Grayson on Greece

Taverna with octopi
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By Grayson

Greek cuisine is actually (in my opinion) better than Italian and French food. I know you are going to say “What?” but since I love fish, this is the place to be. Everyday on the cruise we would go out and see fishermen starting to take out their lines. We would peer into the water and see huge fish swimming around. Then, when we had lunch, I would have a giant piece of fish. Also, walking along the waterfront on the islands, we saw octopus hanging from the tavernas on ropes. Abby and I would touch them and Abby would go, “eew!” I would go, “that’s lunch tomorrow”.

Beach on Aegina
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On Aegina, we took the local bus across the island (it is 5 miles across) down to a beautiful beach. The water was so shallow you could walk out about 200 yards and you could swim out about 500 yards and still see the bottom. Of course, I did all that with Abby and Dave, a New Zealander from our cruise who I called an “All Black” because he beat me in a rugby scrum. (The All Blacks are the name of the amazing New Zealand rugby team).

On the beach, we would dig “man traps”. We would dig down about a foot, and then cover the top with leaves and sand. When someone walked across it, they would have a bigggg surprise!!

Temple to Aphea
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Mom and dad went up to a temple built to honor Zues’ girlfriend, the nymph Aphea while I stayed back at the beach with Abby and Mary, another New Zealander from our cruise.

The ride back to our port was hot and dusty even driving along on the main road (I can’t imagine what driving on the back roads would be like). We had a huge lunch of spaghetti Bolognese, fishermen spaghetti with fish, and grilled fish. Try to guess which food goes with whom? Hanging behind us were two octopi looking over our shoulders while we ate. It was like they were trying to steal some food.

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While on the boat, we stopped for a swim stop off Regea Island. I swam a lot in the crystal clear water. We played games like pulling each other on the life buoy and trying to best each other’s flips.

The crew on board was very nice and I made friends with the captain, the head steward and the stewardesses.

Abby and I had a room underneath the boat, in the hold.  It was where the crew slept.  Our room was so small, you could not fit six people standing in it!!  Plus, the bathroom was half of the room.  I had one side of the bed and Abby, the other.  My side was squished up against the wall and in the middle of the night, I would wake up with Abby practically on top of me!!  Then, I would roll her over and go back to sleep.  Guess what?  In the morning, when I woke up again, Abby was back on top of me!  It was like she had no other place to go.  The rocking of the boat helped me fall asleep, but it also made me sick and roll over.

kids with the captain
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Altogether, the cruise was really fun and I would really like to do it again someday.