Blogs from North Aegean, Greece, Europe - page 5

Cruising is quite an adventure. Our 12 story cruise ship set off into the Aegean Sea after the Muster Drill (learning how to put on your life jackets & where to gather in case the ship goes down). Beth & I are glad that we got the Dramimine Patches because "them there seas were rough". The normally serene swimming pool looked like a wave pool at King's Island! I'm still learning to walk sideways! Our 1st port of call was the island of Mykonos. We wandered through narrow alleyways lined with shops, climbed to the ancient windmill, & peeked in the local churches. The white stone homes accent the brilliant blue sea. It is how I picture Santorini. As we snuggle into bed, I am reminded of the story of Jonah falling asleep in the ship. ... read more

Another day another Greek ısland. Weather stıll beautıful although a wınd has sprung up whıch seems to strengthen the further we move north. The ıslands and headlands on both sıdes of the Aegean are lıttered wıth fortresses suggestıng a great deal of past unrest among the natıves - probably not much dıfferent to the world today when I thınk of ıt. Dıdn't stay long enough to really apprecıate but on a quıck drıve around Lesvos found ıt very pıcturesques -but the beaches stıll rocky. Couldn't help but notıce that the most common taxıs ın a lot of the Greek ıslands vısıted were nıce mercedes sedans - far cry from the lıttle vans used ın Turkey. The Blue Star ferry (Patmos) from Chıos to Lesvos was very nıce - looked lıke a faırly new boat and really ... read more

Chios Greece Chios is the fifth largest Greek Island in the Northern Aegean. "The island of mastic, jasmine and intoxicating fragrances, the island of orchards and orange groves, the noble island with its stone mansions and their pebbled courtyards, with its unique medieval villages and their towers. (Chios The fragrant Island Book) Our 5 days in Chios were absolutely amazing and more then we ever could have imagined! The experience would not have been the same without the guidance of our wonderful hosts! Nicks Aunt and Uncle were also vacationing at their family house there and they allowed us to stay along with them for the week. They ensured we saw all the unique and isolated beaches and ate at all the best restaurants in the best locations. Our first morning in Chios (actually we were ... read more

Wednesday 15th June, 2011 An easier day was the plan. We went down to breakfast at nine fifteen and had the usual. Back to the room then we slowly got ready and left about 1030. We walked to the next village of Votsalakia and headed straight for a bar to have a quick drink of beer and a coke. Then on to the beach. We sunbathed and read until three o'clock and had a lunch of Greek salad, pork Souvlaki and pork chop in the same beach cafe we had drunk earlier. At five o'clock we went back to the hotel. The walk to Votsalakia is about three kilometres but other than that an easy day. Much later we took a walk along the harbour wall and took at closer look at the boats tied up ... read more

Sunday 12th June, 2011 We had a breakfast as part of the room rate and went down at nine fifteen. It was the usual continental style meal. We wanted a look around Vathi before we moved on so arranged with the lady to look after our bags, which she said we could keep in the room. We went back up to the room and quickly packed our stuff and left the big bags in the room. We wandered out into the world and the Nissos Mykonos was still there from last night. We headed towards the bus station to try and find times for buses, which we did but because today was Sunday we weren't able to get a bus in the direction we wanted. We could have got a bus to Kalovasi at 1400 which ... read more