Athens One Day Cruise - Covering 3 islands: Poros, Hydra and Aegina. Here we go! The cruise costs 93 Euros per person, and comes with lunch (three course meal: Appetizer, Salad, Main Course. Drinks pay separately on your own). But our advice is, you spend so much time on board than on the islands, so rather buy a ferry ticket to the island and venture on your own at leisure time...
On board the cruise! Wind was pretty strong. Weather was not exactly very good, a little cloudy that day, but still, a nice breeze!
Sitting and relaxing on board the ship... after awhile, the breeze got us sleepy, and we just found a table to lay our heads down for a nap! hahahhaa... coz' it took almost 2 hours to reach the first island... Poros...
Arrival at Poros, a pretty small island... Kevin trying to anchor the ship... yah right?! hahaha...
Pondering in Poros - trying to act demure... hahahah... fail big time! But it is certainly lovely and tranquil to just sit by the waters and feel the breeze in your face... :)
Nice cafes along the waters... Good chill out place... You will find Greeks sitting and drinking, munching on their meats probably... hahahah...
And you will find many yachts parked by the docks... And the water was clear enough for me to see the fishes below... nice!!!
Classic pose! hahahah... of who?! our dear fren... when you see this, you know yah?! hee...
The nice Greek white houses... For those who thinks my house looks like that? Sorry, my house not situated in the islands... hahaha... city houses not so romantic ok?! ahahaha...
Wish it was my vacation chalet!!! But for your info, i can't imagine how the greeks got to climb up to their houses everyday. Coz' the houses are all built on hills, so if you stay on the top, you got to climb flights of stairs up...
Alright, last pose before we return to the ship and move on to the second island, Hydra. :) Just love these houses on the islands... wonder how it looks like on the inside...
On board the ship and moving closer to Hydra... hehe.. this island has no transportation, except donkeys! hahahah.. it is the trademark of this island...
Look at how the houses are built on the slopes...
There we are now!!! Hydra!
It was getting colder as the evening draws nearer... Hydra is a bigger island than Poros, so you can find more cafes and tourist shops. But as mentioned, no transportation like cars on this islands, except donkeys... hehehe...
Kevin's try at an artistic shot! hehehe, everything is ok, except the model right?! ok, i got it!
Backpacker look - Kevin... Leaving his footsteps in the world...
This Greek man fishing beside the high walls bordering the coasts caught our attention... hehehe... And he caught this funny fish, which he said would make good fish soup for the night... hahaha... and you see below how he tries to remove the fishing hook from the fish's mouth...
Hook it out!!! The man was joking with us, how it looks like he was performing operation for the fish... hahahah.. looks more like torturing the fish before its last breath...
Back onto the ship and heading for the last island, Aegina... The sun was setting, and it was a lovely sight with seagulls flying over the sea... If only, Kevin re-proposed again! hahahahah... I will still say "yes"... Of course lah, coz' it is never where you propose or how you propose that matters... it is WHO propose that matters!
Closing up on the island of Aegina... This island has lots of olive trees and pistachios plantations. Aegina exports pistachios to other parts of Greece... Thy are famous for their nice pistachios, which we tried and it is nice! Tasted different from what we usually eat, not sure if it is the roasting method, or probably the soil of Greece gave it a different touch! hehehe...
Ruins on the island of Aegina.. Ancient Temple of Aphaia. This structure came even before the Acropolis.
Kevin posing at the Ancient Temple of Aphaia - backview of it. It is on top of a hill, whereby you can see the island of Aegina from above, and the seas behind...
Church of Saint Nectarios - a beautiful Byzantine architecture...
On the inside of the church...
Well, farewell Aegina in the evening... We couldn't see more as the ship was departing already.
We will be back on our own again! :) It is just about an hour plus away from Athens by ship only. Many Greeks from Athens have houses in Aegina, such that they will come for a break during weekends or summer time.
The living room! Special highlights - Kevin chose the lights from IKEA here and "design" to have it hung like that... Hehehe, looks pretty nice in the evening when they light up! But Kevin is saying, the TV looks small.. hahahaha.. of course, compared to our Shanghai's 52 inch TV, what is this???!!! After they repainted the entire living area, the house looks newer...
The dining table, which we shifted into the living/dining area... so we can watch our TV while having our meals! hehehe... Shanshan's favourite hobby!
Another perspective of the dining table, with the fireplace at the side... And of course, our foldable bikes at the background. hehehe... it is too cold to ride now lah... But wonder if it will be safe for me to ride here too, as the Greeks' driving habits can be scary... hehehe... wait till you see how impatient the drivers here are!
The study table next to the fireplace, behind the living area. We thought it will be good to place the work area here, so Kevin can still do his work, while watching TV and keeping me company somehow... hehehe... but trust me, i use this area more than he does. Isn't that where i am typing all these now?!! hee... :)
The entrance area, where we hang our coats and jackets, and the shoe cabinet at the side. And you see those streaming lines of decor from the doorway? Hehehe, that marks the entrance into all the bedrooms... After we hung the decor, then realised how troublesome it can be, getting in and out, with all those things smacking in your face! ahahahha...
The corner beside our kitchen, which is another dining area actually. But we made it into this oriental corner, so when guests come, we shall have steamboat sitting on the floor yah? hahahah..
The kitchen view - picture taken standing at the oriental corner. The kitchen definitely looks warm and nice after the renovations, compared to the dirty stained kitchen before that.
Close up of my "work" area. hahahaha... Not exactly easy to do my cooking here, as you can't get that many Chinese ingredients here either.. And when you can get them, it will probably be ridiculously expensive. Oh, for your info, there was once, we ordered plain steam rice in an Asian eatery shop, it is 2 Euros, for a bowl of steam rice!!!! And that is 4 dollars sing!!! For plain rice!!!! Now you know how exotic our Asian food can be in an "ang moh" country!
The weather was good that day too, and it was really peaceful and scenic along the coastal roads...
