Europe – Day 10

WOW! That is all we could say when we woke up to beautiful Santorini, Greece.

The pictures do not do the view justice.  Right in front of us are huge cliffs, 750 feet tall with amazing start white building perched atop the cliffs.

Santorini is a small circular piece of volcanic island.  It is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion.  It has black-sand beaches, crystal-clear waters and whitewashed villages that cling to the volcanic cliffs to make this island a wonder to behold.

There are no large docks in Santorini so we had to use tenders to get to shore and that is always fun.

We had figured the best way to get to the towns that we wanted to visit so Jeff and Vera and David and Barbara all met outside our cabin at 9:30am to go on the tender to the island.

There we boarded a speedboat to take us up the coast to the town of Oia.  First the boat took us to a dock and then we boarded a bus for the final drive up a mountain and over the crest line to the town of Oia.  It was a spectacular view.

Oia is basically a one street town right along the ridge of the mountain, so we walked from the bus station up to the ridge and along the ridge from the old castle tower to a beautiful church.  After spending time in Oia, we boarded a bus to the town of Fira which overlooks the cruise ship area.

The only ways down to the port are the take the tram, ride a donkey or walk down over 588 steps.  These are also big steps and Barb took 5 of her steps for each of the paths steps!  It looked like about an hour+ wait for the tram so Barb walked down and Ed rode a donkey!!

The views on this island were maybe, just maybe the most spectacular we have ever seen, they were amazing to see the towns perched on top of these huge cliffs.

We took a tender back to the ship and then it was time to relax for the rest of the afternoon.  After a nap, we walked around and played a little blackjack.

Ed lost a little at blackjack before dinner and Barb just watched

Dinner was delightful and then it was back to the casino for our last session of the day where Ed didn’t do well and Barb didn’t either – but we are still ahead for the cruise and that is good!

Night for now – tomorrow Mykonos, Greece

Notice the zig-zag path up

The port with the town above it

View from the town - 750 feet up from the sea

Lunch with a view

The start of the steps down

Ed and his new friend!!