Kayaking the Ionian Islands of Greece

We took at 9 day kayaking tour of the Ionian Islands of Greece. We paddled for seven days and covered 64 nautical miles, which sounds like a lot more when you say we paddled 118 km. We started paddling on day 2 around the harbor in Fiskardo on Kefalonia.  On day 3 we took the ferry to Vasiliki on Levkada and then paddled to Sivota. On day 4 we paddled to Spartahori on Meganisi where we stayed two nights.  Day 5 was a short paddle around the island of Skorpios. Day 6 was our longest day where we paddled   around the north shore of Meganisi, then a 5 mile open water crossing to Kalamos and around Kalamos to the city of Kalamos for a total of 14 nautical miles. On day 7 we paddled across to the east side of Kastos and then made another 5 mile open water crossing to the island of Atokos where a water taxi picked us up and delivered us to Ithaca where we stayed two nights again. Day 8 we took a day off from paddling and toured Ithaca.  On our last day we skirted around the bottom tip of Ithaca and made a short two mile crossing back to Antisamos on Kefalonia where we ended our trip. (If you skipped all the details you can just follow our route on the map.)

We have a lot of kayaking pictures, and these probably don't look a lot different than any others, but here are a few highlights of the trip. We explored a lot of caves which were fun because they were shady and cool.

This cave is called Papnicolis cave.  We had lunch here along with a Bulgarian kayaking club. It is a very large cave which is supposed to have hidden a submarine during World War 2.

 This is the view from inside.

 We always took nice breaks from paddling where we had time to swim or snorkel or just play around. Here we are swimming on a beach that used to belong to Aristotle Onassis but now belongs to a wealthy Russian who has not made friends with the local population.

Tevas can be used as a flotation device in the salty Ionian Sea.

And it is possible to stand-up paddle a kayak.

We were a fairly small group of ten guests and two guides. Here we are getting the gear loaded for our longest day.

This is looking out across 5 miles of ocean and seeing our destination rising from the mist in the far distance.

A view of the group as we made our crossing. The water was quite calm and the morning was beautiful.

After we made it across we stopped on a beautiful beach on Kalamos for a swim. I think that is the Greek mainland in the distance.

Here we are in our big green tandem, not quite a sleek as our own red boat, but it served us well.

And I know you were waiting for this picture.  I have dozens of backward shots of Calvin, but this was the last day and he was making a very good pirate face.

And finally a picture of the goats that seem to be everywhere.

I should have taken a picture when we were a little closer, so you'll just have to trust me that those black and white animals are goats.

An Afternoon in Athens

Our last layover before arriving in Kefalonia was Athens.  We arrived late afternoon, checked into our airport hotel and then took the metro into the heart of the city. We didn't really do any advanced planning for Athens, but we had downloaded a couple of Rick Steves tours and with that much knowledge in hand we headed for the Acropolis. We arrived late afternoon on a cool day which made the hike up the hill comfortable and touring pleasant. As we arrived they were prepping this amphitheater for a concert later in the evening.

The Parthenon was having some serious renovation done, which is probably a constant process, but it was still an impressive building.

So we needed to take our picture in front of it more that once.

The ladies of the Erechtheion still look pretty good for being 2,500 years old.

And here we are enjoying the views. A quarter of the population of Greece lives in that sprawling city behind us.

While we were having a very good Greek dinner in the tourist section we caught sight of a rainbow over the Acropolis.

There is more to Athens than the Acropolis, but that will have to wait for another visit.

Two and a half days in Paris

Our second stop on the way to kayaking this summer was Paris.  I will admit that two and a half days does not really give enough time to really see Paris, but we jumped right in with our Rick Steves guide book and hit the tourist trail.  We arrived mid morning, found our hotel and then took a river tour of the Seine. I still feel like the river is flowing the wrong direction, but it was a lovely first look at Paris. 

This is the famous footbridge that used to be covered with padlocks.  The temporary siding really isn't as pretty as a bridge full of padlocks.

After the cruise we took our tour of the Eiffel Tower. We had planned to stay touring the tower until the lights came on, but jet lag caught up with us and we had to go to bed.

This was the final day of the French Open and you could see hundreds of people watching it on a giant screen in the park below.

The view from the top

And a selfie that could be anyplace, but was on the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The next morning we got up and had a breakfast of crepes and hot chocolate at a local cafe then made our way to the Louvre.

We each had downloaded a Louvre tour to our phones and then wandered off in our own directions.  These are my highlights, I'm not sure what Calvin saw. I did see the Mona Lisa, but from behind a huge selfie snapping crowd. I liked this Winged Victory mostly because I caught it in a moment between tour groups.

The view from under the glass pyramid.

My favorite picture is the Two Tax Collectors by Marinus van Reymerswaele circa 1540.

And something I would have walked by without a second glance, but took a picture of because it was "important."

The Seated Scribe, and ancient Egyptian antiquity.

We gave up on the Louvre in the late afternoon, and it is possible we missed one our two things there.  We followed it up with a Rick Steves guided walk along the Left Bank.  Still feeling a little jet lagged we called it a night.

The next morning we started our day with a tour of Notre Dame.  After seeing all the guilded cathedrals in Germany and Austria, this one looked a little plain, but still an impressive achievement in its day.

Joan of Arc

An original rosette window

We followed Notre Dame with a visit to St. Chapelle with its amazing stained glass windows.

And the Hall of Justice just next door with its famous Liberty, Equality, Fraternity over the entrance.

Our final stop was to the d'Orsay Museum.  Calvin and I didn't even attempt to stay together on this tour.  We stayed until closing, but I was a little museum weary by the end of the day. 

 I loved this clock, but it appeared impossible to take a picture without a gaggle of tourists in the way.

I enjoyed most the Impressionist collection.

Calvin spent his time admiring the wood furniture and I think it is possible we missed a thing or two in the d'Orsay as well. In fact we might have missed a few things in Paris all together.