Greece 2025: The Islands

Once we boarded the ship in Athens, we took some time to walk around and get acquainted with our home for the next 4 days. The sights were beautiful with the blue water against cliffs of the various islands. 

MYKENOS

Our first stop was Mykenos. We had a walking tour from the ship to the windmills, and then we had a couple of hours on our own. We ended up stopping to get dinner instead of eating on the ship. 

TURKEY

The next morning we arrived in Kusadasi,Turkey. We met our local guide to tour Mary's house (when she and St. John went to Ephesus) and then Ephesus. 

Mary's House

The Great Theater Gymnasium, Ephesus

The Celsus Library-reconstructed

Excavations are continuing after over 160 years

The earth at the top was on the only thing showing when excavations began

The marketplace. Merchants' housing was over the shops

Nike, goddess of victory

City Council of Ephesus would hold 1000 people

Apparently, there is a tour of a rug place normally included during the Ephesus tour. It was fascinating, but the rugs were extremely expensive. As we walked back to the ship, we saw rugs with the same patterns as the ones in the shop. We watched ladies making them...and then we got a sales pitch. 

We were told that in Turkey "evil eyes" are called "God's eyes"

PATMOS

There was a lot of hill climbing on Patmos. We walked up to where St. John was imprisoned and where he wrote the Book of Revelations. 

The "cave" where John wrote Revelation

No pictures were allowed in the cave, but the views going into it were beautiful

View of Patmos from the opening of the cave

We walked up to (what seemed like) the top of the mountain to visit St. John's Monastery.

As we came down the hill to return to the ship, the sun was setting. Simply stunning.

Skala from Hora, Patmos with Ecarion Sea in background

RHODES

Lindos was another beautiful town with winding cobblestone streets. And very pretty doors.

It was another day of climbing, this time to the Temple of Athena.

Stairway to Heaven

Again the views were spectacular:

When we came back down from the mountain, we had a walking tour of the Medieval City of Rhodes.

Mussolini had this reconstruction built in the 1940's to match the rest of the city.

Street of the Knights

The history of the Medieval City was fascinating. People live in this part of the city and cars drive down these streets.

Villa Knights would have used this area as a kind of inn

As we walked back to the ship, we saw the sight where the Colussus used to be:

And, more windmills:

CRETE

We had a little bit of time in Heraklion. There wasn't much to do, the market streets seemed to have all of the same things, so when we went down one street a little way, we decided to turn around and see what else we could find. 

Bougatsa & Latte at the best bakery in the city, at least that's what a Swiss woman said

We also spent part of our time walking around a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church, St. Titus.

Venetian Wall of the city

SANTORINI

I think we were all looking forward to seeing this island. We had visions of white buildings on a hill with blue domed roofs. As it turns out, that was a different town. We were taken to Fira, the "Old Port". We boarded chairlifts to take us to the top of the mountain.

Once at the top, we discovered a city that was very charming, even though it wasn't what we were expecting.

WHAT DID I THINK OF THE CRUISE?

 I saw some amazing places on this trip; I saw things I never imagined I would ever see. As I said in the last post, Greece has never been on my radar as a place to visit. I'm glad I went, but I don't have the urge to return. Especially if it's a cruise. 

It may have been the cruise line that was chosen. The ship was an older boat. When when first went into our cabin, the bathroom reeked of urine. We asked someone about it, and he said it was "normal". My roommate went to the desk and asked for someone else to check it. After that, it smelled much better. 

There were 2 levels of places to eat: one was a buffet style and the other was a sit-down dinner. Maybe it's that other countries don't have the regulations that the US has, but I saw a server wipe his nose and then handle serving utensils. At one point, several people in our group came down with a gastrointestinal bug. They were so ill that they missed Santorini. I'm thankful that my roommate and I were both fine, but I think it definitely had something to do with the food or the hygiene of the staff.

The guide we had for the land portion of the trip was so incredible; I wish we could have had her the whole time. We had a few local guides for Patmos, Ephesus, and Rhodes. They were good, but not as good as our land guide. 

Overall, it was a good trip and I am glad I went. However, it's not one that I would do again.