Athens-Venice Cruise

Dubrovnik

We'd been wanting to get to the Adriatic coast and so decided to book our first Viking ocean cruise. It was lovely and relaxing. The weather was mild (generally 50s-low 70s) and minimal crowds this time of year. 

The on-board experience was wonderful, as expected. The ship wasn't fully booked and we got upgraded to a penthouse suite. Each room has its own veranda. We ate very well. There were enough comfy chaises to sit in the afternoon and read and look out the window. Once Andy discovered the Mamsen's waffles, he had to have them every morning and has declared 2026 the "year of the waffle."

Itinerary

Flight	Layover in Amsterdam Arrived in Athens about 6 PM local time. Had dinner near hotel (Melia Athens) then fell into bed.
Athens	National Archeology Museum- not a lot has changed since our visit here in 1995, it was fun to revisit. Agora, Temple of Hephaestus Found my “white whale,” a pistachio Magnum ice cream bar I’ve been seeking since first seeing (but not trying) in Paris in 2017.
Athens	Parthenon. We really enjoyed the newer Museum of the Parthenon (opened 2009). Boarded ship in afternoon
Athens	Delphi, a 2.5 hour bus ride each way. Set in the mountains, and visually stunning. Lunch with excursion mates at a local restaurant.
Santorini	Had to tender to and from ship. Bus ride to Oia, then walking independently through Oia. Enjoyed watching the long trains of donkeys (one had 13) carrying construction supplies up and down the steps of the town. Archaeological Museum of Thera. Cable car down to the port for the tender ship.
Olympia	40 min bus ride from the ship. 30 min wait for practically everyone in our group (except us) to stand in line for the bathroom. The artifacts are very interesting, and our guide did a great job of interpreting the early Olympics.
Corfu	I joined the guided tour. Andy was sick with flu and went to the ship doctor for meds. He later masked up, snuck off the ship and took the shuttle into town and met me, but we didn’t stay long.
Kotor, Montenegro	Stunning dock location right outside old walled town with mountains surrounding. Hiked 1400 steps up the mountain to the remains of a fortress and a view down to the bay. Had a frappe in the square and asked if we could buy the glass it came in. Waiter said just to take it. Andy was so happy.
Dubrovnik, Croatia	Paid for the Wall walk tour. The walls are intact and 2 KM in circumference around the old town. Beautiful and charming. Afternoon massages on board
Zadar, Croatia	Not a whole lot to see here. Came to a little outdoor festival with music and food vendors. Andy enjoyed some BBQ, I had pasta mixed in a big wheel of parmesan. Bought some gelato.
Koper, Slovenia	Tour to Piran, food tasting at Padna- the wild asparagus lasagna was quite memorable. Strolled around Koper before reboarding ship
Venice	Google maps gave us bad advice (user error?) and we dragged our luggage around Venice up and over many canals to get to our hotel, Hotel Palazzo Paruta, later learning we could have more easily taken the water taxi.  Wandered Venice and ended up eating lunch in St Margaret square. Realized we were eating in the exact same restaurant in which we stayed in one of the upstairs rooms 33 years ago in 1993. It was a Monday, so only a couple of small museums were open, we did get to:         18th Century Venice Museum         Exhibition of Interactive Machines for the Codices of Leonardo Davinci         Basilica of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari       Pizza for dinner, naturally.
Flight home	Caught a pre-arranged boat taxi near hotel at 3:30 AM ($170 Euro) that got us to the Venice airport. Layover in Amsterdam.

National Archeology Museum, Athens

National Archeology Museum

Large public market filled with butchers and fishmongers

Found it!

Temple of Hephaestus

Greek giant beans and retsina

One of many frappes. Museum of Parthenon

Our room on ship

Delphi

Oia, Santorini

Oia, Santorini

Oia, Santorini

Infinity pool on ship

Olympia

Olympia

Corfu

Kotor

Kotor

After climbing 1400 steps, Kotor

After climbing 1400 steps, Kotor

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik. Popular photo stop for Game of Thrones fans

Zadar

Reusing ancient ruins, Zadar

Piran, Slovenia

Piran

Piran

Koper

Venice

Lunch, St Margaret Square

Picture of our rented room, 1993. I'm peeking out of the window on the right

Our hotel room was rather ornate

Boat taxi to airport, 3:30 AM

Docks at Venice airport

Mamsen's Cardamom Waffles

 

Andy fell in love with these waffles at the Mamsen's lounge on our recent ocean Viking Cruise ship. They were crispy on the outside and tender inside, with a great cardamom flavor. The recipe is available online. 

Half a waffle on the cruise, served with brunost cheese and fruit

Recipe

(1/2 batch)

1 C (125g) flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 egg

5 oz milk

3 Tbsp (1.5 oz) butter, melted

1/4 tsp-1/2 tsp ground cardamom

pinch salt

1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix flour, sugar, egg and milk to make a smooth batter. Whisk in melted butter. Add cardamom and vanilla. Cover bowl and refrigerate batter overnight.

Heat waffle iron to medium, lightly oil it. Cook 4-5 Tbsp of batter per waffle.

Notes:

My homecooked version wasn't quite as light or tender as the one on the cruise. I could try adding a bit of leavener. 

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Flatbread

Overcooked caramelized onions

I'm frequently looking for appetizers I can make to bring places using things I tend to have on hand. I enjoy caramelized onions but standing at the range for 30-45 min is a drag, so I thought I'd try a couple of less attention-intensive methods.

Oven method for caramelized onions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.5 lbs of onions sliced 1/8" thick on a mandolin, half a stick of butter, 1/2 tsp of salt. Melt butter in the Dutch oven, add onions and salt. Toss to thoroughly coat.

Place in oven with a lid and stir every 30 minutes for an hour. After that, remove lid and stir every 15 minutes until their the color you want.

I tried this and after just one hour, the onions were already much darker than I'd want, probably in part because I was doing a smaller batch. I used them on a batch of flatbread anyhow. Sourdough flatbread recipe

Next I decided to try a slow cooker method for caramelized onions.

I sliced 1.5 large onions into a stainless bowl and drizzled with oil. I put the bowl in our crockpot and cooked on low for 8 hours.

After 8 hours the onions were quite soft, but pretty wet and not especially browned. I transferred them to a skillet and sauteed them on med-low for a few minutes to evaporate and brown a bit. On tasting, they weren't really as good as ones done on the range, so I don't think this is the winning new method.

I made a batch of my sourdough flatbread and rolled it out, cut it in rounds using a kid-sized plastic cup and put them into a mini muffin pan. I parbaked these for 12-15 min at 350 convection, then put some onions in each and baked again another 5-8 min. I topped with a little crumbled feta. They tasted ok, the crusts had a nice sourdough flavor but got a bit tough. This isn't the winner I was hoping for.

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but hope to soon.

Fez’s Famous French Onion Soup

6 large mixed onions

2 cups chicken broth and 2 cups beef broth, or just 4 cups beef

2 cups water

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup dry sherry, not cooking sherry

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

1 bay leaf

Gruyere and Edam cheese

baguette

Use the oven technique above to caramelize your onions and let it create a deep, brown fond. Deglaze with Worcestershire sauce and sherry, reduce till syrupy. Add stock, water, and herbs, and bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer, covered for about half an hour. Taste and adjust seasoning. You may even want to add a bit more boiling water, you go ahead. Toast to brown and dry your baguette rounds (dry is important so they don’t fall apart in the bowl right away). Usual method: hot soup in French onion soup bowls, good layer of grated mixed cheeses. Into the oven under the broiler till you reach how you like it