MSC Sinfonia April 6, 2019 11 Day Mediterranean with photos

[jaxw17]

1 minute ago, Match Game 72 said:

Thanks so much! Here's a teaser..our trip did not end in Barcelona.  We continued on to London and got to see a tiny bit of your country, too!

So you went to Southampton ?

 

[Match Game 72]

We took the public bus to the center of town. To find the bus, just keep walking past all the other modes of transportation until you are nearly out of the port gates. Tickets can be bought from the driver. 

 

Here's picture of the bus stop sign where you are dropped off.  It's the first and only stop from the cruise port. Also, here's a picture of the "you are here" map at that stop near the New Venetian Fortress. It's a neat walk through some narrow alleys to the Old Fortress.

 

[Match Game 72]

13 minutes ago, jaxw17 said:

So you went to Southampton ?

 

We flew from Barcelona to Gatwick. 🙂

[Match Game 72]

The walkways and shops in Corfu were incredibly charming. We enjoyed browsing in some of the shops. Before the day's end, I had bought some kitchen serving spoons made of oil wood.

[Match Game 72]

We walked through a garden on the way to the Fortress. There was a fee to enter the fortress, but children were free.  In fact, children were free or steeply reduced at every museum and historical site that we visited.

[Match Game 72]

We climbed the daunting steps all the way to the top of the fort.  At the pinnacle, we were rewarded with some lovely views of Corfu.

 

[Match Game 72]

We walked back to the shop area, ate some gelato, and found Corfu Sandals. DS had asked to get Greek sandals on our trip. I had found Corfu Sandals on Trip Advisor. The shop was exactly as described. It was jam packed with Greek sandals of all styles and sizes. From tiny toddlers to women to men. And the shop was staffed by two young women who really know their wares. They helped us find exactly what we liked. They even converted our US shoe sizes to European for us.

 

Here's a picture of their enormous sandal.  Perhaps it belongs to Zeus?

 

[Match Game 72]

We got a bit turned around in the alleys on our way back to the bus stop.  Again, a helpful person set us back on track. When we got there, we had intended to walk along the shore back to the ship. It really isn't all that far. But then an older man with a horse drawn carriage approached us. And we hired him for just 20 euro to take us back to port.  It was a really fun experience.

 

[Match Game 72]

On Wednesday, April 10, we visited Katakolon which is the port nearest to Olympia - the birthplace of the Olympics. We took an MSC excursion to Olympia and the museum. If you want to get there yourself, walk outside the port gates, $10 bus rides were advertised.

I was glad that we had an English speaking guide. On the bus, she gave us interesting bits of information like how many liters of olive oil a family uses. (It's a lot!) And at the site, she made each section more understandable with her descriptions of how it was used.

The purple flowering trees are called Judas trees. They only flower for two weeks a year, and we were lucky enough to see them.

[Match Game 72]

Stray cats and dogs were at the site.  Actually, we saw quite a few stray animals at various points throughout our trip. 

[Match Game 72]

Here are pictures from Olympia. The bottom picture is the stone tubs used by athletes who did not bath in the river.

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Here's a shot of the Temple of Zeus with one reconstructed pillar. You can see the fallen column in the foreground - where it fell after an earthquake.

[Match Game 72]

The rain held off long enough for us to view the site and begin the walk to the museum. Once inside, the tour guide continued, but we opted to break off on our own and enjoy at our own pace.

 

[Match Game 72]

To me, the museum is an excellent - almost required - companion to visiting the site. So many of the treasures inside allow a better understanding of how Olympia must have looked during its heyday.

 

[Match Game 72]

Also, near the buses is a small set of shops and a sandwich/gelato shop. The shops were pricey, as is expected. Loads of shirts, olive products, and some ceramics. Hard to believe, but I did not take a picture!

[Match Game 72]

Thursday, April 11 was our day at Crete.  Originally, I had booked a ship's excursion to Knossos Palace. Once I started reading trip reports, however, it became clear that the site was extremely easy to get to. And much less expensive if we took the public bus.  So, the public bus it was!

 

The woman at the bus ticket booth (in blue in the picture below) was extremely helpful. She had drawn our the route in multiple languages. She also told us how to stop at the museum on the way back to the ship. We bought all day bus tickets for 5 euro each.

 

When we purchased our entry tickets for Knossos, we bought the museum combination ticket for just 1 euro more. This was a fantastic deal.

 

[Match Game 72]

Knossos is enormous. I understand that the buildings were reconstructed with some questionable choices on the part of the archaeologist. Still, the sheer size was impressive.

 

From documentaries we had watched, I had no idea of the site's size. It was the first sunny day of our trip, and we trekked all over the site.

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Some of the artwork at the site is reproduced, and the originals are at the museum in the center of town.

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We bought some soft drinks from the shops across from the site's entrance. Then we boarded the bus for the center of town. Once there, the museum is just across the street from the bus stop. It was very easy to navigate the public bus system.

Some pictures from the museum...

[Match Game 72]

One of the most impressive displays at the museum was a map overlaid with coins found during excavations on Crete. As you can see, the coins were from far and wide. I can only imagine the travel conditions people must have endured to get to Crete.

[Match Game 72]

Athens was our stop on Friday, April 12, 2019. We booked the Acropolis and museum tour with MSC. A couple of days earlier, we got a note in our cabin that their was a strike in Athens that would affect the Acropolis tour. This meant the site opened at 11 instead of 9. Our museum tour was flipped to the morning, but I'm not sure how MSC handled it for those who did not visit the museum.

 

To meet our tour, we had to gather in the theater by 7:15 am. Local time was now seven hours different for us. It was a bit of a struggle, but we made it to the buffet for breakfast and to the meeting point on time. Excursions were well organized. We had no questions about which bus to board.

 

The museum of the Parthenon was elegant and gave a thorough introduction to the history of the Acropolis.

[Match Game 72]

Some of the statues were reproductions since the originals are in the British Museum. That being said, this museum may have been one of the best that we have ever visited. (And we have visited many!)

 

 

[Match Game 72]

By the time our group left at 10:30, the museum was chock full of school groups. Next, we walked to a couple of shops. We picked up a few small items. And it had begun to rain. In fact, it was raining so heavily that the water just poured down the steps to the Acropolis, and my feet were soaked.

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We entered the Acropolis through the Temple of Athena Nike. Also, there is the Parthenon and the Erechtheon.

 

Even in the rain, we felt very fortunate to be at the site. Its breadth and scale are wondrous. 

[Match Game 72]

The ground can be a bit slippery. Here's a picture showing the mix of gravel and bumpy, slick marble in the walkways.