Wednesday 2 April 2008

Unforgetable One day Cruise

I´ve been busy sorting out many things at home lately that i have´nt got time enough to post or even visit my fellow blogger´s.

And now, I have no idea what topic to write about...

Looking thru my travel photos,i remebered i have´nt written anything about our "One Day Island Cruise" in Greece.After two days of cultural and historical sightseing tour in Athens,hubby and i needed a changed so we went to an agency and booked a one day island cruise for the next day.

The Aegina ( Aegean) the last island we visited and the only island picture i can show that was taken on board our ship while docking at the port.

We were picked up at our hotel at about 8:00 AM to take us to Piraeus where we have to board our ship that will take us to the islands.

Below were the buses that awaits the passengers who are interested to on an hour tour of aegean island.We also took that tour.

Our first stop was the island of Poros.The town rest in a narrow strait between the Poros island and the Peloponese(where they had that tragic fire last summer that killed hundred or so people from the island.It was a beautiful small town that i realized only now that i lost all my photos from this island during the time that i had a computer problem.( i was so confident that i had copied them all in a cd but that was´nt so.)We were told that we have 45 minutes to browse around,as the town is small we had enough time to see almost everything,shops,market,and we climb thru a narrow white steps between the charming small white painted houses to see the towns magnificent bell tower that offers a beautiful view.

One observation i made was that there are so many cats on one side of the road and i wondered why?

Taken near the crafts and jewelry shops.Notice that mostly women window shoppers or buyers.I was so hungry at the time that i did,nt even enter the shops. Hubby just took this other photo below from the show window
Example of their jewelry craftmanship.Simple but elegant,is´nt it?

Next stop was the island opf Hydra,it was said that the island was a favorite of the International Jet-set.

Hydra is the beloved muse of the painters,craftsmen and photographers.It has a unique architecture,crystal clear and blue waters,several craft and jewel shops,folk art and the traditional means of transport? The donkey,there are several of them waiting to take any tourist for a ride. ( As i said before,lost also those photos except for some that is shown above.

The Ecclesiastical Museum where the relics of the monastery are kept. The Holy Cathedral was next to it and although taking pictures and proper decent clothing are requested,we managed to enter the church and take some photos. Orthodox church are very strict on this matter.


Our last island stop is the Aegina, known for its rich history,pistachio grove landscape.Aegina Port has a picturesque seaside village like all the other islands we visited. And its the biggest among the others.Here we visted the impressive byzantine architecture church of St. Nectarios and the siver-carved tomb of the saint as shown below

The hill where it was said the towns people built 365 churches as a gratitude to God for saving the town from an invasion( sorry,i forgot the whole story as told by our guide)
My first glimpse of a Pistachio tree
Here,we were having a taste of the local drink with a plate of seafood snacks with the company of a friendly australian couple from this trip

It was a very pleasant trip and we enjoyed it so much.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

That was a nice trip Aura, all together you have seen a lot of the world and visited many places.
The temperature seemed to be great when you were in Greece.

Nihal said...

Enjoyed reading your travel notes, dear Saude. Your photos are enough good to make me imagine how it looks like Piraeus.
There is nothing valuable but visiting those places by yourself. You stated that there were so many cats on one side of the road. Well, do not be surprised because Istanbul is also a land of 'lovely' cats on the roads, many of them are so friendly with us and living happily by themselves on every corner of this huge cosmopolitian City:) Thanks God, they are very careful against the terrible traffic existing in the City, LOL:)
Have a great weekend,

Aura said...

All,i can say Herman that i´m lucky to have a husband who tries and work so hard for us to enjoy and see the world.

The temperature in greece in October last year was excellent!
Thanks for dropping by!

Aura said...

Nihal,thank you for your comment! I too enjoy reading your blog and pls forgive me if i dont drop by often or comment at times.Just lazy at times.

I know about the famous cats of Van.I do love cats but it seems that im not lucky to have them as the only 2 cats i had in my life never even have to live their 1st yr.,i dont know why?
My first cat while still living in Manila died of cold . A beautiful white colored cat.
The 2nd cat was black and when we went on holiday to manila,my son in law took care of the cat but unfortunately the cat fell from our 9th floor apartment.The cat was outside the veranda when he left for work!So much for that saying that cat has 9 lives!

Señor Enrique said...

Beautiful!

It's indeed a blessing that you have the opportunity to visit these lovely places with your husband :)

What a life!

Anonymous said...

those were lovely pictures! greece looks absolutely lovely! i'd lve to go and see it someday!