I have just been playing with a cool web site which has actually been of value to me during this busy time of meeting arriving guests.

MarineTraffic.com tracks a great many sea-going vessels around the world, including all of the Greek island ferries.

Features include:

Location and speed of ships

Live web cams of ports, showing ships in sight

Photo gallery of ships, yachts and the like

Ability to search boats by name

Browse around; its fun. 

Since I live about 20 minutes from the ferry port I use it to make sure the ferry has left its previous port.  The only drawback is the ferry speeds are given in knots while the Google map is scaled in miles and kilometres.

The photo is of the Rodanthi which I am meeting about 4 A.M. tomorrow.  When I first came to Paros 9 years ago this was a standard ferry.  Now it is one of only two or three old and slow boats still in service.  Very hard to judge it’s arrival time.

Hmm, maybe this is the excuse I have been looking for to buy a Blackberry, Palm or what have you to track the boats live from the port as well as at home.

Last night we went into Parikia for a mixture of culture and school play.  As an extension to their English language studies a group of young people, with the help of their teacher, of course, presented a series of Shakespeare excerpts.  There were sonnets and parts of plays around the theme, The Ages of Women.

The leads all did a credible job but it was obvious that some of the supporting cast was forcibly recruited.  Over all the costuming, music and presentation were well done which made it an enjoyable show.  The Elizabethan-style juggler stole the show, however.

In the advance publicity one of the players commented that as they rehearsed they understood the meanings of the English words and phrases but when they read a Greek language translation it lost meaning because of the different style of expression between Greek and English.  This cultural difference is something we experience every day.

As usual we capped off the experience with a gelato from Gelato Sulla Luna.  The pistachio was heavenly; made on the premises.  Do visit Denise there and say hello from Michael of Aliki.

1 July seems to be a common date for new laws to take effect.  Here is a new one for Greece: 

A smoking ban went into effect throughout Greece on Wednesday,

prohibiting smoking in all enclosed spaces and public services.

The law also prohibits the sale of tobacco to and by minors, the use of tobacco products in all enclosed public spaces, airports, public transport stations and on public transport means, snack shops, etc.

I first saw something last winter about this law but had not paid attention thinking that there would be more in the news.  I have not seen anything until now.  To me that indicates that enforcement will be quite lax, as it usually is on most regulations in Greece.

Also I do not see it making much difference on the islands.  I was here two years before I ate inside an enclosed restaurant—that was during our first winter, I admit.

Photo is of your typical smoking section on Paros.

So we will see if the passing of new laws spoils our Greek island paradise.

Facts courtesy of ANA.