Ryan, Debi, and Toren Cragun's Blog

Our last day on the cruise was at sea as we were traveling from Katakalon (Katakolo) back to Venice.  I woke up around 6:00 am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I headed up to the library to do some work. The ship seemed empty at that time – a few people were in the hot tub, probably still up from the previous night, but I mostly saw ship staff cleaning. I grabbed some coffee and watched the sunrise in the library while working on my trip notes and looking at photos from the trip.

We really didn’t do much all day.  Toren and Debi slept in, then we went to breakfast.  At one point we went up to the 11th floor nightclub with Gary and Rosemary and blew bubbles for Toren to chase around, but that was about the extent of our activities.  We spent a good part of the day just getting everything packed up and ready to go home the next day.  It was actually quite nice to have the last day be just a day at sea so we could relax and get ready to go home.

After our last dinner in the nice restaurant we went to another show hoping Toren would do well like he did the previous night.  The show was a magician, Mark Taylor. He was pretty good with sleight of hand tricks, but his total show lasted 20 minutes before he had used up all of his material.  Some of his tricks weren’t even all that impressive if you know how some of them are done (Debi used to date a magician and so knows a lot of the tricks).  We went to bed shortly after the show ended.

We didn’t have to get up as early this morning as our excursion met at 8:15, so we got up at 7:15, which was right about the time I felt like I had slept enough (Toren too). After a quick breakfast, we got our tour bus stickers got on our bus. We drove straight to Olympia and the Olympia Archaeological Site, which is about 30 minutes from Katakolo by bus. There is a modern day city of Olympia, but it is quite small and, like most of Greece, heavily dependent upon tourism with just a few hotels, restaurants, and gift shops. The major attraction, of course, is the ruin of the original Olympic stadium and all of its accompanying buildings – temples, training rooms, Roman bathhouses, etc.

The official start date of the Greek Olympic Games is 776 BCE, but our guide  our guide said that they started before that, possibly as early as 1,000 BCE.  noted early on that the olympic games pre-date the official start date by the Greeks of 776 by about 230 years – so they may have started as early as 1000 BCE. They were held religiously (and I do mean religiously; they were dedicated to Zeus) every four years (with some additional games at other locations around Greece in the off years) until about 393 CE, when Christianity took over the Roman empire and all things Pagan were not only abandoned but outlawed.  Anyway, before anthropologists excavated the ruins, they were completely covered with sand, dirt, and vegetation and, of course, much of the site had been looted. Thus, the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire is responsible for the nearly 1,500 year hiatus in the Olympic Games.  A French historian, Pierre de Coubertin, was the founder of the International Olympic Committee and the person who lobbied to bring back the Olympic Games.   His heart is buried in a silver box in the ruins of Olympia.

We spent about 3 hours at the ruins, walking around with our tour guide. Our guide wasn’t great this time. He would stop every 50 meters or so (I’m starting to think in meters after spending 2 weeks in Europe) and drone on and on, repeating himself 4 to 8 times during the course of the tour. Toren couldn’t take the standing around and got antsy, so he and I traipsed all over the ruins well before the rest of our tour group did. We saw the temple of Zeus, which, before the statue of Zeus was taken to Constantinople (probably by the Romans) and then burned (possibly by Christians) was one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World.  Here’s what it may have looked like before it was destroyed:

Today, all that is left is a ruined temple:

Debi in front of Zeus's Temple

The one pillar you see standing was reconstructed for the Olympic Games in Greece in 2004.  Here’s a panorama of the entire Temple of Zeus:

panorama of Zeus's Temple (click to enlarge)

The Temple of Hera is where the Olympic flame is lit every time there is an Olympic event. That is, of course, a modern tradition started by Germany in 1936 under Hitler and Goebbels for propaganda purposes. There is no constant flame there and, in fact, the alter in front of the temple of Hera is quite modest:

Debi in front of Hera's altar, where the Olympic flame is lit

You can see the Temple of Hera, which was likely the second largest temple after Zeus’s, just behind Debi in the above photo.  Here we are in front of it:

the three of us in front of Hera's Temple

The sculptor of the statue of Zeus, Phidias, had a workshop in Olympia (which was later turned into a Christian church). He is recognized as one of the greatest sculptors of his time.

The most impressive site is probably the stadium, which is quite massive and could have accomodated about 40,000 people. As our guide in Athens noted, the original stadium did not include seats or benches; people sat on the ground. The copy in Athens has benches, but those were added by the Romans. The stadium in Olympia was used for all sorts of races and includes two finish lines, one for men and one for women. I tried to get Toren to run the length of the stadium, but he only made it half way. I walked the rest of it – it’s actually quite far – 180+ meters.  Here are Suzy and Debi at the entrance to the stadium:

Suzy and Debi at the entrance to the Olympic stadium

Here are Toren and I on one edge of the stadium:

Toren and I at the original Olympic stadium (photo by Brent)

And a panorama of the stadium:

panorama of the original Olympic stadium (click to enlarge)

From the ruins, we walked up to the archaeological museum, which contains the statues and other remaining objects from the ruins. The museum has many statues, but many are missing. The decorations of the temple of Zeus are set up roughly as they would have been seen on the outside of the temple, which is pretty cool.  Once again, I had to leave the tour group as Toren was getting antsy, so I did a quick walk through then let Toren run around in the court yard outside. I also picked up some baklava, which was good, but not amazingly different from what I’ve had in the U.S.  Toren and Ethan played for a while in the courtyard, then we headed back to the buses and drove into Olympia for about 15 minutes of shopping. We then drove back to the ship. We could have walked around Katakalon more, but we didn’t want to buy anything else and there aren’t any other particularly famous things to see in Katakalon, so we boarded the ship and ate lunch.

After lunch we took Toren to the pool. He loved it, but we were booted out after about 30 minutes by a pool attendant when they realized Toren wears a diaper. No kids with diapers allowed! And there is no other pool for them. This is kind of annoying considering ½ of the main pool onboard is a wading pool that is about 2 inches deep, and then about 1 ½ feet deep and it is fenced off from the rest of the pool, so it is clearly designed for little kids. But they wouldn’t allow it. So, we left. We then took a nap and went to dinner.

We did make it to the onboard show this night. Debi saw that it was a ballroom dance extravaganza, so she really wanted to try to make it, and given that Toren had been falling asleep around 10:00 pm, that meant he might make it through the show that started at 9:15. So, we went with Gary, Rosemary, Brent, Suzy, and Ethan. Toren made it through about half the show before falling asleep. It turns out the show was pretty good. There were two dancers who seemed like they were probably professional ballroom dancers. The other six (three couples) were decent dancers, but not nearly as polished as the main couple. The singers were also good, but not amazing. Basically they performed a variety of dance numbers set to popular music with ballroom rhythms – chacha, swing, country swing, tango, etc. With Toren out, we went to bed after the show.

Our third stop in Greece was in Mykonos, a Greek island famous for its white buildings with blue roofs and doors, beaches, and night life.  Here’s a shot of the buildings:

the iconic architecture of Mykonos (photo courtesy of Brent)

We arrived early (7:00 am) and had to meet for our excursion at 7:15.  We struggled to get up as Toren woke up repeatedly through the night and only made it in time because Rosemary knocked on our door.  We had different excursions this day as well.  Brent, Suzy, and Ethan opted for the beaches of Mykonos while the rest of us headed to the island of Delos, one of the most important mythological and archaeological sites in Greece.  Delos is about 20-30 minutes away from Mykonos by boat.  Delos was a holy site long before Greek mythology turned it into the birthplace of both Apollo and Artemis.  At its apex, almost the entire island was covered with one massive, booming city.  According to our guide, there were over 60,000 inhabitants (today there are 14). It was covered with temples and monuments, most of which have been raided.  Since 1872, the French School of Athens has been excavating the island.  The island is fascinating because it has very few natural resources – no timber or arable land as it is too dry.  What little water the island has is stored in cisterns and the dirty water is managed through a complex sewer system (that actually runs under the cities streets; you can see it through the cracks in the rocks).  All the resources used by the inhabitants were shipped in, which was obviously a considerable amount considering the size of the population.  Delos was also quite multicultural as the Romans eliminated taxes on the island.  Everyone from the Naxos/Cycladic Culture (who were quite powerful before the Greek Athenians came to power; our guide was from Naxos and talked about it a lot) to the Egyptians set up shops and temples here.

Unfortunately, the place has basically been ransacked and most of the amazing artwork and sculpture has been taken by looters, but it’s still pretty amazing.  One of the first things our guide showed us was a portico donated by King Philip V of Macedonia, which still has the Greek writing on it indicating that he gave it as a gift to the island, the visitors of the island, and the gods.  Here’s the portico today:

portico donated by King Philip V of Macedonia, now lying on the ground but originally was quite a tall structure

Another remarkable site are the famed lions donated by the Naxos, which haven’t weathered well, but are still quite impressive considering they are close to 4,000 years old:

the three of us by the Naxos lions

Our guide also pointed out a still-standing herm (or herma), which is a squared statue with a head (typically of Hermes, the messenger god and protector of merchants and travelers).  More interestingly, the genitalia were also typically part of the sculpture and occasionally the erect penis held a sign with information or directions (the one below, unfortunately, is sans phallus):

a herm, sans penis and dangling sign

I think life would be more interesting if all of our road and information signs were herms today.  Don’t you?

As I mentioned, Delos is known for being the birthplace of Apollo.  According to Greek mythology, Leto, Apollo’s mother, was banned from giving birth on “terra firma” by Hera (Zeus’s wife; Zeus was the father, that scoundrel).  Delos was a newly created floating island at the time.  Leto found Delos and gave birth in the middle of the sacred lake, holding a palm tree, first to Artemis, and then to Apollo.  The sacred lake has been drained to prevent the spread of disease, but the lake bed is still there and there is a palm tree in the center:

the sacred lake, birthplace of Apollo and Artemis

Here we are at the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis:

the three of us at the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis

I’ve never visited the birthplace of a god before!  How cool is that?!?

Another temple had two very large phalluses standing guard at the entrance.  The phallus was often revered by the Greeks, who saw it as a symbol of fertility.  Unfortunately, they were both broken:

Debi by a broken phallus; poor phallus

From here we wandered into the ruins, visiting houses dedicated to various gods and other figures.  We visited homes dedicated to Trident, Poseidon, and a Cleopatra, but not “that” Cleopatra.  We eventually worked our way up to the very large amphitheater. However, on the way Toren started getting antsy, so he and I took off and left the rest of the group, climbing around the ruins.  We actually climbed to the top of the amphitheater before our group arrived and took this shot of the group as they entered:

view of the amphitheater from the top

Steve, in turn, took a shot of Toren and I at the top of the amphitheater:

Toren and I at the top of the amphitheater

The tour ended at the amphitheater.  Our guide, who was really good by the way, had noted that the mountain at the center of the island was called Mount Cynthus, which is the root for Cynthia, which is a different version of the name Artemis. We could see the mountain in the distance and noted that there was a path to climb it:

Mount Cynthos; the horizontal dark line is a stairway; the temple ruins you see at the bottom right are of an Egyptian temple

I asked the guide if we could climb it.  He said yes and that it was an easy climb.  Gary, Rosemary, and Debi weren’t interested, so I left Toren with them at the amphitheater and Steve and I set out to climb Mount Cynthos.  Twenty minutes later we were at the top:

Ryan at the top of Mount Cynthos

While up here I took a number of pictures to build a panorama of the great view, which I pieced into two photos:

panorama 1 of Delos (click to enlarge)

panorama 2 of Delos (click to enlarge)

If you look closely in the panoramas you’ll see rock walls running the length of the island.  As I noted above, the entire island was at one point inhabited, but only a small portion has been excavated.  The wall illustrates that the ruins do cover the entire island.  The island was, like most things pagan, abandoned with the spread of Christianity (the exception being temples that were converted to churches).

On our way to Mount Cynthos I saw a temple about half way up the mountain that no one was visiting.  On our way back down we found the path to it and worked our way over to it.  Turns out it isn’t a temple but the ancient entry to Mount Cynthos:

Ryan in front of the ancient entrance to Mount Cynthos; the sign to the right indicated what this was

We hiked back down the mountain and met back up with everyone at the amphitheater.  Toren was having a ball running around the amphitheater but was excited to see me:

Toren at the amphitheater

By this point we had about 30 minutes until we had to be back on the boat.  Debi, Steve, Toren, and I ran over to the museum, which houses the more sensitive sculptures and decorations that have been preserved from the ruins.  We didn’t have much time, but worked through the museum quickly.  A lot of the ancient artifacts have been plundered over the years, so not much remains.  We then got back on our boat and headed back to Mykonos.

We walked around Mykonos for a little bit, following the boardwalk to the nearby beach.  We also walked through some of the of the narrow back streets (stopping to buy some more wipes for Toren; we were running low).  We also found a free wifi hotspot, so Steve and I stopped to check our email for a few minutes.  We then headed back to the ship and grabbed a bite to eat at the buffet.

Mykonos does look very cool with the nearly uniform white buildings with blue accents.  The uniformity makes it very quaint.  Brent and Suzy said the beach was nice – not great sand, but the water was very clear.  Oh, and they went to a “family” beach; there are “adult” beaches too.

As was quickly becoming the pattern, we took a nap in the afternoon, waking up in time to get ready for dinner.  It was the second and last formal night, so Toren got fancied up in his tuxedo again.  We didn’t get as many pictures this time as he was still tired, but we snapped a few:

Toren eating pizza in his tux

Ethan, Toren, and Rosemary at dinner

We tried to go dancing again this night, but Toren wasn’t game.  Rosemary was with us and every time we’d start dancing, Toren would run out on to the dance floor and grab Debi.  So we called it a night and just went back to the room to put Toren down then fell asleep ourselves.

Our second stop in Greece was in Athens.  The port for Athens is actually Piraeus as Athens is not right on the ocean.  Given the distance between Corfu and Athens (440 miles, roughly), our cruise ship didn’t arrive in Piraeus until noon.  This was a nice change as we got to sleep in.  We actually had a little time to relax on the ship.  When we woke up, I took Toren up to the night club on the 11th floor of the ship, which bustled at night, but was deserted during the day.  It had great views and was actually quite child friendly.  He and I played up there for a while, then Debi took him to the Fisher Price Royal Babies activity room, which was a program set up for kids under 3.  Basically it was a room decked out with toys for toddlers.  Toren and Debi played in there for about 45 minutes with one of the staff members who was very good with Toren.  No other kids showed up and this was the only time Toren went, but he seemed to enjoy it.

After Toren and Debi played we went to brunch in the nice restaurant with the rest of the family.  After brunch we set out on our excursions.  Our group split up again.  Gary and Rosemary took a sightseeing bus tour around Athens as they smartly concluded they would have a hard time walking up the steps to the Acropolis in the searing heat (93 F).  The rest of us went to the Acropolis and then went on a sightseeing tour on our bus.

An “acropolis” is just a hill.  ”The Acropolis” is the specific hill in Athens famous for the structures on top of it (and the historical structures that no longer stand), in particular The Parthenon.  The hike up The Acropolis really isn’t that bad, even in hot weather (and with a 25 pound child strapped to your back).  The marble steps make it a rather straightforward hike:

the stairs up the Acropolis

Along the way you get to see some pretty cool stuff.  The first famous site is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus or the Theater at the Acropolis.  My first encounter with it was when Yanni played live at the Acropolis, but many other musicians and artists have performed here.  Here’s a photo of Debi in front of the theater:

Debi by the theater

And here’s a panoramic shot of the theater that captures most of it:

the amphitheater at the Acropolis (click for larger version)

From the theater you walk up to the entrance to the top of the Acropolis, which is guarded by gates or Propylaea.  From this point you can see several other famous sites.  You can see the Areopagus, which is a large rock outcrop with an amazing history:

the Areopagus or Areios is the 'Rock of Ares', north-west of the Acropolis; it is claimed this is where Paul (from the bible) was alleged to have preached Acts 17:24

Just north of the Areopagus is the Temple of Hephaestus which is the best preserved of the Greek temples from the golden age of Greece:

Temple of Hephaestus, which is a better preserved temple than the Parthenon and is just northwest of the Acropolis

Right next to the Propylaea, and undergoing heavy restoration when we visited, was the Temple of Athena Nike (nike means victory in Greek and is typically symbolized with wings, thus the Nike swoosh symbol).  As you work your way through the Propylaea, you eventually enter the top of the Acropolis and get your first view of The Parthenon, which is probably the most famous temple in the world:

the Parthenon from near the Propylaea

Our guide talked to us for a good 20 minutes from this angle (which is the western end of The Acropolis), then set us free to explore.  She noted in her discussion of The Parthenon that it was actually in very good condition up until the mid 17th Century and would likely have remained so were it not for the Venetians who attacked Athens in 1687.  Athens was under the control of the Ottoman Turks, who were using the temple as a place to store gunpowder.  The leader of the Venetian army ordered his soldiers to fire on The Parthenon.  One of the cannon balls struck The Parthenon and set off the gunpowder, collapsing the roof and a number of pillars.  It’s a beautiful building as it is; I can only imagine what it would have looked like had it not been destroyed and then looted (much of the decoration – called “The Marbles” – is in the British Museum).

The only other prominent temple on the Acropolis today is the Erechtheum.  here is Debi in front of the south side of the Erechtheum:

Debi in front of one of the south side of the Erechtheum

And here are the three of us in front of the east side:

the three of us in front of the Erechtheum

We also took pictures in front of The Parthenon:

the three of us on the west end of the Parthenon

And on the other end:

the three of us at the other end of the Parthenon

I was actually quite surprised by how uneven the top of The Acropolis is.  It seemed like it was just the original marble, which has been smoothed by centuries of people walking on it.  But given the history of The Acropolis I would be very surprised if that is the case.  And just as an FYI, the top would be very, very slick if you visit in the rain, particularly in the wrong kinds of shoes.  So, be careful.

Also, the Greek government is in the process of restoring some of the structures.  The Propylaea, The Temple of Athena Nike, and The Parthenon are all under reconstruction (though apparently at a very, very slow pace).  Any lighter colored pieces of marble you see in the pictures are places where the structures have been reconstructed.  All of the marble comes from a quarry to the west of Athens, not far away.  It’s the same marble, it just turns yellowish with age and exposure to the elements.

After touring around the Acropolis, our bus took us on a tour of Athens.  We saw a number of buildings that were very cool.  In particular, we got to see the new old Olympic Stadium, the Panathinaiko Stadium.  This stadium was the site of the first new Olympic games in 1896 after they were revived from millenia of Christian oppression (more on this in a follow-up post).  The stadium was originally built in the Greek style, without any seats or benches, but when the Romans conquered Greece, they added benches.  The stadium was modeled after the original Olympic stadium in Olympia (more on this to come), but was refurbished before the 1896 Olympics.  Here are some fun pics:

Toren and Debi at the new old stadium

the three of us at the new old stadium

And a panorama of the stadium:

the new old Olympic stadium (refurbished for the 1896 Olympics; click for larger version)

Our bus driver and tour guide also timed our tour perfectly so we could stop at the Parliament building and observe the very odd changing of the guards:

the changing of the guard

If you look closely, they have little puffy balls of yarn on the toes of their shoes.  It’s kind of hard to take these guys seriously when they are doing funny walks in funny outfits.  ;)

We also saw the National Library of Greece, the Academy of Athens, and the National University of Athens, all of which are remarkable neo-classical buildings.

We had the option of being let off the bus in Athens to walk around for a bit as the cruise ship didn’t leave until 7:00 pm, but there was no free shuttle back to Piraeus and after the difficulties we had the day before in Corfu getting back, we opted just to take the tour bus back to the ship.  We got back around 5:30, in time to get ready for dinner.  We had dinner in the main dining room, which was very good, as always.  After dinner, Toren did a little clowning around in our room.  We were trying to undress him and only got his pants off about half way when he started running around:

Toren being funny with his pants half off

He kept falling over, but he thought it was funny, so we let him play around for a while.  Once he was ready for bed, I went up to the hot tub with Steve and left Debi with Toren.  Debi was supposed to come up to the hot tube once he was asleep (Rosemary was going to sneak into our room and watch him).  But Debi never showed up.  I didn’t return to the room until about 10:30 and apparently Toren was awake until about 10:20, so Debi didn’t get to go to the hot tub.  That was the night for us.

Our first stop in Greece was in Corfu, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea.  The ship docked at 8:00 am, so our tour was early again.  Our tour in Corfu included two stops: Achilleion Palace and Palaiokastritsa.  Achilleion Palace was built by the Empress of Austria, Elisabeth of Bavaria. After her death it was purchased by Kaiser Wilhelm II who used it as a summer residence.  Both of them used Achilles as the theme of the palace, thus he figures prominently in the statues, paintings, and design.  The palace itself was mostly unremarkable.  Though there was one element of the whole thing that I found intriguing.  Elisabeth was Catholic, but was living in Greece, which is Greek Orthodox. In order to continue to practice her religion she built a chapel in the palace and provided a room and funds for a priest to stay in the palace as well (in the room next to the chapel).  Yet, the palace is dedicated to a Greek mythological figure, Achilles, and is rooted in Greek mythology with paintings and sculptures depicting Greek gods and Greek myths.  It seems like she took Greek mythology very seriously.  The mixing of monotheism with Greek mythology seemed odd.

Anyway, two of the  remarkable statues of Achilles are located in the garden.  Here’s the first of Achilles triumphant:

Debi in front of Achilles Triumphant - the amazing statue in the garden of the Achilleion Palace overlooking the bay

It’s hard to really capture how stunning this statue is.  It’s obviously quite large (which is why I posted the photo with Debi in it).  But its immensity doesn’t really come across in the photo. Also, it’s location is really remarkable.  It’s overlooking this view:

view from Achilleion Palace (click for larger view)

It’s a stunning view of the bay.  So, the statue is on a promontory overlooking the bay and is really breath taking when you first see it.  Here are the three of us in front of the remarkable view:

Toren, Debi, and I at Achilleion Palace

Not far from the statue of Achilles triumphant is another statue of Achilles, depicting his death:

The Death of Achilles

The statue of Achilles Triumphant was commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm.  The statue of the Death of Achilles was the favorite statue of Elisabeth and was originally where the statue of Achilles Triumphant stands.

Here’s Debi right behind the Death of Achilles statue by these two odd looking youths:

Debi at Achilleion Palace

The other really great piece of art is this painting of Achilles called “The Triumph of Achilles” which is just above the main stairway in the palace:

The Triumph of Achilles - depicting Achilles dragging Hector at the battle of Troy

It’s enormous, life-like, and extremely well done.  I’m not easily impressed by art, by these three pieces all impressed me.

Here’s one more photo from Achilleion Palace of Debi with her mom:

Debi and Rosemary at Achilleion Palace

From Achilleion Palace we drove about 40 minutes to Palaiokastritsa which is both a municipality and the name of a monastery.  Our tour was of the monastery.  We weren’t that impressed with the monastery itself, as it is highly commercialized.  As an example, here’s a photo of Debi, Toren, and I at the front gate getting a picture with two Greek women dressed in traditional Greek clothing:

Toren, Debi, and Ryan with some Greek women at the highly commercialized Palaiokastritsa monastery

We’re not sure why we bought this (I don’t recall the exact price, but I think it was something like 5 Euros).  But this was how most of the monastery was – lots of stuff for sale.  I’m not sure what the appeal of the monastery was supposed to be.  Not even the chapel was that amazing, as Steve indicated in this photo:

Steve illustrating what most of us thought of the chapel at the monastery

Despite the monastery not being particular amazing, the view from the monastery was really remarkable:

view from Palaiokastritsa monastery

And here’s Debi at the monastery:

Debi at the Palaiokastritsa monastery

Also of interest is the fact that Corfu is considered to be the mythical island of the Phaeacians, which figures prominently in Homer’s Odyssey.  It’s the home of Nausicaa, the princess who helps Odysseus when he is shipwrecked by Poseidon.  According to local legend, Odysseus’s ship was turned to stone and can be seen off the coast of Palaiokastritsa:

Odysseus's petrified ship is the rocky island you see in the center of this picture

I was far more interested in the connection of the island to Homer’s Odyssey than I was in the monastery, but the monastery does have good views of the surrounding coast.  However, knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t visit the monastery but rather would take a boat out to the sea caves nearby if I were to visit Corfu again.  The sea caves also figure in the Odyssey and they can be visited today.  Also, the beaches, while they didn’t look like they had great sand, looked like they led to crystal clear water.  There is also a very cool castle in Palaiokastritsa that can be visited, Angelokastro.  So, if you find yourself in Palaiokastritsa, I’d recommend the beach, the sea caves, and the Angelokastro castle.

After our tours, the bus dropped us off near the old fort in Corfu Town and we walked around for a bit.  Debi bought a purse (she’s needed a new one for a while) and I bought a dessert similar to baklava, but slightly different.  It was made with sesame seeds, almonds, and honey.  It was okay, but not particularly great.  The streets of Corfu Town were cool, but it was very busy and very touristy.  We pushed getting back to the ship a bit and ran into some issues getting on the shuttle back to the dock as a lot of people were trying to get back on the later trips, but we eventually muscled our way on to one of the buses and made it back before the ship left (3:30).

We grabbed a late, light lunch at the buffet then crashed again.  Napping the day before screwed up my schedule and I ended up staying up until about 1:00 am writing.  So I was tired again in the afternoon and we all ended up sleeping.  We got up in time to shower and go eat again.  Luckily I skipped breakfast, so I wasn’t putting on weight!  Hooray!

This was the first formal night.  And, thanks to Suzy, both Toren and Ethan had tuxedos, which made them the hit of the ship.  Everyone kept pointing at them and various people wanted pictures with them.  Why, you ask?  Because they were this cute:

Ethan, Toren, and Debi all dressed up

Toren looking dapper

Toren taking a close look at the menu

Toren looking at the fountains in the Centrum

Toren in his tux

We hung around a bit after dinner for the Captain’s welcome then went to bed.