Sail Calypso -- Riffs on the cruise and Greece

(These are random observations re the trip, the people, and the country. . .)

The oddest sight so far this trip has been the smoking areas in the two airports. Meant to mention this earlier, but in Frankfurt, the glass doors of the smoking lounges don’t shut all the way, so the smoke comes billowing out, defeating the purpose at least in the vicinity of the lounges.

In the Athens airport, the smoking lounge is even more comical. It’s out in the open, in an area that everyone passes through to get to the baggage claim, so everyone gets a goodly dose of smoke even though we don’t want it. There were a bunch of guys hunched up against the two big tables that literally had built in ashtrays. So the smoking section is confined to one part of the airport that we all hit.

The room on the ship is bigger than we expected. The ship (the Windstar) was built in 1986, and there is only room for 120 passengers or thereabouts, so I was expecting closets. Not that you want to hang out for hours in the room, but I expected a bathroom the size of a small closet, and a bedroom the size of a big closet. Instead, there is a decent amount of space.

Renting a car is the best, most independent way to see the islands. Driving is both fun and challenging (not for the faint of heart), and we aren’t captive to bus routes, tour groups, or tracking down taxis. And, for a family of five, it becomes an affordable option.

There are three really cool aspects to being on the ship:

The first is when we leave port. Sitting out on deck, enjoying a pint of beer, and looking at the rugged parts of the island is very relaxing, and also there are some beautiful rocky small islands nearby. Leaving Milos, there were two small islands with a narrow passageway in between (we didn’t go in between). With a lighthouse/building high atop one, and an outbuilding a little further down, it was easy to imagine a Bond scene could be filmed there.

The second cool aspect is after dinner, I like to go to foredeck (not sure that is the right boat term), and look up at the stars. The canopy is brilliant, and last night, with the use of binoculars, I was able to see the rings of Saturn. The first two nights Carol and I watched the moon rise – it started out red as it came above the horizon, and then eventually turned its more normal yellow.

The third cool aspect is that – except when the ship is entering port, in port, or leaving port, you can go onto the bridge and talk with the officer of the watch, look at the radar, study the charts. Last night, I had an extended discussion with the Officer of the Watch regarding the boat, stars, the planets. He had switched cruise lines because on the big traditional ships, he felt isolated – stuck in the bridge. Here, he just steps out and can see the night sky, talk to passengers, and generally be more of a sailor than a boat driver.The girls think the bridge is pretty neat – especially the charts and the radar. So far I’ve gotten Torie and Maddy on the bridge with me. Julia will be next. They are a little nervous that they will disturb the Officer of the Watch, but they then enjoy it when they realize we’re not in the way and the Officer enjoys the company.

My swim team friends call me "Stat Boy," so here’s the Stat Boy report. The first night, we spent 15 hours at see, averaging 6 knots (roughly 8 mph). The sails were up for 14.3 hours, and we sailed without power for 11.6 hours. The distance was 89.4 miles from Piraeus (the Port of Athens) to Milos.Then, from Milos to Santorini, we were at sea for 14.5 hours, with the sails up for 10.5 hours. We were under sail without engine power for 6 hours, average speed for the night was 5.5 knots, and covered 80.1 miles between the two islands. I happened to be awake at 3ish in the morning when the engines were fired up.

Oh – a really cool moment in Athens came atop the Acropolis. With the seven hour time difference, it was stunning to see the 0-0 game between the Yanks and Red Sox was still going on around 8:30 am Greek time. I hadn’t checked the score for a bit, and Maddy asked the outcome while we were walking across the Acropolis. I whipped out my Blackberry, and was able to report a 2-0 Yankee win on an A-Rod walk-off in the 15th.

(Given the Nats 8 game win streak and the Yankee sweep of the BoSox, apparently I should leave the country more often.)

The crew is very happy with how long the sails have been up so far. I don’t have last night’s stats (Santorini to Rhodes – which we haven’t yet reached as I write this early in the morning), but I know because of the high winds (which created high seas and extra rocking) we traveled with sails down and under engine power the whole trip (note to self – fact check, because the sails might have come up at some point in the early morning).

The officer last night also mentioned that a lot of time they rarely get to sail – because of the headwinds, so we’ve already done more pure sailing than they get for an entire week sometimes.I think the national sports of Greece are soccer, basketball, driving, parking, and smoking. Maybe it’s just more public here, but I’d love to see a comparison of the smoking rates of Greece and the US. Maybe I’m wrong, but it just seems more ubiquitous here.

The one drawback of the cruise is that we’re not really getting a flavor for Greek food, except at lunch. Readers of the Italy, Costa Rica, and Israel trips in the blog will note that food is an important part of any trip experiencing the country.

I bought a bottle of Santorini wine for us to try out. Now I gotta find a corkscrew without paying the $15 corkage fee. Maybe we can buy one in Rhodes.

(Clarification: Apparently Mrs. Iron Tourist did NOT wear a tennis skirt into the 11th Century Byzantine Church in Athens. Instead it was a GOLF skirt. Apparently there is a big fashion difference. Readers must be shocked that I didn’t, and don’t, know the difference.)

By the way, all the beautiful churches on the island are closed. If they opened some and charged a fee, they’d be making some money. I guess I’m used to Italy and Spain, where nearly all the historic churches are open.

So far, I’ve been patching together Internet access to download these posts. Hopefully in Istanbul I can get better coverage and download a bunch of photos. If you check it out one day and there are a string of photos, you’ll know there is an article somewhere further down.

Since some have asked, I just get up early each morning, and compose the blog posts while others sleep. Yes, I am doing the stereotypical blogger thing of writing whilst in my boxer shorts. At least I’m not in my parents basement.