Today we took an excursion from the ship. Santorini has 2 main towns, Oia and Fira. Fira is the better known town...the one you have 3 ways of approaching - by donkey, by hanging tram, or by climbing the 729 stairs used by the donkeys. We, however, took a bus to Oia first! This town was amazing...all whitewashed with the beautiful blue doors. There are 400 inhabitants of this town and 80 tiny churches!! It is pedestrian only and truly a delight to wander through. It was filled with little shops, cafés and restaurants and every time you turned a corner there was a beautiful view from this city perched stop this volcanic island. Santorini is actually the name for what appears to be 5 islands with the caldera in the center. Our tour guide was wonderful. After our time in Oia which is at the top of the island we took the bus to Thira on the other side of the island. We explored the archeological museum here which was quite interesting (at least to ME!). Of course it was hard to hear the guide speak as Ron and Lenore were loudly rustling through all their bags, searching for their camera!! As it turns out, the camera had been left on the bus which had dropped us off and left! After numerous phone calls between the guide and the bus company nothing was really resolved. It appeared the camera was lost for good :-(
After stopping for iced tea at the top of the island looking way down to our ship below,we wandered through town and did a little shopping. It was time to return to the ship...Lenore, Gary and I opted to take the tram down the hill but Ron was determined to walk down the millions of steps...sharing the path with the donkeys! I wish we had photos of Ron and the donkeys!! He reported that it was a blast...lots of laughter as the donkeys blocked the width of the path at times, went potty, and refused to budge at times, leaving the walkers to slither along the rock walls!
Lenore Gary and I boarded the ship and as soon as they scanned Lenore's key card they announced "Mrs Hunt, your camera is in your room"...we were blown away by the efficiency of the Crystal Serenity! The camera beat us back!