I noticed this morning as I was making my way up to the Explorations Café for my morning coffee that a letter had been placed in everyone’s mailbox outside their stateroom door. The letter was from the captain and was explaining the actions that were being taken due to the occurrence of several cases of Gastrointestinal Illness, or GTI. Not the best way to begin the morning, but certainly better than someone that was actually suffering from the illness. There were some minor inconveniences that we noticed such as removal of the salt and pepper shakers from the tables. Bread and butter were no longer left on the tables during dinner. In the buffet lines, everything was handed to you so that you did not handle any of the serving utensils. Like I said, pretty minor stuff. Lyn mentioned that their stateroom attendant had apologized for not vacuuming their room because they were under a “code red”. I am not sure what vacuuming has to do with the spread of GTI, but whatever. If it does, then please don’t vacuum. As we disembarked the ship, everyone was given a bottle of hand sanitizer which was nice to have although we had all been carrying our own anyway and had been using it throughout the trip.
After going to the Queen’s Lounge to receive our tender ticket, we had about a 30 minute wait before our number was called and we proceeded to Deck A to meet our tender. As we stood in line, mom started bouncing like a little girl saying “I can’t wait! I can’t wait!” That was about the cutest thing ever. As I had mentioned in the original Pre-Cruise Planning Blog, Santorini is mom’s favorite place in the world and this will be her third time to visit the island. It is easy to see why this is her favorite. Santorini is an absolutely gorgeous place with a terrain unlike any that we had seen thus far on our trip. The ship stands at anchor within the caldera of a volcano with the main part of the island making a horseshoe shape open to the northwest. The weather could not have been more perfect; clear blue skies, about 75°F and an indescribably blue Aegean Sea.
After a quick five-minute tender to shore, mom, Melauna and Lyn made there way to the cable car that will take them to the city of Fira. I opted to walk the trail to the top. Much has been said about the means in which one gets up to Fira, the options being: cable car, donkey ride, or walking up the trail. Here is our experience: The cable car ride lasts about two minutes from start to finish and there are six car holding six passengers each. It took me about 20 minutes to walk up the trail and I had to wait about ten minutes for the girls at the top. So, you do the math on the time spent waiting in line. Obviously some people just aren’t physically able to make the 1000’ vertical climb but I did see lots of older folks on the trail just taking their time and making plenty of stops to enjoy the views. Now, the donkeys…I was under the impression for some reason that the donkeys, which by the way, were outnumbered greatly by full size mules, would stay to one side of the trail, while the people walking would be on the other. Not so. The donkeys/mules are wherever they want to be and you get the hell out of their way. Much has been made of the stench associated with the trail and while yes, you do have to watch your step occasionally, the aroma was not much different than a horse pasture. If you are offended by horse poop, then stick to the cable car. I don’t mind it and I never heard anyone complaining, wanting to go back or anything like that. Again, much has been made about the ill treatment of the donkeys and in fact as we disembarked the ship, we were advised against taking the donkeys for that reason. I personally never saw any ill treatment, nor did I see any of the handlers lovingly stroking the beasts’ ears while they nibbled on hand fed carrots. That is not to say that either may have taken place but I just didn’t happen to witness it. It is a strenuous walk, no question and my calves let me know that I had ascended about 1,000’ in 20 minutes but I am glad that I opted for walking the trail up to Fira and if you are physically able would definitely recommend it.
After meeting up with the girls, we began making our way to Tony’s Car Rental where we had reserved a car for the first part of the day in order to drive out to Óia for lunch. It probably took about 20 minutes to walk to Tony’s and was not too hard to find. If you pay attention, there are small signs, some pretty faded, that point you in the direction of his business. Tony had our car ready for us and after filling out the requisite paperwork and a general overview of the island we were off and running to Ammoudi Bay in Óia. We had seen the Samantha Brown Passport to Europe episode of Santorini and her spot for lunch, the Sunset Taverna, looked to be an idyllic place for lunch. We found it with no problems and were one of the first customers for the day, arriving at about 11:45. It really was a beautiful spot for lunch. Right on that sapphire blue water, a very light breeze blowing in across the small harbor and only a few wispy clouds in the sky. Our waiter took our drink orders and suggested that we come take a look at the fish that had been brought in that morning since they wouldn’t be on the menu. We decided on a large Red Snapper for the table to share. While waiting on the grilled Snapper to arrive, we all enjoyed fried eggplant, grilled banana peppers with yogurt and fresh bread. The grilled Snapper was excellent and enjoyed by all. After lunch, we made our way back to the little rental car for our drive back to Fira. I should mention here that the road down to Ammoudi Bay is very steep and the rental was a stick shift…and Melauna was driving. I really thought for a minute that we were going to be stuck there in Ammoudi Bay with a burned up clutch, certainly not the worst place to be stuck but not part of the plan. We did, however make it up the hill and back out onto the road to Fira. Things got a little dicey once we made it back to town as the one way roads that we had been on when we left were still one way roads but now going the wrong way for our needs. It took some driving around and backtracking, but eventually we made it back to Tony’s where we dropped off mom and Lyn so that they could do some shopping in town, while we headed off to the Santos Winery to hopefully tour the vineyard. It only took about 15 minutes to reach the winery but unfortunately no tours were available. The views from the winery itself, however are incredible and worth the drive for that alone. Before heading back, we found the gift shop and bought a bottle of wine in the gift shop to enjoy that evening at dinner. We found our way back to Tony’s with no problem this time and dropped off the little rental no worse for the wear. Tony and his wife both were a pleasure to work with and should we have the opportunity to come back to Santorini and stay for longer, which I really hope we do, we were given a brochure of the hotel owned by his parents that he suggested we stay.
We wound our way back through the narrow shop lined streets that were becoming so familiar in this part of the Mediterranean and ran into Lyn and Mom right away. We shopped together for awhile then drifted to other areas, Melauna finding a jewelry shop that made her a one-of-a-kind custom made pair of earrings with Santorini lava, the ubiquitous blue eye and silver. We found a little taverna that sat high up on the island ridge that gave a commanding view of the harbor to enjoy the last minutes of the day sharing a glass of wine and fresh bread.
Afterward, we had decided to walk the trail back down to the ship and after seeing the line for the cable car, there was no question…that was until we spotted mom and Lyn right up at the front of the line. Sorry to all of the other 2,000 people standing in line…but…well…sorry. Five minutes later we were down at the water’s edge and did a final bit of souvenir shopping before time to get back on board.
That evening, we had reservations for the Tamarind pan-asian restaurant which so many have raved about. Dinner was very good, but honestly with all that had been made of how good the Tamarind was I suppose that there was no way to live up to the expectation. Like I said, it was good but given a choice between Tamarind and Pinnacle Grill, I would choose the Pinnacle. The chocolate covered football-sized fortune cookie was delicious, however and I would highly recommend that. That is if you enjoy delicious, humongous, chocolate covered things.
I gave the craps table another chance to take my money and indeed it did. The usual players were all there; Chuckie, Paulie, Sheldon and Tom. All really nice guys but nobody doing any good that night. I ended the night now down for the trip.
After going to the Queen’s Lounge to receive our tender ticket, we had about a 30 minute wait before our number was called and we proceeded to Deck A to meet our tender. As we stood in line, mom started bouncing like a little girl saying “I can’t wait! I can’t wait!” That was about the cutest thing ever. As I had mentioned in the original Pre-Cruise Planning Blog, Santorini is mom’s favorite place in the world and this will be her third time to visit the island. It is easy to see why this is her favorite. Santorini is an absolutely gorgeous place with a terrain unlike any that we had seen thus far on our trip. The ship stands at anchor within the caldera of a volcano with the main part of the island making a horseshoe shape open to the northwest. The weather could not have been more perfect; clear blue skies, about 75°F and an indescribably blue Aegean Sea.
After a quick five-minute tender to shore, mom, Melauna and Lyn made there way to the cable car that will take them to the city of Fira. I opted to walk the trail to the top. Much has been said about the means in which one gets up to Fira, the options being: cable car, donkey ride, or walking up the trail. Here is our experience: The cable car ride lasts about two minutes from start to finish and there are six car holding six passengers each. It took me about 20 minutes to walk up the trail and I had to wait about ten minutes for the girls at the top. So, you do the math on the time spent waiting in line. Obviously some people just aren’t physically able to make the 1000’ vertical climb but I did see lots of older folks on the trail just taking their time and making plenty of stops to enjoy the views. Now, the donkeys…I was under the impression for some reason that the donkeys, which by the way, were outnumbered greatly by full size mules, would stay to one side of the trail, while the people walking would be on the other. Not so. The donkeys/mules are wherever they want to be and you get the hell out of their way. Much has been made of the stench associated with the trail and while yes, you do have to watch your step occasionally, the aroma was not much different than a horse pasture. If you are offended by horse poop, then stick to the cable car. I don’t mind it and I never heard anyone complaining, wanting to go back or anything like that. Again, much has been made about the ill treatment of the donkeys and in fact as we disembarked the ship, we were advised against taking the donkeys for that reason. I personally never saw any ill treatment, nor did I see any of the handlers lovingly stroking the beasts’ ears while they nibbled on hand fed carrots. That is not to say that either may have taken place but I just didn’t happen to witness it. It is a strenuous walk, no question and my calves let me know that I had ascended about 1,000’ in 20 minutes but I am glad that I opted for walking the trail up to Fira and if you are physically able would definitely recommend it.
After meeting up with the girls, we began making our way to Tony’s Car Rental where we had reserved a car for the first part of the day in order to drive out to Óia for lunch. It probably took about 20 minutes to walk to Tony’s and was not too hard to find. If you pay attention, there are small signs, some pretty faded, that point you in the direction of his business. Tony had our car ready for us and after filling out the requisite paperwork and a general overview of the island we were off and running to Ammoudi Bay in Óia. We had seen the Samantha Brown Passport to Europe episode of Santorini and her spot for lunch, the Sunset Taverna, looked to be an idyllic place for lunch. We found it with no problems and were one of the first customers for the day, arriving at about 11:45. It really was a beautiful spot for lunch. Right on that sapphire blue water, a very light breeze blowing in across the small harbor and only a few wispy clouds in the sky. Our waiter took our drink orders and suggested that we come take a look at the fish that had been brought in that morning since they wouldn’t be on the menu. We decided on a large Red Snapper for the table to share. While waiting on the grilled Snapper to arrive, we all enjoyed fried eggplant, grilled banana peppers with yogurt and fresh bread. The grilled Snapper was excellent and enjoyed by all. After lunch, we made our way back to the little rental car for our drive back to Fira. I should mention here that the road down to Ammoudi Bay is very steep and the rental was a stick shift…and Melauna was driving. I really thought for a minute that we were going to be stuck there in Ammoudi Bay with a burned up clutch, certainly not the worst place to be stuck but not part of the plan. We did, however make it up the hill and back out onto the road to Fira. Things got a little dicey once we made it back to town as the one way roads that we had been on when we left were still one way roads but now going the wrong way for our needs. It took some driving around and backtracking, but eventually we made it back to Tony’s where we dropped off mom and Lyn so that they could do some shopping in town, while we headed off to the Santos Winery to hopefully tour the vineyard. It only took about 15 minutes to reach the winery but unfortunately no tours were available. The views from the winery itself, however are incredible and worth the drive for that alone. Before heading back, we found the gift shop and bought a bottle of wine in the gift shop to enjoy that evening at dinner. We found our way back to Tony’s with no problem this time and dropped off the little rental no worse for the wear. Tony and his wife both were a pleasure to work with and should we have the opportunity to come back to Santorini and stay for longer, which I really hope we do, we were given a brochure of the hotel owned by his parents that he suggested we stay.
We wound our way back through the narrow shop lined streets that were becoming so familiar in this part of the Mediterranean and ran into Lyn and Mom right away. We shopped together for awhile then drifted to other areas, Melauna finding a jewelry shop that made her a one-of-a-kind custom made pair of earrings with Santorini lava, the ubiquitous blue eye and silver. We found a little taverna that sat high up on the island ridge that gave a commanding view of the harbor to enjoy the last minutes of the day sharing a glass of wine and fresh bread.
Afterward, we had decided to walk the trail back down to the ship and after seeing the line for the cable car, there was no question…that was until we spotted mom and Lyn right up at the front of the line. Sorry to all of the other 2,000 people standing in line…but…well…sorry. Five minutes later we were down at the water’s edge and did a final bit of souvenir shopping before time to get back on board.
That evening, we had reservations for the Tamarind pan-asian restaurant which so many have raved about. Dinner was very good, but honestly with all that had been made of how good the Tamarind was I suppose that there was no way to live up to the expectation. Like I said, it was good but given a choice between Tamarind and Pinnacle Grill, I would choose the Pinnacle. The chocolate covered football-sized fortune cookie was delicious, however and I would highly recommend that. That is if you enjoy delicious, humongous, chocolate covered things.
I gave the craps table another chance to take my money and indeed it did. The usual players were all there; Chuckie, Paulie, Sheldon and Tom. All really nice guys but nobody doing any good that night. I ended the night now down for the trip.
So many of the places that we have seen have been both beautiful and historically fascinating. Santorini; is one of those places that I think that I could come to again and again and never tire of. Mom was so happy that we all felt the way she did about her favorite place in the world. So many times it seems that we tell people how wonderful a place, a restaurant, a movie or any number of things is only to have that person shrug their shoulders and say “yeah…it was nice”. Obviously not experiencing the same magic that we did. Santorini, I don’t think can be oversold. It really is that beautiful.
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