After saying goodbye to Turkey, we are on our way to Greece, the flight took 1 hr and 15 mins to fly from Istanbul to Athens. We transferred to our hotel, and was delighted to have a wonderful view of the Acropolis which is situated on top of a hill. This was my first view of the Acropolis, although still not sure and to be reassured that it was the Acropolis, had to ask the question" is that the Acropolis?... Yes was the curt reply. We are so close and within walking distance 1.2 KM's. After checking into our hotel, we had rain, lightning and thunder, so Athens exploration was delayed until after we return from our Greek cruise.
This is a close up shot of the Acropolis.
Our hotel is centrally located to the tourist area and displays some nice art works.
The next day saw us leave our hotel and board our cruise ship for some R & R, delighted to discover we were allocated our grand suite, which had a balcony and our own steward" Ferdinand" just what we needed after 2 hectic tours.
Our cabin in the Grand Suites.
DH on our balcony
Our first port of call was the island of Mykonos.
Quite charming with its own beach, no sand, all pebble beach.
Could not resist any longer had to buy a smaller version of Mary icon.
The white buildings with blue, came around in the last century when cholera was a plague and all the residents in Greece had to whitewash their houses! blue doors, domes! represent the Greece flag.
Note the old windmills, these are storage for grain.
DH...do I have to do these shops!!!!!
Small private Catholic Churches
Small sailing vessel just near the beach.
After Mykonos we sailed to Kusadsi (Turkey) and Patmos, where we had to take a tender boat to shore.
Kusadsi is close to Ephesus and as we had already toured Ephesus we chose to explore the town.
Patmos in the afternoon.
View of Patmos from the ship.
Wednesday we docked in Rhodes, known as the Island of roses, " Citadel of Knights"
Rhodes is enclosed within these walls that circle to city.
Ruins within Rhodes
Typical scene in Greece.
DH had to sample the local beer, Mythos! 1 litre!, my fault I ordered it for him! was asked large beer! reply.. yes and this is what you get.
Next stop Crete, not much in Crete, primarily an industrial port. Heraklion
In the afternoon we toured Santorini, access to Santorini was also by tender boats. Below a view from the Monastery of prophet Llias.
View overlooking the village "Oia"
Mamma Mia was not filmed in this village the filming took place in the village of Skiathos.
More windmills.
We visited the most gorgeous church in Santorini
One of the many paintings on the ceiling.
Goodbye Santorini.
Hello Athens!
The audio arena in the Acropolis, still being used today, great acoustics.
Temple of Ifestos.
Parthenon
Restoration work of the Parthenon
Many small churches, this one is near the Plaka.
Some street art near the flea market.
Restoration work on the Parthenon.
Goodbye. Greece, hello Dubai.
The view from our hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment