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Sailing around the Greek Islands

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In 2024 we went on a cruise with a difference, travelling around the Greek islands on a 4-masted sailing ship - the Star Clipper - booked through Rivera Travel. The ship was magnificent, offering excellent service as we visited a different island every day. Most of the smaller islands were magnificent, with some really interesting ancient ruins, but many of the larger ones were swamped with throngs of tourists and were destroying the very features that made them worth visiting. We had previously had a short holiday in Athens in 2002; we couldn't help notice how much more crowded it was everywhere now.

Athens

Parthenon

Our visit started in Athens. The view from our hotel was magnificent!

 

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Compare the view from our 2024 hotel ...
... with the view from our 2002 hotel
At breakfast we could watch the dawn breaking over the ruins
Compare the crowds at the Parthenon in 2024 ...
... with the same view in 2002
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We saw the amazing Corinth Canal

 

We visited ancient Corinth

 

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Ancient Corinth, including St Paul's preaching place

Sailing

Star Clipper

 

Soon we were to board our ship, the 'Star Clipper'. At 366ft long with a sail area of 36000 sq ft, she is certainly a magnificent ship; technically a 4-masted barquentine, with about 160 passengers she can sail at speeds of up to 17 knots, and is the first ship in her class to have been built since 1912.

 

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Another view of the Star Clipper
The sailors on the bowsprit look so tiny
Does every one of these ropes have its own name?
The daytime steering position (and yes, I did steer for a while)
We were welcomed aboard in the magnificent ship's library
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Our cabin was small but very comfortable and well-equipped
Our porthole gave us a great view of the sea
These portholes, on the other hand, looked into the on-board swimming pool ...
... which was positioned just above ...
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... the main lounge bar ...
... where there were often magnificent fruit carvings on display
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On-board activities included a 'White Night' when everybody dressed in white so that they could dance together in an on-deck light-show, and a night where they dressed as pirates

Islands

Fake Watches

They were very honest at this souvenir shop, advertising "Genuine Fake Watches" for sale.

As well as Athens and Corinth, we visited Delos, Mykonos, Ephesus, Rhodes, Kos, Amorgos, Poros, and Cape Sounion.

 

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There are many stray cats living happily on the islands
We loved the island of Delos. The ruins were well-preserved with excellent explanatory boards and a superb little museum. Once a sacred island (being Apollo's birthplace) as well as an important trading city, it was even Cleopatra's favourite dwelling-place.
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Owned first by the Greeks and then the Romans, Delos was eventually captured, looted, and sacked by the pirate Barbarossa
We sailed to Kusadasi, in Turkey ...
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... and went by Coach to Ephesus where we admired the magnificent ruins including their amazing piped water-supply, and statues dedicated to Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe who lived and died there (she was killed by Mark Antony)
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At Ephesus we also saw the ruins of amazing temples and mosaics, as well as the 3rd largest library of the ancient world (currently under restoration) and the amphitheatre where St Paul addressed the Ephesians
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We spent a day in the very busy streets of Rhodes.
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Rhodes was home to the Knights of St John. We toured the Grand Master's Palace, with its amazing statues and mosaics
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We moored offshore in the  beautiful blue sea at Kos
The world's first hospital; they gave patients opiates on the first-floor, then took them up to beds on the 2nd floor and said that if they saw a vision of a god during the night they would be cured
Under this tree, according to legend, Hippocrates taught about modern medicine
A wonderful view from Kos's mountain-top village of Zia, where we sampled their cinnamon tea
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The temple of Poseidon. You cannot get particularly close to it now, as it is roped off 'to protect it from graffiti-writing tourists' (we noticed that there was indeed some graffiti, which was written in Greek so presumably had not been made by tourists!)
Debbie even went swimming although the water wasn't as warm as we expected it to be

 

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