Friday 1 May

Another 5.30 start! Isn’t this meant to be a holiday?

We disembark at Lavrion at 7am and it’s an hour’s drive to the Hotel Metropolitan (room 458). This hotel is not in the centre and runs a shuttle. It is near the Aegean Sea. The good news is that our room was free. You guessed it – we fall fast asleep (most comfortable pillow so far on the trip). Wake two hours later and still feel I am gently rolling as if I was still on the ship.

1 May is a holiday with strikes, protests (we see some footage on tv in the evening). This means virtually nothing is open and the shuttle is not running. Excellent. A free day to relax and catch up on postcard writing and all those little things that need doing. We go out to lunch with David and Ann to a recommended local restaurant (Lazarus). Again, it proves the rule to eat where the locals eat. It was packed with Greeks and we can see why. The food was great. We all had peinirli (pizza in a boat). Then dessert came out for free! We booked our evening meal there as well.
Back in the hotel another nap and do jobs. Back at the Lazarus we had the set men for 20 Euro a head (2 appetizers, a salad that was a meal in itself, lovely main, dessert and drinks). Excellent food and great value.

We return to find lots of tour info in our room. Tina does washing.