Kotor: an Emily-must-visit destinantion

The view from my window this morning, yep it's choppy out there!

I really feel for anyone who suffers from sea-sickness, hard to take pleasure from anything, even a holiday, when you're nauseated. I am one of the lucky ones who can enjoy the high seas roller coaster, I even find it soothing at sleep time - but then I also enjoy turbulence on planes so colour me weird. Our evening enjoyably bouncy (for me), and not so enjoyably bilious (for others), and we docked in Kotor, Montenegro this morning amidst some weather.

Kotor is a fortified town with an intact wall and a well preserved old town tucked between this mountainous backdrop and the Adriatic. Fortifications can be visited at the top of the mountain, if you're willing to commit to 1350 steps. Of the four of us, only Tony the intrepid was up for this challenge. He launched off up the hill with some young bucks from our boat while MGM and the Wendys stayed in the town. Not only was Tony up to the challenge he was first to the top and I like to imagine him raising his hands, Rocky like, ... yeah-I'm-fitter-than-you-young-fellas ... as he welcomed his climbing companions to share the view.

What Tony saw - impressive no?

what the rest of us saw - also impressive but for different reasons

The cat is symbol of good luck for this town. There is a cat museum (not open when we were in town) and the whole town seems to be a cat sanctuary, so ailurphobics stay clear of this place. The lore around the cats is a bit sketchy but I believe it has something to do with cats coming from all over the world in ships that plied the shipping trade routes. Cats were also popular because they protected the town from mice, rats and snakes. In typical cat-style they have established dominion over all and can be found in shops, on counter tops, in cafes, in every comfortable spot available ... 

and some not so comfortable ... why?

They all look very well cared for, shop owners are very indulgent of them and so are the tourists ...

We were sorry to sail away from Kotor, it was a surprisingly enjoyable little place. 

amongst the ancients

The view from my window this morning.

Is it possible that I am learning to be a morning person?

Not long after this beautiful sunrise we docked at Katakolo, Greece.

From whence we caught the bus to Mt Olympus to do some free-range sight-seeing - no tour today. It is an amazing place, I've seen it described as a sanctuary and it definitely had a serene quality to it. We spent a wonderful late Autumn morning strolling in this archaeologically significant site where the first Olympic games were held.

Entrance to the games area, they let women in now. In ancient times the games were just for men who competed naked. At least they thought it was just for men, I just bet there was some secret women's viewing going on that did not make it into the history books.

I tried to get MGM to run a race, he is a runner after all - but he wouldn't be in it.

 Here I am, one ancient standing amongst all the other ancients.

preachers, philosophers & politics

The view from my [bus] window today

We docked at Piraeus, Athens' largest port, and because the Acropolis is too far to walk we joined a tour. It's an entirely different tourist experience when you have guides and lots of other people to consider, especially when travelling in a multi-lingual group. The Italian tour guide had the Italian-speakers rolling in the aisles with lengthy animated discourses, during which he did not seem to even take a breath. After which he'd hand over the mic to the English speaker's guide who would say "coming up on your left the Hellenic Parliament" and hand the mic back (completely straight-faced) for more Italian frivolity. She was Greek, the English speaking guide, very knowledgeable and clearly proud of her country's rich history but with a strong focus on education rather than bringing the funny.

the Hellenic Parliament

When we arrived we stood looking up at this, the Temple of Athena Nike, learning all about what we were about to see (and how not to get lost) for what seemed like a long time, but probably wasn't very long at all. I was just very keen to get up there.

Right about now though I was very grateful for our guide who pointed out that rock as one from which Paul preached the gospel to the Greeks... mind blown! how could I be standing (nearly) in the same place that Paul stood?!

This rock. Paul stood there!

An Acropolis can be understood by looking at the parts of the word ... Arkro = high, polis = city, so any citadel built on a high hill is an acropolis. Isn't etymology fun. Athens' Acropolis is a famous one and was built in the 5th century BC. Restoration has been underway here since 1875 - now that's commitment. 

This is the Proylaia, the building that surrounds the natural entrance to the Acropolis.

The Parthenon

The Erechtheion (below) is a temple built for religious rituals and remarkable because it is spilt level, being designed to accommodate the natural lie of the land and work around a sacred olive tree. Even ancient architects had tricky briefs to satisfy. The ladies holding the roof upon their heads are called the Caryatids.

there's a great view ...

I say there's a great view of Athens from up here and somewhere on this hill is supposed to be the cave where Socrates took his principled drink of Hemlock. What a day for walking in the footsteps of giants.

sea day

the view from my window this morning

There are a millionty things to do on-board to fill in your time on a sea-day and, if anyone asks, I took full advantage of them all. Just between you and me though my sea-day involved a lot of lying down. 

Lying down for a massage, facial and all round pamper.

lying down to read

reclining to enjoy coffee

reclining crochet time

mix in some fine dining and a nightcap in the piano bar and you have my skippy happy day at sea.

and I woke up to this

the view from my window this morning

Breakfast in the posh dining room did not disappoint, we were a smidge late so we grabbed some pastries for ron and skedaddled. We were due to dock in Bari around 2pm so we had some more time to find all the things the boat ship has to offer before enjoying coffee and purloined cake in our suite.

For lunch we tried the riff raff room (non-posh eating area) - we won't be doing that again, once you've turned left (Tony's description of flying Business class) there's no going back. We docked in Bari around 2ish and eschewed the organised tours, opting instead to make our own way into the old town district which is quite close to the port.

Bari is a town of sandy coloured buildings and narrow winding streets. We didn't go by the most direct route we just followed our noses down these little lane ways. It was washing day, the streets were dappled with pools of water dripping from the laundry hung above on the tiny balconies and smelled appealingly of clean washed linen.

We visited St Nicholas cathedral, here he is keeping an eye on the naughty.nice ratio of tourists (yes it's that St Nic)

Here is Castello Normanno-Svevo, built around 1132 by Norman King Roger II. I love castles, as you know, but this one was not what we were expecting. You see that lovely tower? We saw the stairs to it. Those ancient, narrow windy stairs that help you to imagine what it would have been like to live in a medieval castle - but no access this time. In fact, if I had done my research more thoroughly I would have discovered that this castle is mainly used for exhibitions now. All the interesting bits are off limits, the interior walls are all rendered and white-washed, belying the promise of those formidable exterior walls.

Even though we got a late start on this visit, it's a fairly small old town area so we felt we'd covered enough to say we've seen Bari and were happy to make our way back along the sea shore at dusk.

and be safely on-board for our 5pm staff meeting (aka drinkypoos/beer o'clock).