Santorini

October 29, 2009 – Thursday 4:30 pm
I’ll start by finishing off yesterday. We did go to the Spanish ballet and it was really good. 3 women and one man doing beautiful dancing in spectacular costumes. Very worthwhile!
But on to today…. This was truly the best day of the trip. Santorini has been a place that we have wanted to go for years. The fact that it is truly beautiful is only enhanced by the fact that it is the rim of a volcano and anyone who knows me knows that I love volcanos. We left the ship early and met our tour at the base of the sheer cliffs. We rode up a narrow, winding road to the village of Oia which is probably the village that most people see when the Travel Channel goes to Santorini. Hillsides covered in white villas and white churches with blue roofs. I just re-read those words which are absolutely true and accurate and still do not convey in any fashion how incredible the site is. We had about an hour and a half to wander the steep and winding streets and go in and out of shops. We chose to stop in a little café overlooking the caldera and enjoyed baklava and coffee. Those moments were exactly what we have envisioned for years. To sit on the rim of a volcano and look out over the beautiful ocean below. No pictures will do this honor but we took some anyway. I bought postcards because they take much better photographs than I do.
We then left Oia and drove along the coastline to Fira, which is the capital of Santorini. There we went to a Winery and had lunch and watch traditional Greek dancing. That, too, was great. We were surprised that we enjoyed it so much. I think when you have the Travel Channel and go everyplace in the world and see the sights filmed professionally, you think you’ve actually seen the real thing. I’ll still keep watching the Travel Channel, but now I will know that nothing replaces the actual experience!
After the fiesta, we were turned loose to wander the town. Again, windy, twisty, narrow streets going uphill and down with shops and cafes galore. There really wasn’t anything we wanted to buy and we weren’t hungry so we started back to the dock. To get to the dock, one either took a donkey down, walked about 600 stair steps down or took the cable. We opted for the cable but that had a huge line. Mike and I took turns standing in line and about an hour later, we finally got down to the dock and back on the ship. Looking back at how steep the descent was, we were still glad we chose the cable although, the whole donkey thing sounds like a fun thing to do!
We’re in for the evening but plan to sit on our deck and watch the sunset. I’ve really had my share of camera troubles this trip. Not only did my good camera give out days ago, but today, the little camera’s battery ran down before the fiesta was over so I am missing lots of pictures that I could have had. I’m charging it now to try to get some of the sunset. I’ll upload what I have this evening.
Tomorrow is Mykonos. Then Ephesus and then Istanbul. Hard to believe the trip is almost over. It has been everything we wanted it to be and it was only yesterday that we wondered if Sassy missed us……