Cruisin' Through The Greek Islands

We will be cruising  through the Greek Islands with Louis  Cruise Lines.  We will board the ship on Saturday morning and depart for Athens with stops in Patmos, Heraklion and Santorini, Greece. There are optional shore excursions available at each of the ports of call from the cruise line.  There is an additional charge for each of the shore excursions as explained in the document I forwarded about a month ago.  Travelers may choose to join one or more of the shore excursions, however, we will also be providing activities for those who do not wish to purchase the additional excursions.  Our meals will be served on board, but we will also have opportunities to sample Greek food and drink when we are visiting the islands.  If the weather cooperates, our group might be able to check out some of the beaches on the Greek Islands and the brave and adventurous can go for a swim in the Aegean Sea!!

Our first stop is the island of  Patmos.  Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea.  The population is approximately 3000.  The main communities on the island are Chora which is the capital city and Skala which is the commercial port.  Most of the people follow the Eastern Orthodox religion.  The main tourist attractions on Patmos is the Monastery of St John and the Grotto of the Apocalypse.

We will be visiting  the city of Heraklion on the island of Crete on Easter morning. Easter is the most important festival of the year for the Greek people.  Easter in the Greek Orthodox Church can fall from one to five weeks after Protestant or Catholic Easter, however, this year  it falls on the same day.  Easter Sunday (Kyriaki tou Paska) is a day dedicated to celebration with music and dance and eating, and time spent with friends and family.  Lamb is the traditional food served around the Greek Islands on Easter Sunday and it is traditionally roasted on a spit that is located outside. 

Our final stop on the cruise is the island of Santorini.  Santorini is about 200 km from Greece's mainland.  It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago that is a remnant of a volcanic explosion of the former single island.  A giant rectangular lagoon or circular bay area is where most of the cruise ships anchor when they visit the island.  The lagoon is surrounded by steep cliffs on three sides.  The capital city, Fira, clings to the top of a cliff looking dow on the lagoon.  Fira can be accessed by cable car, on foot or by donkey.  Santorini is well known for growing produce, especially tomatoes and eggplants.  

We will disembark at the port  near Athens and continue on our tour of Greece.  There are a few videos available that are worth watching if you are interested in learning more about the Greek Islands or if you would like to see what the excursion to the Monastery of St John on Patmos would include.

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