Our day starts with breakfast in the buffet as usual. There are three areas of the buffet where you can place an order for food which is different than the buffet itself. One area is the smoothie area. Another area has an omelette station. The last area offers French toast, pancakes, and waffles. The lady knows my order now which is waffles topped with fresh fruit. I also make the Energizer a morning staple. We’re lucky to sit at a table next to the windows. We enjoy our breakfast and I then I see a sea turtle! There is one hanging out in the water next to the ship. We’re off to a great day!
Kefalonia is a Greek island and we’re ready to explore it! We signed up to visit Melissani Lake and Myrtos Beach on a group tour. We arrived early to check-in, gave our name, and then we get a look. Oh no. Our tour was cancelled. The reason we’re given is because there is no lifeguard on the beach where we’re supposed to swim. She offers us two different tour options or we can cancel. The first tour visits Melissani Lake and then there is a walking tour component and it’s six hours. That sounds exhausting. The second tour we’re offered is Melissani Lake and Drogarati Cave which does stop at a viewpoint to see Myrtos Beach, but we can’t swim. We’re standing in front of her in swimsuits and our body language definitely reads: we want a beach to swim. She then says we can do the last tour and they can drive us to a different beach afterwards. We’re in! The tour leaves 1.5 hours after our original tour so we walk around, return to the ship to use the bathroom, and then back to meet the tour.
A motorcoach bus comes to pick us up and it’s already mostly full. We find two seats. The guide is the same person who checked us in and she’s great with communicating what we’re doing and how long it will take. We have a 45-minute drive until our first stop. I was surprised by how much wildlife we see! There was a group of about 50-75 goats along the side of the road! We also see cows and chickens.
Drogarati Cave is our first stop. We’re each given a ticket before we get off the bus. We walk to the cave and hand our tickets over. We then descend several steps that are covered in a carpet-like material into the heart of the cave. This wasn’t on our originally planned tour, but I’m glad we made it here. I’ve been to a lot of caves before, but this one hit me differently. It looked like you walked into the interior of an alien civilization. The stalactites were so close that you could easily touch them, but there is a sign not to touch them. I’m not sad we ended up here. I’m also not mentally prepared for the amount of stairs on today’s journey which is becoming a theme for the trip. When we finish with the cave, we still have about twenty minutes where we can shop, grab something to eat, or use the restrooms. The bathroom is free. No one wants to be a tourist until you need to use the restroom then the tourist rest stop is the best idea ever.
The bus takes us to Melissani Lake. This is another tourist stop and we’re told that it can have a 2-3 hour wait in the summer. Luckily, we’re in the shoulder season and wait less than five minutes. This experience feels kind of like going on a ride at Disney. There are about five boats for the “ride” and each one holds 12 people. The dock fits two boats where one unloads and the other loads. We load into the boat and I’m surprised by how wobbly it is. This is not a Disney ride after all. The water is a beautiful blue color and this lake is located in a cave with an opening on top. It’s a unique geological location. It is gorgeous, but I would have been disappointed if I waited 2-3 hours to see it.
The last stop on the official tour is a photo stop at Myrtos Beach. We pull out onto an overlook and it’s a beautiful view of vibrant blue water set against white sand and a dramatic landscape. I didn’t know much about Myrtos Beach and chose it because we wanted a beach. It turns out that this beach is known as the best in Greece and even from way up high we can see it’s special. Now I’m bummed our original tour was cancelled. It looks like plenty of people swimming on it. Who needs a lifeguard?
The bus makes three normal stops to drop-off passengers. The first stop is the city center of Argostoli. The second stop is the tour agency’s office which is close to many hotels. The last stop is the port. The guide had already told us to stay on the bus and we’ll be taken to the beach. The bus drops off the guide presumably close to where she lives and then we’re the very last stop. We’re dropped off at a bus stop and near the bus stop is a sign that says beach.
There was one other couple in our situation and we all walk down to the beach. As we walk down I ask Brian, “how much do you want to bet that this beach doesn’t have a lifeguard?” He laughs and does not take me up on my wager. I’m not expecting much with this beach because the guide made it pretty clear that the other beach is superior to this one. This one was gorgeous! It had real sand and not rocks, clear blue water, gentle waves, food, bathrooms, etc. I was pleasantly surprised. We had about an hour to enjoy the beach was the perfect amount of time for me. There were two lifeguard stands, but no lifeguards to be seen anywhere.
The plan was that we return to the bus stop at 4:30 and a minivan that says Avalon will pick us up. The tour company seems very organized, but this was a last-minute thing and doesn’t have the same layers of communication as booking a tour. Our ship doesn’t leave port until 10pm which made my stress ease. Plenty of time for a backup plan if a van doesn’t show up at this random spot. We make it to the bus stop at around 4:20. The other couple is already there. A couple minutes later a minivan arrives exactly as described! Wahoo.
Tonight is our Azamazing evening. It’s a special night on the cruise with authentic nighttime entertainment. Many times this event is in at a local venue off ship, but for our sailing the entertainment is brought onboard. Greek music is performed and dancers add to the performance. It was enjoyable. Brian and I were sitting in the front row. Brian had suggested the seats and I replied, “I don’t know, this seems too close for getting picked for audience participation.” We sat down anyway. I wasn’t wrong and we found ourselves quickly learning the Greek dance that was performed in front of a live audience.
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