GET 2013

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Well after all the other exciting stuff we told you about in our last blog we are now settling into cruise life and a new port each day. For those interested we are on a small ship, (450 passengers, consisting 12 Kiwis and even a Princess – not Kiwi -) Seabourn Odyssey is a 6 star rated ship. Our cruise is for 14 days and commenced out of Venice heading to Istanbul Turkey. By the time you read this we will have visited the respective ports we have mentioned.

We have been lucky enough to have been invited with a select group to a dinner hosted by the Captains management team. A great evening with a multi course menu and great wines. Simon being an engineer was keen to see the engine room so he asked our host if this would be possible. That, since terrorist days is now totally off limits, but he said he would see what he could do. We have however secured another invite to dinner with the Chief Engineer. It is formal dinner this evening (Sunday) and he is dining with us tonight. We have since partaken of this and Adolfo was a very charming man but got a bit over us all asking questions. The upshot is that we have managed

to wrangle a tour of the control room which we will do in the next couple of days.

The week has been full of little adventures to large as well as small towns and they have been most varied. Our next stop was Pylos a sleepy little place, lovely and clean town. We had lunch in a fantastic little restaurant right on the water. We thought that we would try the local food, excellent, Greek salad – photo attached – sardines, octopus, moussaka and even fried cheese. The star of the day was the salad and the moussaka all washed down with a few litres of local white wine at a cost of a few Euros per litre.

Nauplion was a very clean and tidy place and a total contrast to Argostoli which we had visited the day before. However we did see a rather large very healthy looking turtle in Argostoli cruising around the dock side and that was great being so close to it in the wild, also a sightseeing ride around town in a little train. In Nauplion we walked the streets and then headed over the hill to the beach on the other side. Not a sandy beach but a beach never the less. Everything was concreted and rather rough it was too. Try walking or lying down on that – we did it but the water was eminently more comfortable. In fact it was deliciously warm and we had to dive or jump off the sidewalk. There was a rather slippery ladder but diving was more fun. Unfortunately the GFC has hit this area hard. The changing sheds/rooms were nothing short of a disgrace. Doors kicked in and in disrepair and human waste in them too. The buildings surrounding the beach (hotels shops etc.) were all derelict and well past any form of recovery. We had to hold towels over the doors for Janet & Jane to change into their swimming gear.

Next stop Athens. We arranged a tour through the ship and had an early start Saturday morning, after docking at Piraeus (Athens port). Luckily we were on the first bus to leave the port and head to the Acropolis and the Parthenon Temple. It has truly been a highlight of our cruise so far and this icon rises above the city, watching the sprawling modern metropolis evolve. It was everything we expected and more. Many people do not realise it but it is 2500 years old and the marble was brought in from 35km away, no mean feat in those times. Currently it is being restored and there are 3000 people working on it each day. (Comment from Steve – not a lot of progress for 3000 people per day, seriously, just add it all up, 3000 man days per day x 1 year, you work it out, and it has gone on for a few years already and is going to go on for years to come). Then back on the bus for a city tour, then to the museum to see more artefacts from the Acropolis – very interesting.

On to Milos or Mylos all these places have different spellings. Now we are starting to see the different architecture. Specifically the square white houses with the blue paint. Is it true that there is only two colours paint in southern Greece and it is very cheap? They even paint the tree trunks white here. An interesting fact is that the taxis are all the same colour in various ports but not the same colour nationwide. More than 95% of them are Mercedes and we have seen red, blue, yellow and silver so far. We have asked what the relevance of the single colour is but nobody is able to answer that, language difficulties prohibit an answer there. France Italy or whatever we are able to converse but here we are totally out of our depth. Even the writing is almost hieroglyphic, very strange shapes indeed with some similar characters to our own alphabet but bear no resemblance in sound or meaning. We had a peep through the town and it was lovely, then we collared a taxi driver to take us to one of the great beaches that we had been told about. After finally getting the message through we were on our way (he seemed to understand beach & beautiful). What was supposed to be a 5 minute ride was longer taking us through some relatively distant winding roads. Hmmmm this could be scary and how were we to get back because there were no taxis this far out of town or even cars and we did not know where we were being taken. The driver agreed to wait for us at the beach, we wrote down a pickup time and took his photo in case he didn’t come back, he was very impressed that we had taken his photo and sat there smiling and waving happily. We hired some chairs and umbrellas had a swim and right on time the taxi turned up, to everybody’s relief. The beach was gorgeous and was littered with signs beware of hot sand, it had volcanic sand and it was hot, 105c so you did not walk on it with bare feet. The water was cool but if you buried your feet into the sand it was quite warm. There were some earthenware pots sitting on the sand, maybe a cm or so tucked into it. Nicely covered in aluminium foil to stop the sand getting in. Well the local restaurant was cooking their days fare in the pots. Lamb took 8 hours and the fish 4 hours while potatoes took 5 hours. What an intriguing way to utilise that resource. They collected them all up just on noon for the lunch service. The taxi driver seemed to get some English on his way back when he heard we all had Mercedes like him, his had done 454,000km and was still going strong, he was very proud of it. He even stopped in the middle of the road on the brow of a hill so we could take a photo of the ship, not ideal for us but hey we are all still alive. We had made a best friend.

Mykonos, this place used to be a popular destination with the international jet set and royalty etc. The streets here are narrow and apparently deliberately laid out that way to confuse medieval pirates – tiny squares and staircases alternate with bars, tavernas and souvenir shops. Brightly coloured boats bob up and down in the port jealously guarded by pink Pelicans. Cats slink around the alleys of the old town or simply snooze in shafts of sunlight in the narrow streets. We came across a chapel, then another and another and yet another. They say that there is one for every day of the year here. The waters here are an irresistible crystalline turquoise, just like the photos you may have seen or indeed seen on TV. We had a great day wandering the streets and exploring the hundreds of jewellery, clothes, shoes etc etc. There was quite a strong wind blowing, very unusual for the area, it was amazing the weather was so rough even the cars were covered in dust, our only worry was going back to the ship what we were going to be in for tonight.

Well as expected yes the announcement came that there would be strong winds and we were not disappointed. The ship has an onboard camera which plays through the TV so we were able to watch as we departed Mykonos from our cabin. The wind was registering 66 mph and the sea was large it has been quite exciting. On going to the dining room we were not allowed out on the decks to dine tonight as we normally do, apparently the wind was so strong it was moving the furniture around the decks. We enjoyed another lovely dinner and watched the amazing sunset once again, they are truly unbelievable. Well an early night tonight, everyone has taken to their cabins.

Santorini today hopefully sun and no wind!! Watch out for the next blog.

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Photos

Greek Salad
Feta was fantastic and the tomatoes even better!!

Nauplion
Lovely clear warm waters, a welcome to cool down.

Parthenon
The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis - Athens

Parthenon
Janet & Jane

Beach Sign - Mylos
Cooking is done in pots in the sand - 105c. See sign don't stand on hot sand (they ain't kidding)