Saturday, June 21, 2025
This morning, we checked out of our hotel and boarded a bus that would eventually take us to the National Geographic Orion, our ship for the rest of the trip. We had a bit of a drive to the ship, and things were timed so that we would arrive when the ship was ready for us (the previous guests disembarked this morning).
Our bus ride took us to the south of Athens, following the coastline to the Temple of Poseidon. The temple was another classical Greek structure, smaller but considerably less crowded than the Acropolis. Poseidon was, of course, the Greek god of the sea, so the temple’s location on a high outcropping overlooking the sea was particularly appropriate.
Continuing on the bus, we visited Papagiannakos Winery to the southeast of Athens. In contrast to the winery we visited in Italy, this winery was very modern and had LEED (energy efficiency) certification. The vineyards in this area look very different from what we are accustomed to seeing: the grapes were pruned to low bushes rather than trellises. Our lunch and a wine tasting were at the winery, and the wine was excellent and relatively inexpensive. We wish that we had room to take some home.
After lunch, we continued to the port of Lavrio to board the Orion. As we boarded the ship, we were greeted by several of the staff, including the Hotel Manager, Fran. We had met Fran on our Kimberley expedition last year. She took good care of Kenna when I had Covid on that trip, and we remember her (and much of her staff) well. We exchanged hugs as we boarded.
We met in the ship’s lounge for the opening briefing by our expedition leader, Karla Pound. Karla was also the expedition leader for the Kimberley trip, and when we raised our hands in response to her question, “Who has been on the Orion before?” she looked at us and said, “I remember you!” We felt very welcome.
The day closed with the requisite lifeboat drill, followed by a delicious dinner in the ship’s dining room.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Friday, June 20, 2025
Our tour took us to the Acropolis today, so we got a relatively early start, both because it was going to be a hot day and to avoid the crowds. Our bus took us to the parking area at the base of the Acropolis, so we had to do some climbing. I’m not sure if we beat the crowds — it was quite crowded, particularly entering and leaving the site.
Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of scaffolding on the Parthenon, but restoration and preservation work at the site probably never stops. We had enough time to explore the area and take a few pictures, but it was getting hot quickly. We got the group together and headed back for our bus.
Our next stop was for lunch, which we would have to make ourselves. The tour included a short Greek cooking class, where we made (or at least participated in making) stuffed peppers, Greek salad, and tiropita (phyllo triangles with a cheese and egg filling). This was organized as a competition between two teams, and we took the competition seriously. Jan was our leader, and we won, so she got the prize: a chef’s hat signed by our instructor.
The afternoon took us to more Athens sights, including the Panathenian Olympic Stadium, where the modern Olympic Games were first held in 1896. The bus dropped us off at the Plaka, Athens’ historic old marketplace, where we were led on a walking tour before heading back to the hotel. It was a rather hot afternoon, and we were thankful for the many vendors selling cold drinks.
For the evening, we were picked up by the bus again for a drive to a beachside restaurant to the south of Athens. We sat outside at a long table on the stony beach. The dinner was unremarkable, but it provided a nice opportunity to chat with some of our fellow travelers.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Thursday, June 19, 2025
After breakfast, Kenna and I made our return visit to the Athens Laundry. Our entire laundry load cost 18 euros, about the same as a single shirt would have cost at the hotel. We enjoyed the walk again as well.
We met up with Dave and Jan at the rooftop terrace of the hotel for lunch, and met the other participants in our pre-cruise tour of Athens. The view from the roof was, of course, excellent. Unfortunately, the service was slow, and we were a little rushed to meet the bus for our afternoon tour.
We met up with our local guide and toured the Acropolis Museum. Many of the original artifacts from the Acropolis are stored in the museum to protect them from the elements. In a few cases, replicas have been made that are on display at the actual Acropolis. Like much of Athens, the land on which the museum is built also has historic ruins, so the museum is built on piers that avoid destroying the artifacts below. The building is very modern and bright, and displays the artifacts clearly and comfortably. Our local guide provided context and historical details as we walked through the galleries.
After returning to the hotel to relax a bit, we joined our group briefly for a cocktail reception, but I had made dinner reservations well in advance, so we couldn’t stay long. Our dinner tonight was at Strofi, a local restaurant that I had eaten at in 1983, 42 years ago (almost to the day). I was in Athens on a business trip, and the hotel had recommended Strofi. Everyone on that trip loved the restaurant and the food, not to mention the view of the Parthenon from their rooftop terrace. We ended up eating dinner there every night of our visit to Athens. I had since recommended Strofi to others and was anxious to try it again myself. Dave and Jan came with us, and we had a most enjoyable dinner, again on the rooftop terrace looking up at the Acropolis.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Our morning started extremely early because we had a 9:30 flight to Athens, and it would take a little while to get to the airport. Tauck provided a transfer to the airport as part of our tour, and we assumed that we would eat breakfast at the airport or on the flight to Athens. However, when we checked out, bags with breakfast items were waiting for us at the hotel desk. This was very generous to the point where we weren’t sure what to do with all the food!
A car came to pick us up as planned. Since it is a weekday, we had to deal with the expected commute traffic, although it was somewhat anti-commute from the city center to the airport.
With arrival at the airport, the Tauck “A Week in…Venice, Florence, and Rome” tour was complete, and the second part of our trip, the cruise, was about to begin. The Tauck tour was a great introduction to Italy for Kenna and a re-introduction for me, and was as close to perfect as one can imagine. Our tour director, Alexa, played a significant role in that.
After checking in at the Aegean Airlines desk in Rome, we proceeded through security. As frequent fliers, we have become accustomed to using airport lounges. We did get the use of an airport lounge, but it was somewhat crowded and small, though we didn’t have a long wait for our flight.
The flight itself was uneventful except for the scenery visible through the window. I had checked the options for getting to the city from the airport upon arrival in Athens, and my experience has been that trains are faster and more convenient than buses, so we decided to take the train (Athens subway extension) even though it is somewhat more expensive. This was not a great decision. Even at the airport, we had to lug our bags up flights of stairs to the train platform and figure out the protocol to get a ticket. Once inside the paid area, there were more stairs. We got on a train quickly, but as we rode into Athens, we picked up more and more passengers until the train was overcrowded toward the end of our trip. We made it off, but faced many more stairs getting to street level. Our friends Dave and Jan, who are joining us on this portion of the tour, arrived a couple of hours after us, so I quickly texted Dave to tell him to take the bus instead.
We checked into our hotel, the Athens Capital Hotel, again a 5-star luxury hotel. We had some free time, so we wandered around the area a bit. Our hotel is exactly in the center of Athens, and across the street from the parliament building, where we were able to see the hourly changing of the guards.
Mid-trip is the optimal time to do laundry, and Kenna had done some research into laundries in Athens that we might take our dirty clothes to. She found Athens Laundry about a 15-minute walk from our hotel. Our walk there gave us exposure to some different parts of Athens. Close to the laundry, the storefronts were heavily graffiti-decorated, but artistically so. The clerk at the laundry spoke perfect English and promised our laundry would be ready in the early evening, but we agreed to pick it up the next morning instead.
During the afternoon, we visited the hotel lobby to find the representative from Lindblad/National Geographic setting up a table to greet guests. We had booked an optional pre-cruise tour of Athens and checked in for that. Our first meeting as a group would be for lunch the next day.
Dave and Jan had made reservations for the four of us at Soil, a two-Michelin-star restaurant, a moderate walk from our hotel. They had made arrangements to meet someone else just before our dinner reservation, so we met them at the restaurant. As expected, our dinner at Soil consisted of a tasting menu featuring many small courses, laboriously prepared and beautifully presented. This was a “very special occasion” sort of dinner. We walked back to the hotel with Dave and Jan well-satisfied from our delicious meal.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
We had an early start today as we set out for one of the highlights of our Italy tour, the Vatican. Of course, this isn’t Italy; Vatican City is a separate nation, located within Rome, with the Pope as its head of state.
Our first stop was the Vatican Museum. We had a wait to enter, but the wait for our tour was nothing like that for those without reservations. As expected, it was pretty crowded.
Our tour began outside, where we viewed exhibits of art from the Sistine Chapel, which were explained to us by our local guide. Michelangelo didn’t consider himself a painter, but one doesn’t say no to the Pope, and he accepted the commission to create the artwork for the ceiling and the wall over the altar of the Chapel. Our guide went through the various pictures on the ceiling, because, as we would find out later, there was no way we could have had it explained to us while actually in the Chapel.
The Vatican Museum displayed additional artwork that is part of its collection. As elsewhere, every possible surface was an artistic masterpiece. Particularly notable were some of the paintings on the ceiling that appeared to be three-dimensional, but were instead expertly shaded flat paintings.
We then entered the Sistine Chapel, which was “wall to wall” people. We had several minutes to admire the artwork, and then met our tour guide at the exit to continue the guided tour.
Our next stop was St. Peter’s Basilica. We entered twice: once through the center door and then through the Holy Door that is open only because it is a jubilee year. Jubilee years occur only every 25 years and hold special significance for Catholics, especially when they make a pilgrimage to the Vatican and walk through the Holy Door that is only open during the Jubilee. This also accounts for some additional crowding throughout.
After a few minutes for souvenir shopping, we re-boarded our bus and returned to the hotel. We had the afternoon to do as we wished, so we grabbed a quick lunch and then walked to a few of Rome’s classic tourist attractions: the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. All were a quite reasonable walk from our hotel.
When we got to the Steps, we saw a rare sight: they were empty. It turned out they were closed with police tape keeping people out. We found out later that someone had attempted to drive their car down the Steps and got stuck. The car wasn’t evident, but they were still cleaning up the area. There was also a lot of lighting equipment at the bottom of the steps, as though perhaps a movie was about to be filmed, but we never found out about that.
We continued to the Trevi Fountain and took a look at it, but the crowds afforded no opportunity to throw coins in the fountain unless we were willing to wait in a long line. We didn’t feel a strong need to throw coins, so we continued to the Pantheon. Again, there were long lines at the Pantheon, so we decided to admire it from the outside and then return to our hotel via the bank of the Tiber River.
Our farewell dinner was this evening, and we had a last opportunity to chat with our new acquaintances from the tour. Our tour director, Alexa, polled everyone to see who was willing to share contact information; nearly everyone was. Alexa will also follow up with movie recommendations and other interesting information after the tour.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Monday, June 16, 2025
This morning we again boarded a train for our final destination of our Italian tour, Rome. The trains again proved to be very popular in Italy.
A bus picked up our tour group at the train station and took us on a driving tour of Rome. At one point, we got off the bus and walked a couple of blocks to a restaurant for a delicious lasagne lunch. Then we got back on the bus and drove to the Coliseum, where we disembarked. Our local guide then led us on a walking tour around the Coliseum. She discussed the structure of the Coliseum, the types of events held there (not just the persecution of Christians), and its underground facilities for quick scene changes. It was a very technologically advanced area for its time.
Following our walking tour, our rooms were ready, so we drove to our hotel, the Palazzo Ripetta. Like the other hotels on this trip, it is a luxury hotel located in a very convenient and safe part of the city. After checking into the hotel and getting settled, we boarded our bus for a private tour of the Galleria Borghese, an art museum renowned for its sculptures by Bernini. Both Kenna and I were amazed by the detail and realism of the sculptures, especially considering that they were carved out of marble.
After the tour, we went to a nearby pizza restaurant recommended by Alexa, met up with another couple from our tour, and had a delightful dinner to close our first day in Rome.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Today we took a bus ride to the Tuscan countryside to visit a Chianti winery. This was a lovely change of pace because of the crowds in Venice and Florence and the very warm weather. We began by driving south into the hills surrounding Florence, which provided a nice overview of the city.
After driving for a bit, our tour director, Alexa, announced that we would be making an extra stop at the Florence American Cemetery. While this wasn’t on our itinerary, she had cleared it with Tauck, and everyone on the bus was interested in stopping there. The cemetery is the resting place for 4,392 American soldiers in World War II whose families chose to have them buried in Italy rather than repatriated to the US. As with other military cemeteries we have seen, it was a very moving tribute, and immaculately maintained.
We continued to a winery in the little village of Passignano. The winery is attached to an abbey called the Badia di Passignano. The tour itself was typical of winery tours, at least for those of us from California. The primary wine they produce is Chianti Classico, a specific local appellation.
Following the tour, we were treated to a wine tasting and gourmet lunch in the adjacent restaurant. The wine was quite different from the typical, inexpensive Chianti often found in Italian restaurants in the US. It has a very smooth taste, and like good wines, the alcohol wasn’t the primary flavor. A trademarked black rooster logo designates Chianti Classico. I will probably be looking for it at the wine store since it was too heavy for us to carry around.
We had a little free time following our return to Florence, and decided to go looking for a campanile to get some views of the city. We got a little lost and ended up at the Cappelle Medici, which houses the tombs of the Medici rulers. We were impressed by the building and artwork.
While walking back to our hotel, we heard the distant music of the calico storico parade. We followed the sound to the parade street and saw more of the teams’ supporters and festivities.
As part of the tour, we had the option to have a “fancy dinner” on one of our days in Florence. We opted for the third day because it seemed to have the most time available, although we were a little concerned about being too full after our gourmet lunch. The dinner was indeed very nice. We were at an outdoor seating area on a square facing the Palazzo Vecchio, and were told we could order anything on the menu. My pasta course included lobster, which was a real treat.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Following breakfast at our hotel, we met up with our local guide and were taken on a tour of the Uffizi Gallery, a large museum with an enormous collection of art, including some well-known classics such as Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.
Following our tour, we walked the Ponte Vecchio bridge across the Arno River. A walking bridge, Ponte Vecchio also supports the enclosed walkway used by the Medici rulers to travel between their palaces safely. Today, it is a bustling and touristy commercial district, lined with stores selling jewelry and souvenirs.
Once across the bridge, we made our way to Palazzo Pitti, the newer of the Medici palaces. The palazzo is now a museum, and we were hoping to see the extensive formal gardens behind it. But unfortunately, the gardens were accessible only with admission to the museum, which we weren’t inclined to do.
After a bit of wandering around on that side of the Arno, we crossed back on the Ponte Vecchio and had a late lunch near the Uffizi. We then went to the Galileo Museum, which highlighted the many Italian contributions to a wide range of scientific fields.
We returned to our hotel to relax for a bit, and started to hear thumping noises suggesting perhaps a band playing outside. So we went out and followed the sound, only to encounter a parade of musicians and others in medieval dress marching in the direction of the calcio storico field. Apparently, the games are accompanied by a good deal of pageantry as well, with each of the teams and their supporters identified by their team colors. The prize for winning the tournament is a cow, and we also got to see the cow as it walked past us down the street. The parade was a lot of fun, and the costumes were gorgeous.
Our evening activity was a private tour of the Duomo museum led by our local guide. The Duomo is the cathedral in the center of Florence, and the museum displays and protects significant artifacts such as the doors to the baptistry (the ones on the actual baptistry are replicas). One thing that struck me was the intentional distortion of the proportions of some statues that are intended to be viewed from a much lower perspective. Their features are exaggerated vertically so that they look normal when viewed as intended. Michelangelo also exaggerated the features of David, which was originally meant to be placed atop the Duomo.
After the museum tour, we grabbed a very informal late dinner by stopping by one of the many All’Antico Vinaio sandwich shops. They feature a large variety of enormous sandwiches on focaccia bread. Kenna and I ordered one cut in half to share. It was delicious and about the right amount of food.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Friday, June 13, 2025
Today was the first of the intercity train journeys of the Italy tour. Our Tauck tour arranged for us to ride one of Italy’s high-speed trains from Venice to Florence. But getting to the train was much of the fun: first we boarded a water taxi to take us to our bus, then the bus to the train station.
The train station was quite busy. Alexa explained that train travel is very popular in Italy, partly due to the country’s size and shape. The train was clean, modern, and indeed fast, traveling at about 150 miles per hour. Our route featured a diverse range of scenery, from the coastal plain through farmland, followed by a mountainous stretch that included several tunnels.
On arrival in Florence, we boarded another small bus and rode to our hotel, the Hotel Bernini Palace. We arrived in the late morning, so we began with a short introduction to art history in Florence from a local guide, followed by lunch. We then set out on a walking tour of Florence, which is a very compact and walkable city. Our tour took us to one of the highlights of Florence, the Galleria dell’Accademia, where we had the opportunity to see Michelangelo’s David, a true highlight of our tour. Even from the far end of the room in which it is displayed, David has an amazing presence and detail that shows him sizing up Goliath before taking him down.
In the evening, we walked around a bit more, hoping to visit the Basilica of Santa Croce, where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried. However, the area was closed off for the annual Calcio Storico Fiorentino tournament. Our guide explained that this is a soccer- or rugby-like game with very few rules other than “no weapons”. The tournament is a competition between different Florence neighborhoods.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
We began the day with another excellent breakfast and then set out to explore some of Venice’s highlights. Alexa had arranged for a private boat to St. Mark’s Square, where we met with the first of our local tour guide. The guide first took us to the Doge’s Palace, once the seat of power for the very influential Venetian Republic. There were various elaborately decorated rooms, many of which were used for meetings and negotiations with official foreign visitors. We also got to cross the famous Bridge of Sighs to the former prison across a small canal.
We then went next door to St. Mark’s Basilica for a tour. This famous church was originally the Doge’s private chapel. Its interior features a great deal of mosaic artwork, with some of the materials stripped from Constantinople in the Crusades.
We finished the morning with a ride on a traditional Venetian gondola. Each party in the group was given its own gondola, so Kenna and I had one to ourselves (plus the gondolier, of course). The gondoliers don’t sing anymore, so Tauck arranged for a few musicians to join a couple of the gondolas in our group to serenade us as we circulated through several of the nearby canals.
An optional visit to a demonstration of the famous Murano glass blowing followed the gondola ride. It was optional because it was a commercial operation, and they didn’t want anyone to feel obligated to make a purchase. However, we opted in and gained an understanding of how the Venetian glass artisans work. There was little pressure to buy anything, but we decided to buy a Christmas tree ornament anyway.
The afternoon was set aside for us to do as we pleased. We got some pizza at a nearby cafe, and then browsed some of the shops before the “obligatory” (for me) afternoon gelato, especially since it was a rather warm day. After stopping by the hotel for a bit to relax and clean up, we went to one of the small restaurants on the edge of Giudecca Island for dinner, followed by a stroll across Giudecca’s canals into some residential parts of the island. Since transportation in Venice is primarily by boat (cars and even bicycles are prohibited), we walked past many parked boats belonging to the residents.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.