We Take Ourselves With Us

Our official first port on the cruise was Katakalon--the gateway to Olympia, home to the first Olympics.  Like pretty much everyone on the boat, we booked an excursion to Olympia, but unlike most, we booked with a private tour operator (Travel Insiders), so our tour group numbered only 15 rather than 25-30.  Right on time, our guide Zoe was at the port waiting to share her love of her home with all of us.  She won Ned over right away by referring to him as blue-eyed and blonde  just like Northern Greeks.  He turned to us all with a big smile, mouthing "blonde" as a personal victory. One thing to note, all of our guides have made reference to the significant economic challenges facing Greece, some more pointedly than others.  Zoe noted that the high unemployment rate for young men in Athens has led some to return home to work their family farms--a role they ran away to the big city to escape. As a result, Katakalon's olive oil, raisin, and other agricultur...

After boarding on Sunday, we had a sea day on Monday, giving us all time to sleep deeply in our inside cabins, explore the Koningsdam a bit, and just relax ... except, the captain had advised us that we'd be passing by the volcanic island Stromboli at 8:30 that morning.  So, Ned and I pulled ourselves out of bed and wandered the upper decks--from which we saw only ocean in every direction--trying to understand where a volcano could be hiding.  It turned out that it was hiding at 10:30--the captain had made an error in the timing. We made the best of it by going to an early breakfast in the still rather uncrowded Lido market. As 10:30 neared, I went up to the observation deck to grab some space at the railing--and in the distance, ta dah, a volcano appeared! Just a week earlier, Stromboli had erupted with fury, killing a hiker and putting the small villages at its base in danger.  As Penn wondered aloud, who would build a town on a volcano?  Great ques...