Saturday, June 26--The Peloponnese

The Peloponnese is the name given to the lower portion of the country; it's still called an isthmus, but is separated entirely by a canal which was completed in 1893, although efforts to that end date back to 700 BC. Nero had plans drawn up and construction started in 67 AD and some say those were the plans that were actually used. Other accounts suggest that the plans for the Panama-Suez canal provided the model. It is less than 4 miles long, and before the canal was built, ships were sometimes pulled over land on a rock road built for that purpose, or cargo was off-loaded from one side and put on wheeled carts to be carried to ships on the other side. Today it is spanned by two major bridges, both of which we crossed.



We drove along the east coast of Corinth and  then into Argos perfecture where our first stop was Epidaurus.Scenery is gorgeous with views of the sea and groves of olives, though usually not the orderly kind of orchards we're used to seeing, rather just scattered about the hillsides. The most famous and best preserved all the ancient theatres in Greece is here. Built in 3rd C. BC, it can seat 12, 000 and is still used for performances, having nearly perfect acoustics.

Some ruins of the temple built to honor Asklepios, the god of healing, are also here in Epidaurus, and we visited a small museum at the site.

Then we headed west across the middle of the Peloponnese and stopped at Nafplio--obviously not a Greek name--which is capital of the prefecture and home to three old fortresses: the Venetian fortress of Palamidi (late 17th C.)crowning a hill in the middle of town, and reached by a flight of nearly 1,000 steps, which we did not climb--
the Acronofplia (14th C--
and the Bourtzi (15th C) which is an island in the bay-- There are some great pictures of the town here; we didn't actually get to tour Naplio since we just had a 10 minute rest stop.
On to Mycenae for lunch and to visit the ruins at the acropolis, which is entered through the Lion Gate--there used to be carved stone lion heads facing toward anyone who approached. This is the ancient home of a tribe that ruled much of Greece for several hundred years, up 1100 BC. Like all good fortifications, the acropolis offered a commanding view to the surrounding area, even to the sea in the east.
We then drove to the Treasury of Atreus, a beehive shaped tomb, aka as tholos tombs, which was the most common form of burial architecture from about 1600-1100 BC.

As you can see, we covered a lot of ground in one day. We finally arrived on the west side of the Peloponnese in Olympia.We weren't really near the town at our hotel, so most of us just had dinner and rested up, while a few of the group headed to the bar to watch the World Cup matches. The chain of  hotels where we stayed (Amalia, pronounced Ahm-ah-LEE-ah after the former queen), were on a grand scale, a couple decades past their glory days, and almost empty except for our group of 18.

Back in Athens--Friday, June 25th

Here's where things will get a little muddy since I lost my travel journal and no longer have the handy dailies provided by the cruise coordinator on the boat. The group disembarked early Friday (25th) and went back to the Hotel Herodion for the night. We actually had a nifty little view of the Acropolis this time around (instead of the airshaft). We spent the day touring some of the other archaeological sites in Athens. In the center of town, adjacent to the Royal Gardens, is the Temple of Zeus...it's hard to get a sense of scale but it was massive.

Here's a side view of the temple of Hephaistos (also spelled Hephaestus), on the northwest side of the Agora.  It is considered the best preserved Doric temple in Greece; construction began 2 years prior to the Parthenon (ca. 449 BC).

Here is a view of the Acropolis from the temple site.

I couldn't resist this little bit of domesticity on one of the areas being worked within the Agora.

This is me standing outside another "library"--that of Roman emperor Hadrian, built in ca. 131 AD; it served as a cultural center for Athenians at the time. You can also just see the Parthenon way up in the background.

We walked through the Royal Gardens and went to the Parliament buildings.


While we waited patiently for the changing of the guard, friend Anne made the acquaintance of a non very shy pigeon.

The guards in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier are considered to be the cream of the crop.

It was VERY hot and they periodically got to go inside a hut where a soldier in regular uniform gave them a drink of water and wiped the sweat from their faces.
We found a nifty creperie where we had dinner and retired early in preparation for our 7:30 am bus departure next morning.

Thursday, June 24--Aegina

Our last island of the boat tour--so sad it is coming to an end. This Saronic island is also just a day-trip away from Athens. Aegina is also treed with pines and pistachio orchards and was--thankfully-- cloudy on the day we arrived because we walked up a long hill to a monastery and to the Temple of Aphaia.There were beautiful flowers in some gardens along the way...note the incline of the street here.

Here is a view of the harbor with the Galileo prominently in view.

We could not take pictures in the monstery itself, Agios Minas. This is a small chapel just at the entrance.I found the monasteries to be incredibly serene (at least to the casual visitor) as well as beautiful--often well-tended gardens outside and the ornately painted interiors of the churches.

Dating from 480 BC, the Temple of Aphaia is one of the best preserved examples of Doric architecture, and is built on the site of much older ritual celebrations--possibly 2000-3000 BC.

We then wandered down the hill to have lunch in town with friends Steve and Nancy.  Lunch was accompanied by some accomplished beggars.

The four of us wandered around town and did a little shopping. Here's a picture of one of the many waterfront cafes in Aegina.

We  then reboarded for the short return trip to Zea, Piraeus to spend our last night on board.

We went into town for a wonderful dinner with our whole group and then headed to the Dora Stratou theatre for the folk dances. After several attempts interrupted by rain, they gave us rain checks and we took the bus back to the boat. If you want to see all the pictures from our cruise through the Cyclades, the photo folder is here.

Wednesday, June 23--Poros

Heading back north, we had a short swim stop at an island I am still trying to identify --Kythnos maybe? Only strong swimmers were allowed to go in because of the wind and current, so we stayed on board. We docked in Poros town for the night, separated by only the narrow Strait of Poros from the body of the Peloponnese. You can see remains of a small fortress that used to guard the passage.

It was really nice to see trees again and there was a lively waterfront here. This island is close enough to Athens to be a day trip. We walked up the hill to the clock tower.
On the way we passed the library, which was closed of course, but still it was the first one we had seen. I also like this picture because I still have my travel purse and prescription sunglasses which were later stolen---grrr!

Tuesday, June 22--Delos & Mykonos

Two of the most well-known of the Cyclades, Delos is an archaeological site with no permanent residents and must be reached by a chartered launch, usually from Mykonos, although we were picked up from the Galileo, bright and early. There was once a thriving town on this tiny island--estimated at 25,000--where there was a thriving slave market and generally trade made it a wealthy place. The ruins certainly indicate that there was plenty of money here, and many beautiful mosaics remain. It's initial claim to fame was being the birthplace of Apollo and his sister, although the Sacred Lake where they were supposed to have been born was drained in later years and is now just a bright patch of green vegetation in an otherwise sere landscape. Temples were built by those from many of the islands that traded here, in honor of the gods and this is the home of the Naxian lions.
We sailed into Mykonos at about 1:30 for a short 4 hour visit.
 This is certainly a scenic island, if really touristy. The famous windmills are here though they were not in full sail the day we visited.
Little Venice, the area where houses appear to rise right out of and defy the insistent waves, was loaded with picturesque restaurants and shops.
Don't you love the clever enticement to come in and shop for shoes? I looked at an extraordinarily expensive pair of earrings in one of the shops--beautiful to behold but I wouldn't even try them on given that they cost about 4 times my monthly discretionary income! I did find a couple of small watercolor prints on our wanderings and brought those home instead. We motored back to Syros to find safe, wind-sheltered, harbor for the night.

Monday, June 21--Syros

There was a "swim stop" in the morning, where Hal and I took the two single kayaks into this little bay.

We hit the port of Ermoupoli (Hermoupolis) at about 2 pm. Christian, our "cruise coordinator" did a guided tour of the old part of town, the architecture of which reflects the Byzantine occupation rather than more traditional Greek style. There is a Casino in town right next to a church but we didn't go in--to the Casino, that is--we did go in the church later that day. The town is built on two hills and the other hill, AnoSyros, is the older part of town with houses stacked upon one another, a monastery at the top. It was hot and the hill was steep so a bunch of us piled into cabs for the ride up and the walk down.

I have attached a partial copy of the brochure asking visitors to please respect the privacy of the homes in this area.
The views from the top of the hill were spectacular and Syros seemed more an ordinary island with regular shops for clothes and hardware rather than just  endless rows of tourist shops. Of course, tourism counts for a whopping 25% of the Greek economy, so it's not too surprising that it seems so predominant on some of the islands.the economy of Syros, however, is focused on  textile, dairy and horticulture, and some remnant of their glory days as ship builders. there was in fact a huge cruise ship in the docks being retrofitted and offered for sale--didn't catch the price;-)
This was a town with more than the usual number of feral cats.

Sunday, June 20--Antiparos & Paros

We anchored off Antiparos for a "swim stop" in the morning. Also had a Greek language lesson with our "visiting" cruise coordinator (Iossif was his name) from another one of Variety's ships. Then we docked at Paros' main port of Parikia.
The island of Paros is the home of fine white Parian marble, used throughout the ages for sculpture and temples. Ihla had arranged a bus for whoever wanted to check out the beach on the other side of the island and then the fishing village at the north end, Naoussa. We drove through but didn't stop at the small mountain village of Lefkes (Lefkas) which is supposedly known for it's weaving...wish we'd had time to stay there. We weren't really into beach bathing, so took a walk up the beach and had lunch with several of our comrades at the "Blue" cafe--very pleasant.
Then back down the beach to take the bus up to Naoussa (spelled various ways). In this little fishing village was a small church for sailors (dedicated to St. Nikolas), remains of a very small Venetian castle, and some octopus drying on racks. Back in Parikia we went to "Our Lady of the Hundred Gates" church (Byzantine).
When we got back to the boat for "Greek Night" --dinner and dancing-- we actually had ouzo and octopus for "mezedes" (appetizers). I liked the octopus, but never could get used to the ouzo, even ice cold. This dinner, like every other meal on the boat, was very good and way too much food. The only reason we didn't gain weight was because of all the walking we did during the day. Paros was definitely one of my favorite islands--I wish we could have spent more time there.