Any fuzzy heads apart; there was a palpable air of pleasure the following morning once we arrived within the tiny harbour at Skyros. We found that, even when the climate scuppers the best-laid plans, there may be all the time a back-up technique. Whereas we have been sleeping issues off within the small however cosy cabins, crew members had labored into the small hours unexpectedly arranging a guided tour on Skyros.
That mentioned, there’s no enforced hand-holding on this laid-back cruise. The emphasis is on having an genuine expertise, be it heading out on impromptu hikes or, as we did, getting pleasantly misplaced in a rent automotive.
Genuine experiences
The following morning heralded our arrival in Agios Efstathios, one of the vital remoted Aegean islands. As soon as used to deal with political exiles and devastated by an earthquake in 1968, we learnt about its sombre previous in a museum inside the old-fashioned. The curator was so excited by our arrival that she urged us to swell the signatures within the customer guide.
Afterwards, we wandered previous blue shuttered houses to a bar; the principle watering gap for the inhabitants of simply 250. A few of our thirsty shipmates beat us to it and, by the point we arrived, they’d run out of that day’s provide of the island’s home-brewed beer. As an alternative, we took a desk on the neighbouring taverna, owned by the identical household, and settled for the omnipresent bottled Mythos served in refreshingly ice-cold glasses.
Cruises on Galileo and her smaller sister boat Callisto are primarily half-board, and ashore we ate at waterside cafés and eating places, surrounded by chattering Greek households. Typically there have been no menus and, in a single, the waiter really helpful freshly caught sardines, an enormous plateful of which have been duly positioned on the checked tablecloth, served with lemons and just-out-of-the-oven bread to dip in olive oil. All for simply €6 (£5).
