I know, I know. I sound jaded; I sound spoiled. But I’m not alone in this — in the elevator at the end of the day, one of the other cruise guests asked how we would rate our day in Santorini out of 10, and I said: a 2, and others in the elevator agreed. (We were taking the elevator instead of the stairs because I was in heels, just to be clear.)
Santorini is BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL. And I bet if our tour hadn’t taken us to the two busiest, most crowded villages on the island, I might have actually liked it. But I’m 5′ tall, and elbow-to-elbow crowds make me edgy (I can’t see over the heads). The parking lot for the tour buses was a nightmare — and yet, somehow, bus drivers were able to negotiate their way in and out of the carpark, without any damages (or fatalities).
Greece has definitely changed since the 80’s – the shops are very upmarket, the locals are tres chic, and tourism has taken over. I would like to go back to Greece – everyone is so friendly, so nice – but if I go to the Aegean islands again, I’ll pick a small one, or a big island (Corfu, Crete) and go to a small town.
One of the guest lecturers on the ship recommended something called the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Kotokolon. Really? Ancient Technology? He raved, so we went.
OMG. We were the peedie wee museum’s first visitors of the day, and the curator gave us a personal tour of each of the 2,000+ year-old inventions. Seriously, the following (fully working) contraptions were invented between 600 B.C.E. & 100 C.E., and these are just a small percentage of the inventions we saw. We were absolutely rivetted.
The Axial Siphon Cup by Pythagorus
Plato’s Whistling Water Alarm Clock
The Automatic Wine Servant of Philon (a real robot. Honestly.)
and, of all things, the Speculum (hunh)
I believe Kotsanas has a similar museum in Athens – if you ever get the chance, go. Trust me.
Ancient Olympia, the home of the original Olympic Games was a wonderful site – we were in amongst ruins that were between two thousand and three thousand years old, stepping up ancient staircases, sitting on the remains of doric and ionic columns, and listening to the guide explain how the games worked (she seemed to spend a lot of time on the fact that the competitors were naked. A lot.) It was broiling hot that day, but I was glad we went – even the drive through the countryside was breathtaking.
Greece was the first place I ever visited where I really became aware of history, the passage of time, and the connections we have to people who have gone before. I was 14 years old, standing in the middle of the Acropolis, and I thought, ‘Someone stood on this exact spot, 2,000 years ago, debating politics, arguing with a colleague, teaching a student.’ Blew my mind.
I love Greece. I’ve had the chance to visit it several times, but I haven’t been back in over, well, at least three decades. At least. So I was looking forward to the last few days of this cruise, and (mostly) Greece didn’t disappoint. Corfu was pretty, but absolutely a sea of tourists. To the point where our bus could barely get parked (but somehow he did), and the only way I stopped a driver in a Volvo from backing into (and possibly over) me was to slam my hand hard on her trunk. She did stop then. Sheesh.
Corfu is a favourite holiday destination of Brits and I can see why. But when I go back (and I will), it will be to smaller towns, farther up the Corfu coast.
Long before the other cruise lines had adopted the Quiet Vox system for walking tours (and some still haven’t), Viking had introduced it on their cruises. It is the best.
Instead of huddling around a tour guide who is holding up a colourful furled umbrella, and straining to hear her speak over the noise of the crowds in the town square, or worse, being in a museum or gallery and being forced to listen to a tour guide talking to his group at the top of his lungs when you’re just trying to admire the nearest Rothko or kouros, these little earphones make walking tours truly civilized.
The guide has a small microphone and transmitter, and the members of the tour group each wear a receiver on a lanyard, with an earphone attached. (Yes, I am well aware that many people reading this will already be aware of these audio aides & probably don’t need a detailed Lain-splanation, but I just think they are so fantastic – everyone needs to know.) It means the tour guide speaks in a normal tone of voice, and everyone dialled into her frequency can hear her perfectly clearly. Granted, the lanyard & receiver make you look like some kind of geeky sore-thumb of a tourist, but whatevs.
Okay, I gotta admit the convenience/courtesy isn’t the only reason I like Quiet Vox. I was impressed with the system from day one, but once LL & I discovered we could drift off up to 100 metres away from the guide and still be connected to the group, this became a game changer. Now we can join a walking tour, learn about a location, not get lost, and shop. All at the same time. How genius is that?
LL & I can tell you all about the remarkable Sea Organ in Zadar: a series of hollow concrete steps that play music as the waves crash in and out from the sea. We also know all about the Monument to the Sun Compass, and the Cathedral of St Anastasia, as we carefully listened to our tour guide lead us in, through, and past all of these magnificent sites. At the same time, we were able to drift away (slightly), pop into some boutiques, try on clothes, and purchase a blouse & some jewellery – all while being lectured to about the history of Zadar (and not getting lost – the minute the reception starts to crackle, you know the group is moving away, and you need to catch up). Philistines? Maybe. Efficient? You betcha.
I don’t know what I was expecting of the Balkan countries. Well, yes, actually I do know: I was expecting poor, post-Soviet Bloc, dull little towns with beautiful mountains in the background. I was so wrong (not about the mountains, just everything else).
Ljubljana was lovely, as was Dubrovnik. We stopped in Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro and at each stop we were fascinated by the history, delighted by the scenery, and welcomed by the locals. I would love to go back to all of those countries, and spend some time in each one.
LL & I had booked a cruise for the spring of 2020. Yes, 2020 – you can imagine what happened then. After three postponements leading to a significant ship credit each, we decided on a cruise from Venice to Athens with Viking. Organizing this was entertaining (for me), demanding (for LL), and frustrating (for both), as it seems I can’t manage my Viking account using the viking.co.uk site and can’t access viking.com account from Scotland. So LL was constantly on the North American website pretending she was me, or on the phone explaining why the Viking service rep couldn’t talk to me directly. Such fun (for me).
My lovely young cousin volunteered to take Scout while I was away, and as she lives less than 10 miles from Gatwick, this was a perfect solution. Scout seemed delighted with her new home, and I headed off to a hotel (that I think was designed by the same company that makes Japanese capsule hotels) in Gatwick in order to make my 5:00 a.m. flight to Venice.
I gotta say, flying out of Gatwick with EasyJet is easy (hence the name) and cheap. My ticket was one-tenth (ONE-TENTH) the price of LL’s. Granted, she was coming from Toronto, but still – ONE-TENTH! Orkney to Gatwick is also ten times more than a Gatwick-Venice flight. No wonder Brits are holidaying in Majorca and not Orkney. And, to be fair, the average temperature in Majorca is slightly higher than in Orkney. But, wow, what a price difference.
It was great to see LL again, and after saying hello, partially unpacking, and a quick clean-up, we did the obvious – headed to the ship’s fancy tasting-menu restaurant for an elegant five course dinner. Plus wine. As the ship sailed out of the harbour, we toasted the beginning of another exciting trip.
*Normally I backdate posts like this, so they’ll align with days of the actual trip, but I’ve let it go so long that it hardly seems worth it. I’ll just add a correct date at the bottom of each post, for my own future reference.
Sorry about the lengthy absence – I know it’s been a ridiculous amount of time. There are reasons (and excuses). The former? I’ve been on holiday, and my laptop has had some serious bugs over the last 8 weeks. The latter? Laziness and procrastination.
But, I’m back.
(* I will say, my laptop is NOT back ☹ so the next few posts won’t have much in the way of photos.)
Exactly two years ago today I hugged my sisters good-bye, grabbed my British Passport, and boarded a plane in Toronto for my big adventure. This morning I boarded a plane in London on my way to a Mediterranean holiday. I rarely take selfies, but here are two, 730 days apart. Happy Anniversary, me!
In this part of Scotland people don’t say, ‘There you go’, or, ‘All done’, or ‘Here you are.’ Instead they say, ‘That’s you.’ The mechanic replacing your tyre hands you your keys and says, ‘That’s you then.’ The clerk in John Lewis hands you your receipt with a smile and a ‘that’s you.’ My cousin, when she’s driven us home from a day out and about, puts the car in park, turns off the ignition, and says, ‘Right, that’s us.’
I’ve been thinking a lot about my not-so-keen-on-Dublin feeling. I don’t feel bad about it; it’s just an opinion, and after all, a city’s feelings can’t be hurt. But so many people rave about going to Dublin and I keep wondering why I don’t feel the same way. I really think it’s (a) about the size of a city and (b) how touristy a city is.
Dublin felt very much that it was geared to tourism – which is great, tourism is a huge and growing industry, and cities should take advantage of that. But then I got thinking about other cities I don’t really enjoy visiting, and they seemed to follow the same thread – Paris, London, Madrid, New York – all too big, all too touristy. I much prefer Bordeaux, York, Valencia, Chicago – smaller, more concentrated, fewer tourists.
There are exceptions to these rules: I’m not crazy about Edinburgh, a relatively small city, but, very touristy. I loved Berlin, a huge city, but fewer tourists, and very much a two-cities-combined vibe.
Anyhoo, this is just to say Dublin was perfectly fine, but to anyone looking to travel around Ireland, I would strongly suggest Cork and Belfast as absolutely great places to visit instead.
