Europe Travel Diary – Part V – Greek Islands

Previously: Part IV – Rome and Citavecchia

Our first full day aboard the cruise was a day at sea. Mom and I had a light breakfast (it was heaven: yogurt with berries and granola!) and then did a yoga class. Let me tell you, yoga is much more difficult to do when you’re on a moving sea vessel. It’s much harder to balance in a position when your ground isn’t steady! After yoga I did about 20 min on a treadmill. I hadn’t run, or done any real exercise (other than walking a lot!) since leaving Seattle so it was great to really move again. In the afternoon we went to a talk on Greece by the guest lecturer Francine Segan. Then we had afternoon tea. I swear, you could spend every minute of your time on a cruise eating!

It was a formal night on the cruise (as opposed to casual or informal) and I was very curious to see how people would dress. I had backed light (one 40L backpack and my MEC purse) so I’d only brought one dress, the swoosh dress, with me. My dress shoes were black Old Navy flip-flops. Can you tell I just wasn’t quite buying into the whole cruise experience? Many of the gentlemen, including my uncle wore tuxes and generally everyone looked quite nice.

The next day we arrived in Mykonos, Greece our first port of call. Mom and Murray had arranged to go scuba diving in Mykonos so Dorothy and I explored on our own. Mykonos was beautiful and everything you’d expect a Greek Island to be: bright white buildings with colourful roofs under a gorgeous blue cloudless sky. After we felt like we’d wandered around for long enough Dorothy and I went to a local restaurant for a snack. We had a local Greek beer and slice of baklava. Delicious! I am all about the baklava. Dinner back on the boat was a Greek buffet on the pool deck. They had all my favourite Greek treats: spanakopita, moussaka and more baklava.

The next morning we arrived in Rhodes. We walked right off the ship into the old town and did some wandering around. Rhodes is of course famous for having had the Colossus of Rhodes one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We visited the museum at the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes and the Street of Knights. It was an incredibly hot day and after a lunch of chicken gyros we were ready to head back to the ship for an easy afternoon and evening.

The next day we visited Santorini. This spot was another highlight of the trip for me. The town of Oia is literally built on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea. We took a cable car up to the town although walking up the donkey path was another option. In town, we visited two archaeological museums each with a collection of amazing artefacts. We then walked up to the convention centre to get a good view of the town and had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea. Santorini was really beautiful and none of the pictures we took seem to do it justice. That night we set sail for Athens.

The rest of my Mykonos pictures are here and Santorini here.

Next: Part VI – Athens