Overnight we traveled from Argostoli, Greece to Messina, Sicily, a brief jaunt across the Ionian Sea. It was a calm passage.
Messina is charming and welcoming, with a nice harbor. It’s the closest city on Sicily to the Italian mainland, and there is a lot of history. People here identify as Sicilian, not Italian, and draw the distinction.
The strait of Messina is 3km across, almost a stone’s throw, and bridge the Ionian and Tyranean Seas; it can be the scene of rough wind and current whirlpools. It is also, if legend is to be believed, the historical location of Scylla and Charybdis, the monsters who troubled Odysseus as recounted by Homer. We were not troubled at all and experienced a friendly welcome.
After a brief jaunt on the seafront we took a bus to visit the nearby ancient city of Taormina.
Later we had a nice dinner in our stateroom, while watching the sun set.
And then walking the decks, I enjoyed the pool light show 🙂
What is there to do in Kefalonia? Well you can certainly enjoy the day and relax on board your cruise yacht. Or you can tour around, and what is there to see?
Kefalonian vistaIonian Island vista – if you have a boat here, no shortage of places to go
First up, the underwater Melissai Lake. Turns out Kefalonia has a lot of groundwater flowing under the island.
down we gocute little rowboats to navigate the underground lake
Can we get through this passage?
why, yes, yes we can
The views *up* are rather astonishing. Pretty cool.
And next up, a trip to visit the Drogarati Cave…
cool and amazing caverns some of the 5,000 people on that Disney cruise liner are here too
So that was fun! And now…
Back up on the surface, checking out the views…
Kefalonia has grapes and they make wine here. You will not be shocked to hear, this is the best wine anywhere, far better than that inferior stuff they make in Italy 🙂
Another of those beautiful Greek Island places you hear about is Argostoli, the capital of the Island of Cephalonia (aka Kefalonia) largest of the Ionian Islands on the West side of Greece. We arrived overnight:
Good morning Kefalonia
First view of Argostoli is just like you’d think: white houses on hillsides surrounding a cute little harbor.
We shared the cute little harbor with an enormous Disney cruise ship, yikes.
A little shuttle boat brought us ashore.
Off to explore in a little bus …
Views included a nicely preserved old church, with a look down into the harbor:
Those circles are fisheries
The day ended with an awesome meal at Candles, the restaurant on the stern of the cruise yacht. Life is good.
Overnight we continued exited the Bay of Corinth and headed North up the West Coast of Greece to the Island of Corfu, or Kerkyra as it is known locally. It’s right offshore and right near the Albanian border.
Entering the harbor, already occupied by a much larger cruise ship.
That much larger (!)
Next up, youring the Achillion mansion, interesting in it’s own right, and surrounded by beautiful gardens.
ancient map of the Mediterranean, dating back to when *this* was the center of the UniverseNice view of the Sea – is that a pirate ship?
Corfu has a pretty little harbor
Defended by a pretty little fort (note moat)
And has a pretty little town…
Filled with pretty people
And of course, pretty churches!
All in all, a pretty nice place … would love to spend more time here … but we are off to Argostoli.
BBQ on the pool deck.
The Windstar line have a tradition, when they leave a port, they hoist the Windstar flag and play the Windstar song…
Once in the Bay of Corinth, we proceeded to the small port of Itea, near the ancient city of Delphi, home of the famous Oracles.
Approaching shore. Enjoying the first Mojito of the trip. Won’t be the last.
A cute little tugboat stands by while we dock. This happened everywhere, but nowhere was the tug needed; our captain precisely docked with bow and stern thrusters.
Docked!
After a short bus ride into the mountains – a pretty hairball climb with a large bus on a small road, bringing to mind the cruise ship passing through the Corinth cancel – we reached the site of Delphi.
The guide in the bus was excellent and entertaining. Did you know the Greeks invented olives, and that Greek olive oil is much better than Italian olive oil? Of course!
some of the legendary Greek olivesa most excellent view back down – if you look carefully you can see Itea and our little yacht…
From here, it was a hike up the side of the mountain to visit all the historical remains.
Remnants of an ancient shopping mall. The Oracles were not always available, and the mall kept visitors busy (and buying). If the shopkeepers engaged the visitors in conversation, and the personal information was relayed to the Oracles to establish credibility, well so be it 🙂
An ancient rocket nose cone? Well, no. But the parabolic shape’s strength was recognized a long time ago.
The wall of hexagons. On it, in tiny type, are written prophecies. If a prophecy was written about you, then you were “hexed”.
Foundation of an ancient temple. The foundations had channels for water; during construction, these helped ensure a level build, and after they provided drinking water (on one side) and a toilet (on the other).
Pretty nice design
This theater is in pretty good shape and is still used. The acoustics are reportedly excellent.
Inspecting the theater from above.
For the Greeks a stadia was a unit of length, similar to a furlong; a stadium was a theater for athletics, with a length of one stadia. I can assure it seems a long way to run!
Plan of the site, much of which is at least partially preserved.
Many of the site’s artifacts have been exhumed and are displayed within the nearby museum.
A well preserved Grecian. The difficulties of bronze casting were immense; first the sculpture was made of wax, then a mold was made from it, and then the wax was melted out to enable casting with metal. Whew.
Beautiful view back down toward Itea on the right back down. Many many olive trees. Our guide sang their praises (everywhere you go in Greece, they have the best olives), and informed us they are exported to Italy for use in “Italian” olive oil. Okayyy.
And so the sun sets on a marvelous day in the Ionian Sea!
Overnight we voyaged from Piraeus, the harbor town of Athens, to the opening of the Corinth canal, an 18th century man-made shortcut across the neck of the Peloponnesian peninsula.
If you look at this map, you’ll see Athens and Piraeus at the middle right, and Corinth in the middle, just the other side of the neck of the peninsula (in the Bay of Corinth). There’s a narrow canal right through this neck, and we’re going through it. Maybe. IF the ship fits!
Good morning!
Approaching the canal. It goes straight through – no locks. The designers didn’t anticipate the tidal differences between the opposite ends would cause a current, which restricts traffic in one direction at a time, and has caused a lot of cave-ins.
The canal only opened for traffic again after one such incident a few days ago. Whew.
Getting closer… locked and loaded…
And yes, amazingly, the ship fit, with about 5m on each side to spare. Careful piloting required for sure. (And who was the first person who thought “gee, I bet this ship would fit thought that canal, let’s try it!”)
You can see all the way through to the Bay of Corinth, 4 miles to the other side. The cliffs on the side are about 300’ high in the middle.
A tug guides us through. Slowly:
Well it seems to fit
Now there’s a scene I didn’t expect when going on a cruise!
Note the bastions on the left, where there’s been a collapse. The scour in this canal is significant, and maintenance is a continual thing. Probably they just keep it going for tourists 🙂
After about two hours, we emerge at the North end into Corinth Bay. Yay. (Oh, and good sound quality on that horn!)
Today we head for our yacht (500’ long, 300 guests, is that a yacht?): pretty exciting for me; I’ve never been on a cruise ship, ever!
300 guests is a pretty small cruise ship, chosen deliberately for the different atmosphere and the ability to dock in smaller harbors; it brings up the thought: “first time in a cruise ship?” … “first time in a cruise ship this small” 🙂
All aboard!
Our boat – the Star Pride, of Windstar Line – was very nice, like a pretty small hotel. And the stateroom was nicer than I expected; not large but not small either, divided into a suite with a bed area and sitting room, walk-in closet, and nice little bathroom, and a teeny balcony so you could stand out in the sea breeze. Excellent.
Home away from home, and pretty homey!This whirlpool is right forward at the bow
That pool deck looks pretty inviting … invitation accepted 🙂
The “yacht club” – not pictured, open bar, and 24/7 munchies (also Starlink-connected WiFi for blogging 🙂
This beautiful room is right forward on the top deck, above the bridge, and is called “the yacht club”. I can see spending some time there too.
(Parenthetical note: this is being typed in there just now 🙂
The barky features four restaurants, three bars, a spa, a workout room, and two pools. We will visit them all.
Note the Norwegian Princess out ahead of us; 3,500 guests aboard her!
Time for lunch … and our first chance to try Greek cuisine … in the hands of Athina:
Wow, just wow.
Next up, a repose poolside:
The water is cool, but not too cool 🙂
And later, dinner in town – The Fork seems to be the “Open Table” of Athens (had previously used it in Italy), and we picked Thie:
(Well okay, we didn’t pick Thie, we read about it, and picked another restaurant called Kefala, which turned out to be next door to Thie, and we went to Thie by mistake. Anyway it was delicious 🙂
The walk back gave us a lovely sample of the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere of old town Athens…
Another carryover from Italy – Gelato:
As with everything, Greeks will helpfully explain why their version is the original, and the best. Did you know Gelato was Greek? Me neither 🙂
And so we are in Athens, within easy viewing range of the magnificent Acropolis, a giant outcropping of rock in the city center, topped by the Parthenon.
A mere 3,300 years old, and looking good.
Looks pretty good in the day, too. Heading over in a bit for a closer look…
A quick word about getting around in Athens, there are Taxis everywhere.
Don’t even think about Uber or something like this; no need. Honestly if Taxis in LA or SF were like this Uber would never have gotten any traction. Not only are they everywhere, they are cheap and fast, and their drivers are friendly.
In addition to great views of the Acropolis, our hotel (Electra Metropole) has a beautiful little pool. Definitely will check it out later.
But first…
Ancient theater on the South slope, showing the Orchestra (round region for the performers)
The Odeon, amazingly well preserved, though sans the wooden roof it originally featured. These structures are much newer than the Parthenon, though ancient in their own right.
The venerable Parthenon… up close you can see some of it retains the original marble, but there are many overlapping repairs. Still, amazing.
Just across from the Parthenon sits the Erechtheion, an ancient Ionic temple. It’s better preserved but much younger – dating back only to 450BC. Imagine that when it was built, in the shadow of the Parthenon, the site was already 900 years old! Amazing.
Amazing panoramic views of Athens from the top of the Acropolis; it’s so … white! Lots of stone buildings I guess, and not too many trees.
And then on to the Acropolis museum, a most modern building contrasting beautifully with its ancient contents…
And so I find myself on the road again, and/or should I say water; a two week cruise from Athens to Barcelona, by way of many amazing destinations in Greece and Italy. And via a [smallish] cruise ship – a first for us, and first of many firsts, no doubt…
But first, as usual, packing! Hoping for *warm* weather – 2023 has been freezing in Southern California, global warming / climate change notwithstanding; barely a day or two of sunshine, and even they not quite *hot*. But Grecian Islands in June! Sicily! Sardinia! Definitely packing shorts, tee-shirts, and not much else. Well okay maybe slacks, loafers, and a dinner jacket, for dining emergencies 🙂
We are back in my old haunt, the Lufthansa departure lounge awaiting blastoff…
Hmmm… looks tempting… and I did not resist.
Another interesting thing of note, this beautiful old clock, where you could watch the gears turning … but oh, wait, it’s not an actual clock at all, but an enormous high-resolution LED screen, wow; actually had me fooled for minute until an ad appeared over the clock 🙂
Off to Frankfurt! Perhaps mercifully the plane’s WiFi was down, depriving me of the chance to work and thereby granting me a good nights’ sleep. Ten hours later (yawn) and poof we are in Frankfurt.
Steed for Athens, with its delightfully old-school ramps, accompanied by the sounds and smells of jet engines revving. Air travel used to be so cool.
There is one thing about all travel: a sense of occasion. Everyone speaking another language (in this case, German). Different cultures, different sights and sounds. And that feeling that you have to be on, in order to figure stuff out.
How did I get here 