We arrived in Trapani, Sicily this morning and went to the hilltop town of Erice.
Trapani from our ship. Rush hour ?
Also taken from our ship, the salt pans. An industry that has been rejuvenated by “healthy eating”
Piles of salt
we travelled up by cable car to Erice
Several views of Erice
Views from Erice over Trapani and surrounding towns.
It is 12.50 in Erice or 11.50 am at home. Temperature is 24C and sunny.☔️
And we are still surprised to get a mobile signal.
Stromboli in the afternoon.
The smoke changed to a (small) eruption as the sun went down. Too far away to get decent pix on the phone.
Ice sculpture of a leaning tower at the ship’s “welcome to Italy” party
Today we are steaming through to Straits of Messina. Much to our surprise we have a 4G signal!
Sicily
The mainland
The pilot boat arriving, the toe of Italy in the background.
And the last two of Sicily.
The straits are shaped like a funnel. The width as we entered is about 7 miles it narrows to just on one mile
The first couple of photos are about 3.5 miles from land, the rest about half a mile.
We reach Stromboli in mid afternoon. Braemar is about an hour ahead if schedule. the Messina pilot station wanted us to arrive as soon as we could so all four engines we engaged!
Today we are in Kefalonia. We docked in the port of Argostoli, the chief town.
What a beautiful island !
The port from our ship
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A flavour of the scenery from our coach
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We went to Melissani lake which was originally a cave until the 1953 earthquake brought down the roof.
The water really is this turquoise blue the depth caries between one and about 30 metres.
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Our next stop was at the tiny village of Assos
In this shot you can just make out Assos on the promontory in the centre of the picture.
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And finally we went to Fiskardo for a late lunch.
Another delightful village.
Kefalonia is our last call in Greece as we start our way back to the UK. The big advantage of coming to Greece by sea is that it takes eleven days to get back with lots more calls on the way.
Is just before 6pm local time (4pm UK) the captain has just announced that everyone is back on board and we will depart on schedule
We are at sea tomorrow, Sunday, and depending on traffic will pass near Stromboli around 6pm local time. We have a time change tonight and go back to CET.
Our next call is Trapani in Sicily.
We are moored at Katakolon today, Katakolon is the port for visits to Olympia. We went to Olympia in spring 2012 so this time we wandered around the town.
Katakolon is a small coastal village which seems to make its income from tourism. There were a handful of fishing boats in the harbour but not much else. The harbour schedule shows that two or three ships are expected every week.
A couple of views of the harbour from our ship.
We walked up to the lighthouse on the headland
This was built in the 1860s so in Greek terms just a few days ago🤔
Alongside the road from the lighthouse we noticed lots of olive trees. These look as though they are black olives. Previous guides have told us the olive harvest starts in November.
Also alongside the road we saw these formations. Not sure if they are rock or clay.
While we having lunch this four master arrived.
about 170 passengers apparently.
And the never ending maintenance, today a seaman and a cadet are servicing spare lifejackets
We docked is Patras yesterday afternoon at 5pm. We are here until 22.30 local time tonight (20.30 UK time)
We guessed that the Captain had plenty of time in hand in case of complications in the canal yesterday.
We took a trip along the Vouraikos gorge on a rack and pinion railway. We boarded the train at Diakopto and travelled the 22km to Kalavryta through amazing scenery.
The pictures were taken through the train window.
The railway climbs from sea level to the terminus at 2,360ft.
Kalavryta was the sight of the Massacre of Kalavryta in December 1943
We walked past the church on our way to lunch in Kalavryta. And after lunch we visited the “cave of lakes”. We weren’t allowed to take photos so
The cave is a subterranean river on three levels discovered in the late 1960s. The complex is about 2km long, but only the first 500 metres or so is open to the public. By the time we had climbed up and down the pathway it seemed rather more than 500m though!
At its deepest we were around 120 feet below the surface.
We came back to the ship by road so a few views through the coach window.
We didn’t expect the scenery to be so spectacular.
We arrived back at the ship around 19.30 so had a chance to see some of the lights of Patras. Interesting how coffee shops and car dealerships look the same throughout Europe.
The ship departs at 23.00 local time for Katakolon which is the gateway to Olympia. We visited Olympia in 2012 so have decided on an easy day tomorrow.
Today we transited the Corinth canal. M/s Braemar is now the largest (longest) ship to have been through the canal.
The tug took control of the ship at around 8.50 this morning (6.50 in the UK)
The tug pulled us through the length of the canal with the three pilots in control of the operation.
Braemar passes through the entrance barrier.
The clearance on each side of the ship is around 75cm or 2ft 6in.
The canal walls tower above the ship
We saw a variety of wildlife including a large number of foxes. Too far away to photograph sadly.
After about an hour and a half the tug led us through the far end if the canal and the breakwater into the gulf of corinth and the Ionian Sea.
Today we are in Ermoupoli on the island of Syros. A wonderful place and so different to yesterday’s visit to Rhodes which was inundated with tourists.
Opinion on board is fairly evenly divided between those who loved Rhodes and those who couldn’t wait to get away.
And so to Syros. We took a “taster” excursion that gave us views of the island which is only about 83 square Km.
Our first sight of the town
First stop on our excursion was to sample the “Loukoumi”, or Turkish Delight.
The vats where the ingredients are cooked
And the moulds with the sweet to set.
The village of Anos Syros
Most of the roads can just take two vehicles passing, our coach had to juggle at one or two of the bends. It was more mountainous than we expected.
Back in Ermoupolis this is the church of the Dormition where in 1983 was discovered an early El Greco icon dated to before 1563
The icon is behind glass but this photo gives a feel.
We paid a fascinating trip to the industrial museum. This typewriter has a Greek keyboard, rather than qwerty.
After a brief stop for lunch we walked around the town. This is the town hall.
And the church of St. Nicholas.
And finally: we can only think of one show with “showman” in the title.
But the greek dictionary does not give the first word so we could be wrong!
We depart in just over half an hour, at 18.00 local tine, 16.00 in the UK.
We are scheduled to transit the Corinth canal tomorrow, but that depends on the forecast wind speeds and direction. We should hear the captain’s intention later this evening.
Today we are in Agios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas) on the island of Crete.
Some views around the town.
This was originally a fresh water lake until the channel was dug in the 18th C now it’s mixed fresh and sea water.
Looking back to our ship.
These next two pictures were taken from the ship first thing this morning.
The town filled up as coach loads of visitors started to arrive from about 10am.
We went by coach to the island of Spinalonga. Originally it was a Venetian fortress to defend Venice’s trade routes from the Ottomans. Around 1903 it became a leper colony. People with leprosy, or thought to have leprosy, were marooned here from 1903 to 1957
Views as we arrived at the island. The old fortifications are still predominant.
These coloured doors and windows were to help the partially sighted inhabitants find their way.
The cistern for collecting rain water
This was the original main entrance. The inscription over the gate has worn away but it was reputed to say ” Abandon hope all you who enter”
Two of the chapels on the island.
And the burial ground
If you have read “The Island” by Victoria Hislop, this is set on Spinalonga.
We depart Crete for Rhodes at 18.00 local time (16.00 UK time) and arrive early on Monday morning.
We are in Malta today, our first visit. We docked in the Grand Harbour, Valetta at around 8.30.
Our first view of the dockside. Very reminiscent of Mahon.
Our excursion wasn’t due to leave until 11.45 so we went for a stroll along the front
And of course “civilisation”.
The lift from the harbour to the town centre.
The area around Valetta seems to be one huge fortress.
These photos are from Birgu one of the original towns before the Knights arrived in the mid C16th.
Apparently streets in these old towns were built on a curve making them easier to defend against invaders.
We went onto Marsaxlokk, a fishing village
A view of Mdina, the original capital. The Knights moved the capital to Valetta because of the harbours.
We depart for Crete in half an hour arriving on Sunday morning.
Weather a glorious 25C.
