Date: April 11
Location: Day 92 – At Sea (Surprise!...Not!)
Next Port: Naxos, Sicily, Italy, April 12
Quick Summary: Capt. Dag was up to his surprises again! Instead of a sea day, we had a great afternoon ashore in a small Greek fishing village!
Report: Capt. Dag pulled off one of his trademark surprises today. At 10:00 a.m., he made a general announcement that it was a shame that we didn’t get to spend a second day in Greece. So he was inviting all 560 of us to lunch in the seaside village of Katakolo.
About 30 minutes away from Olympia…the site of the original Olympics…Katakolo is a small town in the western Peloponnese that has some summer tourist traffic, but basically consists of two streets of shops and a dozen or so outside waterfront cafes.
Capt. Dag and the Voyager made an unscheduled stop here last year and it was a real hit. At about 10 days ago arrangements were made with three adjacent restaurants that, depending upon the weather, the Voyager planned a repeat engagement this year. The details were finalized yesterday while we were in Rhodes and the surprise was sprung on the passengers this morning.
One couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day – sunny, cloudless brilliant bluesky and comfortable spring temps.
We docked at about 1:45. A couple dozen of the Food & Beverage staff preceded us into town and helped get the buffet lines set up in front of the restaurants. By the time we all walked into town (there was a shuttle bus for those who couldn’t make the ½ mile walk), three buffet lines of typical Greek food were ready for us. Our crew pitched in with the locals in serving the meal and providing the wine, beer, soda and water.
Afterwards everyone enjoyed the sunshine or did a bit of shopping in Katakolo’s small stores.
By 5:00 our small “yacht” pulled out of the picturesque harbor and we were on our way again to Sicily. Our thanks to Capt. Doug, Jamie and Laurens for another memorable surprise. We don’t think there are too many other captains or cruise lines who do such special things for their passenger “families” – it sets them apart and we appreciate it.
Tonight we had a farewell dinner for our friend Claude who will be returning to his home in Paris when we dock in Monte Carlo on Sunday. We were glad that Ken, and Margi and Dave were able to join us. We met Claude early on in this voyage and have had some great excursions and times around the ship with him during these past 93 days. We will miss certainly miss Claude and hope to see him someday in France or on another cruise.
Karen and Larry
Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:
picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise
Photos of our visit to Katakolo have been added.
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