Island Style

Our boat
see all photos »

By Dan

Friday afternoon the 12th, we made our way to Piraeus and found the Diogenes V, the boat that will be our home for the next week. It’s a little cruise ship (although calling it a ship is being charitable – let’s call it a cruise boat), with about 25 passengers, that is doing a 7 day loop through the Cyclades islands. After dropping our stuff on board, though, we headed out for a quick snack, and I got to introduce the kids to souvlaki pita, something that I came to love on my first trip to Greece 35 years ago. Fortunately, it’s as good as I remembered.

Mykonos
see all photos »

Our fellow passengers are a mixed bunch: two couples from Orange County, two from Florida, two from New Zealand, one from Bermuda, one from Spain, a couple from Germany and one from Switzerland, etc. The crew is Greek and Ukrainian. The kids have quickly been adopted by everyone, especially the crew, and seem to be having a great time. The kids are really thrilled, too, because they have their own cabin. We are down with the crew in the bowels of the boat, so low that we have a sort of light well that leads up to the port hole in our cabin. But, it’s plenty adequate, and a fun way to get around to some islands.

Mykonos
see all photos »

First stop was supposed to be Aegina, which is just a couple of hours from Piraeus. After working our way through an exciting thunder and lightning show, we reached Aegina, but found it too rough to dock – so, a quick change of plans, and we set off for Delos, which we reached the next morning. After an early breakfast we hopped on a tender and disembarked on Delos, which is the largest archaeological site in Greece, and in addition to being the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, was apparently the commercial center of the Greek world a few hundred years BC. At some point, we’ll have to list the UNESCO World Heritage Sites we have seen – Delos is on the list, and for good reason. It is an amazing experience, to walk through the old streets, see the clever sewage and water collection systems, and admire the elaborate temples and market places. Having spent a fair amount of time over the last six weeks learning about just how grim life was in Europe in the Middle Ages, it really is remarkable to learn how much better it was 1500 years earlier.

The Pelican Whisperer
see all photos »

Next stop was a short swim break, in a small bay between Delos and Mykonos. The water was clear enough that we could see the bottom, 40 feet down, and it was fun to frolic. From there, we docked at Mykonos, which is still incredibly picturesque. We poked around the narrow streets, and the kids spent a few hours on the beach collecting snails and hermit crabs. Abby proved herself to be the pelican whisperer, managing to gain the trust of and pat the current iteration of Petros the Pelican, Mykonos’ mascot. He stands about 4 feet tall, and had squawked at the 3 or 4 folks we saw trying to pat him, before Abby worked her magic. Dinner was at a beautiful spot right on the harbor, looking out at the ships and the lights. After dinner, we stumbled on a wedding in progress, with fun music, elaborate decorations in a little church (one of 700 on Mykonos, we were told), and beautiful people. It was neither My, nor Big, nor Fat, though, so spare the movie reference jokes. . . .

P.S. on behalf of Christina, I will note that we were sad to learn that the Cal Bears displayed the kind of timing that they have tended to display throughout their history, picking a very bad weekend to lose a football game. Our condolences to loyal fans everywhere.