A UVM blog Semester at Sea – Spring 2022

Change of plans. We are headed home. Just in time to take advantage of some new snow I guess. We retrieved our luggage from the ship on the 14th and entered Greece through the immigration desk in the port. Our Athens hotel reservation (hotel Perianth) went through Friday night. The Perianth was great. Stunning view of the Acropolis from our bed.

But we had trip planning to do. We needed to change our return flights, get new covid tests, and get to the airport for an early morning flight. We were able to arrange travel for today (Sunday), move to a hotel right at the airport (Sofitel), get a covid test in the airport, and have a fun meal at an almost deserted hotel restaurant. The Sofitel stay was a good idea… so convenient. We walked to the airport this morning at 7 for our 9am flight. Uh oh. LONG line at the Aegean Airlines departure desk. But, the line moved quickly and we freed ourselves from our heavy bags and got our boarding passes, made it through security. We had printed all our paperwork. Passenger Locator Form, covid test results, we had our CDC vaccination cards, and our passports of course. 4 hour flight to Heathrow and 1 hour to make our connection. And we needed ALL of that hour. We had to go through immigration control, then security, and Kathy’s carry-on bag was selected for extra scrutiny. And the security person was not doing bags in the order presented, so we were waiting and waiting. Then a LONG run through the airport to our gate. Where they wanted to see our test results again. Finally got aboard a nearly empty Boeing 767-300. 8 hours later we arrived at Dulles. Now, if our 10pm Burlington flight goes off….

Nice day in Athens. Chilly though. Started the day with breakfast at our hotel. It was good, especially the coffee. Then a stroll around town. We headed north up to the central market. We do love a market. Then back south to Ermou street, a very popular shopping area. We bought a few treats and stopped back in the hotel to drop stuff off. Then we headed east and visited the Museum of Cycladic Art. We started our visit in the cafe for lunch. We have had some great meals in museum cafes. Today’s lunch was good not great. Then we walked through the permanent and temporary exhibitions. I didn’t take any photos. It’s not my favorite kind of art. Then the museum store (we love museum stores) but I came away empty handed. On the way back we cut through the National Garden. A park. Apparently the parliment is in session. There were a ton of fiercely armed police all over around the government building. The park was nice. Not very developed, but a nice big green space in the middle of Athens. For dinner we looked for a fish restaurant. Found on nearby with good google ratings. Asked the front desk to make a reservation for us. Turns out a reservation was NOT needed. The place was practically empty. Which we liked! (we are seriously trying to avoid any crowded spaces). On the way back we saw this wild Christmassy decorated dessert place.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We were scheduled to disembark in Piraeus (port of Athens) yesterday. Kathy got stuck aboard dealing with “issues” until 5ish. So, rather than a 20 minute walk to Metro Line 1, a short train ride, and another walk through unfamiliar streets, we splurged on a 40 euro cab ride from the ship to our hotel door. And here we are in Hotel Perianth. Here’s the view from our room.

We were beat. We found a nice restaurant a few blocks away. When we got back to the hotel we went to sleep early. So, we are up very early doing email etc. The plan for today is a self-guided walk around this part of Athens. Eating, drinking, shopping, and perhaps a trip to the central market. Oh, and maybe a craft shop here or there. Need to pick up a few gifts for some staff aboard who have been exceptionally helpful/friendly.

A pilot came aboard at 17:00 and by 18:00 we were docked. We disembark tomorrow. A metro ride to the city center and a walk to our hotel near the central market. One of our favorite things is to stroll through open markets.

The red mark was to port entering the harbor. Red-right-returning does NOT apply in IALA region A. Opposite-land.

We’ve been on the ship for 10 days. We are … very … excited about heading in to Athens tomorrow. We made it through another covid test negative. Part careful behavior, and part luck surely. May the odds be ever in our favor.

Not much to post. Students have been in classes each day 7-8-9-10. Tomorrow morning we all get another covid test and tomorrow evening we dock in Piraeus. We will disembark on the 12th. Kathy and I decided to grab a nice hotel room in Athens. It’s a short metro ride from the port. Supposed to be an “artsy” neighborhood. We are hoping for some great Greek food and pastries and art.

This morning at dawn we passed an active volcano. Stromboli. Then on to the Strait of Messina. Slipped through the narrow passage between the toe of Italy’s boot and Sicily.

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Messina )

Then, we slowed WAY down and are basically standing station in the lee of Sicily. We are scheduled to arrive in Piraeus on the 12th, and it’s only a 3-day sail, so …

Today we all get another covid test. Fingers crossed.

• 

• 

Students boarded yesterday. Orientation events all day today. They are being pretty good about mask wearing and social distancing. And … We are at sea! We left the pier in Napoli 1:30 today local time. We are finally out of sight of land. And, the decks are moving under our feet. I did notice the crew has left motion sickness bags distributed around. We are on our way to Greece.

So, we boarded Sunday Jan 2nd. We being faculty, staff and we “companions”. Starting to develop the ship rhythm. We eat when they serve. No kitchen for us to play in. Need to get on schedule.

Today is orientation. We met the student affairs staff, the medical staff, the global studies course staff. We worked on developing a voyage culture, establishing values we intend to honor. We heard from the captain of our ship. We reviewed covid protocols. 

We will be docked here for a few more days. Students board on Wednesday.

Kathy is the “voice” of the voyage making all ship-wide announcements. 

We are all vaxxed, boosted, tested, and masked. Stay positive, test negative! Anxious to get to sea. Anxious to get to our fist port, Piraeus Greece. Tentatively planning to rent a car and situate ourselves in a small seaside village.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A lot of walking around Napoli today. This city (the parts we have seen) is hurting. Everything looks like maintenance has been abandoned. And there is trash all over. Sorry, but that’s what the parts we have seen look like.

Meanwhile, we got our t-minus 24 hour covid test. Had to wait in line about 45 minutes, then 20 minutes for results. We needed (and fortunately had brought) our passports. Negative! Hooray!

We had to abandon one restaurant where they studiously ignored us after seating us, but grabbed a sandwich and beer at a take-away place and walked back to the hotel. The hotel is really “at the edge” of the walkable part of Napoli. We would not stay in this section again. But dinner here tonight. Tomorrow we get a late check-out (we hope) and a taxi to the maritime terminal for our 14:00 appointment for boarding. Maybe a morning shopping trip for soaps, shampoos etc.

We grabbed a cappuccino and a croissant in the hotel and headed out. We visited the nearby testing center. They advertise a 24 hour result PCR test. Ahhhh… closed. We walked nearly an hour through a pretty unattractive section of Napoli. We finally arrived at the front of the train station facing the Galleria Garibaldi. We found a place to get some 7-day metro passes. Slightly more money than 3 single day passes, but simpler. We rode the #1 line to the Toledo station which was supposed to be cool. It was. Modern design in colored tiles. We popped up to the surface and walked Via Toledo for a while. Lots of street stalls. Looked like a poor man’s left over Christmas market. Tons of people walking. Guess it was the start of the holiday party. Back to the metro to the University stop. Thought there would be a good place to eat near a University. Well, not the way we turned apparently. But wait, let’s walk toward that castle. Turned out to be Castel Nuovo. And we found a very nice small restaurant in an alley. Very quiet and pleasant. I had another pizza, Kathy some pasta. We realized we were very close to the Maritime Terminal so we walked over to reconnoiter. Talked to a guard there who told us where our ship would be on Sunday when we board. Google suggested we take the light rail to get back to our hotel. That worked. Got us within a 10 minute walk.

• 

• 

• 

•