This was a free day for us, with no activities  scheduled. We took advantage of that by not rushing down to breakfast. In addition to the regular breakfast offerings, there were fabulously flaky just baked croissants, and yogurt (Greek, of course) with fresh strawberries. At breakfast we learned that the orange sky of the evening before made the front page of the New York Times.

Later in the morning, we walked to the harbor, and we went to the nautical museum there. We saw examples of period clothing and art, and exhibits of sailing ships. Unfortunately,  photography  was not allowed.  We continued to follow the harbor walk that is in the guidebook. We came upon a fascinating sun sculpture. Walking further along, we reached the Monastery of the Dormition, which was an active monastery until 1832.

I noticed that the guidebook listed a restaurant called Psaropoula. We assumed that this would have something to do with fish or fishermen, our connection to Nick’s surname. The restaurant  was not easy to find, but a couple who noticed that we looked lost, asked what we were looking for. We learned that they were from New Zealand. They explained that the entrance to the restaurant was down a side street on the second floor. Success! The restaurant was  open, and it  had a great view overlooking the harbor. We had delicious tzatziki (the recipe always varies a bit from one place to another) with pita bread,  grilled calamari (one of our favorites), and for dessert,  fudge-like chocolate cake.

As we walked back along the harbor, I heard someone calling, “Barbara!” Two members of  our group were having lunch al fresco  and were saying hello. Running into fellow travelers is one of the fun things about traveling with a group.

In the late afternoon, Angelos provided us with a “Happy Hour” that included all sorts of munchies, cheeses, and  of course, wines. I have not explained that at the beginning of each RS tour, everyone chooses a “buddy”  who is someone we don’t know. Whenever we board a bus, we each make sure our buddy is there. This also enables  us to get to know our buddy during the trip. At this get-together, we each introduced our buddies, telling what we had learned about them. Not being very hungry  at dinnertime, we shared a salad of lettuce, sun dried tomatoes, and croutons.

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