Another portrait

 

Roasted chestnuts in the main square. You never see anyone selling chestnuts in New York wearing slacks and a sweater—that felt very Greek.

I realize that I haven't said anything about the ship, now that I'm actually on it. I haven't been on a ship since I went to Antarctica almost six years ago, though the expedition-type ships there and in the Galapagos were very different from a cruise ship—comfortable but utilitarian.

I haven't been on an actual cruise ship since 2011, and this is a very different experience. I have a sitting area with a couch and coffee table, a bathtub as well as a shower, a flat screen TV with a huge selection of movies and television shows, and wi-fi everywhere on the ship. (The wi-fi isn't great and most of the features on my phone that require iCloud or location settings don't really work, but it's a million times better than I remember from earlier trips.)

I'm not sure how much is true for cruising in general, and how much is because this is a very luxe cruise line, but I am certainly being pampered. When I had seen everything there was to see in Nafplion and walked back to the dock, they had a canopy set up so we could sit in the shade and sip on lemon detox water while we waited for the tender boat.

I think tomorrow I'm going to have breakfast served in my cabin, because why not?

Bubbles

I don't know if it was a trick of the light, but the bubbles that this little girl in the main square was chasing don't look quite real. More Christmas magic, maybe.

The soundtrack

One of the groups of children performing Christmas music. I followed one pair of girls who ran in and out of shops ringing bells and singing in high, sweet voices like musical elves.

The group in the picture had not quite mastered their instruments but they looked so endearingly bashful that it really didn't matter.

In the Old Town

Most of the Old Town was crowded, with shoppers and musicians and carolers, and families enjoying the beautiful weather, but I found lots of empty streets to wander through.

Back in town

The street along the waterfront is full of restaurants and cafes, and of course, like any self-respecting Mediterranean metropolis, there is a fortress in the harbor.

Views from the shore walk

 

Nafplion

(The Greeks call it Nafplio, but since I just got used to pronouncing Nafplion, I'm sticking with the spelling they use on the ship.)

I'd actually been here already—we spent the night here on Thursday, but we arrived late after a two and a half hour drive in the rain that made me regret that I'd eaten so much moussaka at lunch, and left again right after breakfast. So I had an impression of a pretty little town, but didn't see anything except for the hotel.

I'd cancelled the excursion I'd booked, since I realized I'd seen most of the sites—like the Corinth Canal—on the pre-cruise tour, so that gave me a day to investigate the pretty little town on my own. I walked to the end of the marina and found this path along the shoreline; there was a locked gate and a sign warned of danger from falling rocks, but I saw all the locals ignoring the sign and walking around the gate so I did, too.

This man was one of several I saw fishing that day, but none of them seemed to have caught any fish. I'm wondering if all the fishing was less for bringing home Christmas Eve dinner and more for getting out of the last-minute Christmas shopping.

Sunday cat blogging

Many years ago I saw a collection of notecards in a bookstore called Cats in Greece. Each of the cards featured a picture-postcard photograph of Greece, like ruins against a mountain backdrop or whitewashed buildings on a hill above the sea, with a cat. I found this hilarious for some reason and almost bought the cards, even though I knew I'd never use them.

I've been reminded of that on this trip, because cats are in fact everywhere in Greece. Every ruin, every restaurant, every landmark, has at least one cat. I saw these two in Nafplion today. The kitten was wandering by itself on a street in the Old Town, and Mama Cat appeared and herded him back into a walled garden. I saw another cat on the same street with half of a very large fish in his mouth, but alas I couldn't get a picture.