Thursday 31 August 2017

Oops! It appears 5 days have vanished! We left Athens and back up to Kotor, so not much new there, wandered round town looking for a shop that was selling a particular bag as a present. Just as we were about to give up there it was.

This is the view from the lighter used to transport us to the shore - the ship is in the background:

This is part of the wall around Kotor:

Again we tried to get to Mykonos, but again, too windy. So days at sea spent reading and relaxing.

A few gym sessions, in which motivation was noticeable by it's absence.

Food is a problem.  Just too many choices and all yummy. Evening meal is a 5 course feast.  Some of us are buckling at the knees for some reason.

I actually missed out the shrimp cocktail!  Talking now with Mike and Chris at the cafe sokrates.

Rhodes:

We found this to be the nicest of all the stops.  A short walk off the boat and into the old town which had quite a lot of character.

The old castle was due a look, which had been turned into a museum.
Reasonably interesting to look around, but you have to bear in mind most of what you see is mostly recent renovations, but nicely done.

Stopped in at a very nice garden cafe for a drink.  Cafe Socrates if you are ever there. Here it is:

 Chios:

Not as nice as Rhodes - just more shops as usual:

Athens day 2

Caught the bus into town and did the Acropolis/Parthenon. 

A lot of repairs are being done to the Acropolis, new stairs in the theatre and they look fabulous.

Parthenon felt smaller than expected.  Quite a trek up in the heat. If not hot, would have been a lot easier.  Crowds made it more wearing. Went through Hadrian's Gate.

Three lines to describe a whole day? Quite a lot of it spent sitting in a bus!

Some time eating nice cherry ice cream. Some spent in the street near our Athens hotel to be, sitting at a cafe slurping back a beer. Some time spent walking in a park heading for Syntagma Square. Athens is a large city and we have only looked at a very small part.

Some wonderfully presented sandwich and ice cream shops.

Athens

Missed out Mykonos due to high winds, so an extra day to be had in Athens.

Easy enough to catch a bus into town from Piraeus. We decided to check out our hotel which we will stay in next week when we finish the cruise. Finding it was easy, it is in a very nice area called Plaka.

Which looks like this:

After a beer, back to Syntagma Square to look at the guards. 

All this needed walking up and down hot streets. The impression is of a bigger than expected city, with only minimal indications of an economic disaster having happened.

We had dinner in Sabatinis, which is a pay more,  for more, restaurant on the ship, due to a voucher supplied by Cruise About. Thanks Nigel!

Truly a memorable dinner, started off with breads and olives with olive oil and balsamic dip. Next came shrimp cocktail, then spaghetti scallops and other shell fish in a tomato sauce.

For main course, lobster tail with risotto. For desert, coffee creme brûlée.

We are just starting to get a map in our heads of the ship. Our excuse is that the pointy end looks just like the blunt end from the inside.  Just noticed tiny signs on the wall indicating sharp end.

Chania, Crete

Not a good day for Rose. It started out promisingly enough, when we were faced with the usual "shall we walk to town from the ship, or get a bus?"

Fortunately, we took a bus, because it seemed about 8km!

Off the bus, into what appeared a large modern town.  Straight into a market area.

After that up and down pedestrian friendly streets.

Rose felt it was lacking old stuff and anything of character. After trudging up and down for an hour or so, a glass of beer was necessary.

We could have searched harder, but ran out of gas in the heat, probably about 38 degrees.

Corfu

Walked from port terminal into what was supposed to be the old town.

Ended up in the suburbs of the new town. Hot. Wound our way back to the old town and ran out of energy, so had to walk back. The usual beer, pizza,coffee, ice cream.

Rose bought a pair of sandals made in Corfu.

Dinner, had bay scallops,shrimps etc, and lobster tail. Yum!

This is the walk from the town to the ship - the big one in the distance. Very tiring!

 

Kotor

Walked around old town, usual ice creams and beers.  Lovely medieval alleys and buildings.

Bill went for a swim, no towel, but still ok.

Dinner at the crab shack.  Appetiser: battered prawns and some puffy things called hush puppies, the the main course of king crab and at least 20 prawns.  They give you an apron to wear!

At sea, from Messina to Kotor

Most of the day spent reading, watching a movie. Went for our first gym visit.  Rose did well considering.  Maybe do a bit more tomorrow. Had a Piña collada on deck five.

Has been a bit stormy, so not so nice outside and Bill a bit queasy.

Did the laundry after much tramping up and down stairs.  This chomped through at least an hour and a half.

Just finished reading Felicia Day's book You are never weird on the internet.

Vaguely interesting.

Rose got cabin fever as Bill trotted around the ship doing the laundry.

Here is a sample of the entertainment on board: