October 22 - Friday - Monemvasia, Greece

We sailed into Monemvasia, Greece, in what looked like good weather for touring. I always try to rise early so I can see us come into port. The moon was bright, shining down on the bay.

Sailing into Monemvasia

I watched them unload the tenders. This isn't a port where we can dock.


Tenders getting ready to transport us to island

Each tender holds about 60 people.

We dressed for the day, wearing layers that we could remove as the temperatures rose, had breakfast, went to the check in place for tours, realized we were there 45 minutes early, picked up our tour permits (stickers we wear on our clothing), and went back to our rooms.

The Cruise Activity Director came on the loud speaker and told us the weather was already hotter than forecast, so we both quickly changed into shorts. I exchanged my heavier short-sleeve t-shirt for a tank top that I could cover with a scarf to shelter my shoulders.

I went out to the verandah and realized the air smelled different. Looking up, I realized we were under a really dark cloud.

We grabbed our rain gear and repacked some of our stuff (we had decided to tour light today, when we thought the weather was good), and rushed out the door, down two decks, and sat waiting for our number to be called (4). We were still a little early.

Lauren decided he needed his raincoat, so he ran back up stairs to get it.
In the meantime, some lady told me that 4 had been called about 5 minutes before, so I stood (dancing on my feet hoping he'd hurry, although no one could tell how fidgety I was because I really can't dance on my feet), and when I saw him coming down the stairs, I headed him off and we went down 3 more decks to the exit.

By the time we were getting in our tender, it was pouring!! Simply pouring. We rocked and rolled across the bay, and by the time we got there, it seemed to have let up some.
Our bus was waiting for us to drive us up the hill to the old city. You can see the road and the old city in this picture.


Road to Old City, lined with cars (no cars or parking in Old City)

The tour was short, and somewhat informative, but expensive. It was worth about half of what we paid for it. I would have cancelled it, but by the time I realized I had probably made a mistake booking it, it was yesterday morning. I needed to cancel by the night before. Oh well!

At the end of the road, in the picture, is the lower town. We walked through it fairly easily - cautiously, though, because the stone walking paths were difficult and slick. What you don't see as obviously is that there is an upper section of town, too - high on those cliffs. It's possible to walk there, but more difficult and risky on a day like this when the paths were slick. The upper town hasn't been reconstructed as has the older town, but it's apparently beautiful up there from all reports and some pictures I've seen on the internet. Lauren attempted it and got only a little way. Had the weather been good, I would have tried it, as well, but I'm already a risk to have out on a day like this with weather like this. I realize there are some parts of this beautiful world I'll never see - but I know they're there and I can look at the pictures of others.

The town is interesting and difficult to navigate because of the rocky footpaths. 


Looking down from the central plaza in the Old City

There are no vehicles allowed in this town, so any goods that are brought in must be carried.

Carrying goods into the town

The town is currently a resort town. No permanent residents live in it. Apparently, Momenvasia is a popular German vacation town, according to our guide. They buy second homes here (easy to do because both countries are part of the EU) and come and go for holidays.

The water was rough when we tendered back to the ship. It was rock and roll all the way, and kind of fun.

Rockin' and rollin' (Disney E Ticket ride)

Tenders are just the larger lifeboats. The tender crews had a lot of trouble getting the boats back in position so they could be loaded back on the ship. In fact, the ship had a lot of trouble staying in one place. Lauren watched the process from deck 7 where the boats are stored, and he said the last two were loaded when the ship was moving. Apparently, the captain had more control over the ship's movements when it was moving than he did when it was anchored.

All's well, though. It was a fun, but short stop. Now we are on our way to Rome via some scenic cruising routes. We will arrive Sunday morning, go through whatever process we need to go through there, and a HAL vendor will get us to our hotel. We'll be there for four nights, then we'll be transported to the airport and catch our flight home - Rome to Chicago, Chicago to San Diego.

Our flickr Monemvasia pictures: Monemvasia