Day 9 - Crete & Santorini

Before I start with Crete & Santorini, I need to back up to last night's dinner. One of the selections for dessert was Baked Alaska. I ordered it, remembering that the last time I had Baked Alaska was on our criuse to..... ALASKA! Anyway, when it was time for dessert to be served, the song "Hot, Hot, Hot" started playing, and I noticed people at other tables starting to wave their napkins in the air.


The lights then dimmed and all the waiters paraded through the dining room with flaming Baked Alaska on trays. It was really festive with the music, and everyone waving napkins.



Thursday:
We arrived at Agios Nicolaos (Crete) at 6:45 a.m. Because of the strike, our tour excursion to the Palace of Knossos was cancelled. After breakfast, we met our tour guide Iris, just off the boat. She talked to us about Agios Nicolaos and Agios Nicolaos Lake. Then she walked us over to the lake and turned us loose for next couple hours while we just walked around the town.


According to mythology, Athena and Armetis once bathed in the water of this magnificent lake. The deep dark water of the lake is mesmerizing, and food joints and shops surround the lake itself, colorful boats are moored along it, adding to its beauty.



The beach.


SANTORINI!
They told us to be out on deck to enjoy the magnificent view as we approached Santorini, which is considered to be one of the greatest phenomena of Greece. Iris told us that as Santorini comes into view, it looks like the island is frosted with icing, or capped with snow. She was right! It was an awesome view!


The formation of the island is the result of many volcanic eruptions in prehistoric times. In approx. 1628 B.C., a massive volcanic eruption occured causing half of the island to sink below sea level. The geographical phenomenon, which formed a bay that our ship entered, is called a 'Caldera' and is where the center of the island was located before it sank.

By the way: the volcano is still active, and the last eruption was in 1950, causing an earthquake that destroyed many villages on the island. The island's official name is Thira and its main town, Fira, is also the capital of the Cyclades islands.

As we entered the lagoon, we were met by tender boats that ferried us up to the island. There are three way you can get to the top of the island.
1. Take the cable car up the mountain (4 euro each way)
2. Take a donkey (5 euro each way)
3. Walk (almost 900 steps each way)

Here's the mode of transportation most of us picked to get up:



It was a riot riding the donkeys! I was laughing the entire time, and probably took about 50 pictures - lots of them are just a blur. Donkeys don't hold very still. I learned that there are about 300 donkeys that haul people up & down the road.

When we arrived at the top, we were in Fira. It was fun to just walk around and see the shops & little eateries. Kimball and I walked around together and explored the town in the short amount of time that we were able to spend there. We tried some gelato from a eatery that we saw, I would rate it just 'ok'. (comparing it to the gelato we had the next day back in Athens)
Here are some pictures we took as we explored Fira:





Because there isn't much of a port, the ships had to keep sailing in a circle while we were on the island.







Kimball and I walked down the road (steps) to get back to the tender boats which took us back to the ship. It was getting to be the end of the day, and they were herding the donkeys to the top to take them home for the night.

It was pretty interesting at first, trying to steer ourselves thru the donkey masses. There was also this that we had to watch for and avoid:

It took us about 20 minutes to walk down. My legs felt like jello by the time I got to the bottom. I was glad to have Kimball with me, so I could hold onto him. It really was a workout for the muscles in my thighs. I could hardly walk up & down stairs for the next few days.