More Greek Isles

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Monday we were in Rhodes, Tuesday Santorini and Today we're in Katakolon. The days are flying by and all running together in my mind. While in Rhodes we went on a tour called Liesurely Lindos, which consisted of a bus ride to a small village on the other side of the island called Lindos and a brief tour of a "Traditional ceramic factory". The only thing liesurely about this tour was the bus ride. Both stops were too rushed to enjoy and the mono toned tour directors put us to sleep as she droned on and on in her broken english with heavy greek accent. The panoramic views were breath taking and the food is unreal. I should meantion that we did some shopping too but from now on you should take that as a given. That's how our days have been going lately; wake up early, eat, go on a tour, eat, do some shopping, eat, take a nap, eat, gamble and drink, sleep and repeat. We have definitely been enjoying ourselves but accessibility has been challenging in Greece.

Santorini was probably the worst in terms of access. This was one of the few days that we didn't have an organized tour planned so we slept in and got a late start going ashore. The village is largely at the top of the caldera rim, a couple hundred meters over head. There was no dock to accomodate a ship of this size so we had to tender ashore which had it's own challenges. Then to get up to the village there were three options; walk up the stairs covered in donkey waste, ride donkeys up the stairs or take the gondolas. We opted for the later. One of the other passengers fell and broke their leg walking down, I'm told. To get up to the gondolas there was a nice new platform wheelchair lift and another like it to get up the last steps after the gondola station. However, once we got to the top... there were four shops and two restaurants within my reach. Everything else was down one or more flights of stairs. So... we had a nice meal with a view, a few drinks and took some pictures (including a picture of the worlds largest cruton) before heading back down the hill. I would stay on board at this port of call if I did this cruise again. There's plenty to do here on ship.

Today our tour took us to the ancient ruins of Olympia and the related Museum. Our tour guide was an archeologist, well informed and had good english skills. The weather has been great the entire trip so far. Today it seemed a bit warmer than it has been. We're now about 'shopped out' but the food is still great. We had the best Baklova after lunch today but the Musaka was best in Rhodes. We're completely exhausted now and ready for our daily nap. That's what I'll miss most when I return home. We're about half way through our adventure and we have seen so much but it feels like we haven't been gone that long. Getting back in to a work routine seems an impossible task.

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