I don’t want this cruise to end!

Sometimes, if you are lucky enough to get it, a total vacation from real life is exactly what you need. Sort of a much more pleasant and luxurious version of being put into a coma to let your body heal. 

Day after day of being surrounded by the most beautiful places I have ever seen, eating clean and healthy, sleeping well, meditating when I remember, walking as much as I can, breathing amazing salt air and hardly paying any attention to American politics has started to restore my weary soul and sick body. 

This is what surrounds me at as I write this on our balcony:

This morning Jerry and I took the tender in from where the Encore is anchored to have a look around Nydri and find a place for lunch. It’s a tourist town, to be sure, although you can see by the photos that it is blessed by uncluttered scenery beyond price. Clear blue waters, rocky beaches, green hills, and boats. The water is calm and there are inlets and intriguing nooks to explore. I wish we’d had a boat of our own for the day. 

The Island that was owned by the Onassis family is around here somewhere. Doesn’t that sound like a name from another lifetime? Imagine, having your own island to retreat to. 

Although owning an island would bring pressures of its own. If I had my own island it would be filled with my own things to do — brush the cat, pull weeds, worry about what to make for dinner — or worry how to pay for the island. 

And in fact I have things to do here. Two book proposals I am supposed to be working on and an agenda for a workshop I am running a few days after we return. 

But the lovely thing is, I am not doing any of them, and I am not caring right now either. It’s a bit of space and time carved out of a stressful life and I DON’T WANT THIS CRUISE TO END. Did I mention that?

(And yes, I know the trick is to make my life at home less stressful. I am taking steps to do that. Step one was to take a vacation.)

The restaurant we were aiming for in Nidri didn’t open til dinner but a lady at a place a few doors down recruited us as we walked by and as the place looked pretty, we said sure.  Solid grounds for a culinary decision. 

Jerry ordered octopus cooked with onions and tomatoes. Must have been a huge guy. Just one tentacle pretty much filled the plate, curled around a nest of whole braised onions. Jerry said it was great. 

I of course ordered way too much food and only tasted it. That was my deal with myself for traveling with a wonky pancreas. Order what you want, eat what you need. 

So I had something called spicy cheese dip because it was a mystery, which turned out to be feta mixed up with a bunch of chilies and something that made it pink, probably red bell pepper. Too spicy for this tummy. 

I had grilled halloumi, of course, because if it’s on the menu, I order it. 

I also had an order of fried eggplant and zucchini because it reminded me of a favorite dish we used to order at Kalamares, a London restaurant, where they served it with an uber garlicky dip called skordalia. I asked the woman at today’s restaurant if they had skordalia and she asked me what it was. Hmmmm. 

The fried vegetables were good except that I remembered too late I am not supposed to eat fried food and anyway, haunted by the fried eggplant and skordalia at Kalamares, nothing was going to measure up. 

I also ordered grilled vegetables and they were just fabulous. Eggplant, zucchini and peppers, grilled til caramelized and drizzled with olive oil that had a nice grassy bite. She brought us ripe red watermelon to finish. It was a good lunch. 

Then we took the tender back to the boat and read, fought sleep and ignored Trump and soaked in the scenery until it was time to get ready for dinner.

I am really loving this cruise. 

Dinner was simpler. We weren’t really hungry and there was nothing on the menus I was dying to eat so we went back to The Patio where Jerry had salmon and I had the pasta carbonara, hold the carbonara. Really, you can do that. 

One of the appetizers was a caprese salad with fabulous red tomatoes, good mozzarella and basil with basil oil. 

I took two salads, chopped them up, mixed with the pasta and voila! Perfect summer pasta. 

Fruit for dessert and that was it for us. 

Because we did fight sleep successfully this afternoon, early to bed.  We’ve been propping the door to the balcony open at night so we can hear the crashing waves. Best lullaby ever. 

Tomorrow morning we are docking in Sparta –real, actual, Sparta! And Athens a few days later. For those of us to took tons of Latin and a smattering of Ancient Greek in school, those places sound like old friends.  Adventure!