Itea
Nat Green had told us that Itea had really beautiful, calm waters. Sadly, the clouds were out on May 16th, which made it hard to see how beautiful the water really was. SeaDream stopped in Itea, Greece, to let passengers who wanted to see Delphi take a tour. Bill and I opted to just walk around the port for awhile. I heard later that Delphi was a fairly strenuous stop that involved a lot of climbing stairs.
Itea didn’t seem like a very exciting town, though I did see what I would consider “stereotypical” Greek scenes. There were orange trees and flowering bushes everywhere, and old men sat at cafes holding court, drinking coffee, and smoking. Bill and I passed a butcher shop and I happened to see a pig’s head hanging in the window. He didn’t notice until I said, “Oh my God!”
Orange you glad we’re in Greece?
We walked by one coffee shop that smelled absolutely heavenly. I was tempted to go inside for a cup of coffee, but instead, we went to a gift shop where several SeaDream passengers appeared to be on a shopping spree. At this point in the trip, I was being pretty restrained about shopping. I did see some beautiful plates and tiles that I coveted, but somehow I managed to stop myself from buying them… in Itea, at least.
These beautiful bushes were everywhere.
Pig head!
The proprietors of the gift shop were pretty funny, though. As a few of the SeaDream ladies picked out pieces of silver jewelry, one of the store’s owners said, “God bless America. You can stay here all day!”
The postcards in Itea were very interesting. I’m not sure what Bill is reacting to…
On the tender back to the yacht…
I left the store with a Greek cookbook, two compact discs, and a little icon to go in my shadow box at home. My shopping urge temporarily satisfied, we went back to the ship where we lazed around in the hot tub and the TOY Bar until it was time to pass through the Corinth Canal. Job kept me supplied with mimosas and Manuel kept me in stitches with stories about life as a bartender on SeaDream I.
Getting ready to party through the Corinth Canal!
I must say, SeaDream made going through the canal pretty special. They put out plenty of hors d’oeuvres and passed around small glasses of ouzo as we made our way through. There was live music at the front of the yacht. Some folks were smart enough to go to deck five, which was a lot less crowded than the TOY Bar was. If your goal is to get great pictures and see a lot, I would recommend not hanging out near the TOY Bar. As for Bill and me, we had a great time listening to the music, toasting with ouzo, and getting to know some of the people we had met in the piano bar the night before.
Me and Bill and a new friend!
That evening was the degustation menu dinner. We did ours with a wine pairing and Pablo the sommelier explained the different wines he paired with each course. We had the marvelous Jose waiting on us; he is one of my favorite SeaDream personalities because he has a beautiful, genuine smile and seems intent on making his guests happy. When Jose noticed me not eating the foie gras, he took the liberty of bringing me a salad from the alternate menu which was much more to my liking.
Dinner and wine pairing begin…
A sweet ending…
The piano bar was fun on Thursday night, especially when the whole bar joined me in a rousing rendition of “Thank You For The Music” by ABBA.
George at the piano
Cats!
