Greek Islands Cruise From Venice

21^st June - 29^th June 2019

Itinerary: Venice - Kotor - Corfu - Athens - Katakolon - Argostoli - Venice

Just click on the thumbnail to get the photo full size. Clicking on the photo will bring up the next one. Close window when finished, Home Page is still open.

20 June Venice Italy. I arrived in Venice a few minutes late, took a water taxi to the island my hotel was on and walked. The hotel is the width of the island with the largest private garden in Venice. After checking in, I walked to a vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal and went to St. Marks Square. I strolled about, then took a vaporetto back home.

21 June. Venice,Italy. After breakfast, I took a vaporetto to San Marco where by fate, I missed my Murano, Burano and Torcello tour. I caught the next tour instead. Murano was OK, the glass blowing was interesting, but this was followed by shopping and no sightseeing. Burano was a pretty little town and I'd've liked to spend more time there. Torcello was a waste of time! It's where Venice started, but there's not much there. A couple of churches. It cost €5 to go in one, not much inside and no photos allowed. In the evening I took a Venice walking and food tour. Lots of different places to eat and drink. At the end, six of us, 3 Brits, a Japanese couple on honeymoon and an American lady, found a bar and between us sank 3 bottles of Chianti. A good night.

22 June. Venice,Italy. After checking out, I took a water bus to the cruise port and boarded Rhapsody of the Seas. We sailed along the Guidecca past San Marco, unfortunately it was raining.

23 June. Kotor, Montenegro. My second visit here. A trip to Budva and Sveti Stefan today. We drove to Sveti Stefan and looked at the island from the road. It's an old village which is now a posh hotel. We weren't allowed in. Then we drove to Budva, a popular seaside resort. There we had a wander round the Citadel. It was full of small, narrow streets inside high walls.

24 June. Corfu, Greece. A virgin port for me. Quite a short port day. We could leave the ship just after 9 and we all had to be onboard by 14:30! I walked into the town and meandered round the old, narrow streets. I saw both the old and new fortresses, went into the old. I saw the palace of Saints Michael and George, which is now a museum of Asian art. A very hot day.

25 June. Athens, Greece. Another new place to me. Today was a ships tour to the Acropolis and Parthenon, with free time in Plaka, the old part of the town. Guess what? We went to the Acropolis, climbed to the top, saw the Parthenon, Athena Nike and Erechtheion temples. Then we walked to the Plaka, where we saw the Metropolitan Cathedral. I then visited the Hard Rock Cafe where I had an awful meal, but I ticked off number 45 out of my target of 50. A quick glimpse at Hadrian's Palace before strolling back through narrow streets full of shops and restaurants to the Melina Mercuri Statue and Hadrian's Arch. Back on board we discovered that the visit to Mykonos had been cancelled because high winds and seas would make tender operations impossible. The port had been replaced with Katakolon. A place I've never heard of.

26 June. Katakolon, Greece. Well, it turns out Katakolon is 10 miles from Olympus. I took the public bus, €4 each way and went off to see where Zeus lived and where the original Olympic Games were held. As I'm still, just, an EU OAP, I got in for €6! I meandered around, past the Temple of Zeus and the original arena of the Olympic Games. Then I ambled back into the town, had a Greek salad and went for my bus. It left 5 minutes early, so I had to wait for the 14:30 instead. That left half an hour late! I then wandered along Katakolon waterfront, had a drink and walked the 5 minutes back to the ship. Both towns are pretty little places. The trip, including lunch cost me less than €25!

27 June. Argostoli, Cephalonia, Greece. Because of the change of port yesterday, we had longer here. Argostoli is the main town on Cephalonia. Once again I had nothing booked, so I dawdled into the town. A mile or so from the dock is the world's longest stone sea bridge. The de Bossett bridge, built in 1813. It's just been restored. I walked over and back, it has a couple of zig zags on it. By one of them, there's an obelisk in the water. On my way back I saw three turtles swimming right by the harbour wall. I think they were loggerheads, as they breed on the island. I was back on board around 11. I had had enough of wandering around in enervating heat over the last week, so I just sat by the pool, the rest of the day. Looking over the side of the ship closest to the town, there was another, large turtle swimming around.

28 June. At sea. Today I went on the Bottomless Galley Brunch. Basically a galley tour with a boozy brunch afterwards. It was an interesting tour, but we didn't see much food preparation happening. Brunch was good though!