Nafplio

 Today was our last port of call for this trip. The first few photos are ones Dale shared with me as two days ago I canceled my ticket for the tour we were booked on. He still wanted to go, but I was ruins and museum overloaded.

He left early at around 8am, I stayed and did our laundry so we would have all our clothes possible, clean for the next phase of our trip.

This he took on the drive up to the site

He said this was called the Queen’s treasury, but was obviously a tomb

Inside the space. Nothing was left, but the building. Things found there are in museums 

This ruin was the city of King Agamemnon. The ruler who defeated Troy

You can see the vast ruins of his city/fortress Mycenae

This is the city legends say the cyclops help build because some of the stones are so large

Much is not standing or excavated, but it shows the large area it covered

Here is a replication miniature in the museum there

Daggers from the graves

One of the death masks

Large urn, probably held wine or olive oil

Entrance to the kings tomb

Now we are back to my morning after laundry got done. Our ship from the ocean walk in town

One of the ancient fortresses still pretty much intact 

This is the fortress, Bourtzi,  it is on a small island in the harbor 

The view as our tender approached the dock

They had a park way walking area just a couple of blocks in town. Not sure who this is as I don’t read Greek 

This area also had several contemporary sculptures

Another statute, when I looked it up, it said it was Victor Emmanuel II

As I wandered the park towards old town and shops

Start of the old town shops on the plaza at the end of the parkway

One of the side streets

Most of the building I  not sure what they are, as this has a square by it, I would guess a government it religious building

Another plaza, I am pretty sure the building behind is government 

Shopping on their streets

Some of the streets are so narrow, many could not have cars drive on them

Again as the writing was all Greek to me, I can only show you some of the sights I saw

The town interlocks buildings in some places 

The shopping area was a dozen blocks long and several blocks wide

Kitty sibling rivalry was happening in the doorway of one of the shops I stepped into

Side walk cafes and restaurants have been so plentiful in both Greece and Italy

Large church in the center of the shopping district 

You pop out of streets into these large plazas all over the old town

This was the central library of the city. This I know because the sign had an English translation on it

Street and plaza with tons of small restaurants 

Stairs going up. I was informed that I could take these 282 stairs to the road leading to the ruins on the hill. I debated, but them decide why not

Along the stairs, house’s entrances were scattered. Part of the Mediterranean diet might be the exercise you would get just walking to and from your home to anywhere else. No way for these folks to get a car up here

After the 282 stairs I went through this path with more homes and boutique hotels

Cats are a thing in Greece. Many do not belong to individuals, but a group of homes

All of these home were occupied 

And I guess this was more of the true Greece village area

A picture back down on the town from the walkway I came that lead to the ruins

Entrance into the fortress complex 

I am not sure where the road came from, but not the area our cruise ships tenders were

Another view down from the ruins

Lower right is an abandon hotel or apartment building, upper left is the higher fortress of Palamidi

This is the ruins I climbed up to

One tower was still total intact from the outside at least 

There was also a low bell tower still there with it’s bell

Out the opposite side of these ruins you see the swimming areas 

I had run into Dale up at the ruins (thank heavens, as he made sure I was came down all those old stairs in one piece) afterward we found a sandal/leather shop and he got himself some sandals and a belt made by the people who ran the shop. Afterwards he showed me a shop to get extra dark chocolate gelato. He got one of the others as he had the chocolate the first time he stopped there.

The plaza outside the gelato shop where we sat and enjoyed our ice cream

Using the zoom on my phone, I took another picture of Palamidi Fortress. There are two ways to get up to the ticket office, taxi or walking. Walking takes you up the 991 steps to the ticket office. It is said to be an architectural masterpiece built in the Venetian occupation (1686-1715). It has eight separate bastions

Here is a picture of it as we were heading back to our ship. There are over 1000 steps from the town to reach the top of the fortress.

The tender spot of our ship to shore 

Another look at this impressive fortress

Last looked before we headed back to the ship on this our last day of the cruise.

My opinions on our cruise which was on the Viking  Neptune. Not important really so if you don’t want to read them, this is a good time to quit.

It was a nice cruise, but did not wow me. Everyone was friendly, the rooms were clean, are stewards nice enough, but little things put it so that if I had not already paid for next year’s Iceland cruise, I probably would not choose Viking. Many of the meals in the World cafe which was the upstairs buffet, I was half or totally done eating before anyone brought water or asked about drinks. As they frowned on us getting our own, this did not make me happy. I drink a lot of water and really like it with my meals. The main dining room was open seating, we tried to get in once and it was so backed up we could not even get near the desk to ask how long the wait was. 

Our cabin was cleaned, but I missed the extras of the towel animal and chocolates at night. The stewards were nice enough, but never liked to be there if we were in the room.

The quality and quantity of things to do on board the ship was very limited. If you weren’t out on tours you had better like to watch tv, read, or be in the pools, as that was pretty much it. The evening entertainment was not what I would have expected on a high end cruise line. I enjoyed the singer and Dale liked a guest pianist. Those were less than half the nights on board. Two nights they had movie presentation of opera, not my thing, and the other things offered in the evening, were mostly bars and drinking things, again not my style.

The food was good, but did not wow me either.  We did not ever get into the main dining room for dinner, but supposedly the same things were available at the world cafe buffet where we ate most of our meals. 

It was hard keeping track of your bill. I got a pre charge on my credit card and had to spend time at guest services to find out what all the charges were. I knew my spa and Dale had one drink he had to pay for, (house wine and soft drinks were free with meals,  if you did not get one of their drink packages, you had to pay for them individually) but the bill was double what I thought it should have been. It was the $17 a day per person for tips. It is standard practice with all cruise lines, but it still bugs me a bit, especially as they did not ever tell me how much it would be. Tips should be for extraordinary service, if they are automatic, just charge them up front as part of the cruise.

There was one cooking class on the sea day, but by the time I figured out where to register, it was no longer available.  No other activities really. On a couple of day there was a trivia session I guess.

Now on the plus side. I did not feel nickeled and dined to death. The internet was free and fairly decent. There were free guest laundry facilities on each deck. There was not charge to use the spa, unless you booked a treatment, which were reasonably price considering and my therapist was excellent. And if I tipped it was my choice, it was not automatically added. I like the afternoon teas, the pianist was technically correct, but the playing felt flat. I have been spoiled to hear wonderful piano playing with tons of emotion coming through. Thanks Laura, Kurt, and the piano guys! His felt more like he was running through his practice session.

The people were friendly.

So that is it for the Greece Odyssey part of this trip.