Map of Our Journey

Here is a map of our journey. Starting in Corfu, heading over to Samos, down to Rhodes and back to Piraeus.

Total milage approximately 1030 nautical miles, or 1185 statutory miles.

Click on the image for a larger view of the map.

Ionian Sea and Gulf of Corinth Photos

Our friend David McRae joined us on the first two weeks of the trip starting in Corfu and ending in Kiato.

Besides providing sailing and boating expertise, he shot about 1900 photos with his Nikon digital camera.

Here is a link to a sampling of his wonderful photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmcraephoto/sets/72157618476207331/detail/

You may need to cut and past the link into another window.

You can see pretty clearly the difference in color of the buildings in the Ionian sea, especially compared to the Cycladic Islands, not to mention the lushness of the Ionian islands due to more annual rainfall.

We also did side trips to Olympia, Delphi, Mycenae and the Isthmis of Corinth with David.

George

Sorry for the Spam Posts

Periodically Spam post appear on the blog. Sorry for the garbage. George

Thanks to Dolphin Yachts

The sailing trip from Corfu to Rhodes and back to Pireaus would not have been possible without our lovely boat, Kolossos.

Special thanks to Dolphin Yachts working out of Corfu for the boat and the excellent service throughout. Web site is http://www.dolphinyachts.gr/ Check them out. Very good prices. Charter directly from the owners.

The photo is with Panayotis Theofilakos (far left) of Dolphin Yachts, Michael Cardoza, our nephew, Tony Cardoza, his father and my brother in law, and George, who is Panayotis's uncle.

Tony and George both studied at the university in Bologna at the same time and spoke Italian together. Small world.

Rental Cars in Greece - Law School Exam Question

Renting cars in Greece, assuming it isn't from an international company like Hertz or Avis, can be a real relaxed situation.

First, they almost never require an international drivers license.

Second, the contracts are quite short and simple.

But beware, what constitutes a day is a tricky area. A few quoted a cost for a day, but then had the day being the current business day, not 24 hours. After threatening to walk, they backed down.

The most lax rental was in Leros. I wanted to rent a car, but had no ID. I thought that they might fill out the forms and then drive me over the the boat in the marina for the papers and credit card. The only person there was an old man. We wouldn't drive me over. But my niece, Meryl, had some ID, so he was willing to rent to her. The old man then proceeded to look for the rental contract form in the mess of the office and could not find it. Finally, he just wrote her name and her drivers license number in the daily calendar and had her sign the page. I went ahead and signed the page as well, so that I could technically be a driver of the car.

Query for a law school exam: What were the terms of the contract? Who had risk of loss for the car? What was my liability, should there be a wreck, from my signing of the calendar page? Did the car rental agency have insurance coverage under their policy with this shoddy documentation? Luckily the car was returned without incident.

Berlin's Museum for Kids

Being attorneys and traveling in foreign countries, it is always enjoyable to see how other societies address possible risks.

This is something that is very unlikely to exist in the US. It is a place where kids can go and build and destroy things. In this photo one kid is wielding an ax, the other has a saw. From what we could tell, no adult supervision. Reminds me of growing up in a suburb of Kansas City in the 60s. We ran wild. Here, it is in a Museum for Kinder.

Revisiting the Past

Over the next week or more, we will continue to post blogs that go back and cover items that we did not have time to post.

Also, we have photos that we did not have access to for posting until now.

In addition, Tara hopes to comment on some of the earlier blog posts.

Corinth Canal Video

We took footage of going through the Corinth Canal. Finally had a chance to post on the blog.

Enjoy!

Tower of the Winds

Part of our concluding duties after sailing for 8 weeks was a visit the Tower of the Winds at the base of the Acropolis in Athens.

Here is a link to a more detailed discussion of this tower.

http://www.sailingissues.com/yachting-guide/tower-of-the-winds.html

Across the top there are wonderful carved reliefs of the eight winds. Northwest, West and Southwest were our most common winds.

North Boreas Man wearing a heavy cloak, blowing through a twisted shell
North East Kaikias Man carrying & emptying a shield of small round objects
East Apeliotes Young man holding a cloak full of fruit and grain
South East Euros Old man wrapped tightly in a cloak against the elements
South Notos Man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship, promising a good sailing wind
West Zephyros Youth carrying flowers into the air
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal

Italia

Say goodbye to George and Tara. We have assumed control of this blog.

We are in Milano. I enjoy it very much-- it feels good to be somewhere more low-key and local (and cheap). We stayed the night at the very fine Hotel Alba-- talking with the owner made me realize how much I missed hanging out with 30-year-old chinese guys.

So here is a summary of our adventures since leaving the crew:

Patras, GR: awkward conversations with grocers and fantastic tomatoes. Sipping frappés to cheesy chiptunes in a café full of old men. A big curvy woman nude beneath transparent white dress passes through, trailing her faithful little husband.

The ferry to Bari: very surreal moon reflections over mediterranean ocean, ridiculous italian television and lonely windwhistling on the solarium. A man on Bari cobble-street really wants us to see the cathedral. Very beautiful Basilica San Nicola of Bari. Finished all Tomatoes.

Roma: Skinny dejected twenty-somethings in gladiator suits comb the crowd outside the Colosseo. Hot hot hot, stroll through the big elliptical wonder-place. Some statues even had noses. Imaginings of what one of these events must have been like. They took their brutality seriously. Magical kisses at Fontana Trevi. Total assault to the eyesockets in the Vatican, Kira couldn't enter on account of her shortshorts (and naughtiness, and not saying her prayers) but I brought out some cloudy salty holy water and blessed her.

Bern, Switzerland: Real nice kids on the train with hilarious english skills discussed our respective romances, O.C. California, Science education, Ramen bar in Bern Westside mall. We tried the ramen, it was nice. Super-early-morning edition: Bern is an Alladin's cave of hyperexpensive pastries. Will work for chocolate. A pious spacetime visit to Einstein's apartment. Haircut, raspberries & more kissing in beautiful swiss highwayside forestlet.