Tag: greece

Day 9- 4th June 2024-Athens – End of Greek Island Cruise and other Places

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it’s taken me over a week to get around to our final day of this cruise and disembarkation…..the reason being we both picked up “Cabin Cough” on the cruise and it took us a week to get over it….I often seem to get it cruising, it’s the air conditioning which brings it on and this time we had an inside cabin….a never again scenario…….The evening before we had put our cases outside our door before midnight….a much better time than cruise lines which want them before 9.00 pm….When we got up in the morning they had bern magicked away. We had to leave our cabin by 8.00am and we went down to the restaurant for breakfast. We then sat in a lounge. We had requested a late disembarkation. The ship for the first time all cruise was relatively quiet. At 10.00 am we wandered off the ship and down to the baggage collection …our suitcases looked a little lonely all on their own in area 21….but hey they were both still there, so that was good news.
We ad found out, onboard that the ship did offer an airport transfer at 2.30 pm which would really have suited us but it hadn’t been advertised on their excursions or transfer so I don’t know how we or our travel agent were supposed to know about it…it would have been a great deal cheaper than our excursion was, which we booked through DialaFlight who had booked it through Viator.

Anyway ….we sat outside waiting for our driver for our excursion to Cape Sounia & Temple of Poseidon. We had selected this excursion as it was an area we hadn’t seen near Athens and also it was advertised as between 4 and 5 hours so we wouldn’t have to spend as long at the airport. On the dot of 10.30am a smart gentleman carrying a sign with our name on arrived and introduced himself as John. He quickly went off and bought the car around. It was a Mercedes’ cream coloured taxi. …..Off we went along the coast which was full of pretty coves and mariners occupied by some very fancy yatchs and pleasure cruisers.

We stopped off at a “hidden gem” …a large lake which was filled with from hot water springs attached to an intricate cave system…..it was quite fascinating, a bit smelly but we soon got used to the slight rotten eggs aroma you often get with hot water swims…we wished we’d known we were stopping here as we would have kept our costumes and towels out.

We stopped again for a view of the Temple Poseidon across the bay on the top of the headland.

We continued to the Temple car park. Although it’s an easy walk up some shallow well spaced steps I didn’t feel up to it, so John went on his own. He paid €10 at a kiosk and up he went.

The Temple of Poseidon is approx 70 Km away from Athens. It is deemed an important sight aprt from the archaeological remains, Cape Sounion is also famous for its beautiful sunset and the great views of the Aegean Sea…….it is the last point you see as you sail away, on the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula.  In the past, sailors revered the sea god, Poseidon to grant them safety and fortune on their long voyages.

Made entirely of white marble, it was erected in the middle of the 5th century BC and built to honour Poseidon, god of the sea.The first version of the temple was built during the Archaic Period but it was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. It was rebuilt around 440 BC. The temple was 13 columns long and 6 columns wide. Unfortunately, not all columns stand until today. A 5-meter-tall statue of Poseidon used to stand inside the temple. Nowadays, the only part of it that has survived is displayed in the Museum in Athens.

John returned raving about the views and how unbelievable it felt to be amongst something so old. We had a drink and returned to Driver John and the car. We had now seen everything included in our tour so Driver John took us to the airport….unfortunately our tour had only taken just three and a half hours…..we could hardly ask to go around the route again ….we had enjoyed the tour but we were a little disappointed that it was so short…there had been a lot of tours for this length of time at a much cheaper price but we had selected this one to use up some of the time before our flight.

We arrived at the airport at 2.00pm and fortunately found two of only a handful of seats….and there we sat…..we couldn’t do anything because we had our large suitcases with us as well as our hand luggage…the desk for luggage drop didn’t open until 6.00 pm …We sat out the 4 hours … at about 5.00 pm a queue started at the baggage check in for Easy Jet ….we didn’t get in it straight away as there were two flights going out before ours….but as they didn’t open the check in until 6.

John eventually joined the queue and after and hour and a half I joined him for the last 15 minutes. By now we knew the flight prior to ours was 2 hours late and ours was 30 minutes late…..what seemed like forever and a day passed and eventually we boarded the plane and had a further 50 minute delay….Thankfully immigration, baggage and customs were quick at Gatwick and we our driver Albert was waiting for us…we walked through our front door totally and utterly exhausted at spot on 2.00 am…….what a journey …..no wonder we were both ill for a week !!!!!…”Avoid Athens airport at all costs” is the reminder engraved firmly on my brain…..never, never again…..and as for the actual cruise….well, I’ll do a good and bad points follow up to this blog shortly….thanks for travelling along with us hope you enjoyed the tour…

Day 3 – Wednesday 29th May 2024- Greek Island Cruise and other places!!

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Our alarm woke us with a jump at 7.30am. We were soon washed and dressed and heading for the buffet for breakfast. It was total mayhem and although I am certain all the usual components for breakfast were there it was too crowded to actually see. A couple of tiny croissants, a bowl of Greek yogurt and a banana sufficed. We were in the theatre by 9.25 awaiting the start of our excursion… a trip to Olympia. We had docked at Katakolon on a Greek headland jutting out into the Ionia Sea. This is where the first ever Olympic Games took place in 776BC. There were 5 events – running, jumping, wrestling, javelin and discus.
We were soon on our coach for the 45 minute journey to Olympia. Our guide spoke in about 6 different languages and we were thankful that one was English. We were told that the area is world famous for its olives and it’s fine virgin olive oil because evidently it has close to zero acidity. The area is very fertile and produces wine, watermelons and honey… everything was very green.

Arriving at the Olympia UNESCO site we were divided into language groups.. so our group was a total of about 12, it was made up of Americans, Australians, New Zealanders and another couple of Brits, who nearly pushed me down the ships steps in order to get to the bus first… typical Brits!!!! Ther was my favourite mode of transport, horse and cart waiting to take people to the ruins….. but alas our guide was all for walking…

We first saw the remains of the gymnasium. Our English speaking guide gave good information, although for someone with the attention span of a fly I soon switched off…. But I did learn that they used to run 192 metres and the men all ran naked… this surprised me as from the history of athletics which I had briefly studied in my degree years I seem to remember ancient pictures depicting them running in loin cloths… but who am I to question…. When someone asked about the ladies our guide made a derogatory comment but did later say that when they were allowed to compete they only ran 100m and wore white tunics.


When the statue Zeus, which was 14 metres high and over saw all the area, was removed to Istanbul the town of Olympia became abandoned. I think he said this was in about 400AD. The only resident of the original old town today is the cat!!!!


Earthquakes were and still are common place but a big one around 600AD lead to the collapse of the buildings. Having been abandoned the town lay covered in mud until exploration by archaeologists in 1876.


We wandered around looking at the various ruins before going through the arch to the actual Grass Olympic arena/ stadium…. This was fairly unspectacular as a flat ground for the running, standing long jump and Javlin neither of which needs todays run up as they were all performed from a standing position. There can still be seen some starting stone blocks and the space where the water flowed around the outside of the field so that the spectators, who viewed from the mound had drinking water.

The original Olympic stadium with starting block for the sprint


Walking back to the coach we passed the place where the Olympic torch is still lite to this present day. ( it is at present in Paris for this years Olympics) The area is next to the oldest ruin…. I think our guide explained that a mirror or a piece of glass was positioned under the Olympic torch so that when the sun was in the correct position it’s rays would hit the mirror and set light to the torch. To this day that is how the torch is lite.

where the Olympic Flame is lit.


We wandered back to the coach park stopping at the Olive shop to purchase a very small, very expensive tin of premium virgin olive oil… a gift for my son who likes the finer things in life, a T-shirt for John and a pen for Johns Granddaughter. We decided that was enough shopping and so we sat and waited our time out having a Pepsi Max in the shade of an olive tree overlooking the ruins of Olympia.

We returned to the ship and had a light salad in the buffet for lunch before returning to our cabin for a siesta.

We showered ( you need to be a contortionist in our shower) and washed hair and put on some suitable glad rags in time for a rather nice mock-tail, called a Magic Island, before supper. Once again we got a wake view table and Saleem served us very well yet again.

Tonight’s menu

After Supper we wandered down to the theatre for the evenings 10.00pm show. … more about that tomorrow… Goodnight from us both!

Day 1 – Monday 27th May 2024- Cruising the Greek Islands and a few more places!!

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Well!!! We are off again. The alarm shot me bolt upright, to a rude awakening at 7.30 am… We showered, breakfasted, John did all the horrible jobs like washing up and bins… while I crammed the last few things into the cases. I’d like to say we took a leisurely walk down the road to the station…. But that would be a lie!!!! I huffed and puffed with my case and hand luggage sat on top … John eventually had enough and took them both…. He has much strength and while yanking it up the kerb the front wheel caved in, looking dangerously like coming off it now has to be a following wheel and no longer a lead wheel!!! We nurtured it to the station. Those of you who know us will understand we only live a couple of 100 yards away.. takes 5 minutes to get there …. 20 minutes later!! John was buying single tickets to Gatwick and we boarded the earlier than expected train arriving at Gatwick at just before 11.00am

We got through baggage drop off, passport control and security in super quick time… Well done Gatwick!!!
Being the last of the big spenders we decided to splash the cash and have a stylish brunch at ….. yes you’ve guessed!!!!…… Wetherspoons….. they get everywhere… we haven’t had one since Scotland last year !!! I must admit it was great and set us up for the day. By 13.30 we were at the gate waiting to board and our next adventure was about to begin……

We are off to Athens for a MSC 7 day cruise on the Opera… taking us to Italy and around a few Greek islands .
…or was it about to begin!!! All aboard and we’re told we are delayed 1hr15 minutes due to the sky being busy over Croatia…. Well! That’s a first for us…. So we taxied to what they call a quiet part of the airfield to wait out our time…. The good news is the fat fella ( I know that’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black !!!), sat next to me and the window, was already fed up of being sardined into his seat by John and me and moved back two rows to an empty rack of seats… so we were far more comfortable even if we were no further forward with our adventure! I had also purchased a seatbelt extension because those on EasyJet are meant for sizes much smaller than mine!!! So I haven’t had the harsh embarrassment of having to ask for an extension … yeah… well worth the £19 on Amazon !! I know Johns jealous but he would prefer to sit breathing in for hours than admit he’d be more comfortable with an extension!!!

We did take off at 15.50 but much to my annoyance, embarrassment, humiliation the hostess came along with an EasyJet seatbelt extension and said I couldn’t wear my own even though it was as kite marked…. I suppose my only saving Grace was this time she was asking me rather than me asking her.
it was a good flight, even though no entertainment and no usb ports etc… but what do you expect with a cheap airline. Just after takeoff the air hostess came and asked me to move into the window seat because according to the passenger behind us, who just happened to be an airplane technician, half my seat was missing, in particular the bit that holds it upright and I was in danger of being catapulted into a vertical position… I think the poor chap feared for his life !!! So I obliged and moved. The flight was 3 hours 15 minutes and we proceeded to disembark without any problems. We then walked half a marathon to the immigration and baggage claim. We were about 1.5hours late but our driver met us with a cheery smile. He quickly transferred us the 45 minutes to our hotel… We are staying at The Gallery Suites in Piraeus about 5 minutes from the port.

We were greeted by two lovely ladies and after the formalities were completed we squeezed into a minuscule lift ( if you thought ours at home was small you are mistaken by comparison ours is a ballroom!!!). We are on the 7th floor… definitely a very compact room… for those of you who remember my description of our Hilton Hotel in Singapore, or our room in Amsterdam ….well!!! this is even smaller …. Now I come to think about it we have stayed in some pretty tiny rooms around the world… anyway I digress…. The room had all we wanted and with a little furniture moving ( we moved the bed away from the wall so John didn’t have to crawl in, whilst leaving enough room to get to the bathroom) we were soon comfortably in bed… after all it was 11.44pm…. So on that note I’ll say goodnight…sweet dreams …