The Island of Patmos

 This morning's excursion was a Photography Tour of Chora, the capital of the island of Patmos. But the views started early, as I was out on our balcony as the sun rose from behind an island.

Our tour group was not very large and we had a driver for our small bus and a guide. As well, the gentleman who is lecturing about photography on this sailing was part of the group. Our guide, Saki, is originally from Patmos but has an odd accent - there's lots of Australian mixed in there. It turns out that his family emigrated to Australia when he was quite young, and returned to Patmos when he was in his late teens. After spending 23 years in Germany with his German wife, they've moved back to the island again.

We visited a number of different spots on the island during our tour: a couple of beaches, the Petra Rock, the town of Chora and the Cave of the Apocalypse. John the Apostle, the one who wrote the Book of Revelations (or Book of the Apocalypse as it is known in Greek Orthodox Christianity), was exiled to Patmos by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and this is where he did that writing - or rather, dictating, as there is a depiction of him receiving the Word of God and dictating it to a scribe. Saki would give us tips for the best photo-taking spots as we visited each place.

Our first stop was at the small Chapel of St. Nicholas, right beside the water. It is a typical Greek Orthodox chapel where celebratory mass is held on December 6 every year, the Feast Day of St. Nicholas.

There is a tiny beach and boats docked and anchored right outside the chapel.

Our next stop was at a beach near the village of Sapsila. Tourist, or Guest, season hasn't started up yet, so there were not many people around, but when the water is nice and warm - up to 24 degrees C in August - the beaches are very busy.

The view across the bay

There are lots of cats on the island, all fed and cared
for. They even have vets come once a year to make
sure they all are healthy and get required vaccinations.

From here, we drove to another bay to visit the Petra Rock. This is a natural rock formation that archaeologists believe was used as a temple, possibly dedicated to Aphrodite, dating back to 1100 BC. Remnants of stone footings and other works, like cisterns and small manmade caves, have led to this supposition. The beach here is also very popular during tourist season.

Next, we drove to Chora (Hora) for our walking tour in the town. The whole island has 3,100 inhabitants according to the last census, and it has 3 sites that are now on UNESCO's World Heritage List. These are Old Town of Chora, the Monastery of St. John, and the Cave of the Apocalypse.  

We first visited the 3 windmills that sit on a hill just outside the old town. They were originally built to grind oats, chickpeas and lentils, all of which are grown on the island, into flour. One still does this, and the other two are being converted to generate electricity from wind power.

The views from on the hill are quite spectacular. This is looking back down to the town of Skala, where our tenders dropped us off.

Dominating the skyline of Chora is the Monastery of St. John (Iaonnis). It was built in 1088 and has been continuously inhabited by monks since that time. There are always 14 or 15 working monks. The monastery owns the windmills as well.

We continued our walk through the town and stopped for a refreshment at a local taverna.

There are lots of interesting door knockers in the
town. As Chora is as old as the monastery, this
was the only way for visitors to make their
presence known.

One small street with the monastery in the
background.

Another view of the windmills. They must
look great with the sails up.

We found the market square just before stopping for our refreshment. Saki had to keep reminding our group not to get mixed up with another group from the ship.

No, this wasn't where we had our drinks, but
it looks really nice and cozy

A last look at the monastery and...scaffolding!!

Our final stop was at the Cave of the Apocalypse. This is where St. John the Apostle apparently came to pray and meditate while he was in exile and writing. It is a popular place of pilgrimage, but until only a few years ago, in order to reach the altar, you would have to walk down 64 steps from the original entrance. Saki said it took 15 years to convince UNESCO that they needed a more accessible entrance and that it would not spoil the heritage of the site. Now the ramp is outside and people with mobility issues aren't barred from being able to see it. We were, though, because our access to the site didn't include the inside of the cave.

This is the original entrance to the cave. The mosaic I wrote about earlier depicting John receiving the Word of God is over the door.

At the end of the tour we took a little time and walked around in Skala. Lots of shops, but not lots of tourist 'kitch'. In fact a lot of the linen clothing on offer looked really nice.

I couldn't resist this one. Someone showed real intelligence in printing this on the stairs!

We set sail for Kusadasi before 6 p.m. Dinner in Waterside was delicious, and the comedian entertainer's show was hilarious. We have another long day with an early start tomorrow, so it is time for some shuteye.

Renewing our Acquaintance with Crystal Symphony

 Boarding day always seems to involve a lot of waiting - have breakfast, wait until hotel checkout; check out, wait for the transfer vehicle to arrive; get to the port, wait for instructions from the staff about being organized in the terminal building; get into the building, wait for your check-in group to be called; finally get on the ship....no waiting to complete check-in!!!

And, true to form, even though we have not been on this ship in 12 years, the first person we met on board was our very old friend, Andrew Triplow. We first met Andrew in 2005 on Crystal Harmony where he was the Crystal Society Host. Now they call that position the Loyalty Manager and it is combined with Future Cruise Sales. As we sailed out of Piraeus in the evening, I was on the Promenade Deck looking for some photo opportunities when I ran into another old friend: Yvonne, the Chief Accountant who we know from Crystal Serenity. When there were still hosted tables in the main dining room, we would more often than not end up at Yvonne's table on formal nights.

Of course, the first thing to do after finding our suite was to go to the Trident Grill and have lunch.

What is a Crystal cruise without at least
one steak sandwich??

The Chicken Caesar Wrap

We sailed way from Piraeus a little before 7 p.m. But before that we all had to attend lifeboat drill. Crystal Symphony is probably the only ship sailing that still requires guests to go out on the Promenade Deck, although now without their lifejackets, for the muster drill. We figure that it is because the lifeboats are hanging over the deck, as opposed to more modern ships that have them tucked in and accessible from inside the ship at the stowage point. They may also not be able to change this because they would have to be able to accommodate all 600 guests on Deck 7 in case of an emergency, and they can't do that because there aren't any public rooms there.

Muster drill - at least we were on the
shady side of the ship!

A church near the waterside as we sailed
out of Piraeus

The pilot boat leaving us

We made a last-minute decision to try the Sushi Bar at Umi Uma for dinner, and were fortunate to get seats there. The food was excellent as always and it is a treat to watch the sushi chefs do their magic.

Tuna tartare in a wasabi sauce

Yellowtail with Jalapeno

Nobu's New Style Beef Sashimi

The Head Sushi Chef with the plate
of sashimi he had just prepared for us

Shrimp Tempura Roll

And we always have to have Shrimp 
and Vegetable Tempura

Larry really likes the Welcome Aboard show because it includes an Irish Dance number, so we made a point of going. We had forgotten just how much smaller the show lounge is - we were sitting right in front of the technical booth, and were only about 5 rows from the stage! On Serenity, we would be about 10 rows back.

The waterfall in the Crystal Cove

The violinist and dancers

The Irish Dance set

 Our first port stop, the island of Patmos, is up for Sunday and our tour leaves at 9:00. It's been a lovely first afternoon on board.

An Afternoon of Greek Food

 After leaving home with 14 degrees Celsius and rain, with similar weather during our layover in Montreal, we were happy to arrive in Athens yesterday morning to 22 degrees and sunshine!

It did clear off in the late afternoon in Montreal to
allow for a nice photo as we left

The Athens area as we approached
the airport

The Athens airport was very empty when we arrived at 11 a.m., so we got through Immigration with no trouble at all, and even our 'Priority' luggage came out of the plane very quickly. We had booked a transfer through Viator, and our driver was waiting for us once we exited the Baggage Hall. Inside of 45 minutes after touching down, we were already on our way into downtown Athens.

We booked the hotel through Crystal, and they had chosen the Athens Capital Hotel for their overnighting guests. It is centrally located, between the Acropolis and Lycebettus Hill, the two highest in Athens proper, and is a fairly new build. The biggest draw is the rooftop area, where the pool, the bar and two restaurants are located.

We had to wait for our room, so we headed up to the rooftop and enjoyed lunch with a view.

Looking over at the Acropolis

I had been watching a couple of YouTube channels specializing in Mediterranean food just to become acquainted with the popular dishes of Greece. It is known that the people of the island of Crete are the healthiest and longest-lived in the world, obviously due mainly to their diet, so people have studied this way of eating for many years. The channel 'Mediterranean Living' is run by a registered dietician who has also written a book about this diet. Check it out if you are interested in a deeper look at it.

There are a few basic premises to Mediterranean cuisines in general: lots of fermented foods - yogurts, cheeses, and bread with a sourdough base; more plant-based proteins than meat, so hummus, lentils, and the like; lots of extra-virgin olive oil, and lots of fruit and vegetables. After having just 2 meals of this type of food, it is interesting to note that we didn't feel stuffed or bloated and stayed satisfied for much longer. I'm thinking of adopting this style of eating when we're at home over the summer.

We shared a Cheese Platter for lunch. It included bread sticks that could become highly addictive, 4 kinds of cheese - 2 from Greece and 2 from France, chunks of honeycomb and a pot of fig jam. It was delicious.

Anyone who has any Greek friends or family will know that everyone from here seems to come with a green thumb. At the hotel, they have lots of herbs and lavender growing in pots all over the place. These were on the ledge outside the window in the bar/casual restaurant. In the background you can see one of the higher hills that surround the city.

Once we had our room, we took a nap for an hour and a half to catch up on some sleep, and changed clothes for dinner and this morning's transfer to the ship in Piraeus. We had to have the luggage outside the door before 11 p.m. as it is being taken to the port by truck, so a little repacking was required. After that, it was time for dinner.

The bread tray comes with condiments: Kalamata Olives, Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and Taramosalata, which is a dip/spread made with fish roe, olive oil and bread. Quite tasty!

For our main course we chose a slow-cooked lamb which was served with hummus, roasted red pepper, potato straws, fried onion and minted yogurt, along with lentil pitas. We certainly weren't expecting this presentation , but it was very delicious.

We weren't sure if we could handle dessert, although we wanted to try it. Our waitress talked us into sharing a plate of Ekmek, and we were happy that we did. Again, it was a phenomenal dish.

Ekmek is a thick cream, in this case pistachio, encased in a 
shredded wheat cannoli, with a tasty foam and ice cream
on the side.

After we finished our dinner we took a last night-time look at the Acropolis and took this photo. It certainly is beautiful no matter what time of day you view it. On Saturday morning we will be picked up for our transfer to the ship. We are certainly looking forward to that!

Time to Go Again!

 We're packed up and ready to go again, just a month after we returned from the last trip. This time we are headed to Europe to cruise the Greek Islands on Crystal Symphony and the Rhone River on Tauck's MS Emerald.

The kittens - now cats, actually, as today is their 1st birthday - are getting used to our comings and goings, and will be happy to know that we'll be home all summer after this adventure. They are a little less skittish about exploring the suitcases while we're packing than Franklin was.

We have a very full itinerary on this trip, with only very few sea days and excursions in every port. I hope to get the blog updated every couple of days, so keep an eye on this space! Hope you enjoy the photos and commentary.

Tortola, Twenty Years Later

 The last part of the cruise seemed to be a revisit to places we hadn't seen for a very long time. Our previous visit to Tortola was in 2002 when Larry, Bruce and I surprised my parents on Crystal Harmony for their 50th anniversary.

I was up and looking out when we arrived, and certainly couldn't recall seeing the marinas and houses that were visible from our side of the ship. We didn't have an excursion booked for this port, as something had happened to the bookings I had made at home, so we took a walk around the visitors' area that had been built at the pier around 2017 (this according to one of the security officers checking ID on the pier).

Looking toward Roadtown and the multitude of boats. Almost
all of the sailboats we saw there were catamarans, and we're
sure that many are chartered to winter boaters

A lovely view with one of those catamarans
leaving port

Looking under our ship's lines toward Virgin Gorda
and a couple of the smaller British Virgin Islands.

The tourist authority had built an area, similar to those in most other Caribbean ports, with shops, bars, food booths and small restaurants, and some of the old standards are there too: Diamonds International, Effy Jewelers, Del Sol Colour Change and Cariloha Bamboo. Roadtown sure has come up in the world since 2002 when there was absolutely nothing anywhere near the pier, and certainly not this built up community that supports the cruise and pleasure boating industries. We'll be back sometime in the next couple of years and I expect we'll see a little more of the island then.

We've covered pretty much everything about the ship and our ports on this cruise. Regent Grandeur is a lovely ship, the crew is fantastic, and the food is wonderful. What else can you ask for? We had a couple of last days with our friends before packing up and heading home. We will be back on Regent in January on Explorer, another sister to Grandeur, but we have a couple of other trips before then.