This post has changed! Blogger seems to be back on line from Europe, so you now have the story to go with the pictures – now without repetition.

Life on the ocean waves!

It took us about 1 and a half hours to make the 25 minute trip to the port, thanks to people at various hotels who thought the departure times were more like a guideline actually….

The key feature of cruising in the Greek Islands on package tours is queuing. It starts at the port, where you queue to surrender your passport for a barcoded ID card that doubles as identity check and charge card on the ship. Where there is a couple sharing a cabin, a helpful person from the ship sends one to the passport counter to get the cards and the other to luggage security, where you get yelled at by the port police for coming over there without getting the boarding card first! You then got on the ship, line up for a safety drill, line up to link a credit card to your boarding card, line up to get bus tickets to get from the harbour to the town in the first stop in Mykonos and then line up for lunch. Large groups with well coordinated lining up skills tend to do better….

The cabin was tiny but all the utilities work – we’re in the stern and it shakes a bit when the ship manouvres and the propellers cavitate (look it up!). The food is pretty good, but the service is shaky compared to Athens restaurants, but given that the guys serving it are all dragged in from the Phillipines and working under conditions that would not be legal if any of these ships were registered somewhere with labour laws, it is hard to be too critical.

The destinations have been stunning, though. It was very windy when we got to Mykonos and we were put ashore in smaller boats, one of which cracked its canopy and did a real number on the aluminum gangplank crashing into the ship in 3 to 4 foot swells on the way back…makes a good story. The white buildings and tiny streets are amazing, and you could spend serious money if you have addictions to shoes or jewelry.

Tuesday morning we were in Kusadasi (pronounced ku –shad- asi) in Turkey, and we took a bus 17 km out to the ruins of the old Roman settlement of Ephesus, which is remarkably preserved. Jane got a real kick out of walking in one of the known haunts of Anthony and Cleopatra (the real ones, not Mr and Mrs Richard Burton). On the way back we were taken to an operation, subsidized by the Turkish government to promote the handicrafts (rugs, leatherwork and jewelry) of the local nomads, and we now have 3 travel bags instead of two to carry the Turkish rug that Jane bought – so much for traveling light!

We then sailed to the island of Patmos for the afternoon. We took a quick bus trip around the island which included (you guessed it) queuing for 45 minutes to enter the grotto where St John is said to have received the apocalypse that where transcribed as the Book of Revelations. We dabbled our toes in the Mediterranean, having not been organized enough to come ashore with swimsuits, and then back to dinner and sailing overnight to Rhodes.

In the morning at Rhodes we went for a walking tour around the old city, largely built by the Knights of St John with additions and modifications by Byzantines, Venetians and Italians, then we took a bus trip down to acropolis and castle at Lindos, about 50 km down the southeastern (Mediterranean) side of the island, which is reached by a steep climb up very narrow alleyways and steps, made all the more narrower by many other tourists and local vendors. The rocks at the top are covered by the products of the local seamstresses and embroiders and we were the proud owners of a new table runner by the time we reached the bottom again. That afternoon (finally!) we took a taxi to a local beach and veged out under a beach umbrella for 2 hours, after swimming in the surprisingly bracing Mediterranean (not Aegean – wrong side of the island).

We arrived in Crete yesterday morning, and spent most of the morning lazing around the hotel pool while we waited for the room to be ready. It’s nice and warm but so windy that lying at ground level on the beach can get you a complimentary dermabrasion. In the afternoon, we learned how to catch local buses to get back into the city from our hotel and had a good walk around, taking in the local archeological museum that has the world’s best collection of Minoan artifacts. Today we are on a bus tour of western Crete and this post is coming from an Internet Café on the waterfront in Chania (pronounced Hun – ya), you wouldn’t believe the scenery – more of this next time.




Our spacious cabin - I'm leaning on one bed, the couch folds down as the other

This is a street approved for vehicles in Mykonos! Most cars seem to have scrapes....

LIttle Venice area of Mykonos - it was blowing a gale. Our ship is the one on the left with the stern pointing towards the camera

They not only clean the streets in Myknos, they actually paint the concrete white to match the houses!



The library of Celcius in Ephesus, Turkey

Turkish humour or Turkish enterprise!

On the waterfront in Kusadasi - the Sea Diamond, our ship, is behind us.

Possible candidate for retirement home on Patmos - anyone got a million Euros or so to spare?

The Monastary that rules Patmos and the surrounding village of Chora - home of the rcih and famous.

The harbour and old city of Rhodes at dawn.

View of the bay where St Paul is alleged to have landed on Rhodes en route to Corinth near Lindos in Rhodes.
copyright 2006 Malcolm Ogborn

Corinth Canal












Theatre of Herodotus


Agora at the foot of the Acropolis















Dinner in the Plaka

We’re back in our hotel room having a late Sunday afternoon rest, a very sensible local tradition.

We’ve had a great start to the trip. Thursday morning we walked about 1 km to the National Archeological Museum. It is very impressive, perhaps, for those other than committed archeologists, perhaps to much so. They have so much stuff from several thousand years of history that just walking around everything without stopping to look would take a couple of hours. We had a couple of quiet hours by the pool then went down to the Plaka and ended up having a spectacular dinner in a restaurant where the maitre d’ turned out to be from Sydney Australia – pretty much everyone in contact with tourists speaks English, but not with an Australian accent! Note to potential travelers though – the service really does improve when you say please and thank you in Greek.

Walked up though narrow winding back streets the next morning to the Acropolis, getting there about 8.30 a.m. This turned out to be a very smart move as by the time we were leaving at 10.30 it was pushing 30 degrees, we’d gone through 2 litres of water and there must have been about 10,000 people there! We walked down through the partially restored, largely Roman, settlement of Agora and found yet another nice restaurant for lunch, after which we stuck to the previous day’s program.

We did a bus tour into the Eastern Peloponnese yesterday, visiting the Corinth Canal, the citadel at Mycenae (of Agamemnon, Trojan war, etc fame), having lunch in Napthlion, the former capital of Greece after the War of Independence, before going on to Epiduarus, where there was a series shrines to the Aesculpius, of staff with snake symbolizing medicine fame, where there is the largest and best preserved Greek theatre. A series of private hospitals were operated there for several hundred years, with patients bringing “offerings” for treatment – not unlike the visions some seem to have for Canadian Medicare.

This morning we went down to the local flea market where you can buy anything – talk about a cash economy. We saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, much pomp and very difficult marching steps, and then went on to Benaki Museum – very well done and much more digestible than the National Archeological museum. Then, stroll through the National Gardens (full of children on a Sunday – not many places here would have gardens of their own), followed by taking 2 hours over a great lunch and a bottle of Macedonian wine.

Important things learned in 4 days:

Nowhere in Athens seems to make a bad salad.
Macedonian white wine is pretty good but has about 40% more alcohol than the Canadian stuff.
The optimum ratio of Ouzo to water is 1:1!

Off to sea tomorrow morning – next installment probably from Crete. A few photos are included but the unsecured network I've been "borrowing" for the last few days is not on line and the hotel business centre where I am doing this is painfully slow - so we'll send more later!

Our first dinner in Greece at the The Tavern of the 5 Brothers (actually on the side walk around the corner, up the hill a bit...)

The view across Monastiraki, near the Acropolis

The view from our dinner table (The Tower of the Winds!
copyright 2006 Malcolm Ogborn

The view south to the Acropolis |
copyright 2006 Malcolm Ogborn

We made it!

We're here!

No problems on the flights over, we even got some sleep on the Toronto to Frankfurt leg.

We got to our hotel and dealt with things in the proper order; cold beer in roof garden, followed by nap, followed by a walk down to the Plaka for dinner, the area at the foot of the Acropolis which has many historic sites, al fresco tavernas and restuarants and lots of more of less touristy shops. There are always impromptu concerts and performances on the go; we were serenaded through dinner by a bazouki player whose repertoire covered everything from Greek folk tunes to Led Zeppelin! We then explored the subway system which is pretty easy to use to save us a walk home as the jet lag started to kick in at around 10 p.m.

A good night's sleep was had by all and we are going on a museum crawl today!

Here is the evidence!


Views from the hotel roof.

Given the local climate (the temperature is already in the low 30's and it isn't high summer yet), it is no surprise that the beer comes in larger (500ml) bottles.

One day to go until Greece!

We are now down to less than 24 hours and are more or less packed.

For the statistically minded....

Travel time via Toronto and Frankfurt, 17 hours 10 minutes, including approximately 4 hours in total in layovers.

We are travelling light... seriously - checked baggage is 23 kg for both of us (2 bags) (allowed 138 kg in 6 bags), carry on is 14 kg in 2 bags (allowed 40 kg in 4 bags).

This may have ominous implications for the purchase of tacky souvenirs..............

Our itinerary will be:

Athens (5 days)
Mykonos (evening via cruise)
Kusadasi, Turkey, (morning via cruise)
Patmos, (evening via cruise)
Rhodes, (1 day via cruise)
Crete, (4 days)
Santorini, (4 days)
Naxos, (4 days)
Athens, (2 days)

Internet connection availability willing, the next post will be from Athens!

OK, these do not constitute bona fide travel photos, but Claire insisted on seeing what Pascoe looked like after I (Malcolm) gave him his very extensive summer coat trim! 

Jane and Malc on the road

Jane and Malc on the road

Apologies to those trying to leave comments that did not appear. I've found my way around the settings now - none of the comments were lost!

Do you remember when the whole "e-travel" idea started....so why do we have about 50 pages of documents, plus passports to visit one country?