms, library, a 300 seater lecture theatre/cinema and a student common room. I can imagine third class travel on ships in the past was like this.
We started out early in the morning from outside the school gates with cases packed and parents waving us off on our tour. Our destination was Gatwick Airport and a flight on a old Dan Air London De Havilland Comet 4C to Malta's only airport. Although the aircraft was old I remember she was very comfortable and the food was good, in fact it was the best meal I had in the following two weeks, but I won't let that spoil the story, as I didn't the trip. To be honest the old bird was far better than the plane we flew back on, but more of that later, and I can still remember the excitement as we boarded the plane.
We started off in Malta and with military precision we were board on the ship and the students from the previous cruise were disembarked to go back on the same aircraft that we had just arrived on it. The scale of the organisation must have been impressive with 1200 people arriving while another 1200 people were leaving ship. The bunk beds could hardly have got cold by the time we got down to the dorms with our cases. We spent the night in harbour and in the morning we were let lose on the island with our teachers and had time to look around the town of Valletta, as the ship took on supplies and fuel, before sailing out into the Mediterranean in the evening for the start of our first part of our voyage.
We sailed from Malta to Egypt, this took several days and during that time voyage we encountered stormy weather which is rather unusual in the Mediterranean and I remember quiet a few people feeling sea sick, but we arrived in Alexandria mid afternoon and it was dull and overcast and soon we were let out loss on the souvenir sellers. It was quiet good battering with them to get something to take home. In the evening there was a film in the cinema or if you didn't fancy that their always a disco in the common room to keep you amused.
The next the morning we all got up early and a fleet of coaches awaited use for the drive to Cairo, which in the slow coaches seemed to take about 3 hours. Once there we were shown around the Pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza. Some people had a camel ride but we had been carefully warned about not paying for such rides until we were back on the ground, apparently the camel guides had a habit of charging you twice if you paid when you got on the beasts. From their it was off to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo to look at the collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts compete with a guided tour. It was there we noticed there were no Egyptians in the museum except for the tour guides, and it turned out this was for security reasons as we passed the Israeli prime minsters wife doing the same tour as us. It was an amazing place.
On leaving Cario it started to rain hard, something it does just a couple of times a year. It was quite a sight as the roads simply turning in to dirty rivers as the rain mixed with the sand and the mud. In fact Cairo was quite interesting in itself, with buildings built upon buildings some which seemed perched on the top of the tallest building and mad out nothing more than what seemed to be mud. Amongst you could see building the reflected the cities former glory and riches which shone like golden beacons in the sun, when it was shining. When we arrived back at the ship it was a rush to get on board and sail again overnight to our next destination.
From Egypt we went to Israel for our visit to the holy land. Apparently we were one of the first ships that docked in Egypt and was then allowed to dock in Israel in quiet a few years because of tensions in the region that were just starting to ease. It was as we were waking that we pulled it along side the harbour in Haifa and after breakfast with disembarked into another fleet of coaches for a trip to the holy land.
Our first stop was in Bethlehem there we visited the church of Church of the Nativity. The Church was built over the cave which is believed to have been the birth place Jesus of Nazareth. The thing that strikes you as you enter the church is the size of the door and in order to get inside you have to stoop. The reason we were told where to stop people taking larger animals into the church. After looking around the the church we were taken in small groups into the Grotto of the Nativity to see the birth place of Christ which was marked by a 14-pointed silver star, before leaving the church and boarding the coaches again.
Our next destination was Jerusalem and there we visited the The Garden Tomb which is considered by many to be the burial place of Jesus of Nazareth, which at the time of his death would have just been outside the old city walls. And after a brief stay we were taken to city itself to see the Dome of Rock, the Wailing Wall and to visit the markets and bazaars in the city. I remember at the time being particularly impressed Dome of Rock and its tiled facade, it was an amazing place. I would have loved to have seen more of the city but time was limited and we had to return back to the ship.
After leaving Israel we headed to Rhodes where we disembarked by a motor launch from the ship as the harbour wasn't big enough for us to dock. It was quite fun getting onto the tiny motor launches that bobbed up and down on the waves. Awaiting us on the shore was a fleet of coaches which took us to visit the ruins of the Temple of Apollo on the Acropolis of Rhodes with it's lovely views of the island below. The stay here was brief and soon we found ourselves free to roam around the main town on the island before boarding the ship, which sailed again as the sun was setting.
Continuing or Greek island experience we sailed to Santorini where we rode the donkeys up the winding path to the cliff top town of Thira. I can't remember actually going anywhere there except to roam around the town itself and out into the countryside around it. What I do remember was it was very beautiful and peaceful. It seemed a lovely place to live in the sun. I can imagine the only problem being that every so often a cruise ship and dumps 800 school lids on the island for the afternoon, but I'm sure we weren't that bad the day I was there.
Finally leaving the Greek Island we eventually arrived in Sicily, at was at hat point it felt like we were sadly coming to the end of the trip with just one port of call to go. There we visited the Ancient theatre of Taormina which it is believed was built by the Roman on account that it was built of brick. It was high up on the hillside with lovely views over Messina and to the sea beyond. Once our visit there was over we spent the rest of the day looking around Messina. Visiting the Cathedral, Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Carmelo, Church of Santa Maria degli Alemann and Fountains of Orion and Neptune. As the end of the day drew near we head back to the ship for dinner and back out to sea.
Our final destination was Naples. There the ship docked and the waiting fleet of coaches whisked us for a guided tour of the impressive ruins Pompeii.It lived up to all we had been told about it before we got there in the lectures they gave on-board as we sailed. The ruins were wonderful and you could start to get a feel for what Roman life must have been like, minus the smells. It was amazing a culture so advanced decayed in the way it did when and you understood why the period that followed was called the Dark Ages after the brilliance which proceeded it. Once finished there we had time to spend a few hours looking around Naples before heading off for the airport for the flight home.
The flight how was in a Laker McDonnell Douglas DC-10 series 10. It was the first wide bodied plane I had ever flown in and it didn't impress. Compared to the Comet it seemed flimsy to say the least. At one point the person next to me in the window seat kicked the side panel by accident and we found ourselves looking at the inside of the pressure cabin and the cables and wires that ran down the side of the plane. As we couldn't get it back on the cabin crew had to get the flight engineer, or turned up with a rather worried face to fix the plane. I must say I was grateful to get off when we landed.
Despite the end of a lovely trip coming to an end I remember us all singing on the way back from the airport to the school. I think we were all looking forward to some home cooked food, for the one thing that sticks in my mind, other than places we visited was the smell of the galley, the horrible food and the taste of highly diluted post mix Coca-Cola that was like drinking slightly flavoured water. All the same it was a happy time and a great adventure.
This wasn't the last time I went on SS Uganda, that happened a couple of years latter when when I sailed on her again this time around the North Sea but that is a story for another time. Hopefully Emily and Catherine will be going to Pompeii when they are in the Naples area, I have been there twice and would love to go again and I know they will love it too.
.jpg)
1 comment:
Fantastic blog entry! When were you on Uganda? I sailed on her as a 15 year old student in March 1982.
Post a Comment