We wandered somewhat aimlessly into Corfu and didn't see anything touristy. Will have to be braver and hazard the shuttle bus next time. There was fun in the port with a ferry bearing lorries and cars. It had apparently managed to get holed on some rocks, and its passengers were scattered around on what grass and benches were available.

The excursion to the Acropolis started shambolically, for all their cultural heritage the Greeks had us waiting ages and walking miles to the coaches. They even let street hawkers onto the coaches which never happened in Egypt. (On the return we even left passengers behind.) Athens does have traffic problems - odd numberplates are allowed some days, even numberplates on other days. We did get to the Acropolis, along with gangs of youths from some Mediterranean country. The guide wasn't that audible in the chaos, but as she was on a long diatribe about how great the Greeks were, and how despicable it was for marbles to be in the British Museum, not hearing every word wasn't such of a loss. Such rants encourage me to think we should hang onto the friezes. The Parthenon is big, but not something I'd like to have in the back garden. We were dumped in Cathedral Square in Athens' Plaka district for two hours, and left to fend for ourselves. Apart from the tablecloth selling women (who uttered curses after each refusal) there were North Africans selling strange jelly like blobs. These blobs they dashed to the ground, making a flat splodge of colour. But wait a minute or two and the blobs reformed into their original shape. In passing there's a lot of marble on show in Athens, much used material.

After Egypt visiting Cyprus was serenity. We drove from Limassol through citrus plantations to Paphos (driving on the left as in the UK.) Long lectures on the coach about the disaster area that is Greek mythology. We passed through a UK military base in Cyprus, strange to see a slice of home in an alien soil. Cyprus has low rainfall, and has relied on tankers of fresh water from Greece in the past. We did get to see where Aphrodite emerged from the sea (don't know if different Greek places all claim that, wouldn't be surprised.) The tour focussed on the Roman and Greek mosaics found at Paphos. The images were taken from Greek mythology, and were well presented. Here as elsewhere it felt like conveyor belt tourism, different parties being shepherded through the system like cows at a cattle market. We had some refreshments at a nearby cafe, I had baklava which came as a large slab unlike the little pieces I normally have!