Today is Wednesday, September 6, 2023. We docked at the port in Katokolon, Greece, at 8:00 A.M.-ish, and the all-aboard is at 7:30 P.M. Because John and I visited Olympia from Katokolon last week, we decided to simply sleep in a little bit and explore the city of Katokolon on our own.
Katokolon is three blocks long and three blocks wide, basically: One length is mostly restaurants/cafes, a second is primarily shops, and the third is where the Locals live. We docked right where the Aegean Sea meets the first street, so exploring the tiny city was easy.
We basically just walked about to see what we could see. We did take a horse and carriage ride, which lasted about 30 minutes. The “carriage was basic but adequate. The driver even decorated it with two potted green leafy plants, one on each side of the rear. The plants looked like basil leaves, or something similar, which I thought was funny, even though I appreciated the effort to embellish the carriage and make it as attractive as possible. We were the only passengers on this ride. The driver spoke very little English, so there was essentially no narration. (Everything was pretty self-explanatory, however, and he did tell us which direction was Olympia). We went through the first and second streets and to the beach, which was basically just a short distance from where our ship was docked. The beach is marketed as a “golden sand beach”, but the sand was tan when we saw it and tamped down. “The beach” is very different from Florida beaches, for sure. Today was mostly cloudy until late afternoon, and the sea breeze kept temperatures humid but comfortably warm (not hot as if the sun were out). We saw only one person on the beach, although our ship and a Celebrity cruise ship were docked at the Katokolon port. We saw a cemetery up the middle of the mountain behind the three streets of the city. I wonder how the bodies are transported up the noun side for burial. We saw a brightly colored hotel on the mountain side. Finally, we rode past some houses on the beach that our driver said were vacation homes. I do not know if he meant that they were rentals, or if he understood my question. Some houses looked as if someone actually lived there…. Maximo, the horse, (and his driver) performed their jobs the best they could. The driver mentioned that Maximo and his father are Spanish horses, and both are his. Maximo is five years old. The driver’s friend has the mare but “she is not in the business.” Maximo appeared to be very friendly and seemed to receive plenty of attention. A man walked up to him and offered him water while gently stroking him.
John and I walked about, checking out the stores, the Orthodox Church, and the houses and some hotels that we could see. One of the most interesting stores featured honey products OlymBEEa—play on Olympia) because honey is a major product in this area. The owner is a beekeeper. He told me that the protective outfit shown by a mannequin in front of his store is only for amateurs. He and his father have become used to stings and have learned to deal with them. In fact, his father is happy when he gets stung. The venom in the bee sting serves as an arthritis preventative, for example, claiming that no one who has bees is arthritic. “This is only one thing that bees give us…they give us so many health benefits, and now so many bees are dying due to pesticides, and so on.” He and his dad do not wear protective clothing when working with their bees! We learned last week when we were here that the businesses in this city only open when ships are in. As soon as ships leave, everything immediately closes once again. We stopped for coffee, juice, and a sweet crepe at Del Mar Cafe . Our cruise director aboard the ship had told us about an interesting small interactive museum here, so we paid the 5-Euro requested donation per person to visit it. Housed in a small two-story house were some interesting gadgets that represented some inventions of Plato, Archimedes, and other Ancient Greek inventors. There was even a replica of the very first human robot that could move toward a guest and pour water and wine. The original robot is in a museum in Olympia. We saw a demonstration of a water-activated alarm clock that Plato had invented. The museum attendant demonstrated a Pythagorean Temperance Cup, which was intended to teach his students about moderation in drinking wine. And so on. Upstairs, we played some Ancient Greek games of strategy, some similar to TicTac Toe and tangrams. Some of these inventions date back to 400 or 500 B.C. The ingenuity and intellect of people so long ago is mind boggling—and fun!
There are cats that walk around the city. The ones I’ve met seem very friendly. A server in a restaurant told me that most of the cats—and dogs—that roam the city are strays but everybody feeds them. I did see a family of cats (nursing mama, four-month-old kitten, grandfather cat, and another black cat on the trunk of a parked car. An elderly man told me they are his cats, but they do not roam beyond his property. They stay sometimes in front of the house or in the back yard.
Late afternoon/evening were spent on ship, with dinner in a fine dining restaurant instead of the buffet, an awesome show by Tom Crosbie, Performing Nerd, a Meet the Step One Dancers session, and our typical evening coffee.
I have loved Greece and am sorry that our time together has come to an end. Tomorrow we are at sea all day, as we sail to Naples, Italy, our next scheduled stop. Gnocchi and pizza, here we come! Oh, and we get our one hour that we lost last night back again! Now, we will be only seven hours ahead of CST.
Our Travels 