Fira, Santorini, Greece

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I got up to arrange to pick up our tender tickets as we had to tender into Santorini. We met for breakfast at about 8:30 am on the ship. Jill and I decided to walk up to the town of Fira. It is the same walk that the donkeys take when they carry tourists up to the town. We knew there were 588 stairs to get there. From the ship looking up at breakfast, the town looked pretty high up on the bluff.

Physically, the walk wasn't too bad. It took about 25 minutes with a few short stops to take pictures of the ever increasingly beautiful view as we rose higher. The stairs were about three feet deep, ten feet wide and four inches tall. Also, it was in the shade the whole way. So it was fairly easy.

However, in an olfactory sense, it was less than ideal. The countless donkeys had been "using" the trail long enough to ensure a constant "donkey odour" all the way up! When I climb up, I usually suck wind, but it wasn't wind I was sucking this time!

Maureen and Fred took the tram up and met us at the top. We explored the town, and after a bit, began to search for the church with the blue dome that we'd seen in so many beautiful pictures of Santorini. After a while, and a few wrong streets, Fred spotted it at the other end of the town. Getting there took a while as the streets are not set out in any logical way because they have to follow the contours of the land atop the cliffs.

We did get on a street about the same dimensions as the stairs we climbed (ten feet wide) which took us along the top of the cliff. We followed that for a while until we realized there was no way to get back into the town part...hard to understand, I guess, but it would have been frustrating except that the view down and across the water was spectacular! When we did get to the church, there was no way we could get a picture because we were too close and below the blue dome by now.

At this point, I started to feel a bit queasy (must have been something I ate for breakfast), so I went back to the ship while Fred, Jill and Maureen went to find a restaurant. They ate lunch on a restaurant deck high up the side of the hill with a sheer drop overlooking the sea below! I was sorry I missed it! They shopped for another hour and Jill walked back down while Maureen and Fred took the more conventional air tram route.

The Island of Mykonos

Tuesday morning dawned warm and sunny. Did I mention we've been enjoying fabulous weather the last two weeks? We took a bus from the cruise ship terminal into Mykonos Town; about 3 km away.

This charming town has many narrow twisting streets with the traditional white-washed stone buildings with bright blue accents. The streets are all cobblestone and very clean. The local celebrity is a white pelican named Petros ll. We took a picture of him as we were lucky enough to catch sight of him sitting in the doorway of a building on the dock. There are many shops and restaurants (and even four windmills) throughout the twisty streets. The streets were designed this way to thwart pirates who would be maneuvered into an ambush if they attacked and tried to over-run the town.

We wandered the town for several hours before Jill found what she was looking for--a rug shop called The Loom. The proprietor was very nice, and when we told him we were from Canada, he asked "Where"? We said "Vancouver" and he said "Where"? We said "Coquitlam", and he laughed. He told us he was born in Port Coquitlam! He moved to Mykonos 17 years ago. Small world, indeed! Of course, we bought a Grecian rug from him! We caught to bus back to the ship in time for lunch.

As I write this, the ship is leaving Mykonos for a day at sea tomorrow, and then on to Split, Croatia on Thursday where we will disembark in the afternoon.

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