Spetses Island, Greece
This morning we found some fascinating history on Spetses Island. Here we learned about many things related to the sea. We stopped by a small museum and were fascinated by the story of Bouboulina, the Greek Heroine of the War for Independence (from the Ottoman Turks). She had an impressive life and spent much of her fortune to build ships and help defend Greece. It was one of her five ships, the Agamemnon, built in 1820 that helped with the fall of the Fort of Palamidhi in Nafplion in 1822.
From there, we walked to a Greek Orthodox Church that was dedicated to St. Nikolaus, the patron saint of sailors. The inside of the church was beautifully ornate with many icons, paintings and chandeliers.
In the afternoon we repositioned to the small and scenic island of Dokos for kayaking and beach time. We had a small beach to ourselves… well, except for the two local horses that came to visit. And, as a final goodbye to the Aegean Sea, we returned to the ship and jumped off a few more times!
The special event before our farewell cocktail party was “The Apple of Discord,” a play put on by the kids onboard explaining how the Trojan War began.
Two of our young travelers have summed up the week in acrostic poems:
GREECE
By Katie Gauch
Great Greek cuisine to taste
Running and walking over 1500 steps in one day
Exciting ruins to see and learn about
Enjoying “hanging around” crew and families
Cool breezes on the beach
Effervescent family and crew members,
(So lucky to be in Greece!)
GREECE
By Laura Fodale
Great Greek words to learn
Running up and down over 1500 steps in one day
Exciting to jump off the side of the boat
Every different Greek food was awesome
Crazy, awesome kids to hang out with.
Every family should go on this cruise.
