Early this morning we sailed into Vathi Harbor, which is on the island of Ithaca. The name Vathi means deep, and it’s the deepest harbor in the Ionian Sea. Indeed it is not only the deepest but also one of the most beautiful!
We used Zodiacs to land at the picturesque town of Vathi and then did a tour of the island. The keen photographers among us left the ship earlier with Jonathan to get tips about great photography. We walked along small narrow roads running next to the beautiful costal area that were lined with olive trees and cypress trees. We followed the path right down to a tiny beach with turquoise water.
Our Greek guides told us that this island was home to Odyssey, the king of Ithaca in Homer’s epics. It was incredible to think we were on the island that Homer wrote about in The Odyssey.
We then drove around one of the high mountains of Ithaca where we were treated to an incredible view of the sea and the mountains of mainland Greece. We visited a 17th century monastery filled with Byzantine icons and frescoes and we stopped at another village were we saw the oldest church of the island, with 16th century frescoes that were well preserved. It was very interesting to visit Greek Orthodox Churches.
We then drove to the village of Stavros where we were able to see the three coves of Ithaca, as mentioned in The Odyssey. We saw a model copy of a building associated with the ancient history of the island and a modern bust of the famous Odysseus! We enjoyed a nice Greek coffee and pastry while gazing at the view.
Afterwards we drove back to the capital town of Vathi where we wandered around the narrow streets and shopped in the stores.
We returned to the Sea Cloud for another great lunch and later had a chance to get photographs of the majestic Sea Cloud during a photo safari by Zodiac.
