Museum and Porto Rafti

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We came back to the hostel after wandering around the Acropolis and a flea market located close to the ruins. We were both exhausted and dusty from walking all day in the glaring sun, but it was a good exhausted. We both showered and then spent the evening on our balcony eating dinner with red wine, and discussing the day, life in general, and our plans for the next day. I can’t imagine a more relaxing way to end the day.


National Archeological Museum and Porto Rafti

The Museum was beautiful, so full of ancient history. The artifacts were stunning, from Roman and Egyptian cultures as well as Greek.

There were uncountable amounts of statues, all very beautiful. I especially liked the ones of women, with their elegant looks and mysterious auras. Several rooms has cases full of ancient jewelry, and I tell you back in the day both men and women really liked there bling: Gold, silver, jewels, rings, belts, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, all with intricate designs. Absolutely breathtaking!

I was also a huge fan of some very nice pottery. Because of the battle scenes and war paraphernalia I am inclined to think that they were trying to make the vases and containers more masculine. Man-pottery if you will. I love them, and personally wouldn’t mind have one or two in my house.

Our journey to Porto Rafti was wonderfully simple. The Museum was really close to a bus terminal, and a really nice gentleman gave us directions. I have been so pleasantly surprised at how helpful and friendly people are. We found the correct bus right away, and were off to the coast. The bus ride was only around an hour and a half, and it was fun to watch all the buildings, markets, and towns go by.

The bus dropped us off a the main beach in Porto Rafti, and we used a public phone to call Lois and Gunter to find out which part of the bay they were in. They were the only catamaran in the bay, so we walked along the beach until we were across from them, and when Lois saw us in the binoculars she sent Gunter in the dingy to pick us up.

Lois and Gunter are lovely, friendly people. He has the beautiful German accent that I love, and she is full of smiles. I love them!! They are so full of knowledge and insight, having been sailing around the world for the last 8 years. They recently spent quite a bit of time in Turkey before sailing to Greece. In our conversations they drop places like Fiji, Turkey, Yemen, Israel, and Egypt like I might use Maple Grove or New Hope. I believe that in the past 8 years of sailing they have been to around 62 countries. We spent a lovely afternoon getting aqainted with them and Pacific Bliss. We helped make dinner of pasta, delicious Greek salad, and wine.

It was a beautiful first day on the boat, and neither of us got the least bit seasick, of course there really weren’t any big waves. I think our real test will be when we are actually sailing on openwater, we’ll see how fast we find our sea legs then 

Pacific Bliss is a beautiful Catamaran. I think it is just the right size, spacious enough for comfort but not to large. Randi Jo and I share a birth (bunk/bed) and a head (bathroom). Both are quite small, but I like them. Our bunk is I would say 6 feet by 6 feet, and the head is around 2 feet by 3 feet.

We eat meals in the salon, and also the cockpit if it is really nice weather and to windy. I love to lay out on the net in the front of the boat, it’s so relaxing to hear the waves underneath. Lois and Gunter are really glad to have help because the winds are so bad right now, really strong and confused, they keep changing directions.

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