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

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

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
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The sailors on the bowsprit look so tiny
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Does every one of these ropes have its own name?
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The daytime steering position (and yes, I did steer for a while)
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We were welcomed aboard in the magnificent ship's library
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Our cabin was small but very comfortable and well-equipped
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Our porthole gave us a great view of the sea
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These portholes, on the other hand, looked into the on-board swimming pool
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... which was positioned just above ...
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... the main lounge bar ...
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... 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
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Islands

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
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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
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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
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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
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Under this tree, according to legend, Hippocrates taught about modern
medicine
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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!)
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Debbie even went swimming although the water wasn't as warm as we expected
it to be
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All pictures on this site are © Allan Jones unless otherwise stated