Winding through the islands of Greece to Bari Italy tomorrow

What a day!

Let me start with the best part: taking the tender back to the boat. It was pouring cold rain and so the tour bus kept us on until it was time to queue up for the tender. I’ll talk more later about stupid Americans and shorts. The rain is whipping around us and we are all, no matter what preparations you made for the weather, getting soaked. Some were clearly unprepared so others helped. We are assisted onto the tender by 4 ship’s personnel. They do a marvelous job of keeping the tender as level as they can given the roiling seas. We packed into the tender as good as we could with our sodden clothing and laden packs. And off we go.

This ride was more than an E ticket. It was more than a combination of a camel, elephants, and dune safari ride. We were yelping “Whee” as the tender went upright, and then plunged down into the next wave. These guys are amazing.

As we approach the ship, you can tell it is giving it it’s all to keep the ship abreast of the wind so we have seas as calm as possible. The thrusters are atfull tilt despite being at anchor. The tender keeps usig all it’s motors to keep us snug to the platform and again we are assisted by 4 personnel (casino folks, bartenders, etc. in their day job) to hoist us onto the platform and as quickly as possible into the protection of the ship, up the stairs, check in, go through magnetometer, and up to our room.

GET ON BOARD as soon as you can

We can mentally send messages to our fellow passengers on shore. It may be impossible to get you onto the ship later as the seas are getting rougher and the thunder and lightening seem to be increasing.

We go to lunch and guess what?

Within an hour the seas are calm and the sun is out!!! But since everyone is now on board, the ship raises anchor and leaves early.

All we can do is laugh and thank the powers tht be for the no charge extra fun.

Stupid Americans and shorts

I don’t get it. There is something about the americans and wearing shorts. Really! In 60 degree weather, overcast and with a brisk wind! So guess who was the most trouble with the inclement weather. Never mind being inappropriate in the churches. And don’t get me started on…

Really! You had to take a photo!?

Despite being explicitly asked by the priest’s wife not to take photos, you guessed it. Cameras clicking away. So several of us in a loud enough voice kindly remind them that we are not to photos in the church. They look sheepishly (I wish I could say the rest of us smiled at them but more like chastising scowl) and put the camera in the pocket though I still wonder if they pulled it out again just to prove they could get away with it.

The city of zanthos; it’s also the name of the island in the Ionian Sea

It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1953 (with a sister one in 2003) so most of it is brand new. There are 3 buildings in town that survived. However, out in the country side are many original and very colorful sites that you treasure on documentaries. Since it rained off and on the whole day, none of the pics are especially good.

The flowers are lovely and the hillsides are very green. You see lots of sheep, some goats, and a cow now and then. Lots of church steeples, almost all Greek Orthodox.

Olive factory

This was a new experience for me and much more interesting than I imagined. There is tree trunk of an old olive tree over 1500 yrs old. Lots of old equipment outside.

Nothing is wasted. Growers bring their olives in burlap sacks and their harvest is put into a special machine that blows off the twigs and leaves (which are used for compost) and then the olives are washed well with pure water. Next they are put into temperature controlled machines (cold pressed) to secure the olive oil. A further process separates the oil itself from the other “stuff” which is then used for cattle feed. What comes out is extra virgin olive oil. Now these folks are not paid a fee for this; they get a commission on all the sales thus the incentive to do a good job. In addition to the olive oil, they had a lot of soaps and lotions here as well as oil for body grooming. Greeks consume 47 liters per person per year of Olive oil! We also had an opportunity to sample several oils, three with infusions in them: garlic, lemon and?

Monastery

This was a lovely old compound where the local saint is said to have lived, St. Dionysius. The overwhelming majority of the men born here get this name and they celebrate the saint’s day, not their birth date (at least that’s what we were told). It is of modest size and with the predictable gold flecked icons and iconostasis. Long chandeliers hang down all over. All of these churches are dark inside with modest seating possibilities.

Panoramas

We did see some great panoramas but in a limited fashion because of the weather. They have great beaches on the East side of the Island but only cliffs and rocks on the West.

The All Aboard

Was for 3:30 but clearly everyone was on board long before that. As I’ve described before, by this time, the weather was absolutely spectacular. However, our clothes are hung all over the cabin to dry! Let’s hope so as we have another tour tomorrow.

Trivia: we were embarrassed but so were the folks next to us. The winning teamonly got 12 so we didn’t feel so bad then.

Formal night

We kind’ve sorta got dressed up. Ed wore a suit with open collar and no tie as did Randy. Then we took a bunch of pictures, some with the dancers dressed in Venetian masks.

Champagne waterfall

Another fun thing they do regularly in the atrium. Oscar bought a costume and so everyone had their photo done on the waterfall with him in costume. He is so much fun.

Carrie: Reba McIntyre (wanna be)

I don’t usually like impersonators but I was trying to keep an open mind. But I left after the first song as she is almost a caricature of Reba whom I like very much but imitation isn’t so pleasant.

Sunset on the sea

It was gorgeous tonight. Lots of rain clouds overhead but a modest sea and lovely breeze with temps probably in the 60s.

My clothing from today has dried out sufficiently enough to send to the laundry and so I can return the room to a semblance of normality rather than a laundry set.