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On Sunday morning I woke early and headed down for breakfast at 6 o’clock. Expecting the breakfast room to be empty at that hour, I was quite surprised to find a large group of French eating. Later on, as I waited outside my hotel the same group came out to wait for something, presumably a tour. They left and I waited for my ride. They were 20 minutes late so I had begun worrying whether I had made a mistake or they had forgotten me. Eventually they arrived.
After picking up more people at other hotels we headed down to Piraeus, the main port of Athens. It’s a fair distance from the centre of the city, which made me appreciate how significant the ancient walls must have been, as the road to the port was protected the entire way. Without that connection with the sea, Athens would not have been able to last very long against Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars.
We boarded the Anna Maru and from what I could tell, we were the final group to arrive. It seems that the cruise services many tour companies, as I later saw the French from my hotel on board.
Taking a seat up on the top deck, it wasn’t long before we left port and headed for the islands.
We passed Aegina, which was to be our final destination and headed for Poros. On board they were selling short tours for when we were in Aegina. I decided to go on one as otherwise we would have a couple of hours free time there. I picked one of the two options, but in hindsight I think I picked the wrong one. But I shall get to that.
Arriving in Poros, we had about 30 minutes on shore to look around. My first task was to find an ATM, as the last of my cash was spent on the Aegina tour. Being a tourist town, it wasn’t hard to find. I spent the rest of the time having a wander and taking some pictures. I also tried the Greek chocolate milk - Milko. Not bad at all - different to the ones we have in Australia, but similar to the one I tried in Spain. The town itself looked beautiful, as you can tell by the photos.
Once back aboard, it was time for the English speakers
to have lunch. It was a bit early for me, so I didn’t eat much. I also arrived late so was eating my entrée when the others were onto the mains. I was seated at a table with a couple and their son who were all from New Zealand. The couple had cruised to Europe and the son works in London as a lawyer. The lady spent most of the time telling me about the cruise ship. I’m not a cruise person, so when I mentioned that the ship we were on was the closest I’d ever been to a cruise ship she went on about how this was barely a refugee ship!
Fortunately they were happy to go their own way after the meal. Bizarrely, I saw the son a few more times during the cruise and on shore and every single time he was on his mobile. It didn’t seem like he was particularly interested in catching up with his parents. He would have missed a lot of the great views too.
Not long after I finished eating, we came to the island and town of Hydra. Other than an official truck (I’m guessing it was
a sewage truck), there was no mechanised transport on the island. There were donkeys, however. And you could smell that.
We had longer in Hydra than we did in Poros, so I started off by walking along the road/track along the coast. It seemed to finish at a resort, so I turned back. The walk was very pleasant, with some awesome views. The only negative was what seemed to be an overflowing sewerage outflow. After I walked past it a second time, I saw the truck heading towards it, hence my guess as to its function. When I got back to town I had enough time to walk around the port to the other side, take a couple of quick photos and then it was time to get back on the ship.
We then headed back towards Athens, with our next destination being Aegina. The sun was covered by clouds for a bit of the journey, making the deck a cold place to be - a taste of what was to come. But the sun soon reappeared and we made port in Aegina in fine weather.
As soon as we were off the boat, those of us
on tours were ushered onto buses and off we went. It turns out that the “Panoramic” tour was called such because of the journey, not the destination. We had some fantastic views on our way to some old Byzantine church. I must confess, I wasn’t at all interested in the church. I think the other tour went to some ruins, so I guess I picked the wrong one.
Anyway, the tour finished in Aegina town where we were to taste some fresh fish and Ouzo. As I’m not the world’s biggest fan of seafood or alcohol, I wandered off from the tour (hence the title - there’s a prize for anyone who knows who said that, by the way). I spent my newly gained half hour taking some photos around the port, before heading back to the ship. Some dark clouds were making their way towards us, so most people seem to have chosen to avoid the top deck. We didn’t end up getting rain, so hooray for me and a big fat raspberry for them!
That was basically it. I arrived back at the hotel at about 8pm, thoroughly exhausted despite not actually doing much. The sun
can take it out of you…. At least, that’s my excuse!
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anonymous
non-member comment
Homer Simpson said it. Now I think it was when he got the job as a food critic?