Waking up early in the morning, I walked out of my cabin and the view was breathtaking! Delos, the sacred island of the ancient Greeks, was right in front of me barren, isolated, but so beautiful. The highest point of the island where Apollo and Artemis were born stood out, and I could make out the green fig trees almost leaning on the rocks because of the strong winter winds that blow over this small granite rock called Delos.
I had my cup of coffee, taking in the morning calmness and got ready to disembark. We reached the ancient port early in the morning and had the island to ourselves! We strolled through the sanctuary studying the four temples dedicated to Apollo. We were impressed by the gifts of the kings, and we photographed the last poppies fading under the heat. We were lucky because it was little bit cloudy and that kept us cool.
We enjoyed the museum with the mosaics and the “arrogant” Roman statues and then walked to my favorite ancient Greek-Roman homes. Beautiful marble pillars, mosaics, steps that took you up to the female quarters and the male rooms called “andrones” where the ancient Greeks held their symposiums.
We talked about wine since we saw the wine amphoras still in the ancient houses, and my youngest guests Canon and Calvin asked me interesting questions about life in ancient Greece. We chased the big lizards called “crocodiles” and some of us were adventurous enough to climb to the peak of the mountain!
Exhausted but happy we came back to the Sea Cloud that dominated Delos’ bay and after lunch we were surprised by our expedition leader Tom’s announcement that we were off to another famous Greek island, Paros, to visit the picturesque fishing village of Naoussa. White marble everywhere, a great swim, tasty ice creams, retsina wine, and pretty whitewashed churches were there to indulge us until it was time to get ready for the captain’s cocktail party on the ship.
Another great day on the Greek islands came to its end stargazing with our new friends.
