pdmlynek

Please read @Hlitner's comment. His advice is correct, ... as always. When we were planning our day (9 hrs) on Mykonos, there seemed to be 3 different options: (A) Mykonos town and Delos; (B) Mykonos town and celebrity beaches; and (C) Mykonos town and drive to other parts of Mykonos island. We chose (A). The public boats to Delos leave from the western side of the Old Port, at 9:00, 10:00, 11:30, and 17:00, and head back from Delos at 12:00, 13:30, 15:00, and 20:00. The boat ride is about half an hour each way. Delos is a huge archeological site; supposedly larger than any in Greece. You could spend many days or weeks exploring it, but a 3 hr visit will give you a good flavor. Luckily Delos has been relatively well preserved because it did not have and population in post classic time due to limite water, so the local people have not taken apart the monuments for their own use as in most other places. It has been excavated since last 19th century. Mykonos town is fairly compact, so you don't really need too much time in the town. 2 to 3 hours of wandering about is fine. We chose not to go for Option (B), because these party beaches (on the western half of the southern coast, from Playa Ornos to Super Paradise Beach), where jetsetters meet, and billionaire's yachts are anchored off shore, seemed just too expensive and crowded for us, and there were much more beautiful Greek beaches at other island. If you want to go there, make sure you read up on the public transport to there (some beaches have bus stops, others don't) We chose not to do option (C), and not rent cars like we did on other island, because most of the islands that we visited on the cruise were more beautiful than Myconos.

We've looked into doing a trip to Nae Kameni and/or Palea Kameni, but it would mean Santorini. Santorini has so much to offer, that for us it was no cotest. But let us know if either of those two islets work out for you.

I think that if you are going to be on an island after sunset, you should carry a headlamp. As a matter of fact, we alway have a headlamp on us when we get off the ship: there are some caves to explore, dark corners of a building to walk through, etc. At 80 g, it is easy to always have it with you.

We did NCL Jade in June, and we watched the sunset from Santorini. The sunset was at 20:40, and our ship left at 21:30 (with the last tender running at 21:00). So, yes, it could be done, but depending on the sunset time, you do not want to waste too much time getting down to the tender pier. And, as @mapleleaves wrote, the sunset times vary. Here are the sunset times at Santorini: 1 Apr 19:40 1 May 20:06 1 Jun 20:30 1 Jul 20:40 1 Aug 20:24 1 Sep 19:46 1 Oct 19:02

I agree with others. Just take a taxi, bus, or metro to downtown Athens and see what you have no yet seen.

Dear fellow cruisers: Our family will be visiting Argostoli, Kefalonia in June this year, and we are trying to figure out what to do. Kefalonia is a beautiful Ionian Island that would take many weeks to see thoroughly. We only have about 8 hours on the island (10:00 to 18:00). We likely need to select only a few places to enjoy instead of trying to see everything through our windshield. A few questions. (1) We are planning to do by car one of three routes (a) Southern Loop: Argostoli – Agios Gerasimos Monastery – St George's Castle (Κάστρο Αγίου Γεωργίου) – Skala – Poros – Sami – Agia Efimia – Myrtos Beach – Argostoli (b) Northern Loop: Argostoli – Sami – Agia Efimia – Myrtos beach – Assos – Fiskardo – Argostoli (c) Western loop: Argostoli – Vouti Beach – Petani Beach – Xi Beach – Lixouri – Argostoli Please let me know which of these three loops would be the best for about 6 to 7 hrs. Or is there some other drive that you'd recommend? (2) The car rental in Argostoli is about twice as expensive as at the airport. Is there a way of picking up a car at the airport easily from the pier? (3) Argostoli, due to 1953, does not seem as historically significant or interesting as the port cities of Corfu, Mykonos, or Rhodes. We plan on stopping only at Katavothres (Καταβόθρες) at 38.1938°N, 20.4743°E; Monument to the Fallen of the Acqui Division (Μνημείο Πεσόντων Μεραρχίας Acqui) at 38.1889°N 20.4770°E; and Church of St. Gerasimos (Ιερα Μονη Αγιου Γερασιμου) at 38.1598°N 20.4863. Is there anything else that deserves a visit in Argostoli? (4) Half of Kefalonia is on karst stone, thus contains dozens of caves. Unfortunately, aside from the two show caves, namely, Drogarati Cave (Σπήλαιο Δρογκαράτη) at 38.2275°N 20.6283°E and Melissani Lake (Λίμνη Μελισσάνη) at 38.2567°N 20.6243°E, none seem very accessible. Some caves, such as Drakaina Cave (Σπηλαιο Δρακαινας) 38.1495°N 20.7675°E are off limits because they are archeological sites; some caves, such as Agalaki Cave (Σπηλαιοβάραθρο Αγγαλάκι) 38.2355°N 20.6173°E or Gruspa 38.1738°N 20.5253°E require steep descent on lines and spelunking equipment; some caves, like Zervati Cave (Σπηλαιο Ζερβατι) require cave SCUBA diving equipment; etc. Any suggestions for caving on Kefalonia would be appreciated. Thank you!