Missy and I took advantage of an opportunity to take a week of permissive TDY and "study Radiology" while on a cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean.We left home at 4:00 in the morning and flew from London to Venice. Getting out of London proved to be much more difficult than we thought it would be. We had to pay $320 just to get our luggage there. No wonder those tickets were so cheap. We learned a few things and compared to the chaos of flying with four children, this was nothing.
We planned on walking through Venice a little before boarding the ship, but were so tired, we decided to get on board, stuff ourselves at the buffet, and take a nap.
It was the first uninterrupted nap Missy had taken in a long time.
We were cruising with anchors aweigh at 5:00PM. Venice is more peaceful from the ship than it is on foot.
Doug was in lecture for most of the first day, but Missy was content to make R&R the order of the day.
Our first port of call was Mykonos, Greece ( in the Cyclades islands).
We rented a scooter and drove to our own private cove near Super Paradise beach. It was very rocky, but the snorkeling was fantastic! Visibility was 100 feet plus.
We had a bit of a scare when one of the naked sunbathers from Super Paradise Beach strayed into our little cove. Fortunately he turned around when he saw that it was already taken.
We drove our scooter around the island and briefly stopped at the Ano Mera monastery and then spent the evening in the city shopping, enjoying the beauty of the island and eating wonderful Greek food.
The next morning we were in Athens. We walked to the Metro station and went directly to the Acropolis. It is truly amazing how old the Acropolis is and what amazing things were accomplished there, but it's really hard to appreciate it when it's packed with people, it's 110 degrees and you're sweating like a pig. Unfortunately, it felt a lot like we were checking a box.The Agora was not much different.
The bright spot of Athens was our time in the Plaka where we were able to relax in the shade, shop and eat good Greek food. The Acropolis is so much more romantic from afar.
The next morning we arrived at Katakalon, Greece near the site of the original Olympic Games. Not that we don't respect that, but we decided to rent a four wheeler and take it through the mountains. We followed some dirt roads through the olive groves and found another secluded cove that we had all to ourselves. Doug snorkeled while Missy lay out in the sun reading her book. The snorkeling wasn't quite as good in Katakalon despite having tried three separate beaches.
The next morning we arrived at the island of Corfu. We were really anticipating a good day of scuba diving, but due to unusually turbulent weather over the last few days, the visibility wasn't very good, and the company we dove with dealt mostly with beginners and tourists.
We rented a car, and drove through the mountains of Korfu. It was quite a pretty little jaunt and we ate lunch at a very quaint little restaurant on the top of the mountain overlooking the east side of the island.
