Santorini

   Santorini is and Island with two picturesque towns siting on top of the  rocky island.

I'll try not to go too crazy with the pictures for this chapter, but it's going to be hard!  You'll see

This port of call is a Tender port.  If you have never cruised before - note- this is your only way to get to the Island.  And everyone will want to go into this port of call.  The trick here is to get up early and get on the first Tender.  You have to find out what time they are going to start handing out Tender Tickets and what time the first Tender is leaving.  For us, the day before Santorini, was a day at sea, so we went to bed at a reasonable time, had room service breakfast delivered and went to get our tickets at 7:15 for an 8 am Tender - the first of the day.   This is important because if you wait very long to go catch a tender, you will end up in several lines.

So you catch the Tender over and once you get to the island, you will have to make a decision on how to get to the top.  Here is my strong advice -- do not take the stairs, do not take a donkey - take the funicular.  By getting here on the first tender, we avoided the lines for the funicular and got up top quickly

Make sure you have water, sunscreen & a hat.  It can get very warm by mid day.  You can do Santorini on your own, no organized tour needed here.  Since there really is more to see and do than you can manage in just one day in port, you have to make the best of your time.  To do this, once we got to the top, we were in Fira.  We made our way to the Bus Station and caught a bus to Oia, which is a short bus ride to the northwest corner of Santorini

Oia is one of the most Photogenic and beautiful towns in Greece.  I has breathtaking views of the sea, of course the famous white washed building and the churches with the blue domes.  It is a photographers dream to visit here.  (not that I am a photographer, the majority of the pictures you see her were taken by ATP)

Ops, Sorry, I said I was going to take it easy on the pictures, it's just so darn hard to do!  We spent about half of our day in Oai and the other half in Fira.  It was a lovely day and we enjoyed exploring both towns.  There are many shops, restaurants, a windmill or two and numourse small alleyways that are fun to explore.  Be prepared with your camera, you will want to take pictures every where you look.  

After a lovely morning in Oia we headed back to Fira by bus.  The roads on the island are small and narrow.  We had one very interesting situation when two buses (one that we happened to be on) tried to pass each other on a narrow turn.  It was like a ballet dance with each bus inching forward & back, coming within a half inch of each other as they passed!  It was pretty amazing how these drivers worked it to pass each other on a road that probably was originally laid out for a couple of donkeys pulling a cart!  But we made it back safely, no problem.

We also found time to try out the local cuisine which was quite tasty!

 

Back in Fira we shopped, snacked, took even more photographs then faced the unavoidable long line to catch a cable car down.  Everyone of course wants to spend as long as possible in Fira before heading down to the ship, but at some point you have to get in line or you miss the last tender back to the ship.

The line can be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, so be careful about your timing.  Again make sure you have water when you get to the line.  You will be tired even though you may not realize it until you've been standing in line for 20 minutes or so.  You'll want to stay hydrated.

When you head back down to the ship you will still be taking pictures and talking about coming back to Santorini some day.

DO THIS:   Take the cable cars back & forth

DO NOT:     Be tempted to take the stairs back down at the end off the day.  These are the same stairs the donkeys use and can be difficult to traverse with the donkey 'offerings' left along the way

EAT THIS:   Baklava.  Go in to a little bakery and take a few pieces back to the ship with you.

Until Next time,
Travel Safe

Jump, Jump, by Alvin