Training in Katakolon (but not for the Olympics)

---

---

Distance travelled 1,347 nautical miles

As I've been saying the whole trip the bad weather won't last. Venice has been a beautiful sunny and warm day. Whether my optimism paid off or I'm just good at playing the numbers game, the weather had been short lived. The storm continued throughout the night. The ship started to toss and pitch but with the vibrations from the rudder and propellers as they tried to fight the storm it was difficult to sleep even for an optimist like me. I was told by an old sea dog that although these ships are equipped with the latest technology in gyroscopes and stabilisers, these can do more harm than good in this kind of weather so there are kept retracted. It is best to let the bridge do their job and just ride out the storm. We both laid on the bed for the night occasionally drifting off in to an uneasy dose. Hopefully that's the only drifting we'd be doing!! We switched the TV on at about 3am. One of the channels provides the viewer with the report from the bridge such as weather temperature and pressure, distance to destination, sea state and wind speed. The wind speed was currently recorded at 168kph (about 105mph). At about 5:30am, the rain and wind seems to have abated although the sea state was a little choppy (probably conservative in my estimate!!)

The day following the storm was a navigation or 'sea' day. This means the whole time is spent at sea. The day was spent relaxing and catching up on our lack of sleep.

Every evening there are shows performed. They normally only last between 30-40 minutes. The show tonight was, without doubt one of the best shows I have ever seen on board. Most shows are normally entertaining bearing in mind the location, the budget and the resources on offer. However, the production and costumes of their show called quite simply ‘Gotham' (or Go-tam as the cruise director says!) was on par with any Broadway or West End equivalent. The show was very atmospheric using the moody batman incidental music to mime and dance. The choreography was first class. There was the usual array of balancing and acrobatics but all based around a central theme that featured the Joker, Penguin, Cat Woman and of course Batman. The make-up was first class bordering on the macabre. We were sat in the front row. I was almost convinced that when the joker looked straight at me he had committed my features to memory. It's a good job we have Batman to protect the ship!! (I know he's not real, Roisin!!)

In British and US ships the entertainment varies between singing, dancing and comedians (using the term loosely!!) On MSC it is difficult to employ comedians due to the language differences. Most of the entertainment is visual. When dialogue needs to be used we have found that it is always in English. For example in the Ninja Turtles set they had a narrator who spoke in English. The Penguin spoke briefly in English in tonight's show and in a previous production aboard the MSC Lirica called the 3 Musketeers, the narration was also in English (despite it being a French story written by a French author!!)

So another sea day over. Clear blue skies ahead and Katakolon in Greece in our next port of call.

Katakolon is nothing but a quiet seaside Greek village on the Ionian Sea within the Peloponnese peninsula. It became a port in 1857 but today the port is mainly used by cruise passengers to disembark. The town only has a population of around 600 people. Today there were 3 cruise ships in port, ours, the Holland America Noordam and the Silver Sea. Even if there were another 6,000 passengers and crew going ashore that is an increase to an entire population 10-fold in a few hours!! But before you start to feel sorry for the locals who have to endure this sort of invasion during the season, consider this: In 2013, 307 cruise ships with 763,966 passengers visited Katakolon. According to the research made by the Greek National Statistic Service every tourist that disembarks at Katakolon spends at least €67 for transportation, food, museums, purchases and other things. This means in 2013 763,966 passengers x € 67 = €51,185,722. Multiply that by the number of cruise ports of call throughout Greece and that is a staggering amount of money entering the economy. Do you see what I'm getting at?? (Source, somewhere on t'internet probably Wikipedia!!)

Despite this being a one horse town (no really, we've only spotted one horse!!), Katakolon is the gateway to Olympia, where the ancient Greeks flocked every four years for more than a 1000 years to celebrate the sacred games in honour of the god Zeus. This is also the site where the flame of the Olympic torch is lit before it begins its journey. We did the tour last time round. MSC Orchestra offer 4 tours in Katalolon and although they are badged differently, they all take you to Olympia at some stage. You can chose from: ‘Olympia and museum',' Olympia and Shopping' ‘Magna Grecia and Olympia and ‘A taste of Ancient Greece'. This is basically a trip to Olympia followed by a snack (that must be the ‘taste' part of the tour!!)

There is not a great deal to see or do in Katakolon. From memory I seem to recall on our way to Olympia last time driving though a street lined with souvenir shops, bars and cafes. We took a free shuttle bus to the edge of the main street. Katakolon seems to be made up of 3 parallel roads that loosely follow the shape of the shoreline. The first road, the one closest to the water accesses the small boats docked and the seaside cafes and fish Tavernas. From here it is possible to take a cheap boat ride around the bay. (€5 I heard one man cry!) The second or main road is shoppers' row. This is the one I remember from last time. On walking down this busy road I noticed many T-shirt and souvenir shops interspersed with a handful of stores selling dressier and more stylish clothing. This is not just a street for the tourist. Locals shop here as well hence we came across a mini market, wine shops, bakery and an internet cafe. The third road looked more residential so we didn't wander any further. As a general rule, the further you get from the docks the less touristy the feel.

Our pre cruise research led us to the tourist train and the end of the Main Street. This is not as tacky as it sounds (or maybe it is!!) This is a mini train that pulls a number of carriages on the road. It is referred to as a hop-on, hop-off train but as there are only 2 stops and we have limited time here, I doubt there would be much hopping off today!! The round trip takes approximately 30 minutes and as there is 30 minutes between each train, we decided to stay for the full round trip and enjoy the view. For €6 each we considered this the best use of our short time we had here as we had to be back on board the ship by 12:30.

The first stop was at the Mercouri winery. This is a family run farm with a 150 year history. They produce wine and olive oil and offer a guided tour and tasting session. This was so popular, nobody alighted at this stop. Everyone seemed eager to move on to the final stop before returning to Katakolon…a beach!!! Agios Andreas beach. Surprisingly everyone exited the train leaving Roisin and I the sole passengers awaiting the 4km trip back to town. However, those who took an earlier train were also ready to return so the tourist train pulled out with yet another full load of passengers back to the port.

Back in town we noticed an Avis sign where cars could be hired, along with businesses that were hiring out quad bikes. This could have been an option if we had a little more time. Before heading back to the ship we had time to sit and people watch over a Beer and bottle of water. This only cost €3. We could have taken the beer bike. Until now I thought that this was an urban legend only confined to such places like Ayia Napa and Ibiza. Just picture it: Roisin, me and a bunch of 70-somethings peddling through the olive groves of Pyrgos downing a keg of Stella hurling abuse at anyone walking by!!! Once again…if only we had had more time!!!

Back on board we missed the quiz for a 2nd consecutive time. Note to self: We must make a habit of checking the time and not just think we know!! When we got there the quiz was almost over. It was the silhouette of countries shown on power point and you had to guess the country. Although we have seen this quiz before we still couldn't remember the shape of Ghana and Costa Rica!!

There are not many photos to show for Katakolon so what I tend to do on slow news days is pad the blog out with stills from the previous night's show, Gotham and various places around the ship!!

---

Comments

[sonia]

The picture of the commander maresca is very classy, ​​very elegant, gentleman, I would like to see him again on a MSC boat; what is its destination? Sophia

[satti]

we leave on the cruise of Rio at the end of the year is what the captain maresca is on board the ship thank you
we leave on the cruise of Rio at the end of the year is what the captain maresca is on board the ship thank you

[chrisandroisin]

Is Captain Maresca still on board
I'm sorry satti but I don't have that information available. The Magnifica was back in 2012. We sailed on the Orchestra in 2014 and had Captain Maresca again so it is probable he will be on a different ship when you sail from Rio. It is probably best if you contact MSC direct who may be able to answer you question. Regards