We have been to Santorini before on a Regent cruise ages ago. We had a very thorough tour at that time so, other than beautiful views, we felt we had seen a lot of what Santorini offers.
Arriving in Santorini. Santorini is a ring of 5 islands created from an enormous volcanic eruption in 1600 BC
Our ship is parked next to a much larger one. We have tenders to take us ashore. There are only a few docking areas as the cliffs rise up from the sea and the only ways up are a scary serpentine road which is almost too narrow for the bus, a gondola, or a donkey. We take the bus ride up and the gondola on the way back down.
Our ship looks tiny next to a much bigger cruise ship
Our tour includes visits to two typical towns and a sampling of local foods and wine.
Grape vines are sculpted into a low growing basket shape to protect the plants from the windPistachios are another crop that is grownA church in a villageBells to alert the people if pirates are coming or for other more modern emergenciesJohn’s answer to “Are you awake?”A typical ice cream shop in a typical villageA typical taverna…
Time out for a pictureDonkeys that carry groceries or whatever up the steep slopesYay! We get to sit down during “free time” and take a selfie
Our next stop is at a restaurant where we get a taste of traditional food and wine that they serve in traditional villages.
Tasty dolma, cheese, pink potato-y stuff, chickpea purée, tzatziki, olives, bread, and a fried tomato thingLocal wine
We finish our tour with about a 20 minute walk all steeply uphill to catch the gondola down to the tender to take us back to the ship. I really don’t know how the older and really out of shape people managed it. John and I were exhausted by the time we got back to the ship and so sweaty.
Since our cabin was tidy when we got back John suggested I take some pictures of it before I took a shower and collapsed on the bed.
Living room with dining table and door out to deckDesk area where we stay organizedBedroom which also has slider out to the deckCloset with vanityBathroom
We looked at some pictures from earlier cruises and this suite which looks basically the same is slightly smaller. The Viking Venus is new this year and I wonder if they tried to squeeze in a few more cabins.
Around 7pm we head down to the lounge for our Negroni Sbagliato cocktails, watch the sunset, and listen to the guitarist before heading over to dinner. We are at Chef’s Table tonight for the Xiang menu.
The weather continues to be beautiful with temperatures in the morning in the upper 70s. I feel like we picked a really good time to take this trip.
Picture from our balcony of the harbor at Piraeus. Piraeus is the port for Athens and has three natural harbors which they use for pleasure crafts, cruise ships, and cargo
We go down to The Restaurant for breakfast today since our tour does not leave until 9:30. We order bagels and lox with capers and red onions. It is like Christmas breakfast without the beer! We sit next to a couple from Alaska. Apropos of nothing they start talking to us. John insists to me that he is not wearing his “talk to me” sign. I think he must be since random people talk to us twice today. Oh, and in my flurry of eating excitement I forget to take a picture of breakfast.
Today we are fortunate to have a very knowledgeable guide in the Archeological Museum. She starts out by explaining the three phases of early Greek civilization, the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean. This covers about 2000 years from 3200 BC to 1100 BC.
Much of the remains from this era were found by Heinrich Schliemann, a wealthy German businessman, who decided that Homer’s depiction of the Trojan War was fact and set off to find Troy and other sites mentioned in the Iliad and the Odyssey. He found many artifacts and ascribed death masks to Agamemnon and the other heroes of the story. Our guide says that the spectacular things he found were probably from someone very important but not Agamemnon.
Art pieces from the early Cycladic AgeSchliemann found 5 death masks which are at the museumHe ascribed the central death mask to Agamemnon
It is amazing to see these exhibits and we marvel at the workmanship of these very early Greek civilizations. There is gold galore made into hilts for bronze swords, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.
Gold jewleryBronze swords with gold hiltsFunerary gold coverings for infants
Fragment of a fresco depicting a woman wearing some of the jewelryArtifacts from the 15th to the 12th century BC include things we can recognize like safety pins. Women’s clothing was held together with pins.
Next we are introduced to the next eras of Greek civilization: The Archaic Period (750 – 500 BC), the Classical Period (500 – 336 BC), and the Hellenistic Period (336 – 146 BC). Decorative pots are mostly geometric during the Archaic period.
Funerary jar with static figures around the dead figure and mostly geometric designs
During the classical period monumental sculpture arises heavily influenced by Egyptian sculptures.
A stiffly styled Kouros, a young Greek naked man in a traditional pose, hairstyle, and smile
While the males were always naked the females were always clothed.
The female figure is always clothed and is called a koreA bas-relief of boys playing field hockey
The statues evolved over time into free-standing dynamic pieces.
Bronze javelin thrower ~ 460 BCThe jockey of Artemsion ~ 140 BC
We were given some free time to wander around on our own and saw many other astonishing pieces. While at the Palace of Nestor we were told about the tablets found in the palace which contained an early Greek written language. This syllabic writing from around 1450 BC was deciphered in the early 1950s and is called Linear B. The tablets are in the Archeological Museum in Athens. It was like seeing a small Rosetta Stone!
Linear B tablets
Finally we see frescoes from a house that was buried under volcanic ash when the volcano that left the huge caldera on Santorini erupted in the 16th century BC. Amazing!
Boxing boysRoom with floral decoration
After our time at the museum we ride around Athens for a bit seeing much of the same stuff as we saw the day before. We get back to the ship for a late lunch. (The fish curry was really good!)
We take a walk around the ship and play mini-golf again where I avenge my loss of the other day by winning over John by two holes. Yay!
Triumphant!
Although John takes a nap, I try to power through the rest of the afternoon in hopes that I will sleep better. We go to the Explorer Lounge for what has become our new tradition of listening to the guitarist and having Negroni sbagliatos. The bar team does a pretty good job with them tonight.
We have dinner at The Restaurant for the first time and have a pretty tasty meal starting with foie gras then perfectly cooked pork tenderloin wrapped in pancetta on top of lentils and butternut squash. We finish up with a fruit plate. (I have not been good about taking food pictures today!)
Today our ticket reads “The Full Acropolis Experience” and that is exactly what it was. We climbed up the hill, saw and heard about the ancient structures, visited the Acropolis Museum, and toured the city to see how the ancient and modern coexist in Athens. It was a lovely day for doing all this, not too hot and although the sites were fairly crowded we felt we got a good look at everything.
As we begin our ascent up to the Acropolis one of the first ancient structures we see is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a stone Roman theater structure, completed in 161 AD. The venue holds about 5000 people. It is still used for musical events.
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
I guess I thought the Acropolis was just about the Parthenon but there are many devotional buildings up here dedicated to different gods and goddesses.
To enter the site you go through a enormous gateway called the Propylaea that was constructed during the Pericles era from 437-432 BC. The gateway controlled who could get into the Acropolis site and gave the visitors a place to prepare for their devotion.
Side view of the PropylaeaView of the Propylaea from inside the Acropolis
Near the Propylaea is the petite temple dedicated to Athena Nike.
Temple of Athena NikeThis photo from 1893 shows where the small temple is situated
The main event on the Acropolis is the Parthenon dedicated to the Goddess Athena.
“Construction started in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, democracy and Western civilization, and one of the world’s greatest cultural monuments. To the Athenians who built it, the Parthenon, and other Periclean monuments of the Acropolis, were seen fundamentally as a celebration of Hellenic victory over the Persian invaders and as a thanksgiving to the gods for that victory.” Wikipedia
View of the back of the Parthenon with scaffoldingSide of Parthenon (we belong to group 7)Front of Parthenon. Most of the decorative elements are in either the Acropolis Museum or the British museum. The Greeks want their stuff back.Mary in front of the Parthenon
Another important temple at the Acropolis is the Erectheum dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. Its structure includes the Porch of the Maidens, Ionic columns in the shape of women.
The temple dedicated to Athena and PoseidonPorch of the Maidens
We walk along the side and return to the main gate where we will start the climb back down.
On the way back John snaps a picture of the Theater of Dionysus which could hold 17,000 people. It is much older than the Odeon which was built during the Roman period.
Our next stop is at the Museum of the Acropolis. Here we have to show proof of vaccination and ID to get in as well as having ourselves and our stuff scanned. The museum holds the artistic treasures of the Acropolis.
I loved looking at the vases with their depictions of battles and everyday life.
A woman and her attendantA chariot driverBridesA man meeting his fully veiled wife for the first timeThese small jars were only about 6 inches tall but were full of decoration
Then we entered a sculpture section where we were mostly not allowed to take pictures.
Dionysius holding a mask on the shoulders of his elderly tutorOriginal Maidens from the Temple of Athena and PoseidonMock up of what the frieze above the Parthenon would have looked likeA view of the Acropolis from the third floor of the museum. The third floor is canted to be at the correct angle to the actual Pantheon and shows the friezes and decorations in the proper orientation
After this we rode around the city for a while with our guide pointing out various stuff. We and our group were pretty tired out by this point. We were looking forward to a late lunch.
Sea bass, green beans, butternut squash, roasted tomatand some chicken curry were available for lunch today
After lunch we had a little lie down. John went to sleep but I am trying to power through the jet lag. We go up stairs to the Explorer Lounge for some drinks and to listen to the guitarist until it is time for dinner. We have refined the Negroni Sbagliato recipe and our drink comes out better but not perfect yet. I think the orange slice needs to be muddled. We will try that tomorrow.
Dinner is at Manfredi’s, the Italian restaurant. We order the branzino carpaccio again and this time it is available. Yay! John has a problem with his swordfish being under cooked and sends it back and decides on the fish special of the day, grilled Mediterrean sea bass with farro risotto. I am having that as well. It is very good.
Branzino carpaccioGrilled Mediterrean sea bass with farro risotto
We have our usual dessert of bread, honey, and parmesan cheese. The waitstaff thinks it is strange but know not to hassle us about it and not to try to take away our bread and parmesan cheese! Amarone grappa (golden grappa) makes a good pairing with our dessert.
There is no real post from Friday since we were at sea and all we did was eat, nap, and watch some Viking TV telling us about what we are seeing today (Saturday) and not to forget to do our spit test, wash our hands, get our temperature taken, and OMG do not lose sight of your guide at the Palace of Nestor or, heaven forbid, take off your mask for one second since Greece is a Category 4 pandemic place!
We ate Friday breakfast and lunch at The Restaurant which we refer to as The. We had dinner at Chef’s Table but since we are having the same dinner tonight I will post about that later today.
Scrambled eggs, roasted tomato, and shu mai breakfastVegetarian kabobs with tabbouleh and tzatziki plus shrimp (ordering the shrimp confused the waitperson)
On Saturday, after another bad night’s sleep, we are ready for breakfast in our room and then we will get ready to go on our excursion. Unfortunately Room Service totally screws up our breakfast and what they do get right is cold. Maybe we need to rethink our breakfast strategy. In the meantime here is a picture of our first glimpse of Greece just as the sun is beginning to come up.
Sun coming up from behind the mountains near Kalamata, Greece
Our excursion today is 2 hours on a bus and 1 hour at the archeological site of Nestor’s Palace. Here is a little background about the Palace of Nestor from Wikipedia –
“The Palace of Nestor was an important centre in Mycenaean times, and described in Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad as Nestor’s kingdom of “sandy Pylos.”
The palace featured in the story of the Trojan War as Homer tells us that Telemachus:
went to Pylos and to Nestor, the shepherd of the people, and he received me in his lofty house and gave me kindly welcome, as a father might his own son who after a long time had newly come from afar: even so kindly he tended me with his glorious sons.
The site is the best preserved Mycenaean Greek palace discovered. The palace is the primary structure within a larger Late Helladic era settlement, once probably surrounded by a fortified wall. The palace was a two-storey building with store rooms, workshops, baths, light wells, reception rooms and a sewage system.
The settlement had been long occupied with most artifacts discovered dating from 1300 BC. The palace complex was destroyed by fire around 1200 BC.”
So I am really jazzed to be seeing this old stuff. As my family knows I like to touch really old things which they heartily disapprove of. Hopefully I will not be led away from the site in handcuffs.
Our guide is very informative and we hear a lot of myths and info about olives and olive oil on our bus ride. As we drive along, the olive trees are everywhere and very full of olives. Olive harvesting begins in October. Some of the green ones are picked first and some left to ripen into deep red and black olives. The trees we see grow Koroneki olives. We have bought Koroneki olive oil from the Olive Press near Sonoma. The California climate is much like the Mediterranean climate in Greece and Italy and grows similar things.
Massive amounts of olives on the trees
Mary in the shade of an olive tree
We climb out of the bus and start to explore the Palace of Nestor who seems like an all-around good guy when compared to other Greek leaders at the time.
From his hilltop palace King Nestor has a good view of the harbor near his lands and the inlet through which good and bad guys might come. His palace has never been fortified with walls because King Nestor is favored by the Greek Gods for his peace-loving government
There is not much left of the palace. The wooden roof and walls have long since burned away. All of the frescoes and paintings are in museums so we are looking at foundations and imagining what it must have looked like.
This is a mock-up of what the palace might have looked like. It was definitely at least two stories high and had small windows for ventilation and open air sections of the roof
The inside was highly decorated as has been discovered through fragments of frescoes and wall decorations. The existing decorations are in museums.
How the main hall and hearth might have lookedThrone room and hearth as it appears nowWaiting room for men who have come to see the king. Built-in bench.Built-in storage for amphoraeStairs to second floorRoom where, according to Homer, Telemachus, son of Odysseus, took a bath in the very same bathtub seen here, and was treated with fine oils and wine
After an extensive look around and explanations by our very knowledgeable guide we have some time to poke around on our own. John finds an old tomb and then I hurry to try to find John before the bus leaves.
John by entrance to Palace of NestorJohn goes solo exploring and finds a tomb
We take the hour ride back to the ship and settle in for some lunch. It is not crazy busy so waiting around for food is less troublesome. There are some really tasty lentils which remind us of the Afghani dal we make at home.
Lunch includes eggplant, Arctic char, seasonal vegetables, and dal
After lunch we walk on the upper track around the ship and come across a miniature golf setup where John wins by two holes.
A view of Kalamata from the ship’s top desk
Returning to our cabin, we take a short nap before cleaning up and getting ready for dinner. In the Explorers Lounge we have negroni sbagliati. John tells the bartender how to make it but the drink does not taste quite right.
John in the Explorer Lounge
Asian Panorama for the second night in a row at Chef’s Table. It is getting difficult to get reservations which is good for the restaurant but bad for us. In my zeal to eat this dinner both nights I forgot to take pictures of everything. The unpictured dessert was spectacular and that is an odd thing for me to say.
First course shrimp, chicken, and lobster shu maiMain course duck breast and confit of duck spring roll
Since we pretty much want to avoid people, we decide that we are going to have breakfast in our room or out on the balcony most days. The balcony on our cabin is pretty nice with a table and 4 chairs (for all our non-guests) and a chaise lounge big enough for two people.
Mary out on the balcony with Mediterranean Sea in backgroundDouble chaise lounge!John having breakfast in the living room of our suite
Today we are going on a excursion in Valletta. We view many of the beautiful golden limestone (Globigerina limestone) buildings with their Maltese balconies and various fountains and monuments. The old buildings and the modern ones blend harmoniously due to the use of the limestone which is the only building material available on the five islands that make up Malta.
Christ with a pigeon on his headTriton fountain constructed in 1955Walls constructed to withstand the siege of the Ottomans in 1565Gate to the city and Parliament building with honeycomb frontPedestrian main street in Valletta. Apartments above the arcade on the left side are government subsidized for about €500 a year. Only caveat is no laundry can be hung out!Building with fancy Maltese balconiesJohn on tour!Statue of Jean de Valette for whom the city is named. He was instrumental in defending Malta against the Turks and was Grand Master of the Knight of Malta.View from the Upper Barrakka Gardens with the Saluting Battery below and overlooking the harbor. One canon is shot off at noon each day.Looking out towards the Mediterranean SeaOur ship docked below the garden and battery area
While we have a restroom stop I busy myself taking a picture of a cat and myself. The Maltese have a comprehensive program for their feral cats neutering them so the city is not overrun with cats. A small cut in a cat’s ear indicates if the cat has been neutered.
Maltese catMary selfie
Now we progress to St. John’s Co-Cathedral which is a high point on the excursion. Along with many other churches based on what sect of the Maltese Knights, the cathedral is plain on the outside and resplendent on the interior. This church contains two famous Caravaggio paintings, The Beheading of St. John and St. Jerome Translating the Hebrew Bible.
Outside of St. John’s Co-CathedralFancy interior. There are side chapels dedicated to each of the eight Knights of Malta jurisdictions. It is why the Maltese cross has eight points.Walls are covered with gold gilt sculpturingThe main event! Caravaggio’s Beheading of St. John. Note use of chiaroscuro and Caravaggio’s trademark use of red pigment.In a side room we see Caravaggio’s much smaller St. Jerome Translating the Hebrew Bible. St. jerome’s attributes, the skull and his red hat hanging on the wall are present. We look for his usual lion companion but it is hard to make out what is in the background.
Leaving the church we do some more walking and end up at a building where we will hear a lecture about the Knights of Malta. Our small group is looking a bit bedraggled at this point since we have been on our feet for two hours and temperatures are in the 80s with fairly high humidity. So really the best part of the lecture is that we get to sit down in an air conditioned room. A Knight, Dane Munro, tells us all about what the organization does today which seems to be charitable work with a heavy overlay of Catholicism.
We return to the ship for a late lunch and I try to make some good choices but am thwarted by too many people lined up for salads and fish. We are not allowed to serve ourselves due to pandemic protocols and it really slows things down. I manage to get a salad plate but give up on the fish and opt for a plate of pasta where there is no line.
We return to our room and pass out for the next three hours. (Zzzzzz)
Dinner tonight is at Manfredi’s Italian restaurant. It is mostly very good although the first thing we order, branzino carpaccio, is not available. Apparently too many of the earlier dinners ate it all up.
Mary looking lovingly at bread
John drinking wine
Calamari fritti
Chilean sea bass on cauliflower purée with roasted cherry tomatoes
A Pilat type of dessert, bread, honey, parmesan cheese, and grappa
We started our trip today which will be a combination of two cruises, one centered around Greece and the other in the Adriatic. Our two flights went smoothly as we connected through Newark on the way to Malta.
Tasty breakfast on United from SFO to EWR
John was looking forward to some good German beer at the Lufthansa lounge during our layover but no alcohol was being served!
John in Newark with empty beer fridge and dry taps
Flying domestically during the pandemic is pretty much like flying before except you have to wear a mask full time. Luckily both our flights contained no disgruntled passengers and mostly I just had sore ears. There is a lot of paperwork to be done before traveling internationally and once we reached Malta we had to prove our vaccination status through an app that gives them permission to verify your status and a EU form so they know where you are going and a health declaration. On top of that Viking, the cruise line we are going on, has a rigorous set of protocols and daily testing. Since they have had zero infections since they started up operations again in July, it seems to be working well.
Malta view from our cabin’s balconySome Maltese housing along our bus ride to the ship
Tomorrow we start our touring in Malta. Today was mostly taken up with getting unpacked and napping. And of course eating! We had dinner at the Chef’s Table and enjoyed fine cuisine and wine pairings. Our sommelier was someone we had met on our Southeast Asian cruise two years ago and he remembered John! So that was fun.
Interior of Chef’s TableMenu for the evening
Food pictures!
Carrot and cardamom cream amuse
Tuna tataki
Palate cleanser
Beef tenderloin with oyster mushrooms and purple potato mousselline
Fabulous tart tatin
Everything was really delicious and the service was great! We are off to a great start!
Jonathan, Alex, and Sam joined us for a fancy dinner at Left Bank in Menlo Park to celebrate their new year as a sophomore and 7th grader. We all had a great time!
John, Jonathan and I spent a week in St. George right across the street from our former home. Here are some pictures-
Jon relaxing in the condoJohn preparing what Jonathan has dubbed the drink of St. George, a Negroni SbagliatoWe played a lot of tennis, Jon hitting a forehandFollow-throughJohn running for a shotWe did a lot of cooking too. Jon is preparing a special dinner for us.Jon in the kitchenOur fabulous Oak City scallops with mashed potatoes, braised leeks, mushrooms, asparagus, and a beurre blanc sauceOur last night we had dinner out at the club. It’s a beautiful setting with mediocre food.Celebrating a wonderful week together
We went back up to EDGE in Sonoma for a fancy dinner and overnight. We missed being able to travel to Vancouver to have dinner at Maenam but the pandemic is still keeping us from our normal activities. Nonetheless we had a wonderful time and enjoyed dining out and being together for this special day.
We had a lovely dinner at EDGE in Sonoma plus an overnight! We have decided that this should be a monthly occurrence especially when there is nothing else going on.
