Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Today was a stop I was really looking forward to. We stopped at Katakalon on the coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, and joined a small group (there were 6 of us) to go to Ancient Olympia, the real, true, original site of the Olympic games 2800 years ago. It was only about a half hour drive from our port, so we got there quickly. But for some reason 6 of us plus our guide Antonia merited a full coach; a bit of overkill in that department. When we arrived we were given tickets to enter the site. It is all in ruins now, of course, but a lot was preserved because two bordering rivers had a tendency to overflow their banks and deposit soil, so everything was buried, which helped immensely in preservation.

The original Olympics were a male-only enterprise: women could neither compete nor observe. Whether this was a good idea may perhaps be influenced by the fact that all the men competed completely naked, as this made it impossible to hide anything that would help you cheat or get an unfair advantage. The games were held every 4 years, and during the games a truce was declared in any conflicts. The games were held for hundreds of years, until in the 4th century AD the Emperor, by then a Christian, stopped them because of the pagan aspects. The stadium there held 45,000 spectators, but there were no seats, just sloped grass hillsides, so spectators would just sit on the grass to watch the competitions. There included running, jumping, discus, javelin, boxing, and wrestling, among others. The winners only won a wreath of olive branches, but in practice could count on receiving something more wealth enhancing from their home city. And if they had the means they could commission a bronze statue to be placed in the Hall of Fame so  that their victory would be remembered. There was also a Hall of Shame to remember the cheaters. Excavations are still going on, but this is where the Olympic torch is lit every two years. They use a parabolic mirror to focus the rays of the sun an it only takes seconds, then the lit torch begins its journey to the current host city. But in case of a bad weather they have a backup flame prepared in advance, and this has been used three time in the modern Olympic era.

Our ticket also covered admission to the Archaeological Museum, which fortunately was not overly large because we only had about a half hour to view the artifacts, but the visit was definitely worth the time investment. There are two museums on the site, but our guide Antonia told us this was the one to go to.

From there we went to a local farm that produced award-winning Olive Oil. We got a presentation on how they make the olive oil, then a tasting was arranged. After that, we had a light lunch, and some Greek dancing. Cheryl and I both joined in this time.

Finally it was time to return to the ship, where we changed into bathing suits and hit the pool. Then to dinner, and the show. Tonight was Karl Loxley doing a different program from previously, and thankfully a bit lighter on the smoke. Tomorrow is Santorini!

Thursday September 11, 2025

This was another tender port, and Cheryl got up early (5:30) to get tender tickets. The earliest she could get was for the #6 tender. So lesson learned for the next time we cruise. We should identify the tender ports in advance and only get cruise line excursions for those. It reduces the bother of the process because the cruise line will always put their own excursions first. But we just headed for the tender line right away, and ended up getting on a tender pretty quickly. So another lesson learned. We ended up on Santorini over an hour before our scheduled meeting time.

 Our guide, Kenzas, was a bit of a comedian, which was entertaining, but his historical “explanations” left a lot to be desired. I finally figured out that what sounded like “Venetians” was actually “Phoenicians”, but only because of context. And my old profs would be horrified if I ever said that Alexander the Great came after the Romans. (First, the Greek city states like Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. Second, Philip, Alexander, and the Hellenistic world. Third, the Roman Empire.) 

Santorini is a volcanic caldera from an explosion about 3,600 years ago which not only wiped out life on this island, but brought down the Minoan civilization on Crete from the tsunami. This may have given rise to the myth of Atlantis, but as far as I know this has not been definitively proven. But now there is a huge bowl of ocean surrounded by what is left of the original island. To get up top, you can take a cable car for 10 Euros, which is what we did, but the older alternative is to go up on a donkey. They take people up and down all day, and were once about the only way up from the caldera. The island was once called Thera, but the sounds shifted over time, as often happens, and now the town on the top is called Fira. That is where we met Kenza and got into our van. We went to a slightly different part of Fira, where we walked on the public walkways between the white buildings and took some photos. We saw a few wedding parties, as Santorini is a popular place for weddings. 

Then we went to a different town, Oia, to do a little more sightseeing. Oia is at the end of the island, but similarly high on a cliff with views of the Aegean Sea below. From there we went to visit the Monastery of the Prophet Elias, which is on the highest part of the island and some 500 meters above sea level. Then we went down to the sea to visit a black sand beach. And finally, we went to the village of Megalochori, where we took refreshment in a local Taverna. I had feta baked in a sauce with tomatoes and peppers, and it was delicious. And then the tour was over and we returned to the cable car for the trip back to the ship. I got a quick dip in the pool because it as 4:30 when we got back, and since we left the ship at 8:30 we had an 8 hour day. Then dinner, and another show with the Magician Basilio Tabacchi. Our cruise is almost over, and tomorrow is our last full day, with a stop in Mykonos.

Friday, September 12, 2025

Our last full day, and we are  in Mykonos. We again headed downstairs without waiting for our tender number to be called, and were put on a boat right away, which gave us a lot of time to kill. We walked along the harborside, and at 9am went into the Archeological Museum, which had just opened. We spent about 45 minutes there before finding our tour group, and enjoyed seeing the artifacts, many of which were from the nearby island of Delos. Delos is the reputed birthplace of Apollo, though his Oracle is in Delphi. But Delos gave its name to the Athens-dominated Delian League formed in the wake of the Persian invasions. Apparently the Oracle decreed that no one could be born or buried in Delos, and that held for centuries. But it is really a small island, about a mile in length. Today’s was a larger tour group that actually merited the coach we had. We drove around the island, and stopped at a beach for photos.

Then we visited an Orthodox Monastery. It was no longer in active service, but beautifully decorated, We then went to a restaurant for the Greek version of coffee and donuts, but the coffee was already sweetened so Cheryl and I satisfied ourselves with cold water. We finally went back to the port were we took a tour of old town, ending with windmills and what they called their “Little Venice” because of the decorated buildings. This was the end of the tour, and we were both pretty beat, so we headed back. But I took a fall going from a paved road to a beach, which was no fun. But back at the ship I did my usual pool–hot tub–cold shower treatment and felt much better. We had time to kill before dinner, so we went to the pool deck and found a table in the shade. One nice thing about Mykonos is that there is always a wind blowing, which helps to cool you off.

We are starting to feel a bit tired, and if we had skipped Santorini and Mykonos we would still have had fulfilling lives. We certainly have no reason to return to either. Some places exist to be “fun in the sun”, but we aren’t the kind of people for that. The best part of the day for me was the Museum, and that was not part of the tour. I loved Ancient Olympia, and I am really looking forward to Athens. Fortunately the only thing we need to do tomorrow is get from Piraeus to the Hotel, so some resting is called for.

After dinner we were entertained by the singers and dancers for our last night on the ship.