Greek Islands: Hydra, Poros, & Aegina

This morning we woke at 6:30 am and walked 5 minutes to the pick-up spot. A bus came and took us to the cruise ship. And off we went to see some islands! It was cloudy all day but still in the 50's!

Hydra:

Here we did part of a self-guided walking tour. Here are things we learned:

The island city of no cars! (except that we saw two work trucks while we were there, so hmm.) They use equine power.

We learned that they went to war with Turkey (Greek War of

Independence) in 1821 and Andreas Miaoulis (meow-olis) lead the naval forces of the islands and used all his wealth to help with the war. He is considered a national hero and one way they honor him is with a festival every June 21st.

Elena Votsi has her shop here (open in the summers). She is the artist who was chosen to create the design of the Olympic medal for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games held in Athens. Her design is now used indefinitely for the Summer Games, with the host city designing the back.

The Phaedra's Windmill and a statue with a boy on a dolphin commemorates a historic cinematic event. "Boy on a dolphin" was filmed there in 1956. It was the first movie to showcase the stunning beauty of the Greek islands. I'm going to have to look that up when we get home!

We had a buffet lunch when we got back on the ship. They had quite the big portions and I could eat almost everything, which was super nice!

Poros:

We had less than an hour on this island, so we decided to let the girls navigate us directions that looked fun to them. We were navigated to a lot of cats! They pet as many as they could. We had a piece of bread and they stopped to feed the pigeons - Addy even got one to nibble while she held the bread between two fingers! All of the girls were able to hand feed them and they loved that! My favorite part was walking through the neighborhood and seeing the little winding rock streets and beautiful hanging flowers. They didn't have much room for gardens, but they made the most of it!

Aegina:

We went on a bus tour in Aegina. It is a much larger island and we wanted to be able to see the Temple of Aphaia (uh-fae-uh) which was 30 min away. Aegina is also known as Pistachio Island. That is how a lot of them make a living. We had two stops on the tour: the Temple of Aphaia and the Cathedral of St Nectarios. It was sunset when we arrived at the Temple of Aphaia. Just gorgeous!! Aphaia is said to be another name for Athena. It was built 100 years before the Temple of Athena. It was especially fun to see because it completes the famous Temple triangle for us: the Temple of Athena, the Temple of Poseidon, and the Temple of Aphaia. Next to the Temple, they had a stand selling pistachio gelato and we all tried some! Peter, Clara, and I really liked it! They had some pistachios we could sample and they tasted so very fresh and soft! Yum!

At the Cathedral of St Nectarios the girls finally got to light some candles (they have seen others do it along our trip and have asked every time). It was next to St Katharina's (nunnery).

On the boat ride back they said they had professional dancers doing traditional dances in the dining area, so we went to watch. They had a couple of men dancing a traditional dance and then had the kids come up and dance! They did a little snake around the room with the kids, and taught the kids some moves from the traditional dance. There weren't a ton of kids on the boat (maybe 15 at most), so it probably wasn't very entertaining for others, but the girls were eating it up!! They didn't want to stop the "dance party" when we got to port! It was fun to watch them have so much fun and a wonderful way to pass the time! We got back at 7:30 pm. On our walk home, we passed a pizza shop and stopped to get the girls a late dinner.

We also learned the reason for the traditional white houses with blue doors/windows - it mirrors the Greek flag and represents the sky and the ocean. Love!

Theme today: Make Today Meaningful

Our favorite things:
Emma: My favorite was the boat cruise and the ice cream!
Clara: My favorite was Poros island because we got to feed the pigeons and it was really pretty. It was fun hand-feeding them!
Leesie: I liked Hydra because we got to pet all the kitties.
Addy: I really liked feeding the pigeons by hand, petting the kitties, and I really liked seeing the Temple of Athaia at sunset!
Kathy: I loved sitting and enjoying watching the waves out the window on the cruise, feeling the breeze on my cheeks, and exploring new places!
Peter: I liked looking in the clear water and seeing the fish and the bottom of the ocean. That was super cool! I didn't like Clara getting scratched by the cat. And I liked almost catching the pigeon.

Miracles:
- We were able to go on the cruise today!! After it getting canceled yesterday, it felt like a miracle that whatever problem was solved and we could go today!
- We didn't get left in Poros. We were one minute late getting back and they were engines revving, whistle blowing, getting ready to push off!