WELCOME TO GREECE

TANLINES v TEMPLES

M/V Panorama

In June Janet and I are returning to Greece. This is a second trip there for both of us, though our first visits were way before we conjoined our lives.

Mine was in 1984 where I got away cheap with meager but charming rooms in pensions in towns like Sitia and Agios Nikolaos on Crete or Fira on Santorini for about $11.00 pd. (Showers cost another dollar).

Janet’s trip to Greece was more recent, but still more than 20 years ago. Her trip also included visits to Crete and Santorini, as well as Rhodes and Mykonos, among others.

Between our two trips we saw a lot of the popular sites of Greece, but this time we’re going small, although the prices now are much higher.

LET’S GET SMALL

There are several ways to enjoy Greece. Like millions of yearly tourists, there is the allure of the country’s rich history and her fantastic mythology, but equally captivating are her warm seas and the beautiful islands that dot the azure waters of the Aegean Sea. 

M/V Panorama

We will be sailing with Variety Cruises, a Greek-based small ship company, aboard their three-masted M/V Panorama on a tour they call “Unexplored Greece”. Our eight-day journey has us stopping at several islands in the Cyclades with one more island, Kalymnos, in the Dodecanese. No Santorini, or Rhodes or Mykonos on this trip, but places we’ve never heard of before like Ikaria and Patmos and Kalymnos where they are famous for harvesting sea sponges. With plenty of swimming and relaxing in the sun this will be a great trip, as long as we don’t run into Polyphemus or Circe.

We will be sailing on the M/V Panorama, which is the same ship we sailed with along the Pacific Ocean coasts of Costa Rica and Panama 6 years ago. The Panorama has room for 40 passengers. When we first sailed the crew of 18 outnumbered the 16 passengers.

As repeat customers we get a slight discount, and a room upgrade, and checking their website they are offering further discounts for last minute customers.

VARIETY CRUISES UNEXPLORED GREECE 

IT'S GREEK TO ME

We have a direct flight from Philadelphia to Athens and we’re staying in much more expensive places than my last visit to the capital. Of course, Janet has arranged everything, from hotels before and after our sailing adventure, rides to and from the airport, and the ferry we will need to take to reach Hydra, yet another island after our sailing excursion. She’s even arranged a tour of the Acropolis and a food tour in Athens and our hotel on Hyrdra, though she hasn’t quite worked out the details about renting a donkey to get us to the hotel there. There are no cars allowed on Hydra, only donkeys.

She makes the arrangements, and I hand her my credit card. Let me tell you the sticker shock was much steeper than my last visit. 

NO LONGER DRACHMAS

Greece is now a part of the EU and has used the Euro since 2001. To give you a quick idea of the costs,1 Greek Drachma (GRD) is equal to approximately 0.0029347 Euros (€).  Our two-day stay in Athens will cost us $1,288.99, our 5-day stay on Hydra will cost us $1,095 and our last hotel near the airport before we travel home is $334.71 give or take 50,000 Drachmas or so.

GREEK HOSPITALITY

Perhaps that is why the Greek spirit of hospitality is still a deeply ingrained attitude to strangers and visitors? Money talks, but Filoxenia is the essence of Greek hospitality and generosity of her people.

Stemming from the country’s mythology when Zeus and Hermes decided to kick around on Earth incognito and were rebuffed by many until a poor elderly couple honored them by taking them in and feeding them (and were rewarded by the gods for their kindness), Filoxenia to this day is a fundamental aspect of Greek culture.

The Euro helps too, but the Greeks are a warm welcoming people.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj