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Published: November 14th 2008
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Little Venice, Mykonos
the boys stop for refreshments Sunset in Santorini, Anita and I gaze lovingly into each others eyes and turn to look out over the crater, that is the habour of Santorini and that may once have been the lost City of Atlantis. Several cruise ships are docked in the beautiful Aegean sea, the sun reflects of the deep blue water and the whitewash houses on the clifftops sparkle in the setting sun. Exhausted after our journey to the top (me walking and Anita on a manic donkey) we sip the last of our drinks ( a mere $40 for a lemonade and Corona) but it doesn't matter, it is the last night of our cruise around the Greek island, 7 days of pure luxury. The "Cristal" leaves at 8-15pm for Athens, we still have an hour before the last water taxi leaves the island, time for one last shop, a memento, a postcard.
The town is crawling with tourists, the narrow lane jam packed with the last of the summer tourists looking for a bargin. 3 cruise liners are in the harbour, the place is choca.
We leave the bar and join the crowds in the street, Anita pauses to look at a shop,
Little Venice Mykonos
And the girls think its funny I keep walking and suddenly we are no longer together. I wait and I wait but Anita fails to emerge. I move forward to check if she has moved a head but no, I retrace my steps and still I cannot see her. For those of you that know Santorini there are three ways down from the town to the seafront. Walk, Donkey or Cable car. We had talked about taking the cable car so off I go but alas no she is not in the que of 200 tourists, its dark, she wont walk and after her experience coming up on the donkey there is no way she will endanger her life going down (Thet are twice as manic on the way down). Again I retrace my steps, but know where amongst the many can I see a 5' 2" with blonde curly hair. Time is running out, I have to make a decison and so with 3o minutes to go I join the long que and wait my turn to head for the port hoping that she may magically appear or have had the sense to head back to the boat.
It's funny but in those stressful
Crete
Anita relaxing next to the bottomless Lagoon situation the mind plays funny games, mine always tends to think the worst. I even considered waiting on the island just in case. Just in case what? how dumb is that. Well to cut a long story short, when I get aboard the "Cristal" with 15 minutes to spare, there she is in the cabin and says "What happened to you?". Well it was a battle between my Glad to see you! emotion and Where the F%£& did you go? emotion but alls well that ends well.
The next and final night in Athens was also spectacular (as our hostel accommodation had balconies with excellent views of the Arcopolypse). So as 3 sets of Kiwi friends sat watching the sun slowly set and recalling the last seven days in the Greek islands, with the ancient ruins of Greece looking down on us another chapter in out travels came to an end.
It had been an unexpected trip, our friends Jude and John had seen the trip advertised at a bargin rate, Anita had wanted to experience the Greek islands and it was a good chance to get a final feel of the sun before the long London winter.
Santorini
Just before sunset (still in heaven). Looking down on the harbour Another Kiwi couple Chris and Katrina (and son Zac) also signed up so it was a neat opportunity for us all to spend time together. Although we are all living in London we are spread far and wide and it is often difficult to catch up on a regular basis, The "Cristal" left Athens at 5pm on Friday (that meant getting up at 2am to get to the airport for a 6-30 flight, arriving at 1pm the finding our way to the port. Not a lot of time to spare.
The cruise took us to Istanbul (3pm Sat to 5pm Sunday), Mykonos (4pm to 8pm Monday), Patmos (6-30am to 10am Tues then Ephesus 2pm to 7pm Tues), Rhodes (7am to 4pm Wed), Crete (8am to 11am then Santorini 4pm to 8pm). There were 300 crew and 600 passengers so we were well catered for. Breakfast and Lunch were buffets and dinner was a six course banquet. We were waited on. our cabin boy turned down our bed, all the crew were very hospitable. The weather was great after the first two days (it poured down in Istanbul and we found shelter in a pub and watched the Kangaroos thrash
View from the Boat
Why would you built a town all the way up there....for the view the Kiwis. The island highlights for me were Crete and Rhodes. I was dissapointed with the exotic sounding Mykonos and Santorini whilst stunning was overpriced and too touristy. Please be aware my opinions are based on very short stays.
It was a nice way to say goodbye to summer, a great way to get a taste of Greece, and nice being with friends. We had a great time (not sure if we'd do it without having other friends on board). We left Athens on a l
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