Not sure why, but not the best of sleeps and a need to get up in time for a 7:30am meet, but the ship docked before 6am so we were up on deck, a light breakfast inside us, well before the sun rose above the distant hills. This is an extremely busy harbour with a mix of cruise ships and interisland Greek ferries. Whilst we were on the way back to the cabin, the impressive Nieuw Amsterdam cruised slowly past and berthed on the next pier but one.
Our table group of ten were all on time (as they usually are) and we headed off the ship and straight onto an internal port transit coach that took us around the corner to the terminal building.
Jo's guide, Dimitri was easily found and the ten of us hopped into a tall 16 seater Mercedes van.
Our first stop was alongside the man-made canal that cuts through the country and we had a quick look (no ships…) before a stall shop for the ladies, who bought pastel coloured shift dresses – though I did manage a Saturday edition of the English Daily Mail newspaper). The service area coffee was hot but the term latte in Greek must mean "just a splash of milk" but overpriced though it was at €2.50, it was welcome, as most of us had eaten early.
The next stop was the archaeological ruins of Corinth and mueum. We had to pay the full €6 Euro entry fee for non-Europeans, as we didn't have our passports with us to get the €3 fee and the guy behind the counter didn't seem to have a sense of humour, so speaking to him in a thick Geordie or Brummie accent wasn't going to cut any ice at all.
Inside, the lady official didn't have much of a sense of humour either, as when Jo and Ros popped up from behind the headless statues for Garry to film, they received a stiff ticking off. Oh sweet revenge folks. When was the last time you can remember an ex-head teacher being told off for larking around! Tee hee…
An interesting set of ruins and four out of the five males reckoned the curved brick object was the village pizza oven.
After a 45 minute stop, we then headed for our major stop of Nafplio, on the water's edge, with a small fort out in the harbour. Dimitri drove us to the end of town, then back again, dropping us off outside his recommended place for lunch. At just on 12.30, it was probably a bit early for a Greek lunch, but when ten visitors plonk themselves down at your tables, you are not going to ignore them.
Our orders ranged from Greek salads, toasted cheese, octopus, moussaka, to basticcio (sp?) a sort of bolognese sauce on noodles and with béchamel sauce. Effectively, a pasta based moussaka without eggplant. Those of us who opted for those hot dishes found them at best, lukewarm, which was a shame, as they were tasty. Not particularly cheap, being twice the price of yesterday's lunch, but OK.
This place is a popular holiday or weekend stop for Athenians, so loads of tourists around, local and foreign.
We then went our separate ways until 2pm, so Paula and I wandered the narrow, mainly traffic free streets. Extremely pleasant with many small interesting shops and cafes. If we did it again, we'd probably choose a café away from the sea front as the menus looked appetising and prices were cheaper.
The journey back was broken up with a very quick comfort stop, right across the road from the first stop in the morning. Sadly, Greece still has a major problem with graffiti. Shops, commercial buildings, abandoned buildings (there are heaps of those) even trucks and railway stock, motorway/roadside noise deflectors, even walls outside smart private houses and houses themselves, plastered with graffiti. Although the high youth unemployment rate is sad (62%), surely a crackdown on graffiti isn't impossible? No doubt our next port of Naples will also be as bad as last time, which is a real shame, as graffiti on historical stone and brick buildings, is ten times worse than on modern motorway concrete.
Straight back on the ship at 4:15 then out on deck for the traditional sail-away. I polished off a small bottle of cider and as the general consensus was that we would skip dinner, we opted for the 7:45pm Princess theatre show, by a British husband and wife act, Kimika, combining a bit of comedy, singing and guitar playing. Not too sure what to make of it really. Neither good nor bad so a 7/10.
We headed upstairs to the buffet for a late meal and were staggered to find it very busy at such a late hour. We enjoyed hot, freshly cooked prawns in a tomato based sauce, broccoli (yes, I do eat green veg, despite rumours to the contrary) and superb eggplant parmigiana (sp), which was fresh, hot and very tasty. On that basis, the ship scored more highly than the lunch restaurant, which just goes to show that even the Horizon Court scores highly at times. We finished off with some cheese and a roll each, so overall, I think we may have managed a light eating day – just.
Although clocks are back tonight, even without an early start tomorrow as we have a sea day, we crashed early. Tomorrow has a lot on, as it is the last sea day before a fair few passengers (and some crew) get off, so time for finals and meets of various sorts.
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