Greece and Adriatic 2024

 Had breakfast in the hotel with Veronica and Steven before checking out and heading to the port. Embarkation went smoothly and we were on the ship before midday which was when we were supposed to start boarding. We checked out our cabin and picked up our cruise cards before heading to lunch at Lido market place. After lunch we unpacked our bags and headed to the aft deck for the sai away party.

We checked out of the Tempi hotel and made our way down to Piraeus on the train to meet up with Veronica and Steven and leave our bags. We had breakfast together at a little bakery before heading into Athens to catch the hop on hop off bus from Syntagma square. We spent the day mostly on the bus visiting the sites of Athens, Piraeus and beaches. We ended the day with dinner of Gyro at street souvlaki   

 Final day of our Grand classical tour of Greece started with us having pre-made breakfast on our balcony. We enjoyed ham and cheese omelette, muesli and yogurt, orange juice and a banana. At 9am we boarded our van and as we made our way to the last archaeological museum, we stopped to view Mount Olympus. It was another clear blue sky day. Yeah. Mt Olympus with the V cut out (Zeus’s throne) has snow on it’s peak 8 months per year We had a speedy view around the archaeological museum of Dion with Kosta, only walking around the ground floor. We passed by the usual pottery, marble figures and other personal items found in the area then walked over to a purpose built complex to view an enormous Roman mosaic. It was 10m x 10m and apparently took 1 year to remove from its original site to the site of the museum. It was a remarkable sight. After the museum we went for a 15 minute walk up a pretty valley to view the mountains close the Mount Olympus. The walk was over a viaduct that had been c

 Woke up to another glorious day and headed straight up to the monasteries of Meteora that are pearched on rock monoliths. First monastery we visited was the Grand Meteoron followed by Variaam. We arrived at 9.30am right on opening time and we had to line up with many others who had been dropped off by large tourist buses. We went into the museums, one had artifacts that included crosses, paintings, icons, books etc dating bach to 1300s the other had clothing and tapestries. We also visited the church which was covered wall to ceiling in paintings, also it was adorned with many ornaments including chores chandeliers that are a traditional feature of the church. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos inside the museum and church. Line up to get in the Grand Meteoron Lovely views from the balcony The Holy Trinity monastery that was in James Band movie For your eyes only Original kitchen View back to smaller monasteries We enjoyed another delicious lunch of local greek cuisi

This morning when we woke we found we had a balcony. This vista was amazing, looking out over the ancient olive groves. Unfortunately the pictures I took do not do it justice as I took them about 7am. The whole area is a UNESCO world heritage site due not only to the ancient archaeological site of Delphi but also the olive grove. View from our balcony with the Olive groves in the centre behind the houses. After breakfast and checking out we set off to visit the popular archaeological site of Delphi, also known as “the navel of the world”. It constitutes the point where the most important religious centre of antiquity was founded and flourished. We stopped at the Temple and tholos of Athena Pronaia first. As with many of the ancient sites part of the Tholos has been re-erected and the missing pieces have been filled. The temple is still in pieces. Tholos of Athena Tholos of Athena Temple of Athena from above Next stop was the Kastalia Spring to taste the water from the new spring. The o