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Saturday Sept 24 th The sun had already set by the time the Transat rep finished the extensive orientation tour of Mykonos.   Sitting on a small balcony outside a 4 th floor room in the Pelican Beach hotel, the ocean has lost the brilliant blue colour of this afternoon. Roosters are kicking up a bit of a racket in the adjacent gardens. The hill to the west is dotted with homes and small hotels, all cubic in structure and all the same lime white colour.  A cool breeze is ensuring that no air conditioning will be required tonight.   The ferry from Santorini was a tri hull which made the trip in just over 2 hours including a stop at Paros. The shuttle ride from the main harbour to the beach area took a little over 10 minutes.   Located in the small beach area known as Platys Gialos it consists of about 15 smaller hotels (5 to 30 rooms) as well as 2 convenience stores and about 8 bar/restaurants, mostly located along a short boardwalk directly on the beach.   The w...

Friday Sept 23 rd   An early morning bus ride brought us to the small town of Kamari, a small seaside resort on the south east coast. With one main street and an intersecting beachfront pedestrian street,it is hard to get lost. Its beach is a distinctive black sand which seems to absorb heat from the sun, making it somewhat hot to walk on, At southern tip of the beach is an imposing rock face which rises up to become the Mesa vouno mountain.   It takes about 20 minutes to reach the top of this rock via bus. At the summit, which is actually a pass between two mountains, lies the entrance to Ancient Thira. Following the massive destruction of the island in approx. 1700BC Santorini was resettled several times. Only in the 8 th century BC did these settlements become permanent. Thira is one of the resulting cities. Developed by various inhabitants, including the Romans, it evolved and expanded until about the 3 rd Century AD when it fell into decline.   The site, first exca...

Wednesday 21 st . 10am   After an early alarm (6:30am) and a quick breakfast we transferred by bus to the port for the ferry crossing to Santorini. At a distance of about 110km north of Crete, the trip is scheduled to take about 2 and ½ hrs. Known as a Mega SeaJet the boat, is equipped to transport several dozen vehicles as well as a couple of thousand passengers in several lounges. The ride is a little rocky but the seats, which are airline style, make the crossing reasonably comfortable. Due to the speed, it is a little breezy on deck. That has the benefit of removing the second hand smoke quickly from what is, unofficially, the boats smoking area. competing ferry on Aegean Sea  Around me several passengers seem to be turning various shades of green and many take advantage of the disposal bags that one of the crew is handing out. 4;15pm  The island came into view around 10:30am. Approaching from the western side we could see a cruise ship ahead, sailing towards a moorin...

Throne Room-Knossos Knossos, Crete- palace reconstruction Tuesday 20 th Sept. 5pm As we near the end of our third day in Crete it is clear that much more time is required to put even a small dent in the list of things to see and do.   Yesterday a bus tour kept us occupied most of the day. Our first stop was the ancient site of Knossos, located approx. 5km south of Heraklion. The site is a partial ruin/ partial reconstruction of a Minoan Palace from approx 3000 BC. The site was first discovered in 1878 with excavation commencing in earnest around 1900. When studying the site it is difficult to know where the mythological legends end and where true history begins. Linked to various stories including that of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, the reconstruction is largely based on the imagination of Arthur Evans. He was the principal archeologist who excavated the site. Due to the use of wood and stucco, as opposed to stone, in the original construction, little remains of the upper str...

By the time I left the hotel this morning the sun had barely crawled out of its bed in the Aegean Sea. It looked like it was in need of a coffee to brighten it up before it set about its daily chore of baking tourists.    A few stores and restaurants were just beginning to open as I made my way towards Old Town. Arriving just before 7:30am, I found that I had the place pretty much to myself. That allowed me to take photographs of the various buildings and streets without trying to shoot around swarms of tourists. It was also still cool enough to make the walk a pleasant experience.   Returning to the hotel, we quickly packed and had a somewhat late breakfast before checking out and parking our bags with the hotel porter.   Returning to Old Town around 11am, we found the streets comfortably busy but not overcrowded, since only a couple of smaller cruise ships were in port and none of the passengers had been herded into town yet- probably doing the tour of Lindos firs...

FRIDAY Sept 16th With another sweltering day forecast, I set the alarm for 7:15, hoping to make an early start before the heat meter got cranked all the way to “eleven” [ for all you Spinal Tap fans]   A walk partway across town brought us to the D’Ambroise Gate of the Old Town. Entering through a large arched doorway, we passed through the outer wall, crossing the dry moat via a stone bridge. Directly ahead, the Grand Master’s Palace had the appearance of a medieval castle. Walking along the narrow roadways, it was not hard to imagine what this place would have looked like during its prime (1400’s)   Consisting of about 15 main streets the rest of the town is broken up by a maze of alleys and narrow side streets numbering in their hundreds. Old Town Rhodes    For the morning we confined ourselves to the northern area where there is an old clock tower, a small mosque and the aforementioned Grand Master’s Palace. Essentially a home for the Grand Master, or leader, of ...

Thursday Sept 15 th A rather late rise was followed by an average European breakfast at the hotel. Mostly cold meats and cheese accompanied by coagulated eggs (scrambled did not really describe the texture) and bacon that was definitely not part of a Weightwatchers diet..   Heading for the downtown, we passed the bus station where a bus to Lindos was about to pull out. On a whim we hopped on the bus, making a sudden change of the days plans which until then were pretty unspecific.   Lindos is a small village about 45km south of Rhodes along the east coast of the island Lindos Bay as seen from Acropolis   [ by way of an aside, the island of Rhodes might best be said to resemble a spearhead pointing north. The city of Rhodes would be a triangular tip to the spear. The island is approx 75km long and about 34km wide]   The trip lasted about 80 minutes and passed through or near several of the eastern towns that are geared to the tourist trade.   With a population ...

Tuesday, Sept 13 th    Finally, the day has arrived.   In less than two hours I will be on board an Air Transat flight bound for Athens. Although I am gone for 18 days, I have, so far, no information on the transfers from Athens to the various planned destinations. Rhodes, Crete, Santorini and Myconos are the stops before arriving for a final 3 days in Athens. Harbour area- Rhodes   I have been to each of those islands previously. However, instead of a cruise based, 4 hour dash around the island, the trips will involve a 3 to 5 night stay, allowing a much better chance to look around.   Amazingly, there is free wireless service in the departure lounge. Finally, Toronto Airport is emerging from the Stone Age.  Wednesday 14 th Rhodes Old Town at night     So much for the intro yesterday. The battery was close to dead on the laptop so I wasn’t able to do the running commentary that I had planned.   It is close to 6:30 pm on Wednesday ...

After wasting the summer involved in mundane tasks like work and more work, I am happy to announce that I am back on the road again.  A little safer, hopefully, and a little less adventurous than my last trip to Nicaragua, this one involves Greece. Approach to Acropolis, Lindos  Covering approx. 18 days, the tour should encompass, if all works according to plan, a visit to the islands of Rhodes, Crete, Santorini and Myconos. If all goes well, some pictures will be attached to these updates