today we were having our first trip to Greece, so here we go into one of the ships tenders, or lifeboats if you will, the one we were in capable of carrying 150 people,
in no time at all we were on the island of Zakinthos,
and nice it looked too, a coach was waiting to meet us and we were off on our tour,
our first stop the church of St. Nickolas,
Diana posed for a couple of pictures outside,
as there was a service going on, we did not wish to intrude,
from the square the church was in a number of roads radiated,
away from it, we took a walk and bought a couple of drinks from one of the small cafes in the area and I got to say the one thing I have been longing to say for years, in the back of the cafe a newscaster was reading the news, pointing at the screen I said to Diana, 'it's all Greek to me!' Boom-Boom! well I thought it was funny,
a final picture and we arrived at our next stop,
Sigoyros' Ceramics,
where there was a shop,
selling products made on the premises,
like these pomegranate flower vases,
upstairs there were many items waiting to be fired,
as it was Sunday there were no workers,
except for the I am guessing owner,
who as we watched spell bound made this pomegranate,
then on to a pot,
in no time at all,
it took shape,
and was finished so soon it hardly seemed credible,
but there it was,
and just a few moments later a lid appeared,
next a big work,
but it took shape,
as easily as the smaller pot,
and in what seemed like seconds,
the vase was cut from the base
a handle attached,
to make it a jug,
and with a squeeze to the lip,
it was cut from the base,
a true master craftsmen,
and here are two that were made earlier,
then one just completed joining the others,
the house behind the pottery,
one thing that dominates the landscape here and in Italy is olive trees, so I had a closer look at one,
never having seen one up close before,
I had a look and here they are, baby olives, in a few months time they will be crushed and who knows you may be seeing the oil of these in a jar in a shop near you!
next Zante Maris Hotel, for a coffee break and some cakes,
inside we went,
it looked remarkably nice,
we decided to sit outside,
on a balcony overlooking the pool,
after coffee a walk to one of the souvenir shops,
I did not realize in the back there was a huge dress shop!
we were told that the weather was going to improve, so I bought a hat,
just outside the hotel entrance I noticed what at first I thought was a wasp nest, but I was wrong,
it was the nest of a swift or a sallow, the bird was going back and fourth feeding it's young,
our net stop was underneath the castle on the hill, we stopped at the ice cream shop as we were told they were so good,
and they were,
we went to the viewing point,
'we stay on that one!',
a look across the bay,
a fellow tourist kindly offered to take our picture,
in the distance the jetty,
two of the tenders still ferrying passengers to and throw,
the flag that we all love so much adorns the front of the Ventura, well done P & O,
a look into town at one of the many churches,
we started to make our way back to the coach,
and spotted this vine,
with such blue flowers,
Diana poses by a bowl of petunias,
I wish our lemons at home grew as nicely as these,
we made our final stop in the town,
and crossed the square,
so a quick picture,
also on the square there was a church where a wedding was taking place,
we decided to stop at a cafe, so I tried a local beer, Mythos and nice it was too,
now this was great fun, as we were sitting there Diana had a live video link with her Mum in the Philippines, also joining in were Jill and Flor along wit Karl and Mary Ann, the wonders of technology,
and this was the cafe we were in,
we made our way to the dock,
but first a photo shoot,
the water here was just so clear,
well I had to have my picture taken as well,
and Diana wanted another one,
walking along the jetty,
we stopped to have a look at some of the yachts,
and nice they were too,
so I made a panorama of them as well,
we stopped in the jetty bar, all of this walking was hot work and had another Mythos,
all aboard the tender,
the previous one disembarking passengers into the Ventura,
Diana decided she liked my hat, so decided to do a swap to see if her hat suited me, I think not!,
time for a bite to eat,a pizza for Diana,
a glass of white wine,
and a small snack for myself, in the afternoon we walked around the vessel and stopped off in on of the coffee bars, all o soon it was time for dinner and a show,
first dinner, a cullen skink for Diana creamy smoked haddock soup with oven toasted sourdough croutons, a prawn cocktail for myself,
for Diana's main course, a chicken marengo, chicken cooked in a garlic white wine and tomato sauce served with a fried egg and a tiger prawn garnish,
for myself a pan fried piece of cod,
with a parsley crust and carrot ribbons, broccoli and a shellfish beure blanc,
Diana decided against a dessert, I went for a limoncello panna cotta peach coulis,
then on to the show,
starring comedian,
Tucker who proved that there is no need to use unseemly words to make people cry with laughter!
after drying our eyes from laughing so much we decided on a nightcap,
rum used to be my favorite tipple, but being made from sugarcane I decided not to drink many years ago, but then I saw that Ron Zacapa 23 year rum was available, well I just had to have a large one!
and nice it was too,
we that we said goodbye to the bar and we were then off to bed.
