Got up at eight o’clock this morning as we didn’t have any excursions booked, preferring instead to explore on our own. Going out on our balcony, we were disappointed to see that it was still cloudy, but at least it was dry.
We went up one deck to the Spey restaurant for our breakfast. The Spey and Avon restaurants have huge circular windows that afford a fantastic view and let in plenty of light.
We enjoyed a breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg and tomatoes, washed down with orange juice and coffee, before returning to 9088 to have a look at the Daily Times and see what was on this morning. Priority for disembarkation was usually given to those on booked tours; in any case, we weren’t in any hurry.
We saw that there was a game of indoor kurling on in the Lido Bar, so we went up there where the entertainments host, Ken, remembered us from the Christmas cruise, and put our names down. 🙂
We took it in turns with our opponents and Trevor got one of his stones into the house. When he came to play his next one, he knocked the first one even closer to the centre. It looked a shoo-in for us, but the opposition, rather unsportingly, sent his stone up as hard and as fast as he could, with the express intention of scattering the board and hopefully getting his stone closest to the centre. This was, in fact, what happened, so we were knocked out once again. 🙁
We then decided to return to 9088 and get ready to go ashore; with any luck we’d be just in time to catch the shuttle bus for the 10-minute ride into town. The sky was still cloudy and the air had a heavy, sultry feel to it – thunderstorms were forecast for later on.
It was around 10.30am when we caught the bus into town, and wandered around, looking at the shops and restaurants, bars and pavement cafés. Every other shop seemed to be selling fresh olives and olive oil – well of course, we were in Kalamata and even if you haven’t ever been (we hadn’t!) you can’t hear the word ‘Kalamata’ without associating it with olives! 🙂
As we walked about, we saw a massive castle perched on a hill, and decided to make our way towards it and see if we could find the way up. We could see the long, stones walls and imagined that the view from up there, over the harbour, would be worth the climb, so we set off.
On the way, we passed a large, yellow fronted church with twin bell towers, which Google Maps told us was the Metropolitan church of Ypapanti (The Presentation of the Savior), built in 1860.
We continued walking to the castle, up the gently-inclining road until we came to the entrance, where it cost a very reasonal six Euros each to get in. Then we took our time going up the fairly shallow steps, looking around with interest. Several stray cats flitted nervously around, before disappearing off into one of the many nooks and crannies around the castle. We felt sorry for the furry little waifs, and decided we’d buy a box of cat biscuits next time we visited the supermarket.
The ruined castle was set in grounds of grass and many trees and shrubs, and was very pleasant to walk around. The castle dates from the 13th century, being built by the Crusaders who founded the Principality of Achaea. It replaced (while incorporating some parts) an earlier Byzantine castle, that was in turn built on the site of the acropolis of ancient Pharae. The castle was largely razed in 1685, after being captured by the Venetians.
As we climbed up to what was left of the ramparts, we discovered that we did indeed have excellent views, all the way over the rooftops of Kalamata to the sea, where we could see the distinctive red funnel of the Balmoral. As I took some photos, I wished the sun would come out; pictures look so much more colourful and sharper in sunlight.
As we walked through the pleasant green castle grounds, we came across an interesting amphitheatre. A quick look at Google (what did we do before Google?!) told us that it was built in the 1950s and serves as an open-air venue for cultural events and is famous for hosting the International Dance Festival. The amphitheatre offers stunning city views and is a significant cultural hotspot.
As we walked around, we came across a tiny little building, its purpose identified by a cross on its roof. Peeking inside, we were amazed that such a small building could hold so much. There was a full altar, chairs and tables and a pulpit. We learned that the church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and had contained an icon called Kalomata, which is Greek for “beautiful eyes”. It is commonly believed that that was how the city got its name.
We continued exploring, and taking more photos, and it was a bit jarring when the 13th century suddenly fast-forwarded 800 years to the 21st century, as we looked at the scene depicting dual carriageways and roundabouts and a fairly modern-looking (think 1960s ‘Brutalist’ architecture) viaduct, as well as another amphitheatre with lurid purple plastic chairs.
As it was now after 1.00pm and the skies had darkened considerably, we knew that rain was on its way, so we decided to go back down into the town and enjoy a cold beer somewhere. We found an attractive little place that had chairs and tables under parasols outside as well as indoor seating, and we each took a seat at a table, saing “Two large beers please” to the proprietor.
Our beers had no sooner arrived when the heavens opened. We’d made it under shelter just in time! However, as the rain intensified and was accompanied by a brisk breeze, it made its way into the cracks between the parasols and we started to get wet. We therefore sought refuge in the bar, perching on a couple of stools and waiting for the rain to abate. It started to come down even harder, and we heard the rumble of thunder, so we decided to stay for another drink, whether we wanted one or not. 😉
Once we saw people walking around without umbrellas and with the hoods of their raincoats down, we knew the rain had stopped, so we finished and paid for our drinks then ventured back outside again.
As we had had our bottle of wine confiscated yesterday, we decided to try some new tactics. We had a bottle of water with us, so we drank it off and kept the empty plastic bottle. Then we went into a nearby shop; one of those little independent traders that sell just about everything, and we bought half a bottle of vodka… you can see where this is going… 😉
We also purchaed a 500ml bottle of Diet Coke and left the shop. As we made our way back to the shuttle bus stop, Trevor poured the vodka into the empty water bottle and casually placed it into the mesh side pockets of his rucksack, placing the Coke bottle inside. In that way, we were able to sneak it on board the Balmoral without anyone being the wiser. 🙂
It was around 3.30pm when we arrived back at the ship, too late for lunch but we weren’t exactly going to starve on a cruise ship and we’d enjoy a good dinner later. We just returned to our cabin for a 45 minute power nap, before getting ready for another “Bubbles and Speak” session at five o’clock.
In the restaurant for dinner later on, we enjoyed a good dinner and the company of Steve and Tracey. We took great delight in telling them we had won the quiz last night! 🙂 They said they would come and join us tonight, but in the meantime we made our way to the Neptune Lounge, hopefully in time to do some dancing before the main show. We had time to get up and do a Rumba One before the announcement came for everyone to clear the dance floor, which rises up to become the stage. 🙂
Tonight’s entertainment featured a Welsh comedy magician called Taffy Spencer. We enjoyed his silly humour and his patter, as well as some of his genuinely-good tricks. It was probably the best show we’d seen so far this cruise. As we were walking out of the Neptune Lounge, however, we heard some of the old farts moaning, saying that he wasn’t funny and the entertainment was poor. Some people are never happy unless they’re miserable! 🙂
Then it was off to the Lido Lounge to take part in the quiz. This time Steve and Tracey did put in an appearance, and we scored 11/15, not enough to win.
We decided to stay afterwards for the silent disco. We always find this much more amusing to watch than to participate, and tonight was no exception. It’s supposed to be ‘silent’, but you always get at least one person singing along at the top of their voice, usually off-key and loudly! It’s absolutely hilarious.
Steve and Tracey said their goodnights and we stayed a little longer, returning to our cabin just after 11.00pm. I went out onto the balcony to see it it was pleasant enough to sit out and enjoy a nightcap, but in actual fact a fantastic lightning storm was in progress, with huge flashes of lightnight almost turning the night into day!
The Balmoral had put to sea this afternoon around five o’clock, so we were well out to sea, looking out from our balcony into the impenetrable blackness. A light showing on the horizon every few seconds showed us there was a lighthouse in the distance, and we could see the muted lights of a cargo ship. Just then, a massive flash of lightning lit up the entire sky, and forked across the heavens. It was so bright I could still see it imprinted on my retinas when I closed my eyes. Luckily, I had my phone in video mode and, while most of what was recorded was just black, I managed to get this flash, shown below.
I’ve also shown some stills from the video below, so you can see how it goes from completely black to blindingly white. The power of Mother Nature knows no bounds.
As we got washed and into our ‘jamas, we wondered whether we should close our curtains tonight, but by now, most of the storm had abated, with only the occasional flash. We left the curtains and the balcony door slightly ajar to enjoy the fresh sea air, and settled down in our very comfortable beds.
We were due to arrive on the Greek mainland in the port of Piraeus in the morning, and we slept well, looking forward to whatever tomorrow would bring. 🙂