We treated ourselves to an expensive berth at Pyreas – right in the heart of the activity and with decent train access to Athens and the Acropolis. Despite the crowds, the Acropolis was fascinating. Lots of broken down ancient ruins, crawling with wannabe historians!

The icing on the cake was that Laurie had managed to secure seats at the Odeion of Herodes Atticus amphitheater for a performance of Madame Butterfly. While I’m not an Opera fan, the experience of sitting in a 2000 year old amphitheatre and watching/listening to an un-amplified performance was fantastic!

A gastronomic delight was to be had at Laurie’s chosen restaurant. We walked past it 3 times before recognizing that yes, this was the entrance!

After Athens we continued west – and through the impressive Corinth Canal – the most expensive (per mile) waterway in the world! But it took 300+ miles off our journey towards the Ionian.

Unfortunately, the gulf of Corinth was uninspiring – other than a fantastic hour-long chase by a large group of dolphins that insisted on spinning underwater while leading our bow.

We did stop to look at more ruins in Delphi…

Next stop: The Ionian…