Last week we joyfully left the boatyard and continued cruising the Ionian islands. Our first stop was in Tranquil Bay, Lefkada which happily lived up to it's name. We enjoyed wildflower filled hikes and we all slept soundly in the floating boat. Next we sailed to the island of Ithaca, home of Odysseus (from Homer's epic story The Odyssey made into an excellent movie too.) RJ studied this in history and we attempted to find the archeological sites on the island. Although marked on the map, it seems that the 300 BC built fortresses are in a shambles. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the journey in the car checking out the island and the tiny museums had interesting artifacts striving to prove Ithaca was truly Odysseus' homeland. The Ionian islands are gorgeous w/ green hillsides covered with olive and citrus trees. One could easily spend a season exploring these northern islands, but the clock is ticking on our remaining three months so we're moving on through the Cornith canal to visit the southern islands.