We boarded the Ionian King to sail on the night cruise to Patras in Greece. We had quite a surprise as we were tied up alongside another ship the Blue Horizon - quite a coincidence as we met at the Blue Horizon in Vancouver 37 years ago to this day! It must have been our day - the booking clerk not only gave us a great discount but he also upgraded us to a first class cabin!
This trip began our series of wonderful cruises through the Greek Islands. We cruised past the island of Corfu and visited Kefallonia. We travelled by train from Patras through to Piraeus which is the main port for Athens. Last year this port had a throughput of 13,000,000 passengers which is quite amazing. We cruised from Pireaus to Iraklio on the island of Crete which is the largest of the Greek islands. We hired a car and toured the island. It is wonderful to see the beautiful coastlines and the clear aqua waters. Crete has very rocky and high mountains. Pat spotted a pig and a lamb cooking on a spit outside a restaurant - so guess where we went for dinner? Dinner was great and very reasonably priced. We actually visited the islands in the low season which worked in our favour, as accommodation prices are lower, hire cars are cheaper and the crowds have gone home.
Next we boarded a ship to cruise from Crete to Santorini which is considered to be the jewel in the crown. Our departure time was 8:00pm but due to high winds our departure was delayed until 7:00am the following day. We spent the evening having a few cold beers and some Greek wine with a couple from New Zealand, Tania and Bobby.
As the Lonely Planet says: Stunning Santorini is surely the most spectacular of the Greek Islands. The massive caldera, lava layered cliffs and precarious cliff top towns exude an incomparable sense of drama and impermanence.
Upon arrival at the port of Santorini loads of touts were there to sell accommodation and provide transport to their resorts for the latest arrivals. We chose well and stayed at a lovely resort right on the Mediterranean. Our room (50 mts from the sea) had a balcony with views of a 20 km coastline. Once again the rate was extremely low due to it being out of season. We hired a car and had a great time exploring Santorini. Fira is the main city on the island and is a great place to walk around and explore. It is astonishing the way the buildings seem to hang off the cliffs. In early times these cities were built with narrow winding walkways to confuse the pirates but nowadays they do well to confuse the visitors. The little fishing village of Oia, famous for its sunsets, is spectacular and built high on the cliff. The buildings are painted white with window frames, shutters, doors and domed roofs painted a beautiful shade of blue. The islands are quite dry and arid with water being shipped in - the lucky ones have wells on their property.
Our next cruise was from Santorini to Mykonos - another beautiful island. We met a German couple on the boat, Tony and Elizabeth - Tony works for BMW in Munich and Elizabeth for Lufthansa. On this cruise we called into the islands of Sikinos, Ios and Naxos. Once again the touts were at the port of Mykonos to sell their accommodation but we had prebooked with a recommendation from Santorini - so Christina from Mama's Hotel was there to pick us up from the ship.
We hired a car with Tony and Elizabeth on Mykonos and had a great time sightseeing. Once again our room and balcony had beautiful views out across the sea. We noticed the different architecture on Mykonos - where Santorini had domed roofs, Mykonos had squared off flat roofs - once again the homes and buildings are painted white with blue trim - just spectacular. Next we cruised from Mykonos to Pireaus stopping off at Tiros and Syros. There are 1,400 islands in Greece so one thing about the Greek Islands is that there are so many islands and so little time! I guess we'll just have to come back.
The Greek people have been very welcoming and friendly with many able to speak English - Pat says he's noticed that most of them seem to have a relative in Melbourne!
Athens is a large spread out city. The Acropolis is a great place to visit, although I'm unsure about all the restoration work that is being done - every photo we have taken will probably have a workman or scaffold in it. Other great sights in Athens include the Parthenon, the Agora, the Temple of Hephaestus and the Temple of Zeus. We were checking out the city of Athens and had a great surprise when we met up with Colin and Helen the couple from Adelaide we met in Germany - it's a small world.
Tonight we will leave on a night train for Sofia in Bulgaria.
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