Cruise the idyllic islands of the Aegean sea and visit Athens, Kos, Ios, Santorini, Mykonos and Milos
I'm beginning to feel like an extra in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I'M beginning to feel like an extra in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Guide Costa shows me the ruins of one of the world's first ever medical centres.
Remember Toula's Windextouting dad Gus, who boasted he could take any word in the English language and show how it came from the Greeks? Costa can do the same.
"Gynaecologist comes from Greek gyne and logia, meaning woman and study", he proudly explains. "You know the word pathology, the study of disease? Pathos means suffering in Greek. The word thorax? It's Greek!" And we all know about the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take. It's named after Hippocrates, the Greek father of medicine, who practised in the very place where we are standing on the island of Kos almost 2,500 years ago.
It was called an Asklepion after the ancient Greek god of medicine Asclepius and had grand consultation rooms and columned temples that put modern hospitals to shame.
Sadly it was all destroyed by an earthquake 1,500 years ago and the rubble was carted off by Ottoman invaders to build houses.
I had arrived in Kos early that morning, on day three of a one-week island-hopping holiday in Greece and Turkey with Celestyal Cruises.
This is the way to travel — much easier (and much more comfortable) than getting around the islands by ferry as you take your hotel with you.
Just unpack once, sit back and enjoy the sights.
There were two more things I had to do in Kos before we set sail — see the tree under which Hippocrates is reputed to have taught (Costa tells me it's not actually the same tree, but who's quibbling?) and have lunch in a traditional taverna in Kos Town.
The food on-board is included in the cost of the cruise but the chance to sit in the sun and tuck into a Greek salad was too good to miss.
My cruise started in the port of Piraeus, 20 minutes outside Athens, and just six hours after setting sail, I was exploring the narrow streets in Ermoupoli, on the island of Syros.
When I said this was an island-hopping holiday, I was not joking.
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All aboard that night was 11.30pm, so there was plenty of time to explore the narrow streets and enjoy a glass or two of the local tipple before falling into bed and waking next morning as my cruise ship, Celestyal Nefeli, was docking in Cesme, Turkey.
"Do you know what the town's name means?" the guy at the tourist office asked when I went in to get a map.
"Fountain," I replied smugly. I had done my homework.
Apparently there are lots of fountains in the town — hence the name — but I didn't find any. I did discover an impressive 500-year-old castle, though. British tourists are staying away from Turkey this year because of the terrorist attacks in Istanbul, which is not great for the locals but meant we were made to feel really welcome at one of the waterfront restaurants.
It was the same when visiting Kusadasi, a couple of days later.
Last year, three or four big ships a day called here to take passengers to the ruins of the Roman city of Ephesus.
Nowadays, just two Celestyal ships a week pop in.
The rest of the cruise continued to tick off fabulous Greek islands.
A morning lazing on Mylopotas beach in Ios (buses go to the beach every 20 minutes), an evening in Santorini watching the sunset over the caldera. This is an extraordinary island, blown apart by a volcano more than 3,500 years ago, with a blueand-white town perched upon a cliff.
You can ride a donkey to the top but the cable car is more comfortable and far less scary.
Hora, the main town on the party island of Mykonos, turned out to be another gorgeous place with white-washed houses, blooming bougainvillea, a maze of alleyways and chic restaurants that would look at home on Miami beach.
There was an afternoon of wine-tasting on the island of Samos, the birthplace of the Hera, the mythical goddess of marriage, and the very real mathematician Pythagoras.
There was also a whole day to discover Milos, a charming island where I joined a tour to look at a bush. OK, we weren't really there to see the bush; it just happened to be on the dusty path where the statue of Venus de Milo was found buried in 1820 by a local farmer. It now stands in the Louvre in Paris.
Guide Andreas took us to see the lunar-like landscape at Sarakiniko Beach where, instead of sand, there are gleaming white rocks that have been sculpted over the centuries by the wind and waves, and the teeny capital of Plaka.
"See the Palaios bakery. Palaios means old in Greek."
I waited to hear which English word derived from it but instead he added, "the pies are just like Granny used to make".
Actually they were nothing like my granny used to make but then she really wasn't a very good cook.
GO: GREECE
GETTING / STAYING THERE: Seven-night Idyllic Aegean cruises on Celestyal Nefeli visiting Greece and Turkey run in July and August 2017, from €964 (about £869) per person. Price includes unlimited drinks and selected excursions but excludes flights. See or call 00 30 216 4009 999.