A Flash From Monemvasia, Greece

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

                              

The lightning and thunder continued through the night and we didn’t need our alarm clock to wake us up to prepare for today’s tour.  Monemvasia was scheduled to be a tender port.  This island was on our itinerary primarily because it is a quaint little place in the Greek Peloponnesian Islands and is an interesting medieval fortress.  It also provides close access to two other medieval ruins, Sparta and Mystras.  We had tours scheduled to these two villages and also planned to walk about Monemvasia on our own at the conclusion of our tour.  However, Monemvasia is an extremely small island and the dock is also very small and a bit primitive.  In windy weather this would make it difficult to tie our tenders secure enough to make it safe for us old folks to get from the tender to the dock.  It was also raining.   The winds were gale force 6 and building, causing the captain to make the decision to cancel the port.  His first priority is always the safety of all of us and getting in and out of tenders, even from the ship, in this type of weather is not advisable for even the ablest of passengers.  The only shore excursions offered were visits to castles and involved climbing numerous steps.  No doubt those steps would have been marble and stone and would be slick even without being rain-soaked. 

  

                              

We had watched from the comfort of our dry cabin as cars lined the road across the isthmus into the little port town.  Very few people live in the town so we suspect that all the cars were hurrying to their shops to open up for a rip-roaring business trade with all the cruise ship passengers.  I imagine they were as disappointed as we were to see the Prinsendam sail away. 

By 8am, the ship’s personnel were in full gear to rearrange the day’s schedule to accommodate another sea day.  I was back in bed for a nap at the time and Barney was reading a new book.  There’s nothing like a rainy day to just hunker down and relax.  Later in the day Barney attended a lecture by the Rabbi on “The Bible: Fact or Fiction”.  I will attend another of Chris’ lectures on photo manipulation. 

The ship’s chef is preparing four nights of Greek specialty dinners in the Lido in celebration of our time in Greece.  It appears that a lot of people have tired of the dining room and more and more are showing up in the Lido every evening.  The ship restocked its supply of coffee ice cream yesterday morning and by the time evening came, it was gone.  In the spirit of cooperation I ate my share. 

Yesterday morning in Athens we watched as an ambulance pulled up to the dock even before we had received clearance.  The gentleman who had fallen in Bodrum was taken off the ship with a broken hip.  We didn’t know him, but it does make you think about life on a ship.  By the way, many of you have asked in emails about Dorothy – she is doing well and the pain was so much better once she got on steady ground.  However, we did just hear from her daughter and the pain has returned so she is going back to the doctor.  We do miss her. 

                                        

The sun is shining now and the sea is calming.  This bodes well for tomorrow in Katakolon, Greece.  We plan to visit Olympia, the site of the Temple of Zeus, another of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It isn’t a tender port so we should be able to dock, even if it means we tour in the rain. 

Friday is a scheduled sea day and Barney is just thrilled that we will be able to watch the Royal Wedding uninterrupted!