July 13 Patmos and the Monastery of St John & the Apocalypse Cave

 Our first full cruise day started with a quite unique experience – a visit to the Blue Eye: a multi-sensory lounge located beneath the waterline on their smaller, Explorer-class, ships. It is quite lovely - all blue light and visually exquisite designed to follow the lines of a whale. We saw a few fish swim by. It has a bar which is open in the evening.

The Blue Eye lounge

We arrived at Patmos where we were to go ashore and visit the monastery and Cave of the Apocalypse.  Patmos Island, an island of quiet and tranquility, is where St John the Evangelist was banished during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian. And it was here that he is said to have received the visions of the Apocalypse which later became the Book of Revelation.  We visited the cave where he was supposed to have had his visions and where he, or someone, wrote them down.

The monastery and cave are high on a hill but we were fortunate to have a bus to take us most of the way up from the port to the fortress-like Monastery of St. John, built in the C11th. Absolutely stunning with its iconography and frescos squeezed into a tiny space. Today only 15 monks reside in the monastery. We then traipsed down the hill a little way to have a look at the cave, the Apocalypse Cave, where St John wrote. Quite inspiring.

I love those windmills. we were to see many on the islands

The museum at the monastery held many precious items

A souvenir 'cave'

Mysterious windows and doorways

It was a place with many steps!

Head ing down to the Cave of the Apocalypse. Stunning views! 

The first and last pages of the Book of Revelation

A labyrinth of staits and doorways

After a day of biblical scenes, we dined quietly watching the sun sink lower in the sky. We had set sail for Rhodes. Later we sat under a green sky with coffee and liqueur.  It is wonderful being at sea! As the sun slipped slowly behind the mountains of Patmos …… what a magical day. The first of many I suspect.

The dancers on board put on a fabulous show

July 12 Cruising the Greek Islands of the Southern Aegean: a Smithsonian Journey

We were in Athens to join a cruise which would take us to explore some of the islands of the Southern Agean. Like all ‘transfer’ days, we spent this embarkation day waiting to board – we took a taxis to Port Piraeus where Ponant staff helped us to check-in before boarding early - thankfully.  In our cabin we were welcomed with champagne and fruit. Delightful. This was a new ship for us so we did a bit of atour to familiarise ourselves with what was to be our ‘home’ for the next seven days – sadly a short cruise.   After a welcome from the delightful Captain, Christophe Dupuy, we did the mandatory lifeboat drill then collapsed into dinner in Le Nautilus restaurant (there are two dining rooms - the other is a less formal grill on the pool deck). 

A nice welcome on board gesture - fruit and bibbles!

The Observation deck lounge

That huge ship carries about 4000 passengers - ours, Le Jacques Cartier carries 180!

Heading out to sea

As a matter of interest this was a Smithsonian Cruise which run in conjunction with Ponant and focus on culture, history, and the natural world. On board there are notable experts on the main foci of the cruise– ours were exceptional.

Our route

July 10 - 11 A Cook’s tour of Athens through my eyes

After a few days of tripping around Athens and in particular doing the rounds of the Acropolis and then the museum, we were a bit ruinsed-out - and feeling a tad ruined ourselves actually! So I thought instead of boring you with yet more ancient ruins, which seem to spring out at you at every corner, I’d give you a wee ‘Cooks Tour’, an impression of Athens through my eyes – with maybe just a couple of ruins, sorry!

This is an amazing city with many, many layers of civilisations, destruction and rebuilding going back millennia. The current Greeks can’t keep up with it so it seems. Today we visited Hadrian's Library and both the Ancient and Roman Agoras (using our multi-day ticket bought to visit the Acropolis). 

Hadrian's Library - there's not much left of it

One of a the few remaining columns from the Church of St Asomatos

Sadly there's not much left of Hadrian's Library but not far from there is the site of the Church of St Asomatos. Here my eye was caught by a lovely column, one of a line, which had weathered showing the intricate pattern of its grain - a living stone.

Hadrian;s Library remains

The Athens Metro runs through many of the city's ancient ruins 

The Stoa of Attalos

Not far from there are the ruins of the Ancient Agora which covers an extensive area. at one end of the Agora stands a magnificent colonade, the Stoa of Attalos. This was reconstructed on its original foundations in the early 1950s and currently houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora.

By then I’d had it with the 'ancient' and wanted to see the 'now' stuff. So we had lunch somewhere in the crazy tangle of tiny streets before heading for the large undercover Varvakios Agora via streets that were alternately dedicated to one sector of trade or another - building, mechanical, fabrics etc. By the time we reached the markets it was late in the day - marketwise - but there was still plenty to see. I stopped and chatted with a guy dissecting an ox tongue and attachments, a handsome piece of meat. This was in what I reckon was the offal section - heads and tripe and other internal ‘delicacies’. I chatted to a few stallholders with them knowing full well that I wasn’t buying anything but they were happy to chat - mostly. Remarkably there were still loads of fish and other marine delights all still looking fresh. The market was surprisingly clean and vastly different from what I remember from 40 years ago when it was all ‘open air’ (Today meat etc is mostly in glass cases). 

All manner of things to tempt including dried sea sponges.

Sideritis, also known as ironwort, mountain tea, or shepherd's tea, is known for its
use as herbal medicine. The species are abundant in Mediterranean regions

A ‘street apartment’. Well set-up and well-known, obviously accepted by local authorities.

A Greek charcuterie. Absolute sensory overload walking through this place filled with cured meats.

On the footpath this man was selling snails. Home-grown probably!

The next day we simply wandered the streets coming across fascinating corners and narrow alleys. Along the street from where we’re staying, dodge the gratings and you come across  some steep stairs going down into the ‘dungeons’.  A cafe occupied this corner under the road. It was a bit steep for me otherwise I would have investigate as there were ots of interesting fried fish smells float up those steps. Across the road we perched at a wee table to eat white bait.

The Fabric Centre with rows of fabric stores. Under the shops down steep steps the tailors work busily.

Whitebait for lunch

This is our local restaurant

A Mad Hatter's tea party 

Then we walked on to discover 'tourist tinsel corner.' This small stretch of road was decked out with flowers and colourful decorations - a Mad Hatter's tea party affair attracting the crowds.

The meat markets. Bottom R an interesting selection of offal. 

We were staying in the Theatrou district and it was very colourful and busy and included markets with a huge array of eye-popping goodies.  At the meat markets. I reckon they take turns doing ‘butcher’ stuff to entertain the tourists. Interesting cuts of meat including offal and at one stall a beautifully skinned cow head with eyes staring out at passers-by. Weird but fascinating.

This ss graffiti town.

Lots of hole-in-the-wall shops

We finished the day with a feast of meats we simply could not finish. Loving the local and enjoying exploring the streets.  Talking of which this entire district is covered in bold grafitti.

July 8 - 9 time out

 We’re having a couple of quiet‘rest’ days after visiting both the Acropolis and its wonders - Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike etc - and then yesterday the excellent Acropolis Museum and National Botanical Gardens - like we hadn’t walked enough already! As I ‘rest’ with laptop appropriately balanced on a pillow on my lap, we have been serenaded by a wandering minstrel four floors below playing a haunting melody on his karamuza. It is Saturday so people are kicking back with wine and ‘other’ things. Us? Not to be outdone, we have opened a bottle of red and a classy packet of chips while we ‘work’ catching up on our blogs. 

There are a number of ‘supermarkets’ nearby so we have self-catered a number of nights and tonight was no exception. Any picnic meal accompanied by wine and a little ouzo tastes good!

If nothing else the Hotel has a reasonably-equipped communal kitchen even if it is very hot!