Athens

At last we get to go to the islands for the second week of our Insight Tour.

We were lucky enough to visit Santorini on a day excursion from our Mediterranean cruise about 6 years ago. We promised to return and here we are.

The bad news is we are taking the high velocity ferry that only leaves at 6:30am each day so we were up at 4:15am . Yuck.

Last night was a nice farewell to four in our group and goodbye to our legendary driver Andreus.

The ferry to Santorini is called World Champion. Built in Tasmania it holds some form of speed record. They even have a Formula 1 race car mid deck.

The loading process is organized bedlam . We find ourselves on the upper deck but seated apart. The travel time is 5 hours. If we went on the standard ferries it takes twice as long.

This port services 227 islands making it a very busy harbour. We stop at Syros, Mykonos, Naxos, Ios along our route to Santorini. The ferry service is a really quick turnaround.

We found some seats together but didn’t realize they were first class. The area attendant was kind and let us stay which we really appreciated.

The water is blue and the sun is shining bright and hot. The port on Santorini is called Thira. The island is the remains of what was once a volcano so all the townships are built on the brim. The buildings are therefore on steep angles and are crammed in.

Getting off the ferry is like participating in a stampede. Our bus was close-by and the driver navigated with considerable experience up the very steep and windy road to the top.

Our hotel is 5 ⭐️ but we were early for our rooms, so we walked to town for some supplies.

The vegetation here is weird. They rarely get rain, but they do get regular early morning fogs, and this dampens the ground. This creates good conditions for grape vines, so all the spare land is planted with grape vines planted really low to the ground.

Pool time in the afternoon and everyone seems tired probably due to the early start. Erin is always alert and has told us we must be ready at 8pm to walk to town for the sunset.

Loaded with cheese, crackers and some wine we file through the crowds to an unknown patio with a most beautiful view of the island. One lovely cruise ship is about to depart.

The sunset is just what we needed. So pretty here. Impossible to take a bad photo.

Tonight, we attend a Greek wedding. More about that on tomorrows blog.Read more