First the Good News
Olympia, site of the first and ancient Olympic games dedicated to Zeus is just a short train ride into the hills for the elaborate sum of €3… the train leaves just 3 blocks from the port and… since it was Sunday, admission to the site and the museum there was free.
Olympia, site of the first and ancient Olympic games dedicated to Zeus is just a short train ride into the hills for the elaborate sum of €3… the train leaves just 3 blocks from the port and… since it was Sunday, admission to the site and the museum there was free.
Now the bad news
Unfortunately… we did not know this until we were back on the ship from our short visit to KATAKALON and ran into a dinner mate that made the trip. The reason we didn't know this is that the Cruise folks don’t want you doing anything on your own and scare you out of it by telling you the only way there other than their tour is an expensive cab ride. They want you to pay a kings ransom and book the ship sponsored tour at $70 per person. Guess it pays to do your homework.
This is pretty much the same story for most of our ports.
They hustle you for the Ships shore excursions and do their best to scare you out of DYI [do it yourself]. We only did one of those, booked at the last minute, the rest were on our own and worked out fine.
Katakalon was also not on the normal port schedule until they decided it was too far to go from Athens to
Livorno without 2 sea days back to back. So here we find ourselves in a tiny… seriously tiny, 2-street town that is 90% tchotchke shops and waterside cafes and 10% residential to house the shop keepers; its only real claim to fame is its port is the closest to Olympia.
This was a very short day [6 hours] and upon rising late, we strolled the main street and
waterside cafes in search of the elusive “Ultimate tchotchke”. There should be a few great tchotchke stories here but frankly, it was a very sterile run, obligatory selections and not much else. 
Barely winded by this whirlwind spree [NOT], we grabbed a waterside table for an ILLY Coffee Frappichino and relaxation before heading back to the ship and a late, light lunch [a great pastrami/corned beef-provolone on rye] some NOWAT composition and pic sorting before dressing for another uneventful dinner. We do, however have a very eclectic dinner table and conversation is always lively.
This was also the evening of the Guest Talent Show, which was a parade of your usual Karaoke talent with the lyrics written on their palms and a novelty Smirnoff Ice Chugging exhibition [Seriously… this dude actually got up and chugged a 12 oz Smirnoff ice in under 5 seconds as his talent]. The show was capped off by a stunning acapella aria by an amateur opera singer from Orlando, Fl of all places on her way to New York to make her mark, that actually brought the house down.
Being barely able to stay awake through all this, we beat a quick path to our cabin and promptly crashed after posting the NOWAT and Pics for Istanbul.
Tomorrow is a sea day and will be spent relaxing, sleeping in, and generally doing not a damn thing worth writing about, so we'll pick this up after our trip to Florence from Livorno.
Ciao 4 Now,
Chuck and still not quite tchotchkied out, Dragon Lady [Hell… she'll never be tchotchkied out…not while there’s grandbabies]
Unfortunately… we did not know this until we were back on the ship from our short visit to KATAKALON and ran into a dinner mate that made the trip. The reason we didn't know this is that the Cruise folks don’t want you doing anything on your own and scare you out of it by telling you the only way there other than their tour is an expensive cab ride. They want you to pay a kings ransom and book the ship sponsored tour at $70 per person. Guess it pays to do your homework.
This is pretty much the same story for most of our ports.
They hustle you for the Ships shore excursions and do their best to scare you out of DYI [do it yourself]. We only did one of those, booked at the last minute, the rest were on our own and worked out fine.Katakalon was also not on the normal port schedule until they decided it was too far to go from Athens to
Livorno without 2 sea days back to back. So here we find ourselves in a tiny… seriously tiny, 2-street town that is 90% tchotchke shops and waterside cafes and 10% residential to house the shop keepers; its only real claim to fame is its port is the closest to Olympia.This was a very short day [6 hours] and upon rising late, we strolled the main street and
waterside cafes in search of the elusive “Ultimate tchotchke”. There should be a few great tchotchke stories here but frankly, it was a very sterile run, obligatory selections and not much else. Barely winded by this whirlwind spree [NOT], we grabbed a waterside table for an ILLY Coffee Frappichino and relaxation before heading back to the ship and a late, light lunch [a great pastrami/corned beef-provolone on rye] some NOWAT composition and pic sorting before dressing for another uneventful dinner. We do, however have a very eclectic dinner table and conversation is always lively.This was also the evening of the Guest Talent Show, which was a parade of your usual Karaoke talent with the lyrics written on their palms and a novelty Smirnoff Ice Chugging exhibition [Seriously… this dude actually got up and chugged a 12 oz Smirnoff ice in under 5 seconds as his talent]. The show was capped off by a stunning acapella aria by an amateur opera singer from Orlando, Fl of all places on her way to New York to make her mark, that actually brought the house down.
Being barely able to stay awake through all this, we beat a quick path to our cabin and promptly crashed after posting the NOWAT and Pics for Istanbul.
Tomorrow is a sea day and will be spent relaxing, sleeping in, and generally doing not a damn thing worth writing about, so we'll pick this up after our trip to Florence from Livorno.
Ciao 4 Now,
Chuck and still not quite tchotchkied out, Dragon Lady [Hell… she'll never be tchotchkied out…not while there’s grandbabies]
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