Last day
We overnighted in Methana, a small town on the Peloponnese.
Three of us caught a taxi to the base of an old volcano and climbed it.
Nice and easy.
A taxi came to collect the 2 of them for dinner while I walked down the hill to the taverna where we were eating. Happily dinner involved only the 3 of us so it wasn’t a late night with interminable volumes of wine. Instead, a good dinner including salads and saganaki, the wonderful fried Greek cheese. Hmmmm.
And the truly rustic taverna is hidden in behind the vegetation!
Back to the boat. The other two joined the rest of them at a local cafe for more wine, cakes and whatever. L was on the boat and we chatted for a while. Very pleasant. Helped remind us both that not everyone here is mad, certainly helped me.
I was not a happy camper overnight when our resident lush was up, on deck, loudly using FaceTime to husband ‘Mr Bill’ and her dog from 03:00 on for a verrrryyy looong time. Frequent reconnections, repeated stories, repeated themes, repetitious +++. Hmmm, get the picture? In the end I asked her to be quieter and, thankfully, she was.
Reminds me: I’ve not seen a boob job so closely before as I did hers, across the boat but, wow, gravity defying. Everything just sits up pertly, defying the boob owner’s chronological age. The bee sting lips though look very scary without heavy makeup so I won’t be getting them.
Tips
As always, as it is a Canadian/American run trip there are expectations of tips. The captain is good, the mate is fine but no better than I’d expected when I paid. I know the group pathologies are not their fault but I’m not feeling much inclination to tip, more to get off and away. What do I do?
I note the updated trip outline makes it clear it’s your choice. Truly, it’s not like Peru where the team leader was great, wonderful, and I tipped much more than was ‘required’. Here, hmm, good. In fact, our captain is impressive as a captain, as you can still expect of a woman in a man’s world. But, beyond basic expectations? Beyond what I paid for? No. Not.
Methana to Athens
Under sail for a lot of this section. Pretty rough at one stage and we heeled well over. The only day when the millpond got choppy. Very nice but I was downstairs listening to an audiobook as I had heard one too many anecdotes from ‘preachy teacher’, had enough cigarette smoke from the lush and also the first mate, and alcohol fumes from the lush, and wanted to be somewhere else! Being immersed in a science fiction book was just the right thing.
Finally, Athens
Taxis were arranged, luggage brought up from below and we were waiting. Our lush grabbed her large wheelie and said she was off to have lunch (we’d had it onboard an hour earlier). Asked about the taxi booked for her, she said she was off to lunch. That, happily, was the last we saw of her. Taxi was cancelled, the preachy teacher took off to catch a bus and all was peaceful.
Ahhhhh. At last.
Summary of boat trip
Well organised, absolutely wonderful to be on the water, sleeping on a boat again, and to see parts of Greece I’d not seen before. Really great. I loved it and, when I can surmount the residual psychological damage (just kidding) of 6 days in close quarters with a couple of challenging new ‘friends’ I’ll look back on it very positively.
Furthermore, I’d love to see more of the islands again. Love to. Probably no more group trips though for me for a little while. 😏
Madrid
Saturday, Madrid!
Wandering the world 