to greece

with minutes to spare, we made it from rome to the port town of bari and on to the overnight ferry to patras, greece.

as a treat (and since it was the first time for both of us on anything resembling a cruise - we having previously believed that a stint in prison would be preferable to any time spent on a tourist-packed cruise ship), we booked a private cabin on the ship, which afforded us this window onto the sea:


(it's more impressive in the daytime, but we'll get to that ...)

the ferry leaves port around 8 pm, and we watched it set out to sea from the windy front of the ship:


(ann was a little scared)

the nighttime views were surprisingly fun, as was the actual cruising experience itself.


this is a look back at the Italian coast as we steamed toward Greece:


Here's afraid-of-heights Ann checking out the view by looking over the very tall deck that dropped straight into the cold, dark water some 40 feet below.



(yes, I took that photo *leaning over the side of a boat in the middle of the ocean - at night* - it seemed like a fun idea at the time)

the whole ship felt like a '60s Bond film set. very weird and fun.


we had a snack in the on-board restaurant. here's a shot of a dinner roll for my brother:

(pretty good - nice crust texture in particular)

we took another walk around the outside decks


and then - in our most senior citizen moment yet - played cards (!) in the lounge


it was, somewhat surprisingly to us both, a grand time.


we went to bed happy, and somewhere in the middle of the Aegean Sea. We awoke to this:


It was stunning. we raced outside to the deck.






and arrived around noon at the Greek port of Patras.


Soon ... Athens.