Parga and Corfu

Our next port stop was also a tender, at Parga, which is not an island, but a town on the western mainland of Greece. There were no issues with the tenders here, but we did learn that sometimes shore excursions don't explain exactly what a tour is all about.

We usually book our excursions online before going on a cruise, because often there is limited availability and we want to make sure that we get our spaces. Crystal does not require pre-payment like many other lines, so it is never a problem with getting a refund if something happens and you cancel a tour. Going by the description, the Olive Oil making tour didn't sound like much, so we didn't book it. Boy did we make a mistake! Grace and John, two of our fellow guests, told us that the olive oil process was quite interesting, then there was a tasting, and THEN there was a multi-course lunch. None of that was in the description. Everyone said it was an amazing meal and the rest of the tour was also very informative. For the Adriatic cruise we will make sure we ask the excursions people about the best options in each port, since we don't have a lot booked yet.

We, on the other hand, hung around the ship, getting the blog up to date, hitting the gym and then the pool. Of course, the pool is really only a splash pool that comes up to Larry's knees, but if you try hard, you can actually swim if there's nobody else in it!

Here are a few photos of Parga

A secluded little beach away from town, just the right size for
a 'small' yacht.

Since we don't have too much to say about Parga, we'll give a little hint on the quality of the food on board. Esprit is something of a unique ship in that the galley is an open kitchen, and it even has windows!! The food service has been nothing short of spectacular, but with a 'Michelin-inspired' cuisine and an Executive Chef who checks and finishes each plate personally before it is delivered, it can't be much less. As usual, we take photos of some of the more interesting presentations, but we noticed that most of them so far have been of desserts! We'll make up for that next week - and there will be lots of opportunity as the menu is basically the same each week with a few updates depending on local offerings.

The open kitchen at work

Dining room manager Luigi got the crew to pose for this one.
Chef Adam Jenkins in the middle is the master creator of all the meals.

Atlantic lobster is flown in regularly.

Chocolate mousse cake, white chocolate mousse in
the rolls and vanilla ice cream. 

Lemon souffle with raspberry sauce. It comes in a coffee
cup that they overturn onto the plate.

Eaton Mess, a mixture of fruit puree, broken meringue and
whipped cream

Apple Tarte Tatin, a small cake with
a big apple ring on it, served with whipped
cream and a tuile ring with ice cream. Who
comes up with these ideas?

Grace let me photograph her lemon meringue tart

Anyone who has followed the blog for a longer time knows that there are many Crystal staff and crew members that we have known for many years. One of them moved from Serenity to Esprit when she was launched, and this is the first time we have seen him in a few years. Clark has been around since Crystal Harmony, and we were lucky to see him and meet his wife Jackie who also works on board, because they went home from Dubrovnik for their vacation. (Sorry to be a little out of order here, but we're playing catch-up with the blog in Korcula.)

Our next stop was the island of Corfu, which is in the Ionian Sea, right at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea. Corfu has been a strategic island for as long as people have been sailing boats and ships to get to it. It has been under the rule of ancient Greeks (mentioned in Homer's Odyssey), the Corinthians, the Romans, the Venetians, and then more recently the French and the British until it became part of Greece again after the German occupation in World War II.

Our tour around the island took us to a Greek Orthodox monastery high on a headland, a viewpoint even higher in the hills, and then into Corfu Town itself. We would have stayed in town after the tour, except that there were four actual cruise ships in port with us, amounting to about 10,000 more visitors. It looked really busy, so we elected to come back to our little "cocoon" instead.

Passing one of the many bays on Corfu

Monastery bell tower. The three bells signify the
Holy Trinity

Inside the church. It is quite small and there
were lots of tour groups there from
each ship.

Overlooking the coastline

A huge, long cactus plant entwined with
bougainvillea, growing on an overhead trellis.

The bay directly in front of the monastery

Of course, another cat! And very friendly - ready to
curl up on any lap that presented itself.

Another bay

From the Bella Vista viewpoint

Up in the hills, a church and vineyards. The locals keep the Retsina
they make, as everyone only produces a small amount each year.
There are also 4 million olive trees on Corfu, only good
for olive oil.

In the distance, the strait we would be sailing later, and Albania
on the other side.

The New Fort, only about 20 years younger than the Old Fort

An old windmill, no longer used. The only one
we saw anywhere in Greece

The old town as we sailed by

We sailed before sunset, and had the most gorgeous cloudless evening.

Just after the sun went down, Monica even saw the green flash! Too bad she wasn't taking a video at the time. Next port: Kotor Montenegro, where the captain says the sail-in through a long fjord is not to be missed.