THOSE FAR AWAY PLACES WITH THE STRANGE SOUNDING NAMES

CRUISES

     are all about travel to far away places that stimulate the imagination,

  

ISLAND OF CORFU...GREECE



PORT AT IGOUMENITSA....GREECE



 basking in the sun, sitting poolside with an exotic drink in your hand, a romantic encounter with a stranger, frequently, and with no end to the selection, partaking of gastronomical delicacies, or, for the more serious eater…just plain pigging out.  Whatever your pleasure—or fantasy for that matter--- a cruise will fulfill you, lull you into thinking, if only for a moment, that life really isn’t so complicated, and undoubtedly leave you working overtime at the gym upon your return to reality. 

Taking a cruise on a luxury ferry is all of those things and more, for you can travel to your destination, but let someone else take control of the wheel while you sit back in your seat and enjoy the experience.

     

      For this nature lover, however, the cruise was all about witnessing more of the planet’s wonders; other than viewing them from a seagull’s vantage point, there’s no better way to partake of the experience than by looking back at them from the deck of a ship... with the wind in your face.  

And that’s exactly what I did from the minute I walked out on deck into the crisp morning air, until the flaming sun tucked itself behind the horizon and dragged that last ray of light with it in the late evening.

It was an uninterrupted visual encounter with cotton-wrapped mountains rising from the sea like dark giants,



COAST OF ALBANIA



of furry-patched, hump back islands, and the light playing off of their rock face,

 

of a horizon ablaze, and a red-stained sea,

                       and of the totality of sky and water,

and of how Mother Nature’s canvas featured them together... in perfect harmony.

That was my exotic drink, my encounter with a stranger, my gastronomical overdose.  And to think---it all came at no cost, without guilt, calorie free, and left me with a welcome hangover!