Our last port of call is Poros, with another gorgeous day: clear blue skies, deep blue water, sailboats everywhere. More shopping, lunch with 4 new friends from the boat, and of course gelato!
This morning we say farewell to the Royal Clipper. Time to fly home. See you soon!
Another beautiful day, another small Greek island. More cute white houses going up the hillside, more sailboats in port. And another charming restaurant with good wine, Greek salad, mushrooms in garlic sauce, fried zucchini, and pork souvlaki. Why isn't every day like this?
Another picture-perfect Greek isle. The weather today was the best we've had: warmer, less windy. The Aegean Sea is startlingly blue, and two of our shipmates took a smallsailcraft out for a leisurely tour. I need to learn how to do this!
We skipped any town shopping and instead found a quiet café perched on a small hill overlooking the water and spent an hour soaking up the atmosphere.
We left Bulgaria last night, sailed past Istanbul early this morning, and are now traversing the Dardanelles strait and about to return to the Aegean Sea. The only real excitement of the day was being allowed to climb the masts of the sailboat up to a crow's nest for a great view. Spectacular!
Nessebar is just about the prettiest village we've seen in a long time: what was once a small island is now connected to the mainland by an isthmus. The old town is built up round ancient Roman ruins and there are ships and boats all around. Plus lots of restaurants and beaches! A group of us headed to another winery/restaurant for more tastings and a lesson in how to make Bulgarian dishes. The Shopska salad is my favorite. Then it was off to the beach for a leisurely, languid afternoon.
We had a great day today. The highlight was a wine tasting at a local restaurant that is part of a winery that bottles a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc, rosé and Merlot for local sale. We loved the wines so much that a group of us later took taxis back to the restaurant and had a lovely dinner. The cost for Debb & me, including a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc, worked out to $25! What a bargain.
Debb had fried whole scad from the Black Sea, which she polished off head, body and tail.
Our waiter Nikolai, who had also served us the wine in the afternoon, was an absolute delight.
A stop in the seaside city of Constanta, with a beautiful promenade, Roman ruins that reminded us of Tunis, and a Saturday afternoon festival with barbecue, libations, music and beer. And perfect weather!
