Early morning for us since we had a tour planned for 8:30 a.m. After a quick breakfast, we met our tour guide & were escorted onto a "tender" which is a small boat that takes you from the ship to the shore (Santorini doesn't have a dock/pier). We boarded an a/c bus (thank God because it was warm) & toured the entire island from one side to the other & top to bottom. The views were incredible & we couldn't believe how gorgeous the water is. All of the homes are white or very light color and seem to be built right on the edge of the cliffs. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the island & we enjoyed our day, especially the wine tasting stop. :)
One thing I found interesting is that Santorini gets very little rain & each morning is covered with a cloud that actually "waters" the plants. This burns off quickly but is enough moisture so that the grape plants can grow. The island exports a lot of wine, so they need their grapes. The plants are not what we're accustomed to seeing--they are actually small bushy looking things. Fig trees are also abundant and are everywhere. We learned that you cannot eat the fruit from the male fig tree, only the female.
Lunch was included with our tour & the restaurant was perched atop a mountain with gorgeous views. It was a buffet & everything was delicious but our favorite was a tomato pancake which sounds awful but was amazing.
After lunch, we visited one of the island's beaches, which is very rocky and has a lot of volcanic rock. I brought home a few pieces. The water was very clear & Rich said it was cold. I took his word for it. LOL
The city of Fira is perched atop the cliff & since we ended our tour there, we had to take a cable car down to the water to catch the tender back to the ship. It was either that or ride a mule & I definitely did not want to do that. All of us were exhausted by this point, from the walk & the heat. I don't think I've ever been so glad to get back on board this ship as I was today! More about the rest of today later.
It's later...actually 2 days later because I've been busy & haven't had internet access when I wasn't. I'm typing now as we sail away from Mykonos & don't know how much longer my connection will last. In any case, we joined another couple for dinner from Ala. that travels around the world all the time on a shoestring budget. We set sail for Kusadasi, Turkey during dinner & had some of the most amazing views. Rich is in charge of posting pictures on this blog, so hopefully he got some good shots w/his phone. Read the next entry for Turkey news...