Calm in Crete

Tuesday 11th July

Today we are on Crete. We took a tour into the countryside to look at some of the local areas. We first visited the city of Heraklion which was founded in 824. It was early in the morning so not many people were about. The locals were just opening their shops, and delivery vans were doing their thing. 

From there we drove to the small village of Stironas to visit Vasilli and his small farm where he grows olives and grapes and makes his own olive oil, wine, and raki (the local equivalent to grappa). Vasili processes grapes for other farmers in the area, using more modern day equipment, but when it comes to his wine, a lot of the processing is by hand. 

After his wine information session we all went inside for a traditional breakfast - beautiful tasting tomatoes, cucumber, olives (of course) cheese, and his wine - and raki (Rob calls it rocket fuel). I tasted it, but happy to leave it for those who like it. While enjoying the food we were entertained by some of his family doing Cretan folk dancing.

This was a great tour - away from the madding crowd. 

I think Odette took a liking to the raki.

Cretan folk dance.

Vasily explained how he made his wine.

Very old olive tree.

Hanging out in hope outside the ice cream shop. 

Main street in Heraklion, Crete.
It was early in the morning so the streets were quiet.
It was a lovely clean city.  

Loggia in the centre of the town.
Was destroyed by the Nazis but rebuilt to the original italian style.

Can't stop this party girl - and boy. 

A close look at the embroidery on their costumes.
Simple, but lovely.

Sit back and relax

Saturday 8th July

Cruise day. Taxi ride to Port of Piraeus. Boarding process was very quick and easy. I was expecting long queues, but no, they seemed to be coming in dribs and drabs.

Our cabin is OK. It’s an interior cabin, no windows, and on a lower deck, but we won’t be spending a lot of time there anyway.

Lunch on board was a buffet and so much to choose from. The food was really quite good.

The rest of the day passed quickly with the emergency evacuation drill, explore the ship, dinner, then the evenings show which was Abba.

Just a look back to the port of Piraeus. 

Sunset as we left Port of Piraeus. 

Sunday 9th July

Thessaloniki. We didn’t get off the ship today but just enjoyed a relaxing day on board, taking part in some of the activities on board.

The food is really good with plenty to choose from. The show tonight was circus acrobats. The entertainment group are all from Cuba, with a Canadian choreographer who used to work for Cirque du Soleil. 

Cruise around the bay on a Pirate ship.

Odette enjoyed the jacuzzi.....

...and her Freddo Espresso.

Our ship - the Celestyal Crystal.

Monday 10th July

Today we were in Kusadasi, Turkey. We decided not to do the on shore excursion which was to Ephesus, to look at temples, and more ancient rocks. 

Instead we decided to visit the Grand Bazaar which was only 200m from the ship. I was expecting something like the small shops/stalls we have experienced in Bali, but they were more like real shops. I hated the pressure from all the shop keepers as you walked past – if I’m shopping I just like to browse along on my own, wander in and out of shops, and not engage unless I see something I am interested in. This sort of pressure just shuts me down and I keep walking.

All the shops are selling the same thing – the handbag shops are all selling the same knock-off handbags, t-shirts, dresses, etc. I did finally succumb and went in to one of the jewellery shops. A lovely pair of earrings followed me home. We had a look at some of the hand made rugs but weren't really interested in buying any. I think the shopkeeper was disappointed when we walked away empty handed.

Enjoyed a lovely Turkish ice cream and then back to the boat for lunch.

Handmade silk rugs. There are some really beautiful ones - too many choices. 

Shades of Bali, where they advertise Antiques made to Order. 

There were quite a few of these lovely stepped alley ways
leading away from the Grand Bazaar.

Shoes, shirts, souvenirs.

I love watching anything crafty.
Watched this lady for a while as she tied knots.

Old fort at the entrance to Kusadasi.

 

Need shoes?

Friday 7th July 

A free day in Athens today to recover from a full on 4 days touring on the bus. No need to drag ourselves out of bed and on to the bus.

Our hotel seems to cater to a lot of younger tour groups; TopDeck is one of them. Last night a new large group of 20+ yr olds arrived, and this morning there was another group at breakfast. We headed out late morning with the washing in tow with the plan to get the washing done, have lunch early then back to the hotel for a nap. The laundry was not self serve so we were able to leave it while we chilled over a freddo espresso nearby, then had lunch.

Not quite dog of the day, but almost. 

I really liked these coffee cups.

I'm not sure how to label the area we are staying in. Move 2 streets back from the main street the hotel is on, and I'd maybe label it like old Fitzroy or Collingwood (think back streets). Run down, crowded, not nice to look at, working class. Almost like tenement 4 or 5 storey apartment blocks. The streets are narrow, could do with repair, footpaths with broken paving - but the broken footpath paving is also in the city blocks we have walked.

Tonight we headed in to the city to first of all get sunnies for Rob. After visiting 5 shops (in a 100m stretch) we finally got a pair of clip ons. One place tried to talk us into a pair of sunnies for 190 euro - but wait, you get another free pair with them. I don't think so! In this same 100m stretch plus a bit there were at least a dozen shoe shops. A shoe shoppers paradise. We have labelled this the street of bored husbands. 

We went back to Ella's for dinner and again it was lovely. Still lots of people about in the streets as we finished dinner and headed back to the hotel. This is probably quite normal all the time in busy cities and with the heat here it is much more pleasant to be out and about in the evening. We still noted a lot of american accents to be heard.

Oven baked lamb - we think this is maybe the neck.
Must look at this as a dinner option at home.

Chicken for me.

Tomorrow we head for the boat - a new experience for us. 

Ancient greece - myths or reality?

Wednesday 5th July 

This morning we visited the museum at Delphi. It was a great museum with a lot of information - too much to remember. Our guide had all the stories about all the gods and kings - too much to take in. There were so many different tour groups at the museum (and the site), from small groups of 4 or 5 people with a tour guide, to coach loads. This is one aspect of our tour that we have not enjoyed - the crowds, combined with the heat, makes for some uncomfortable times. After the museum it was a visit to the archaeological site. This involved a lot of steps and uphill walking. Amazing to see what they have unearthed and that they can work out the various structures on the site. Archaeology really is pretty fascinating!

Lunch today was a beautiful grilled fish - sea bream from the fish farms nearby. Lovely lunch - but Rob left his prescription sunnies at the restaurant, never to be seen again.

A visit to Thermopyles, the site of a battle between the Persians and Greeks in 480 BC. Apparently about 7000 Greeks, well outnumbered by maybe 300,000 Persians (though some stories say more than a million). There were many battles at Thermopyles including one in 1941 when the Germans invaded Greece and the pass was held by the Anzacs long enough to allow the British forces to evacuate to Crete.

A long drive then to our overnight stop at Meteora, ready to visit the monasteries in the morning.

Thursday 6th July 

Lucky I packed a dress - dress code for the monastery ix long pants for the men and skirts yo at least the knees, and shoulders covered, for the women.

First we visited a place where they make the religious icons, for an explanation of the process.

 

The landscape here is just stunning. These huge rock pillars, just in the small area surrounding this town. There have been monasteries in some shape or form on some of these pillars since the 12th century. You can hike in the area and climb the zillions of steps to many of the monasteries, or take the tour like us and visit one monastery with no steps and another with only 150 steps (glad it wasn't the one with 300 steps). One monastery I think the only way to get to it is via the cable car across from one rock pillar to the monastery on the next. 

No photos allowed inside the monasteries but the icons, frescoes, gold work really are something to be seen. 

One good thing about this visit - it was lovely and cool. First time I've felt cool since we've been in Greece. Mind you, we had to hang on to our hats and our skirts as it was pretty breezy up there. 

Finally a long drive back to Athens,  thankfully freeway most of the way, and not hilly and winding. Getting back into Athens was very slow - peak hour, and the traffic just wasn't moving on the main highway in to town. Now we are back at the hotel and have a free day tomorrow to do the washing and try to get some sort of sunnies for Rob, before boarding our cruise on Saturday.