Sept 2-4 Delphi, Meteora and Mykonos Greece

 We traveled north from Athens to visit Delphi. We were reminded of the recent wildfires around Athens.

Greece is very mountainous going north from Athens.

Delphi Museum

Charioteer Bronze statue recovered after being buried for centuries.

Up here is where the Oracle of Delphi would mumble her answers to questions posed by visitors. Those mumbles were translated by the priests into the predictions that would guide the petitioner. However, most answers were vague enough that any result could have been predicted. For example, "Will we prevail in battle?" Answer - "There will be a great victory" without specifying just who will have that victory.

This is as far up the hill as I made it. The amphitheater was about 75 feet higher, but I could take a picture of it.

We traveled further north to the monasteries of Meteora. From out hotel in Kastraki you could see the vertical cliffs where the monasteries are.

There was limited picture taking allowed inside. The actual churches are very small, catering to just a few dozen monks

This is where a monastery is located. A formidable location.

Once you've climbed up to the monastery (150 steps) it looks like a normal compound.

There are more than a half-dozen churches up here.

On the drive back to Athens to board our ship, Vista, we stopped by Thermopylae. Here a Greek army of 7000 held off a Persian Army of 300,000 for two days. They took advantage of a geographic constriction limiting the battle front with a heroic defense. They were eventually routed when the Persians found a goat track around the mountain that allowed them to flank the Greeks.

We boarded Vista in Athens and arrived the next morning in Mykonos. We were one of six cruise ships visiting on this day. Grecian ports are being overrun by tourists during the summer. (And yes, I know I'm part of the problem. But our cruise ship is 1200 pax. There are 5000+ pax cruise ships in the mix.)

Mykonos is charming

August 30 - Sept 2 Athens Greece

 We arrived in Athens in the middle of the night. The transfer from the airport to the hotel was an adventure in itself. However, in the morning this is the view from breakfast on the top floor.

 

 

We walked about the Plaka area of Athens, viewing the old things.

And there was opportunity for shopping

Hadrian's Arch

On the next day we transferred to the hotel for the Oceania pre-cruise tour (it had not been available for our arrival days).  Although sightly farther from the Acropolis, it still had a great view from the rooftop bar.

 

Our Oceania tour began with a city tour. The Parliament Building

 We visited the Acropolis.

 

which required climbing a number of steps

The Parthenon. It's always in repair when we visit.

 

and after a summer of unrelenting heat, it began to rain -- just enough to be annoying

 

 

 

We retreated from the rain and went to the Acropolis Museum, built, like the rest of Athens, on top of ancient ruins.

They have lots of fragments from the Acropolis and surrounding temples. At least the ones that the British didn't plunder.

The top floor of the museum has this great view of the Parthenon, and the floor is laid out as an exact replica of it. The marbles salvaged from the temple are display as they would have been on the original temple.

Alexander the Great

 

Drive by of the Olympic Stadium

As part of the Oceania tour a dinner at Varoulko was arranged. The restaurant has a Michelin star and is highly regarded. However, for the Bradleys, its menu of all seafood did not sit well. We nibbled around the edges for the most part. And climbed 100 steps from the seafront to the bus afterwards.

We did, however, enjoy the view. A great tour of Athens.

August 24 & 26 Greenock Scotland & Falmouth UK

 We did get a nice send off from Torshavn.

After a day at sea we arrived at Greenock Scotland, port city for Glasgow. We were greeted by a piper. The valley between the wall of the ship and the dock buildings formed a very resonant chamber.

We opted for an excursion through the Scottish lochs (lakes) and our first stop was the village of Luss. A real Scottish village, it looks like it was created just for purpose of attracting tour buses, and there were a number of us who arrived here.

Our itinerary was scrambled because of road closures, so we visited other locations on Loch Lomond (On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond) but didn't get to take the ferry across the river Clyde.

A memorial to the ship builders of Greenock, particularly during WWII.

For our departure from Greenock they brought out the whole corps of pipers and drummers.

We skipped Dublin because winds and seas prevented us from tendering there. That evening Captain Leo and GM Susanna spoke at the crew Salute ending our 44-day trip on Marina

But we still had a day to go. visiting Falmouth.

The Killirew monument, erected by the family in honor of the family. But that's it. Hubris and vanity I guess.

Falmouth is a beach community. Lots of shops and pubs.

After a furious bout of packing and repacking, we're on a plane to Athens Greece for the second portion of the adventure.