Athens, the Greek Islands and Turkey 2013 🇬🇷🇹🇷

Pam and I awake to find we are already docked in Piraeus, Greece. The port is about 30 minutes from Athens. We hire a taxi for our 5 hours visit. The traffic is light and we soon have Athens in sight. We are surprised to find the Acropolis and many other historical sites are right in the heart of the city. It’s a hot day, but the queues are reasonable and Athens a friendly place. We finish in a little cafe, then the afternoon in the pool on the Silhouette.

Steaming overnight the Silhouette berths at the island of Mykonos on a stormy morning. We brave the weather anyway and get a little wet as we make our way around the bay to the village. The locals say it’s the first real rain for 5 months. By lunchtime there’s not a cloud in the sky, it hot and we settle into a little seaside cafe for a Greek lunch, Mythos and rose’.

The next morning finds us in Kusadasi, Turkey. We were unsure what to expect but we find a very friendly, clean seaside town. Being outside the EU and having its own currency the only inconvenience. We hire a taxi for 4 hours and spend the morning at Ephesus. An ancient roman city, now an historical site. We have now visited so many ruined theaters, temples etc we probably didn’t enjoy it as much as we should. That, along with the huge crowd of tourists made it all a bit of a struggle. We assume our normal fall back position, finding a small waterfront cafe, some local treats, Ephys, rosé and make a great afternoon of it all the same.

We awake to find we have been teleported to the ancient port of Rhodes. It’s walled city (town) clearly visible from our window. It’s a clear warm day and we head off exploring. The city reflects its many owners with churches and mosques. The streets are cobbled and narrow. The further we wander the more engaging it became. In the late afternoon we find a little waterfront cafe….you get the pattern !

Our next stop is Santorini, the postcard of Greek Islands. We are taken ashore by tender as there are no dock facilities on the Island. Santorini main villages of Fira and Oia are perched high on the rim of an extinct volcano. It’s crescent shape forming the rim of the bay. All the buildings pure white, only the churches stand out with their blue domed roofs. We hire a SMART soft top and explore the island’s beaches and villages, we have the most memorable lunch in a little cafe in Oia.

The Silhouette cruises on overnight and the next morning to the island of Crete.  Crete being the largest and most southern of the Greek Islands.  Unfortunately we are only in the port of Chania for 4 hours.

Its a cloudy, windy day.  We disembark as soon as possible and jump the free shuttle bus into town.  We wander the main square and market area trying to get the feel for the place, as best you can with the other 2500 tourist of the ship.

We make our way down to the waterfront area, which despite the weather is a pleasant walk.  As we approach we presume it’s high tide apparently a very high tide.  The occasional swell pushes the water up on the esplanade and seemingly into the cafes.  Always ready for an adventure we venture into a cafe for coffee.  Our waiter recommends a table on a raised floor just inside the doors.  So we sit and watch enjoy our coffee and various passers by getting there feet wet or worse.

As time is short we make our way back through the laneways and backstreets, we get a little lost but find some interesting little shops and locals.  Then its the crowded bus back to the ship and north to Venice.