Category: London, France, Italy, Greece & Malta ’22

We woke up close to ten am, got dressed and went to breakfast. Just those couple extra hours of sleep made me feel so much better! We were sad that the pancakes were no longer being offered, so I guess there’s some perks to being up early.
We hung around in the shade of the pool deck. I worked on this blog, since I finally had good enough WiFi to upload some pictures. We didn’t have enough time to swim or anything, since our tour today would be more historical.

We got off the ship into the port of Thessaloniki, Greece. Our guide, Panos, pronounced it like “the” (not thee) “salon” “Nikki” and it took me a few times of hearing him say to realize he wasn’t saying “Salon Nikki” and that the “the” was connected. Panos took us from the port to the White Tower. It’s a huge white block tower that used to be the lookout for the harbor back in the day. Thessaloniki has only been a city since the early 1900s-it used to be occupied by Turkey. Panos calls the Turkish “the turkeys” which made me giggle because I pictured a gaggle of the birds every time he said something like, “and then the turkeys captured the city and…”

Anyway. It was beautiful to see. And then we walked along the promenade to see the monument to Alexander the Great on a horse, some 16ft spears and shields with “scary” things carved on them, like Medusa.. It was starting to get really hot, and it was at this point that I thought I wish we had done this tour this morning and I was parked in the pool right now, especially since we were walking beside the harbor, that water was so teasing! Even still, I sweated and walked along listening to Panos throw out fact after fact about his city. He was born and raised here and had so much information!

We got back to the bus and he took us up the brick like roads to the top of the mountainside to see views of the entire city. This area was the original inside of the city surrounded by the huge stone walls and sentry towers. We were able to take some great pictures of the city below all the way to the sea. We were also able to do a little souvenir shopping too.

We were then taken to a museum smack full with artifacts found in Thessaloniki.. everything from marble statues and monuments, to clay pots and bowls, to golden head wreaths and warrior helmets. This is where Panos shined. He showed us the tiniest of details of things I’d have never even noticed. He also told us a lot of Greek mythology.. like the story of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders and trying to make Hercules hold it for him for eternity-but he got tricked into taking it back.

Honestly, all of this history and ancient lands fascinates me. It makes me want to read all of these stories again and really get a better understanding of it all. Like how the Romans and Greeks have different names for the same ancient Gods, ie Athena and Minerva, and Aphrodite and Venus.. I don’t know why I want to know these details, but I do. Something to add to my never ending to do list 😉

From the museum, we were taken to a Greek Orthodox Church. It was absolutely beautiful, as all of these European churches of any kind tend to be. I took my time exploring and taking in the decorations. I wandered and snapped pictures. When I started to get hungry, I walked back to the bus and ate some snacks with Mom while we waited on the others to wander back, too. We definitely should have eaten something on the ship before leaving, but it felt like we had just eaten breakfast.. now, at 4pm.. we were hungry!

We got back to the ship around 5:15.. Mom and I, still not satisfied after our snacks, went to get burgers on the upper deck of the ship. After eating, we went to the theater to watch a lady perform. She sang beautifully, but it was a lot of show tunes and opera songs-so not Mom’s thing, and while I don’t mind sitting to appreciate her talent, it’s not really mine either. We lasted a good 30 minutes before mom whispered, “ok, enough of that.. let’s go..” and we ended up heading to the back of the ship to sit and watch the boat pull away from the port of Thessaloniki.

We stayed until sunset before going to change into our workout clothes. Mom actually came to the gym with me and got in a workout, too! I ran my 2 miles on the dreaded treadmill (it was too windy on the upper deck to run outside again, sad times). Maybe I will actually hit that 50 miles this month!

Once again, we showered and got ready for bed. I thought about going to the some of the entertainment stuff that the ship has for us.. but I’m seriously too tired to get dressed again and go mingle with folks I don’t know.. so, bed sounds like the best thing for me. Tomorrow is a boat cruise to some Mykonos beaches, and I cannot wait!

We woke up in Mykonos! Ok, that’s it! Post over!
Just kidding. We got up about the same time as yesterday, but today was more exciting. The views of Mykonos from the ship were much different than what I had expected.. the island from this distance looked like brown dirt dotted with white adobe looking houses. Very pretty yes, but not bustling and exciting as I had imagined. We put on our bathing suits and dresses, then went to breakfast.

From there we hung out at the pool in the sunshine. Our tour wasn’t until 1:15 and we had to have a time slot to be able to get off the boat for the water bus shuttles since the ship is too big to get close to the harbor. So, instead of trying to get off early and get back to the meeting spot on time, we swam and got some sun at the pool. Unlike yesterday, we decided to eat something right before leaving.

We took the shuttle boat to the pier, and man oh man-I was starting to see the beauty of Mykonos up close! Beautiful little shops and restaurants lined the street along the waterfront, the walls were all white washed with gorgeous flowering vines draped from one building to the next and up around windows.. the churches with their blue domes and a cross on top. Wow. I was just stunned!

We walked around for about 15 minutes until it was time to meet our excursion group. We got onto a small boat that looked a bit rugged. There was maybe 25-30 people total in our group. For the first 45 minutes, we sat and stared into the Aegean Sea and at the islands popping out of the water all over the place. Eventually our captain stopped and our guide Mara, told us that we could jump in and swim here if we wanted-but if no one wanted to we’d just take pictures and go to the next beach where we would dock the boat and go ashore to swim from the beach.

I always want to jump in. But-I wasn’t going to hold up the whole boat by myself.. so I waited, and a guy close to my age, probably a little younger jumped in.. I was about to go until I realized the ENTIRE boat of people was just staring at him floating in the water! Sheesh! I started to contemplate. Another man my age-ish jumped in, and then a woman.. the woman popped up and came right back out.. she said it was cold but worth saying she did it. I got up to the ladder to jump, but waited for mom to come back from the restroom on board, so she could take my dress and sunglasses for me.

I jumped in and immediately the shock of the water took my breath away. Once I came up for air though, I was fine! Yes it was chilly, but I was floating in the Aegean Sea! How can you be HERE and not jump in? And the water just seemed to hold you up, I hardly had to swim at all to keep afloat (probably that bread-but hey-I’m blaming the salt content in the water 😳). Once I was in, several more men joined.. but no more women. Before I knew it, it was just the first 2 guys and me out there, chatting about Utah, Lake Tahoe, and the Appalachian Trail. I tried to talk Mara into tossing us some beers from the boat, but she wasn’t having any of our shenanigans.

After 30 ish minutes of pure floating bliss, we were told to get on board. Dangit. I could have floated all day. So, we climbed the ladder and I got a glass of white wine for what I assumed was a decent boat ride to the next beach destination. It was less than 10 minutes.. like, I had to really drink that wine! We got off the boat on a rock they called a pier and then walked down to the beachy area where people had their towels laid out. Mom and I claimed our spot and all but ran for the water.

This shallow water felt much warmer than the cold deep water from a few minutes ago.. but it was all still way too cold for mom to get in. Actually no one from our group that was near me would get in.. my one new friend from Salt Lake City was down at the bar drinking margaritas. Dammit. So, I swam around a bit, got bored, and laid out on my towel next to mom to soak in some rays. Which I enjoy almost as much as swimming anyway.

A good 30 minutes later, Mom thought she worked up her nerve to get all the way in. We went back into the water, she got in up to her knee caps! Hahaha-I swam again, went out to what I hoped was a sandbar-to find out it was a huge piece of rock with moss on it and very scrape-y, so I swam back and laid out again until it was time to board our boat.

On the ride back the captain took us by “little venice” and some windmills along the shoreline. So so pretty! Then they let us off with about 2 hours to explore Mykonos before we had to get back on our cruise ship. We shopped and explored and ate dinner at a cute waterfront restaurant. Then explored some more! Of course in the last 15 minutes we found all the really cute squares and had to quickly navigate back before missing the last ferry boat back to the ship! I HAVE to come back to Mykonos. It’s a requirement now.

Once back on board, we sat out on “our” back deck for awhile, watched the sun set, and then close to 9:30 I went to change into running clothes. I ran my 2 miles on the upper deck and finished just as the band was starting at the pool stage area for the “moonlight dance party.” I stuck around for a little while, danced a minute or two to a song I liked, then headed “home” to shower. I originally thought I’d go back to the party, but once I got out of the shower, I all but collapsed on the bed.

I was asleep pretty quick (I assume because I can’t remember-I’m writing this from the bus I’m on in Athens hahahaha). So, I guess that’s that. I’ll tell you all about Athens on the next post 😉

Y’all. Today was incredible-and yet-very overwhelming. We woke up in Piraeus, Greece, the port city by Athens. We had our breakfast and met for our tour at 8:15. Please believe that when I booked these excursions, it was only because at the time with Covid restrictions, the only way off the ship was through a cruise purchased excursion. Two weeks before we left for the cruise (aka: already in Italy), they lifted those restrictions. If I had waited to purchase, the ones we wanted would have been sold out.. sooooo here we are on day 8 million of getting up way too early on vacation..

Our tour guide, Miriam, got on the bus and explained that our first stop would be at the acropolis.. from where we were, you could pretty much see the hill the acropolis was built on, which was the point back in ancient times-it was to be built on the highest point to be seen from anywhere in the city. Which-Athens now is HUGE!

Athens is surrounded by what Miriam called “9 Hills” for the 9 muses of artistry.. which is how the word museum came about, a display of the artist’s muses.. pretty neat. Miriam was full of facts like this-like how Agora means market, and back in the day the agora was a huge open air market bustling with tons of people-so agoraphobia is the fear of being in big open spaces (or outside in big crowds).

Anyway, the acropolis consisted of three buildings but the most famous is the Parthenon. Every city had one dedicated to some god or goddess, but Athen’s Parthenon takes the cake, because of its scale and that it’s mostly (ish) still standing. It was built to honor the Virgin Athena. There’s a Mathematical importance that architects at the time used to determine the length and width and the number of columns, Miriam explained this in detail, but I kinda zoned out.. sorry about that.

It was SO DANG CROWDED here today. Miriam led us in and up more than 200 stairs to the top of the acropolis. She’d stop here and there, tell us about the stuff we were seeing, the differences between theaters and Parthenons.. theaters had open air, the Parthenon has a roof. We’d huddle under some trees while she pointed and talked, then push our way back out into the chaos to try to attempt to follow her up up up.

At the top and at the actual entrance, we came through a ruins building so impressive that I thought surely it had significance, but Miriam said this was just the entrance hall. Off to the side of it was a temple built to honor the Goddess of Victory: Nike.. which of course Miriam says is where Nike athletics got their name. I kinda wanna Google that..

We saw several people fall, the marble we were walking on was so slick, and where there wasn’t slippery marble there was marble stone chunks sticking out of the ground like mini boulder fields. I can remember seeing at least 5 actual falls in front of me-actually, 6.. and thankfully none of those times were Mom or me. Once side the entrance hall, Miriam turned us loose to go get some pictures and get back down to the exit spot.

We did, it was so hot on top of that hill, and people were slap everywhere! It was exhausting. The line to get down was worse than coming up, and had to be single file at the slippery marble sloped path area.. which people couldn’t wrap their minds around and kept going ahead and shoving their way in.. it was like merging on 285 or in a construction zone-and im here to tell you we will both go off this mountain before I let you and your 17 friends walk up and cut in front of me.. it is absolutely mind boggling.

Down from the chaos, Mom and I got a slushy and kept walking with our group. We ended up at the acropolis museum.. which, from the top floor you can actually see the acropolis! The museum’s top floor was built to replicate the size and direction of the original. Pretty neat really. From the museum, she showed us mini replicas of the pediments of the Parthenon. The pediments had sculptures of many Gods and Goddesses being present for the birth of Athena.

The story behind Athena, per Miriam, goes like this: Zeus was the God of all of the land, where as Poseidon was the God of the sea, and Hades the God of the underworld. So, Zeus was married to Herra.. a goddess. But he had many mistresses. One mistress in particular irritated him so much, buzzing around and not letting anything go like women do-Zeus “ate” her.. where she then continued to buzz around inside his actual head-because she was pregnant.

One day, walking along the shoreline, Zeus had a raging headache that he couldn’t make stop.. he asked friends to help-until shockingly his head split open and out popped Athena-grown and with her shield and with huge blue eyes. Because she was born from Zeus’ head and had big eyes like an owl, she became the Goddess of Wisdom. Alrighty then..

Later, as the world and population of humans grew, Zeus gave other gods and goddesses the title of being protector over a city state in an area-like his overseers, as he was still the head honcho. So, he let the people choose their protector. The area of Athens had to choose between Athena or the god of war (I forget his name now), to prove their abilities, they had to do something the people could impressed by to vote for them.. I forget what the god did-which, sorry, I’m several glasses of wine in here.. but Athena planted the olive tree, symbolizing peace for the city, as in she would bring peace and wisdom if she were their protector-hence why giving an olive branch means a peace offering now-anyway, she was chosen and they renamed the city Athens after her.

From the museum, which was a pain to get out of because Miriam abandoned us lololol, we got back on the bus and we were taken to the “Plaka,” a little car free shopping district. We got to sit inside an air conditioned restaurant and have salads, bread, and gyros. Umm.. YUM. It was delicious! And just what we needed after the stress of the crowds the last several hours. Mom and I sat across from a couple from a small fishing village in England-and they were pretty dang entertaining. We sipped our free beers and laughed about the frustrations from the day but also about all the things we loved.. and everything in between. It was a good time for sure.

We got to walk through to the shopping area and had some free time to meander. Mom ended up finding all kinds of stuff she loved. She got a couple dresses and some earrings and before we knew it, we were rushing to get to the meeting spot for our bus pick up. Thankfully, we made it in time and Miriam was full of information on the semi short ride back to the port.

She told us about how since the Olympic Games were such a big deal, and only Greek men could compete, how there was a “sacred truth” for three months during the games. 1.5 months before and 1.5 months after the 5 days of the games to make sure people could travel from wherever they were by chariot or horseback or foot, crossing many “territorial lines” without being harmed, either to compete or to watch. While there were still bandits and murderers, they’d be considered inhumane and damned to hell if they hurt someone coming to or from the games.. and they wouldn’t just be damning themselves, but their entire family line.

Anywho-we made it back to the port, and when we realized we’d have to walk a very long way to get back to the shops and restaurants closest to port, we bailed and just got back on the ship. We got some pasta from the buffet place and sat out on the back patio and waited for sunset. This seems to be our favorite thing to do, it’s just such a great view.

After the sun set, we went to the theater and watched the band sing boy band songs.. I was hoping for NSYNC, prepared to be ok if it was more Backstreet Boys-or even 98 degrees.. but alas, it was oldies, like 50s-60s songs. I still enjoyed them! I wanted some “bye bye bye..” oh well. Lol we actually stayed until the end, then went to the room for me to change into my running clothes. I knocked out my 2 miles on the upper deck-the gym closes at 10pm, and it was already 10 by the time I started-and it’s just so much easier outside with the wind blowing and the ship moving.. I’ve really started to enjoy these runs.

Back in the room, I’ve showered and gotten ready for bed-tomorrow is our last cruise excursion, and I’m quite happy about that. We have to be ready to meet at 9:45 so we do get to sleep in just a bit. Thank goodness.