Damn good eatin

After (ok and also kind of during) my conference call, we admired the awesome view from our balcony and enjoyed a few bottles of Greek wine, which is actually quite good (thanks BM!). The sunsets are breathtaking.





We then went out for which turned out to be the best meal of the trip and one of the top ones of my life at Ellis Restaurant in Fira, recommended by our property owner. I was sad Mom and Dad weren't with us, they would have loved it also. The pictures don't even come close to doing it justice but here goes anyway.

App#1: Santorinian fried tomatoes. Apparently these are famous. All I have to say is dzam.




App#2: Veal meze. Double dzam. I had to order extra bread when this came and when I was finished, they could have mistaken the plate for a clean one. The sauce was unbelievable - one of the best tasty brown sauces I have ever had - and they were generous with it!!




Glen's main: linguine with chicken in a Dijon cream sauce. Sounds pretty simple but it was great.




My main: grilled chicken skewer swimming in some kind of creamy garlicy wonderfulness.




All this on top of more wine of course. We were so full we couldn't even think about dessert so didn't order any. Then our cutie pie waiter brings anyway, on the house, a vanilla flan (tee hee Envy fans) in a fresh strawberry sauce. I would never order a dessert called that but after it was decimated, this plate also could have been mistaken for a clean one, and yes after I said I was too full for dessert. I was swearing the strawberries in the sauce had to have been local it was so good.




Not a square inch left for even a shot of ouzo. We paid the (hefty but so worth it) bill and rolled ourselves back to the apartment. Good thing it was close!!

It's now 3am and I can't sleep. Wonder why... Good thing I'm not running a marathon tomorrow!


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Location:Αγίου Μηνά,Thira,Greece

Friday, Nov. 5

We arrived in port at 6 a.m. And needed to clear off the ship early to make way for the next cruise due to get underway at 11.

We schlepped our bags over to the Budget office and picked up our vehicle. We were on our way to the Pelopennese by 9.

We stopped at Corinth to have a quick look at the Corinth Canal - it saves many hours and tons of fuel for ships traveling from the Adriatic to Athens or up to the Black Sea. Unfortunately no ships were transiting the canal when we passed. The photos I've seen are really impressive - it's so deep that the tops of the ships don't reach ground level.



After Corinth we immediately took a secondary road following the coast to Epidavrus. It was surprisingly mountainous, and featured some spectacular scenery.

Ancient Theatre at Epidavrus

The theater was designed in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. It seats up to 15,000 people and is still in use today.



The theatre is reknown for its exceptional acoustics, which permit almost perfect intelligibility of unamplified spoken word to all 15,000 spectators, regardless of their seating. When all is quiet, one can actually hear the sound of a match struck at center-stage. A 2007 study concluded that the acoustic properties are either the result of an accident or the product of advanced design: The rows of limestone seats filter out low-frequency sounds, such as the murmur of the crowd, and amplify/reflect high-frequency sounds from the stage.



[Melinda: we ran into the Aussie couple here- they too are doing the Pelopennese]

[Note to Chichen Itza: by clapping my hands here, I too could make the Mayans' eagle cry]

We arrived in Nafplion early afternoon. The town was the first capital of modern Greece, from 1829 to 1834 when the capital was moved to Athens. Its Old Town remains one of the nicest places to visit (lots of Neo-classical architecture, harbour-side restaurant") and is a weekend retreat for many Athenians. It was held on several occasions by the Venetians and three fortresses remain.



Bourtzi was built to protect the harbour in the 15C. You can see our pension (orange sign) directly in line with the fort.



Palamidi castle (see very top) was constructed by Venetians during the 17th century and remains as one of the best preserved fortresses that they built.

Normal temp range for this time of year here is 12-15C; today was sunny and 26!






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Location:Φωτομάρα,Navplion,Greece

Wow

Cruise ship dropped Glen and I off in Santorini last night, M&D stayed on to Athens. This island is absolutely beautiful, one of my favourite spots in the world I have seen so far. I'm not sure but it may have topped Murren, Switzerland as my favorite view - check out what we see when we wake up in the a.m.:





Spent the morning walking about Fira and had awesome gyro/kebab pitas for lunch - nope, not sick of them yet! I unfortunately have a conference call shortly that may eat up the whole afternoon but I'm going to take it on the balcony and soak up some rays to make it a little less painful!

Tomorrow we'll head over to Oia to see the views from the other side of the island which are supposedly as good of not better than they are from here. Hard to imagine!





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Location:Αγίου Μηνά,Thira,Greece

Marathoners who were on our cruise. M&G in top row, just right of middle.


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Location:Αγίου Μηνά,Thira,Greece

Recovery

Enjoying taking it easy and soaking in the Mediterranean sunshine. Continue to celebrate with gyros, beer, ouzo, you name it!!





No wi-fi on board so relying on Internet cafes when in port where I find them.

Legs are still a little wobbly and feet are sore but GI issues didn't last past race day so that's a very good thing.

I forgot to take some pics with the iPhone but I have some good ones with the camera of the incredible scenery and all the stray pets that I want to take home with me!!!

The cruise ship is full of runners so it's funny to see so many people limping around. Clearly a good recovery choice!



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Location:Πάτμος,Greece

Thursday - Crete, Santorini

Heraklion is the main harbour on the island of Crete and gateway to the fantastic Palace of Knossus built by the Minoans.

This will be my first visit so not much to offer in the way of pre-knowledge.

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Santorini has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth, especially sunset at Oia.



It used to be an island (Thira) but its volcano blew its top circa 1500 BC leaving a circular crater above water which is now Santorini. It is thought that it was the tsunami from the blast that completely wiped out the advanced Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.









Melinda and Glen will be dis-embarking here to spend a few days before heading home the following Monday.

For more scenery, see the film 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' (1 or 2)


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Wednesday - Rhodes

The home of the Knights of St. John of the Cross (aka Knights Templar and later Knights of Malta



The Colossus of Rhodes (one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world)


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