Day 11 – Katakolon (Olympia), Greece

We pulled into the beautiful little port town of Katakolon under gorgeous blue skies. When we originally planned this trip, we tried first to avoid the “high season” of the summer when everyone and their brother is travelling then second with an eye towards the most ideal temperatures for the area. Of course you can never predict local storms that may crop up and so we were really fortunate to have such ideal weather and temperatures during the entire trip. I know we all commented on several occasions how one could not have asked for better weather than what we experiencing that day…and it was like that every day.

Our first order of the day in Katakolon was to find the rental car agency that we had booked our car for the day with, which turned out to be very close to the ship’s docking point. We quickly filled out the required paperwork and were ushered to our awaiting chariot, the highly sought after yellow Fiat Panda! The very one in the picture on the company’s website that we had requested. For those of you not fortunate enough to have driven, passengered, or seen a Fiat Panda, it is approximately four feet long, two feet wide has four seats with room enough for one. So, with directions to Olympia provided by the lovely lady in Katakolon Car and Moto Rentals, we were on our way. About one kilometer into our journey, Melauna points out that we are just about out of gas, so at the next petrol station available, we pulled in and had the attendant add enough for the rest of the day. When was the last time you had an attendant fill your gas tank for you? Now we were on our way. Left after three kilometers at the photo stop, then five kilometers and right at photo stop, then 29 kilometers to Olympia, per the gas station attendant. Photo stop? I guess that meant traffic light. So, at the second photo stop, there was no sign for Olympia so I just kept on going. Quickly realizing that we should have in fact turned, I turned the precious little Fiat Panda around and pulled back up to the light to turn left and head to Olympia. The light, or photo, turned green, and I stalled little Panda. No problem, just a quick restart and we will be on our way. Just a quick restart….just a turn of the key…just a…nothing. The piece of shit miserable excuse for a car had died. I mean completely dead. No nothing. Dead in the water, or road as it were. I mean who rents out yellow Fiat Pandas anyway? More importantly, who pays money to cram four people into a vehicle clearly intended for a single anorexic dwarf? So, fortunately, Melauna had her iPhone with her as well as the paperwork with phone number for the rental agency. When I say fortunate, I cannot stress that enough. I mean, if we didn’t have that, we would either still be out there or else the Greeks would be telling the story to their friends about the little lady pushing the little yellow car yelling “pop the clutch!”, “Pop it!”, “POP IT!!!” But alas, we were able to put in a call to Katakolon Car and Moto Rental and within 20 minutes we had another Fiat Panda delivered to us, this one orange, along with a heartfelt apology. Now we were on our way. About 30 minutes later we arrived in the ancient city of Olympia and were out and walking amongst the amazing 2,500 year old ruins of the site of the original Olympic games in honor of Zeus.

We spent the next two hours or so just wandering around the various sites and in retrospect, having a knowledgeable guide with us would have been helpful but we had opted to do this one ourselves so were limited to reading the accompanying plaques adjacent to individual sites. In reality, I read a couple of them then just enjoyed wandering around and taking it all in, not always knowing exactly what I was looking at. Melauna played tour guide for awhile, reading from the map that she had obtained at the office located at the start of the Olympic trails. I don’t mean to imply that the time that we spent wasn’t enjoyable because it certainly was but it lacked the back story that makes it that much better. Lyn and I found some little pieces of rock laying around the ruins that could have possibly been originally a piece of a statue or monument that we would stealthily sneak into one another’s hand, passing them along like a couple of spies. (If anyone from the Bureau of Greek Antiquity is reading this, the previous sentence was a work of fiction and did not actually take place.)

After finishing up our time wandering through the ancient Olympic site, we spent some time in the two museums located on the grounds as well. Honestly, the pieces in the museum were as interesting as the site itself. Extraordinary statues, coins, building edifices, weaponry, etc., all of which has been excavated from the site over the past 120 years. After leaving the museums, we headed back to the little orange Panda and began our drive back to Katakolon for lunch and our last shopping opportunity of the cruise. Melauna had read about a spot for lunch located right along the harbor called Karouso’s. What a great lunch! Just as it had been described, this little restaurant was right on the water and the food was excellent. Mom and Melauna both had the shreemps which were as long as your arm…well big anyway. Lyn had the shreemp spaghetti, and I had the pork gyros and an Αλπα beer which the waiter had recommended. Actually I had ordered a Mythos, which was in fact offered on the menu, but the waiter shook his head and said Αλπα was real Greek beer. With all of those Greek letters in the name, I couldn’t argue. Turned out he knew his beer…quite tasty. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their lunch and afterward mom and Lyn walked through the two lanes of shops that paralleled the harbor while Melauna and I returned the rental. Once again, we were given all sorts of apologies and even a keychain for our trouble with the little yellow Fiat Panda. They were really nice folks and I would not hesitate to do business with them again.

Melauna and I then found our way to the shopping area where mom and Lyn had already gotten a head start. I think that everyone found something to bring back as a memento of our time in Greece. Lyn and I both found items in the same Greek art gallery and were able to get a discount since several items were being purchased between the two of us. A gentleman was helping Lyn with her purchases while a woman was wrapping my item, a reproduction of a water pitcher from the 5th century B.C. depicting Hector and Achilles. She spent considerable time carefully wrapping the pitcher and afterward we thanked one another and said what a pleasure it had been to meet and do business with one another. I was across the street catching up with the girls when I hear “Sir!” “Sir!” coming from behind me. It was the woman from the shop that I just left…so I go back. “Umm…sir…did you pay for your piece?” Crap. After offering 38 apologies and my MasterCard, I was back on my way to hunt down the girls. What a buffoon. We only had about 20 minutes before we had to be back on board and so mom and Lyn headed for the ship. Melauna had sworn that she would not step foot on board until the last possible minute…she made good on the threat.

Despite the early car troubles everything turned out well and we didn’t really waste a lot of time with the issue. As said earlier, the weather could not have been any better and a great time was had by all. It is always sad to realize that your trip is coming to an end, such as it was today. But we have eaten some wonderful meals, visited some beautiful and incredible historic lands and made memories that will last a lifetime. What else could you ask for?

Back on board, Melauna and I had dinner back in the Manhattan at our assigned table much to the delight of the downstairs open seating attendant I am sure. Dinner was great as always and tonight we were witness to the Great Baked Alaska spectacle. Not sure what this was nor how to describe it…All of the wait staff parading around to music with a big Baked Alaska ice cream cake on a silver serving dish. Great! Now let’s eat it! After dinner, I decided to give the craps table a chance to apologize for the rude treatment given to me last night. I received more rudeness. After about 30 minutes of steadily seeing my pile of chips steadily diminish, I went back to the room. After about an hour, I thought to myself “maybe I made to hasty of a retreat…maybe I should go back for just one more chance.” I know what you are thinking…idiot. Not so! Sheldon got on a roll like none I have ever seen. Literally. He held the dice for a half an hour after which I was well above break even for the trip. He was given an ovation when he finally rolled that seven and an even bigger ovation when he cashed out. I’m not sure what he started with but I know he walked off with a thick stack of black chips. Wow…what a roll. I stuck around for a few more rolls then cashed out myself and headed back to the room happy with my decision to come back and play. A great way to end the day.

Day 10 – Santorini, Greece

I noticed this morning as I was making my way up to the Explorations Café for my morning coffee that a letter had been placed in everyone’s mailbox outside their stateroom door. The letter was from the captain and was explaining the actions that were being taken due to the occurrence of several cases of Gastrointestinal Illness, or GTI. Not the best way to begin the morning, but certainly better than someone that was actually suffering from the illness. There were some minor inconveniences that we noticed such as removal of the salt and pepper shakers from the tables. Bread and butter were no longer left on the tables during dinner. In the buffet lines, everything was handed to you so that you did not handle any of the serving utensils. Like I said, pretty minor stuff. Lyn mentioned that their stateroom attendant had apologized for not vacuuming their room because they were under a “code red”. I am not sure what vacuuming has to do with the spread of GTI, but whatever. If it does, then please don’t vacuum. As we disembarked the ship, everyone was given a bottle of hand sanitizer which was nice to have although we had all been carrying our own anyway and had been using it throughout the trip.

After going to the Queen’s Lounge to receive our tender ticket, we had about a 30 minute wait before our number was called and we proceeded to Deck A to meet our tender. As we stood in line, mom started bouncing like a little girl saying “I can’t wait! I can’t wait!” That was about the cutest thing ever. As I had mentioned in the original Pre-Cruise Planning Blog, Santorini is mom’s favorite place in the world and this will be her third time to visit the island. It is easy to see why this is her favorite. Santorini is an absolutely gorgeous place with a terrain unlike any that we had seen thus far on our trip. The ship stands at anchor within the caldera of a volcano with the main part of the island making a horseshoe shape open to the northwest. The weather could not have been more perfect; clear blue skies, about 75°F and an indescribably blue Aegean Sea.

After a quick five-minute tender to shore, mom, Melauna and Lyn made there way to the cable car that will take them to the city of Fira. I opted to walk the trail to the top. Much has been said about the means in which one gets up to Fira, the options being: cable car, donkey ride, or walking up the trail. Here is our experience: The cable car ride lasts about two minutes from start to finish and there are six car holding six passengers each. It took me about 20 minutes to walk up the trail and I had to wait about ten minutes for the girls at the top. So, you do the math on the time spent waiting in line. Obviously some people just aren’t physically able to make the 1000’ vertical climb but I did see lots of older folks on the trail just taking their time and making plenty of stops to enjoy the views. Now, the donkeys…I was under the impression for some reason that the donkeys, which by the way, were outnumbered greatly by full size mules, would stay to one side of the trail, while the people walking would be on the other. Not so. The donkeys/mules are wherever they want to be and you get the hell out of their way. Much has been made of the stench associated with the trail and while yes, you do have to watch your step occasionally, the aroma was not much different than a horse pasture. If you are offended by horse poop, then stick to the cable car. I don’t mind it and I never heard anyone complaining, wanting to go back or anything like that. Again, much has been made about the ill treatment of the donkeys and in fact as we disembarked the ship, we were advised against taking the donkeys for that reason. I personally never saw any ill treatment, nor did I see any of the handlers lovingly stroking the beasts’ ears while they nibbled on hand fed carrots. That is not to say that either may have taken place but I just didn’t happen to witness it. It is a strenuous walk, no question and my calves let me know that I had ascended about 1,000’ in 20 minutes but I am glad that I opted for walking the trail up to Fira and if you are physically able would definitely recommend it.

After meeting up with the girls, we began making our way to Tony’s Car Rental where we had reserved a car for the first part of the day in order to drive out to Óia for lunch. It probably took about 20 minutes to walk to Tony’s and was not too hard to find. If you pay attention, there are small signs, some pretty faded, that point you in the direction of his business. Tony had our car ready for us and after filling out the requisite paperwork and a general overview of the island we were off and running to Ammoudi Bay in Óia. We had seen the Samantha Brown Passport to Europe episode of Santorini and her spot for lunch, the Sunset Taverna, looked to be an idyllic place for lunch. We found it with no problems and were one of the first customers for the day, arriving at about 11:45. It really was a beautiful spot for lunch. Right on that sapphire blue water, a very light breeze blowing in across the small harbor and only a few wispy clouds in the sky. Our waiter took our drink orders and suggested that we come take a look at the fish that had been brought in that morning since they wouldn’t be on the menu. We decided on a large Red Snapper for the table to share. While waiting on the grilled Snapper to arrive, we all enjoyed fried eggplant, grilled banana peppers with yogurt and fresh bread. The grilled Snapper was excellent and enjoyed by all. After lunch, we made our way back to the little rental car for our drive back to Fira. I should mention here that the road down to Ammoudi Bay is very steep and the rental was a stick shift…and Melauna was driving. I really thought for a minute that we were going to be stuck there in Ammoudi Bay with a burned up clutch, certainly not the worst place to be stuck but not part of the plan. We did, however make it up the hill and back out onto the road to Fira. Things got a little dicey once we made it back to town as the one way roads that we had been on when we left were still one way roads but now going the wrong way for our needs. It took some driving around and backtracking, but eventually we made it back to Tony’s where we dropped off mom and Lyn so that they could do some shopping in town, while we headed off to the Santos Winery to hopefully tour the vineyard. It only took about 15 minutes to reach the winery but unfortunately no tours were available. The views from the winery itself, however are incredible and worth the drive for that alone. Before heading back, we found the gift shop and bought a bottle of wine in the gift shop to enjoy that evening at dinner. We found our way back to Tony’s with no problem this time and dropped off the little rental no worse for the wear. Tony and his wife both were a pleasure to work with and should we have the opportunity to come back to Santorini and stay for longer, which I really hope we do, we were given a brochure of the hotel owned by his parents that he suggested we stay.

We wound our way back through the narrow shop lined streets that were becoming so familiar in this part of the Mediterranean and ran into Lyn and Mom right away. We shopped together for awhile then drifted to other areas, Melauna finding a jewelry shop that made her a one-of-a-kind custom made pair of earrings with Santorini lava, the ubiquitous blue eye and silver. We found a little taverna that sat high up on the island ridge that gave a commanding view of the harbor to enjoy the last minutes of the day sharing a glass of wine and fresh bread.

Afterward, we had decided to walk the trail back down to the ship and after seeing the line for the cable car, there was no question…that was until we spotted mom and Lyn right up at the front of the line. Sorry to all of the other 2,000 people standing in line…but…well…sorry. Five minutes later we were down at the water’s edge and did a final bit of souvenir shopping before time to get back on board.

That evening, we had reservations for the Tamarind pan-asian restaurant which so many have raved about. Dinner was very good, but honestly with all that had been made of how good the Tamarind was I suppose that there was no way to live up to the expectation. Like I said, it was good but given a choice between Tamarind and Pinnacle Grill, I would choose the Pinnacle. The chocolate covered football-sized fortune cookie was delicious, however and I would highly recommend that. That is if you enjoy delicious, humongous, chocolate covered things.

I gave the craps table another chance to take my money and indeed it did. The usual players were all there; Chuckie, Paulie, Sheldon and Tom. All really nice guys but nobody doing any good that night. I ended the night now down for the trip.

So many of the places that we have seen have been both beautiful and historically fascinating. Santorini; is one of those places that I think that I could come to again and again and never tire of. Mom was so happy that we all felt the way she did about her favorite place in the world. So many times it seems that we tell people how wonderful a place, a restaurant, a movie or any number of things is only to have that person shrug their shoulders and say “yeah…it was nice”. Obviously not experiencing the same magic that we did. Santorini, I don’t think can be oversold. It really is that beautiful.

Day 9 – Kuşadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

What an incredible day! Let me start off by giving a lot of credit to Levent, our guide for the day. We learned early on that the organized ship tours were not for us, and so for some time have done research on our own and arranged our own guides, when one is needed, for the various cities that we visit. We have never been let down by our guides, but as with everything in life, some are better than others. Levent was one of, if not the best guide that we have ever had. Our tour was booked through Ekol Travel; however it appears that Ekol pulls from an independent travel guide pool and so I don’t believe that he works for them exclusively. That having been said, I am sure that one could request him through Ekol Travel. Anyway, more on Levent later…but back to the beginning…

Today was one of our longer days in port, arriving in Kuşadasi at around 7:00a and not leaving until 7:00 that evening. The alarm clock rudely woke us up at 5:45 to get the whole thing started. We had arranged with mom and Lyn to meet them by their elevators at 7:30 to make our way off the ship and to meet our guide. Mom and Lyn were right where they were supposed to be as I ran down the stairs after hurrying through my breakfast up in the Lido…definantly not how I like to start the day…but that’s the way it goes. Immediately after getting off the ship, we were found by Levent and he gave us a brief overview of our itinerary for the day and then took us to our spacious eight passenger van…plenty of room for the four of us, Levent and our driver. Our first stop was the supposed House of Virgin Mary. I say “supposed”’ since there is no hard evidence to support it; however there is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence to suggest that the house is in fact the final resting place of Mary. Most of the house has been reconstructed to appear as it would have around 58 A.D., with the only actual remains of the house being the lower two feet or so. This was an incredibly peaceful area and well worth the visit. After leaving the House of Mary, we headed to Ephesus and this is where we spent the majority of our day. Levent took time to point out all of the various parts of the ancient city and gave an excellent explanation of what we were seeing as well as putting it in the context of the greater city itself and the time period in which it would have been built, who would have been there, the social status of those that would have been in various parts, etc. In summary, Levent was not just pointing out various structures, but rather recreating a scene such that the ancient city of Ephesus came to life. We walked down main street, stopped in the shopping mall and visited the proposed shop of the silversmith that spoke out against the new Christian religion being preached by the apostle John. We stopped in the city’s hospital and pharmacy across the street and walked through the terraced houses of the wealthy. After spending time in the Library of Celsus, we passed through the agora or market place and then finally on to the theatre. Not to oversell the point, but this was an amazing tour through this ancient city made so much more enjoyable by the easy explanations, thoroughly accommodating and enjoyable presence of Levent. As a side note, most all of these ancient sights that we have seen throughout the cruise require walking along either rocky or uneven walkways, because, well…their ancient…therefore, myself, Lyn or Melauna have always tried to be by mom’s side to offer a steady arm through these areas. Enevitably, there were moments when one of us was not right there by mom’s side to help and in those rare instances, Levent always was, and always gave a loving pat on her hand as one of us approached, handing her off to resume our role. Tour guide aside, he really is a great human being and a joy to be around.

After leaving the heart of Ephesus city, we drove up the hill to the Church of St. John which allows a commanding view of the valley below in which Ephesus is nestled. Oddly enough, or maybe not, there was a call to prayer from the mosque adjacent to the Church of St. John while we were wandering around what remained of the once great Christian church. Even more interesting, as we drove back down the hill to the Temple of Artemis, we were able to see in a single frame a pagan temple, a Christian church and a Muslim mosque representing 3,000 years of various religious domination in that area. Unfortuantly all that remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, is a single column. The rest having been used as a quarry to build many other structures, including the Church of St. John and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

After leaving Ephesus city, Levent gave us several choices for lunch and we chose an authentic Turkish meal at one of the four Nomadic co-ops of the area. We had an absolutely wonderful meal outside under a large tent and enjoyed grilled peppers with yogurt, olives, green beans in a pepper mix and grilled chicken. Levent and I had a local red wine that was really nice. After lunch we were given a fascinating demonstration of carpet making which is the primary source of revenue for the co-op and watched as one of the local girls worked on a cotton rug, even letting Melauna have a go at it. They showed us the process of spinning silk from the cocoon to create a single thread and how that is then dyed using the local materials available such as saffron, tobacco, etc. Afterward, we entered the den of money takers….we were shown rug after rug after rug…all very beautiful…two more so than the rest. There must be something in that Turkish tea that makes a person want to drop all that money on a rug. But how many opportunities does one have to buy a beautiful handcrafted Turkish rug from a nomadic community in...well...Turkey? It is certainly a one-of-a-kind piece of Ephesus that we will cherish forever as will mom with the one she bought. All in all, it was a very pleasurable experience and it wasn’t as bad as I am making it out. This was not a high pressure sales job at all and everyone involved was very nice and their work was beautiful. This was an unexpected side trip to our plan for the day, but one that I am certainly glad that we had the opportunity to experience.

After finishing up at the co-op, we made our way back to Kuşadasi and had to say our goodbyes and give our thanks to Levent for showing us his amazing city. I really hope that one day we will be able to meet again.

We still had a scant few minutes left before needing to be back on the ship so I accompanied Melauna to the little “Grand Bazaar” there near the port while mom and Lyn headed back on board. We weren’t long but did manage to find Melauna a pair of Blue Eye earrings that she had been looking for before heading back ourselves. Since we had a late back-on-board time, we missed our 5:45 seating for dinner and opted for the Any Time You Wish seating on the lower level of the Manhattan. The dinner was excellent as usual, the wait staff excellent as well; however the attendant that we checked in with at the front of the dining room seemed a little put out at our dining preference, and went as far as to remind us that we would be expected to resume our regularly scheduled dining time tomorrow…whatever jackass. After that little reprimand, all went well though and ended another outstanding day. Wiped out from the day, once again, we skipped any of the evening festivities and called it an early evening.

Day 8 – Mykonos, Greece

Captain Mercer sped through the night to give us an earlier arrival time into Mykonos than was planned, which originally was to be at 1:00p. Not knowing that we would be arriving earlier, we had pre-booked an excursion through the ship that would allow us to visit the island of Delos as this was the only option for one to visit Delos at that late in the day. We arrived in the bay near Mykonos around 11:00 and just had a relaxing morning and early afternoon enjoying the view until we needed to head down for our departure to Delos. Fortunately, mom and Lyn were back to feeling well and ready to get out and see the sights.

As mentioned, the ship was at anchor in the bay at Mykonos Town, so it was necessary to take a tender from the ship to land. This was a quick and easy five minute tender ride. Afterward, we took another tender out to the island of Delos. This tender took a little longer; about 30 minutes and went as smoothly as the first. It was here that we met our guide, Irene that would be showing us all what Delos had to offer. I wont go into all of the details, as I think that I had a link to some info on Delos on an earlier blog, but it is the mythical birthplace of Apollo and contains incredibly intact ruins from inhabitants from the 3rd century B.C. through 4th century A.D….roughly. This is an incredible place. By law, no one is allowed to live on the island and so in essence, the entire island is an archeological excavation sight. Our guide, Irene was fantastic. It was obvious that she loved what she did as much as she loved Delos. What a incredible island…

After returning back to Mykonos, we headed off to find the restaurant Alefkandra that had been recommended to us. The town itself is a series of narrow winding roads lined with little shops ranging from small grocery stores to fine art galleries and everything in between. It is really a maze and pretty easy to get turned around. So I finally ask one of the store owners if he could direct me to Alefkandra and he points and says just around the corner and to the left…so off we go around the corner an to the left…no restaurant. We keep making our way in what I think is the right direction and occasionally ask where Alefkandra is and always getting the same answer; just up there and to the left. Now I know that we have made several right turns by now…but no...it’s still up there to the left. I even asked how far at one point and got a shoulder shrug and a “not far…just up on the left”. Ah...the shoulder shrug followed by an oblique attempt at direction…no one knows where Alefkandra is. Eventually we found the spot just up on the left known as Alefkandra and what a perfect spot it was. Its located right on the water with tables lining the rocky beach. The sun was about an hour or so from setting, small waves breaking across the rocks…sounds of seagulls and the ubiquitous Grecian cats wandering around. There were very few people here when we arrived so we practically had the place to ourselves. Lyn and I shared a mixed seafood platter, Melauna had a spinach pie and mom had a shrimp dish in roasted tomatoes. Along with a plate of olives, fried eggplant, fried zucchini and bread, we had a feast fit for a king! We all ended up sampling everyone’s dishes and although the food itself was good but not great, the setting could not be beat and was quite memorable. Mine and Lyn’s mixed seafood platter had a whole fish amongst lobster, shrimp, and octopus and fried calamari. Although everything was easily identifiable, we were curious as to what type of fish we were eating, so we asked….We were told with a shoulder shrug and a point toward the object in question…”eets feesh”. Oh…Eets Feesh…okay. Anyway the Eets Feesh had been grilled in a nice lemon butter sauce and was very tasty.

After dinner, and several Grecian cats dinners, we spent the rest of the evening wandering the narrow streets of Mykonos Town, dropping in the various shops that the city had to offer and even finding a few items to take back home with us. Of all the pieces found, Lyn found the most perfect one; a really nice sculpture of a fish skeleton. It is hard to be absolutely certain, as like I said, it is a skeleton, but it appears to be the same size and anatomical structure of that of the prized Mykonos Eets Feesh fish.

After finishing up our shopping, we took the tender back to the ship and as it was getting pretty late in the evening, we called it a night. No shows, no casino, no bingo. We all had a great day and hated to see Mykonos fading in our wake, but tomorrow was going to be an early start in Ephesus, Turkey and so we said our goodnights.