We are now back in Athens after our 7 day cruise. Overall it was a pretty fantastic week. We visited two of the Saronic Gulf Islands yesterday, Poros and Egina, and they were competely different from the Cyclades. The Saronic Islands have colourful houses and made us both think of what the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia must look like.
The cruise was definitely the best way for us to see the islands. While taking a ferry gives one the advantage of being able to control the amount of time on each island and which island to visit, the cruise got us to many islands that we never would have thought to go to on a ferry and we didn't need to haul our luggage around, stand in lines to buy tickets or wait for a ferry timetable to fit our needs. The cruise ship also stopped in small harbours for swim breaks, and we were both able to experience the thrill of stepping off the ship's swim platform and swim out into 20m deep water...yet another bum-clenching experience! The key is to just force yourself to swim out 10 or 20 strokes, then everything is fine. There was also a life saver that was roped to the ship, and it was possible to float along side the ship and just soak up the sun.
Of the 31 passangers, only 1 didn't speak English (he spoke French and German, but his wife spoke English). On the last day at sea the crew came out with a birthday cake for him. We all joined in the singing of "Happy Birthday", which was very boisterous until it came to the point when we all hadto sing his name, which apparently only about three people knew. The volume of the song dropped to an uncomfortable whisper, as most of us sang "Happy Birthday dear mrmrmrmr" and then sang loudly again. He didn't seem to mind...he laughed along with the rest of us.
The islands we visited on this trip were: Foligandros, Santorini, Ios, Paros, Mykonos, Delos, Siros Poros and Egina. Our favourite: Paros!
The attached photos are of Poros, in the Saronic Gulf Islands. And yes, it does get confusing with Paros and Poros and our bad Greek accents!
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