Greek Islands

We woke up at 6:00am and just as breakfast opened we put some food in a breakfast box then our ride was ready to take us to the ferry at 7:15am. Today we're excitedly off to the beautiful Greek Islands. It took us about an hour to collected the other passengers in the lovely bus. The seats were perfectly moulded for Ev and very comfortable. Upon arrival on the ferry a jolly photographer was ready for our mug shots for us to purchase after lunch. We headed straight up to the top level and found a table next to the side rails. We were both still pretty tired from our early start but were amused as busload after busload pulled up to the three level ferry. We were a little concerned it would be very crowded but actually it was comfortable. We went to three of the Greek Islands: Hydra, Poros then Aegina and will be home at 8:30pm.

We are not really big on cruises because we love to be busy and ‘doing’ things so being still on a ferry just enjoying the world go by was a little difficult for us at the start of the day and we were bored by 11:00am. The views however were very nice, although it would have been better if the sun wasn’t hiding all day. Also it rained so unfortunately no swimming for us either.

Before our first stop, all English speaking guests were invited to the lower deck for a briefing of the day. We were really excited to be on the islands and were surprised by the amount of cats walking the streets. The housing colours throughout were beautiful and we were given enough time to roam the shops.

At the third island, Aegina, there were two optional extras: The Monastery of St. Nectarios one of the most important places for Greek Christian worship, or, the Pistachio plantation tour. We were psyched for the Pistachio tour, but decided that neither of them were as thrilling as actually relaxing on the beach. We’ve always wondered what Pistachio nuts look like after they’re packaged, but now we’ll never know. Our briefing was followed by some entertainment of Greek dancing with the audience. The keyboardist/singer was very entertaining. The crew made all announcements in Greek, English, French and Chinese so we were all informed of when to leave and return to the ferry at each stop.

We were served lunch at 1pm on the ferry. A tuna salad, main course was a lovely marinated pork and potatoes and finally lemon custard tart for desert. 

We did feel a little rushed to be able to explore the streets fully as it would have been great to walk a little higher to get a lovely 'Greek Islands' shot with the houses and water. Oh well, we still had a very relaxing time and was well worth the trip.  

Back in the hotel, hot water and ice are free and best of all, no complaining about bringing it up. We’re watching Harry Potter 3 or 4, not sure, we haven’t really followed the movie series so we’re a bit confused about the game when Harry saves people from drowning. Maybe we should watch them all when we get back from our holiday.

 


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