Today was a tiring but intriguing day. I had a lot of fun on the site visits. It was interesting to actually be on the Port and watching the daily operations occur up close. I always had this stigma about Ports and how only bad things happen there because in the movies, they only show fight scenes with shipping containers. I loved talking to both the people from Eurogate and DP world. They gave me a lot of insight into how their operations are actually run which makes it more clear to me of what is actually going on when I am watching. I thought it was cool to see the cruise ship parked there and people coming on and off because when I went on one, we did that but I never knew what went on behind the scenes to get us to the port and un boarded.

My favorite machine was the big gantry crane. It was amazing to see it up close and in operation because from afar it just looks intimidating. I thought that the spot where the operator sits was really interesting because you really get a full view of the entire operation, from what is happening below you to what is happening way in front. I thought it was interesting how you only needed 70-100 hours of training to operate the smaller truck, that is only a small amount of hours so theoretically many people could get certified. When the health inspector from Eurogate was talking about the storage space that they have he explained that 1 TEU means one twenty foot unit. So then, he asked what 2 TEUs would be and I raised my hand and answered “two twenty foot units” to which he laughed and said no it means 1 forty foot unit. I thought it was interesting that they still measured in feet and that was the standard.

After the company visit, we went to visit the Limassol castle which was extremely pretty. I loved walking around and seeing the different displays of tombs and artifacts. At the very top, you could get a 360 view of the entire city from the port to the mountains and it was very pretty. We could even see a church in the background. After spending some time there, we walked to the little gift shops and I bought a bracelet for my mother because it was in her favorite color, peacock blue. Then, Lucy and I went to the water and dipped our toes in. The water was quite refreshing and it numbed my feet a little, but as soon as I got out the sun warmed them.