MV Aegean Odyssey

A tip from a local recommending Kastri as the place to get great food in Ermoupoli as the ferry boat headed toward the island of Syros was enough to spark my interest - and whet my appetite. "Great quality, good prices and huge portions!" he gushed. "And fresh… all cooked by the women of Syros."

Passengers are seen boarding a ferry at Piraeus port on Saturday ahead of the August 15 national holiday, traditionally viewed as the peak of the Greek summer season. An estimated 23,760 passengers left the country's main port for the Aegean islands on Friday. Another 8,648 and 3,150 reportedly departed from the ports of Rafina and Lavrio on the same day.

Instability in Turkey has caused a drop in cruise ship arrivals in Greece's Aegean islands, according to latest data seen by Kathimerini.

Passenger traffic at the port of Iraklio in Crete saw a 39.4 percent decline in passenger traffic with numbers droping to 82,357 in the first six months of 2017 compared to 135,967 in the same period in 2016.

А Greek coast guard ship fired warning shots at a Turkish-flagged cargo ship off the coast of the southeastern Aegean island of Rhodes Monday. Reportedly, the ship was suspected of transporting narcotics, Ekathimerini writes.

Turkish navy ships violated Greek national waters without interception from Greek naval forces for 20 minutes around the waters of the island of Agathonisi near Kalymnos in the south Aegean Sea.

Mediterranean operator Celestyal Cruises is to offer a new seven-day roundtrip from Asia, Turkey in May 2016, aboard the Celestyal Nefeli – the newest addition to the fleet – that will feature three new destinations.

The Regional Authority of the Aegean on Friday approved funding of 35,000 euros to provide assistance to 227 passengers and the crew aboard the Vitsentzos Kornaros passenger ferry, which ran aground on Thursday near the port of the southeastern Aegean island of Kasos.

A fresh deterioration in weather conditions on Monday caused problems across the country, with strong winds in northern Greece uprooting a number of trees in various parts of Thessaloniki and blowing road signs and scaffolding onto a section of the northern port city?s ring road, forcing its closure.

By Tassoula Eptakili *