Today and tomorrow we're in Greece's second larget city, Thessaloniki and the capital of Central Macedonia. Founded in 315 BC. the city is renowned for its rich Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Jewish heritage.
Monday, we spent the day walking the promenade, which goes on for over 4 miles, and enjoying the local cuisine. The promenade is wide and long but not particularly interesting. This is an industrial port so most of harbour was filled with container and other large ships. 
Tuesday we took a tour to the Pozar Thermal Baths and the Edessa falls. Pozar has naturally heated warm water in largely natural pools that attracts locals and visitors year round. The info for our trip was a tad unclear so we were surprised we had to pay to get into the pool once we arrived.
At any rate we had a nice time in the mineral waters and enjoyed a coffee before heading to Edessa. 
Edessa ws a highlight with an amazing waterfall followed by an enormous and delicious local lunch, cheese and spinach pies, deep fried zucchini, greek salad, rolls, followed by a version of Moussaka and rounded out with an amazing orange cake and ice cream.

Pozar Pools

Edessa waterfalls

A great day exploring. Kavala is in Northern Greece often called the "Blue City", built amphitheatrically around a natural harbour on the Aegean Sea. It's history spans 2,500 years with Byzantine and Ottoman influences, reflected in landmarks such as the hilltop Fortress, the impressive Kamares Aquaduct, and the historic Panagia Old Town. All of which we managed to explore before returning to our suite in time to host our friends, mary and Steve to some white wine and canapes.
Our cocktail party was followed by the ship's Yacht Club event for past passengers - this was our final free drinks event.

Taking advantage of our new digs - canapes and wine with our friends Mary and Steve!

Our last Yacht Club event - celebrating a great cruise with the other 10 Eighty Day folks!

Today was a sea day - a bit of rough seas and lots of sea spray. Our new cabin gave us a great view and a lot more movement than the last one. Thank God for anti-nausea meds.
We were also treated to a wonderful Thai meal created especially for us courtesy of Chef Neil and Pahka - one of the servers from Thailand who brought some of the ingredients required from home - such a wonderful treat.

This was our delicious beef appetizer - sadly we forgot to take pictures of the next two courses - we were having too much fun eating. 

Today we visit Ancient Ephesus, a highlight of this trip. The site is one of the grandest and best preserved of all the ancient classical ruins. The prosperity Ephesus enjoyed as a port of trade connecting Europe, Asia and Africa was dependent on having a functional harbour. Ephesus began to decline when its harbour was ruined by centuries of silt accumulation that occurred at the mouth of the Kaystros River. Today the city pays 6-miles from the sea. The region lay dormant from 1450-1950. At its height, Ephesus was the most important commercial centre in this part of the world and had a population of a quarter of a million people. Inscriptions found by archaeologists described Ephesus as the "first and greatest metropolis of Asia". British and Austrian archaeologists excavated the site in the 19th century, smuggling out most of the relics found there.
Our guide explained how modern the city was, store that specialized in jewelry, spices, hot and cold running water, brothels, theatres, the library and more. It is an amazing site.
After visiting Ephesus we also spent some time in the museum where many of the statues and artifacts reside. Many of them are also in the British museum, taken when the site was original discovered.
we then visited a carpet weaving school - UNESCO sponsored to keep this craft from Biblical times alive. It is amazing to watch not on the harvesting of the silk but the wearing itself, all done by hand. A 9x10 rug could take up to 2 years to make.
Finally and to top off a great day - we returned to Ephesus tonight for a special dinner in the first and smallest theatre. A beautiful evening in an amazing historic site, complete with classical music, a real treat.

Our guide explained that these were the underground pipes which supplied hot and cold running water - 2000 years ago.

Ancient communal toilets

Pictures from the museum

UNESCO supported Carpet weaving school, silk demonstration and light lunch

Windstar special dinner at Ephesus

Today was our last change over day as we start our last leg of this cruise on Windstar! We didn't have enough time to comfortably travel into Athens so we wandered around the port. We also managed to snag a cabin upgrade as the ship isn't full - pretty excited to get a taste of an onboard suite! We have a real balcony now!

Gorgeous day for a hike. We were anchored off the town and took a local tender into port. We were able to hike to the old city and from there up to the top of the hill where the original settlement ruins remain. The views were spectacular. We hiked, toured the community and it's shops. Stopped for a refreshment break and then headed back into the new town for lunch by the sea. 

We had a lovely cocktail party with the Captain and senior officers and staff - the Captain is leaving us in Athens tomorrow, so while this wasn't the end of our trip he wanted to say goodbye. The Captain and crew together came up with a beautiful and very special commemoration of our trip from them (not the company) to us!  This beautiful picture of the ship was personalized for each of us and signed on the back by all of them. It was a very special evening.

Our first day in Greece. Beautiful day with just enough cloud cover and a lovely breeze. We had a great day walking the promenade, visiting the nearby island, attached by causeway and home to an old family home and lighthouse. We visited what's left of an ancient amphitheatre, and enjoyed a waterside lunch before hiking up some of the higher streets to admire the view and get some more steps in. Tonight is supposed to be the ship's deck BBQ - it's pretty windy this afternoon so who knows! We also plan to go for a walk after BBQ.

Today was a beautiful sea day. We had a fabulous time at our wine and pizza party last night during which we agreed to all meet today with the Hotel manager Wilhelm as an informal focus group. We provided feedback about the trip from the perspective of folks who chose to do this 80 day voyage in exchange for cookies and more wine. We had a lovely time. Tonight is the next yacht Club Party where repeat cruisers are recognized which we followed with dinner in Candles the Al Fresco restaurant. 

Messina, the historic gateway to Sicily sits along the spectacular Strait of Messina. On our way into this port at about 4:15 am we passed by Stromboli one of the world's most active volcanoes. Having just visited Herculaneum and with a visit to Pompeii still to come, it seemed only fitting for us to get up to see this volcano. It's dark at 4:15 am so the pictures aren't great but it was still spectacular and worth the effort.
Our time in Messina started with another Chef Market Tour - for this one we travelled again by bus and visited a small but interesting open air market, complete with the opportunity to taste some local wines and followed by coffee and a treat. 
After returning to the ship briefly we headed out again to see the city and get some more architecture photos. 

This piece of street art was created in 2015, by Italian street artist NemO's in memory of migrants who lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean. 4 humans attached to a clothesline - people hung out to dry by society.

Photos from our Pizza and Wine gathering - only 12 days left onboard this cruise...