by Bob Sparrow
I need a quick review, as I seem to be in a space-time continuum. Our last stop in Italy was on the island of Sicily at the port town of Catania. We had set up a walking/food tour through the city as we thought that we’d never seen food walking before, so we were very excited, only to find out that we walked and the food just sat there. Our guide was a young lady who talked very quietly with no amplification, so I can’t tell you what she said or what we saw, but I can tell you that the food was very good. We walked through the largest fish market I’ve ever seen, featuring fish that I’ve seen. We didn’t have any. The only two things I remember consuming were a cannoli and some red wine.
The first Greek island we hit was Katakolon, and island that several of us had visited before, and we still weren’t sure why a cruise ship stopped there. There are only two main streets, which, if you’re not looking for women’s apparel, can be walked in about 20 minutes. The ladies stayed a little longer, but the guys were back on board enjoying the ‘drink package’ for lunch.
Our next stop is, for some, the island that epitomizes Greek islands, Santorini. As we approached the island it looked like there was snow on top of the mountains; it turned out to be all white houses and shops. There was a long delay (3 hours) waiting for our tender to take us ashore as we had booked a tour with a private company, not Oceania, and Oceania didn’t like that, so they made anyone who booked a private tour go last in getting ashore. The seas were rough and the winds were high and our tender nearly capsized, but we made it ashore and were met by our tour guide, another soft-spoken woman without any amplification devices, so again, I really can’t tell you that much about Santorini other than it is beautiful, unique and filled with restaurants, shops and people. After weaving our way through the labyrinth of shope, we had dinner at a cliff-side restaurant that provided us with a beautiful sunset view before heading back to the ship.
On board there was great entertainment each night ranging from comedians to Broadway musicals.
Next day, new island – Milos. Which again raised the question, why do cruise ships stop here? There was only one main street with a variety of shops – again the ladies needed more time to browse the shops, while the guys tasted some Greek beer. Next!
Our final island stop before our cruise ends in Athens is Mykonos, the party island – except we were there too early for the parties. We did have perfect weather. What was most noticeable about these Greek islands is that there are very few trees and the land is brown; this place will never be mistaken for the Hawaiian Islands. Why does it look like this? Several reasons.
- Ancient civilizations and later inhabitants used vast amounts of wood for shipbuilding, fuel, and land clearing
- Intense grazing by goats
- Poor volcanic soil
- Dry, semi-arid Mediterranean climate with limited summer rainfall
Back to the tour: we had a great guide, meaning we could hear him and he was very knowledgeable. We toured a good part of the whole island, visiting an old light house, some windmills and a section of town on the water called ‘Little Venice’. Mykonos is filled with very expensive housing (some with helicopter pads), sand beaches, and a few olive trees. We stopped midway through our tour for some classic Greek baklava – very good!
Next Monday: Disembark and our time in ancient city of Athens
