This morning since we did not book an excursion on Crete we got to sleep in a little bit which was needed since last night was a rather restless night with all the waves and rocking. Our tour guide offered a walking tour of the port city if anybody wanted to join her. We opted in to go and left around 830am. We had a short shuttle bus to get us out of the docking area since it was so large and then we walked for about 25 mins to a main street that had shops, churches, and a market. On our guides recommendation, we tried these lovely doughnuts that were covered lightly in honey, cinnamon and sesame seeds. We also finally purchased our worry beads.
Worry beads are a big thing over here- almost every Greek has them it seems like. They are just these beads on a string- looks like a cross between a rosary and a necklace. People just hold on the them, fling them around their fingers, whip them back and forth- it is quite odd actually. But we felt compelled to make the purchase for ourselves. Brad got black worry beads, and I got ones that were blue with eyes on them- apparently it is for good luck...maybe they will help me find a job…unless the shop keeper was pulling my leg and they are bad luck and therefore I may be unemployed for awhile.
After we wandered around for a bit, we met back at our meeting place on the main street, Starbucks. Seeing a Starbucks was magical. It appeared to have bright lights around it and if you listened carefully you could hear angels singing. It was calling to us….two and a half weeks of bad coffee…all to be rewarded with the precious, delicious grande nonfat latte with caramel. It was all good.
After enjoying the precious for a few short moments outside on a sunny morning we started the leisurely long walk back to the port. When we got back, we had a few moments to rest before we had our disembarkment meeting (for tomorrow morning) and then lunch. By this afternoon, we would reach Santorini one of the highlights for me on this trip.
As scheduled we reached Santorini on time and what an island it is! One big crescent shaped mountain. We were called off the boat first to take a smaller boat into the port. We got right on a big tour bus and started up the mountain. I could not watch as the huge bus zig zagged up the mountain with other busses driving the other direction down- the road was barely wide enough for a car, let alone two big busses. I focused on our local guide who was telling us about the island and it wasn’t hard to do cause he was so funny! He had my dry sense of humor. We drove up to the cliff that you always see pictures of when you see pictures of the Greek Islands, the white houses with the blue windows and domes overlooking the sea on a cliff…well we were there and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Amazing. I think that it was at this point where we both decided that this was a place we were coming back to- without any doubt. We took a million pictures- both of us and the sun was about an hour from setting so we were there at a perfect time. The streets in that area were all pedestrian streets that were like a labyrinth with all of these unknown turns all lines with cafes, shops, kiosks, art galleries…our guide dropped us off at a square and said it was a 7 minute walk to the end and for the ladies it was a 2 hour walk (because of all the shops- he wasn’t kidding and I had to really resist given the timing of the sunset and to be able to see what we came here to see) Another thing about this city was that it was completely non-commercial- no chain hotels, restaurants, etc…all locally family owned establishments. In fact, we were told that you would be hard pressed to find a hotel that had over 50 rooms in it. They also make their own wine in Santorini and we got to sample a bit- it was fabulous, kind of like a port wine and is only sold in Santorini- we bought a bottle to take home. They also sell a bunch of roasted pistachios, and sesame seed encrusted peanuts that are slightly sweet- amazing!!! We bought those to. The only downfall to this island, is how you leave it (when you are on a cruise). There are 3 ways down, 600+ stairs, donkey, or cable car. While I was not fond of the cable car idea, it was the quickest and safest way and it actually wasn’t that bad, nothing like the cable cars I rode to the top of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, but that is what I envisioned when they told us we’d be taking them and I scared myself with the thought.
We had to get back on the boat for dinner, and to pack and pick up our passports. We were sat at a table with this very nice couple from Australia. They will be traveling around Europe for about 3 months! They seemed to travel a lot. We ended up getting on the topic of politics (which I know is always a bad idea…) but it was very interesting to hear their point of view on the world and what they think of America. The general opinion from what we have heard from almost everybody is that they love Obama as our president- even when we were in Egypt, the people selling stuff would ask if you were from America and then they’d say “Yeah…Obama!” and give us a thumbs up. While many people may not like him very much, he seems to have quite a following all over the world and that can’t be a bad thing!
Anyway, much left to do tonight and tomorrow we have to get off the boat early so I’d better pack it up for now.
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