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