Santorini

On Tuesday, after a day at sea, Explorer anchored off Santorini.

Last year, we were on a cruise that was supposed to let us visit Jerusalem, which we’ve wanted to visit for years. Unfortunately, just after we arrived in Haifa, and cleared security, the rockets started flying nearby and the captain decided discretion was the better part of valor, ordered us all back on board and pulled out. Pretty much the same thing happened the year before, we got to Israel but the captain charged ports to avoid rocket fire and we couldn’t make it to Jerusalem.

Last year, the ship diverted to Santorini where we were the only ship there. It was great; not crowded at all. Not the same this year; we were one of four ships

This year, we had again booked a cruise to Israel, hoping to make it to Jerusalem this time. When the current war broke out, we cancelled the cruise, knowing that Royal Caribbean would cancel the stops in Israel, which they later did. We booked our current cruises instead.

Once you get to where the ships anchor off Santorini, short of booking a very expensive transfer to another port and taking a very expensive taxi, there are only two ways to get up to the town of Thira, both involving donkeys. You can ride the donkeys up the zig zagging steps, or you can fight them (and what they leave behind) for the right of way and walk up the very steep 586 steps to the top.

I guess we’re fighters, not riders, we always walk. The crowds were really daunting this year, the donkeys were quite sure they had the right of way, and hiking up was a battle, but we made it.

We had an excellent lunch at a lovely restaurant; they grilled a 1 kilo (a little over a pound) golden grouper for us, filleted it at the table, and we split it. Together with an excellent salad, some of the best bread we’ve ever had, super olives and local wine, it made a great meal.

After lunch, we wandered around the town shopping for a scarf for Leslie Ruth and then fought the donkeys back down to the port. Going down, we saw two casualties, one woman fell off a donkey and was trampled (she seemed to be more or less ok, although very traumatized), another woman further down was being treated by a medic; her leg had been placed in an inflatable cast. The donkeys don’t stop, they just keep on going. We made it down unscathed and tendered back to the ship, very glad we had worn our boots on the outing.

There is all sorts of entertainment on board each night, the main event in the theater that night was a production show by the ships orchestra, singers and dancers. Very enjoyable.Read more