Saying Hiya! to Hades
Ancient Greek legend has it that the caves at Diros were the entrance to Hades – the underworld, the realm of the dead… We dropped our anchor in the bay just outside this entrance, and made our way to the visitors’ centre to buy ourselves some tickets. Because you don’t just saunter into the gateway to the underworld without a chaperone – or without paying…
Pretty soon after that we stepped into a small boat and our guide punted us through the network of half-submerged caves. The kids were excited, but in a quiet, respectful way, which is very unusual for them. The guides were suitably surly and did not speak to us in English, or at all, which we really did not mind because we were happy to just look around and admire the view.
Dodging dumplings
Back on Spacegrazer, the boat was rocking and rolling quite a bit. This unfortunately happens sometimes when the boat is on anchor and a swell rolls into the bay. We all tried to ignore it and just get on with things, until all adults realised at the same time that we had pot of freshly made soup on the stove, which may… But it was too late. A loud crash came from the galley. A trail of fragrant tomato soup and dented dumplings ran along the cupboards and floor. About half of the soup remained in the pot and looked edible. So we had half a bowl instead of one that evening. Ah well, that’s boat life sometimes. At least we had emerged from the underworld in one piece.
