It’s time to
pay the fiddler… as consideration for the trip thus far, I have been assigned
blog duty for today. This is Cindy by
the way. I’m taking time off my busy
schedule of reading, sun bathing, eating/drinking (which has morphed into a
combined event), touring, and in general just living the HIGH LIFE. So far Greece ranks right up there with
winning the lottery and getting your first big raise. Amazing weather, crystal blue water, scenery
that gets better from one day to the next.
And this all set against a backdrop of amazing historical significance.
We spent a
day touring the ruins on Delos. Nancy
has covered this in a prior blog. Very meaningful
to consider we were walking the same streets as people thousands of years
prior. After returning to the boat, we were awarded a
little beach time by Captain Johnny.
SOME OF US even braved the slightly cold Mediterranean water for a
swim. The much needed beach fix was our
first, and hopefully not our last. A fantastic
dinner was cooked by Shaz (female chef extraordinaire/lovelier-looking half of
new crew team…) After a few competitive
rounds of “Speed Scrabble” (which is like Banagrams with scoring) we were off
to bed. (Positive correlation between
alcohol consumed and creative word usage.)
By the way,
our first two nights included boat alarms that went off at various times in the
middle of the night. I got up the first
night, reviewed the computer screens on the bridge, and determined we were not
sinking. We decided that if in the
future there were middle-of-the-night alarms, but there was no water on the
floor, we would just ignore it and go back to sleep.
Yesterday
was spent in Mykonos. Euros flew out of
wallets for mandatory shopping purchases, scooter rides, mid-day meals and
beverages of choice (guess…) We toured
this charming island at the right time for perfect weather and minimal other pesky
tourists. Andy pointed out that all of
the buildings in Greece are white, unless they are under construction (and
sadly usually abandoned.) The town is very
quaint, with blue shutters and doors, white steps, white paint around the stone
streets, even white stairs. The streets
were purposefully narrow to help the residents fight off invaders (and now to
confuse shoppers.) We rented one scooter (2 wheels) and one ATV
(4 wheels) and took turns cruising around the island. The slightly less
coordinated riders were assigned the training wheel (ATV) vehicle. We roughed it through a self prepared taco dinner
(crew night off!) then went back into town
and closed down the discos. I think we got back to the boat around 4 AM. (anybody
believe this last part..?)
We continued
our journey south today and are anchored near Paros. Decided to add spelunking to our list of
chores for the day. Tendered in and then
toured a cool cave on Antiparos, the island next to Paros. (The Greeks have cleverly named their islands
so that you have no prayer of remembering, pronouncing, or spelling them.) Of course we felt obligated to do our part to
help the Greek economy by shopping a little more and making the mandatory
lunch/beverage stop. Tom Hanks owns a
home on Antiparos. Judy told the cab
driver he was expecting us but no amount of Euros would convince her. Back on the boat for dinner, winds seem to be
picking up a little tonight and we are off to Santorini tomorrow.
The country
is beautiful; it has FAR EXCEEDED my expectations and we still have so much to
see. The residents are lovely but they
do all talk about the condition of Greece, what will solve it, what are the
hurdles. Amazing parallels to our
country in some ways. There is NO TV on
the boat so we have been spared the political barrage that’s become normal
right now in the US. News is sporadic
and comes/goes with the internet.
Captain Johnny has been forced to exceed his bed time on more than one
occasion as he struggles to FIX the internet problem, participating in soul
searching and heartfelt conversations with some poor tech support employee in
the US who no doubt is applying for a transfer OUT of his job as I type.
All in all a
wonderful trip thus far. Each day seems
to exceed the prior which does not seem possible.
The famous windmills of Mykonos
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