And What a Day it Was!
Day 9/Port 6
The ship pulled into the caldera of what was once the
largest volcanic explosion in recorded history and anchored amongst the islands
of the ancient volcano that made up the islands surrounding Santorini. In mid October the sun was still behind the
mountains and enough moonlight remained for us to see the villages of Fira
(FEAR AH) and Oia (EE YA) lighting the crest of the cliffs, and the donkey path
was clearly marked by lantern lights. As
the sun came up we sat on our balcony and watched the white-washed buildings in
the village create the illusion of snow against the dark volcanic cliffs. Caitie remarked, "It looks like LEGO
snow!" and it did. This was going
to be a great day. We so looked forward
to Santorini, and even bothered to watch all of those over-the-top love story
movies set on the island in anticipation of what we would see. The Traveling Hood of some sister's pants and
Mama Mia were the top of the list. I
have to admit, I was strangely entertained by Mama Mia. Maybe because I am old enough to remember
Abba. I think its one of the few movies
with Meryl Streep that I actually enjoyed.
But I digress...
Early morning shots. We were excited to be in Santorini!
The easiest tour plans we made for the entire voyage were
for our stop in Santorini. We decided
that was our day to skip a formal tour and simply enjoy the
island. We had our eyes on a few
restaurants recommended on Cruise Critic, and we had a few places we wanted to
visit, but overall, it was not going to be a regimented day. So far, our biggest decision was whether or
not to ride the donkeys up the hill from the port. Sarah read every incident where a tourist
fell from the donkeys and their lives were tragically altered from that point
forward. She was determined that
wouldn't happen to us. Not at all. (Ahem, Maestro, cue the ominous music) And
then it happened. The best laid plans of
mice and men....
Note that Seth is smiling and having a blast!
Note that Seth is smiling and having a blast!
Note that Catie is smiling and having a blast!
(It's all fun and games until something goes wrong.)
Donkey Disasters and Mule Madness
Caitie wanted to ride the donkeys, and I thought it would be
fun myself. After all I'm a Texas cowboy
and I've sat a saddle before. Seth and
Sarah wanted nothing to do with it and chose to ride the cable cars. At a few minutes after 9, we were well ahead
of the Barbarians, and neither line was devastatingly
long. As we stepped off the tender,
Sarah pointed and said, "There's the donkey guy." I looked and saw him holding a sign and saw
him turn with a group of people and start walking away. I understood that Sarah was telling me to
follow that man, so Caitie and I got in behind him and started walking. I expected she would accompany us to the ride
and then get on the cable cars. I looked
back and was surprised when I didn't see her but concluded that she sent us our
direction and she and Seth went on their way.
The line for the donkeys was short and Caitie and I were on our way
within a few minutes. By the way, the
donkeys turned out to be mules. And most
mules are the size of a small horse.
Catie is in the the blue sweater. Note that she's getting farther and farther away from me. When we got to the place where the woman was dismounting, the attendant sent us farther down the street to a different place.
Riding the mules was exactly what I expected. The mules were trained from so much
repetition that one only has to sit on the animal and it would take you to the
top until you got off of it, and then a handler will redirect it to the
bottom. There are no bits or bridles or
whips, and you won't have need of any of those items, so save them for your
honeymoon. The mule knows what to do and
will do it, even if reluctantly. A small
guide rope was wrapped around his nose and tied to the saddle, but that is as
much of control as you will encounter or need.
Caitie climbed on her mule and I was immediately behind her. She was all giggles and smiles and was having
a grand time. We clopped along to the
first doglegged turn on the path and Caitie's mule stopped walking. I yelled at her to kick it, but the mule
stood motionless no matter what she tried.
I began trying to slow my mule in order to stay up with her, but those
mules were impossible to redirect. He
knew what to do and knew how to do it. I
was only confusing him. I wasn't
terribly troubled about Caitie, for I knew the mule would do what he was
supposed to do. About this time, a
gaggle of German riders clustered the path between me and Caitie and I lost
sight of her. When I got to the next
curve, I could see that her mule had joined the German's in their ascent, so I
quit worrying about her. I regretted not
being able to get her photo, but the trail was long and I was certain I could
slow my mule enough for her to catch up.
The path was roughly ten feet wide and there is a four foot
tall retaining wall that lines the edge of the trail for the entire
journey. If any tourist ever fell off
that path, then it was completely operator error. The mules usually walked in a cluster of
about ten or so at a time, and there was plenty of room for that to
happen. I felt safe for the entire
journey. Caitie managed to catch up to
me within 20 feet or so, and I could see that she was having a blast, so I quit
restraining my mule and let him have its head.
He was a fast walker and liked being in the lead. The gaggle surrounding Caitie were causing
quite a scene. They were all terrified,
and were screaming at their mules, which confused them greatly. One of the sounds one woman was making was
similar to a cowboy yelling "HAW!"
Their terrified screams were causing the mules to walk faster than
normal, but everyone was perfectly safe.
I tried to allow that cluster to pass me by, but my mule would have none
of it. One Australian woman was
practically sobbing to herself, "I will never to this again!" over
and over. I asked her what was the
matter and she said that to a control freak, being on a mule that can't be
controlled was too much! I told her that
it's just like a Disney ride, you just let it happen, but she said my words
didn't comfort her in the least. Oh
well.
After the 15 minute ride, a photographer was standing in the
street snapping shots of each rider, and by this time, Caitie and I were
together and we were both laughing and having a grand time. I asked her how she got her mule walking
again and she said she started talking to it in Greek and it took off. Ha!
That was the first time I knew that Caitie could speak Greek. All this time we were focusing on her learning
her math tables, and she was apparently learning Greek instead. Go figure!
What she was doing was mimicking the yells of the workers who where
herding the mules. Whatever works,
right? The mules kept climbing the
mountain and we kept riding. Soon, there
were shops around us and we kept climbing.
We were shopping via mule. Not
something you get to do every day. After
another minute or so, a man was helping the riders dismount and we jumped off
our mules and tried to figure out where Sarah and Seth were. We knew they had to have beaten us up the
mountain and I fully expected to see them standing there when we were back on
the ground. At that moment, I realized
that we didn't have a plan for where to meet.
We never discussed it. I just
assumed the mules and the cable cars ended their rides at the same place.
So, I thought about it a moment and concluded that since we
didn't see Sarah, then there must be an exit where the mule riders go, and that
must be where Sarah and Seth were waiting for us. So, we started walking down the path, climbed
the last few steps to the top, and glanced at the shops surrounding us. At some point I realized there was no set
exit. So I had no idea where we were or
where Sarah was. I asked a few tourist
if they knew where the cable car exit was, and a man told me about two blocks
"that way," and pointed to the left.
Okay, since we didn't know where we were or where our exit was, we would
just go to the cable cars and wait there.
Well, we walked two blocks "that way" and we found ourselves
on the main highway that passed through town.
Hmmm. Something was wrong. I found a store vender and asked about the
cable cars and looked sheepish and then pointed and said, "A leeetle bit
that way." Okay, another turn to the
left. So, we went a leeeetle bit that
way and I asked a man riding a scooter if he could show us where the cable cars
were. He shook his head and pointed down
the road we were walking along, and then pointed to the left. Hmmm.
We walked a little farther, but I knew we were completely in the wrong
part of the village. We were now in a
residential area, and no one, and I mean NO ONE spoke English. I tried Spanish also. Nothing.
And Caitie's Greek only seemed to work on mules. So, I would walk up each person and say,
"Cable car?" And they would
all shake their heads or simply point some random direction. So, I changed my question to, "Does
anyone habla cable cars?" but that didn't help either. Every tourist we met on the road we asked,
"Cable cars?" but no one could help us. Eventually we ended up at an elementary
school, and then we came out on the main road again and passed by several car
rental places. Finally, I found a street
that looked to go back to the shops, so we walked that way hoping for a
miracle. I knew Sarah had to be beside
herself with worry. Things like that are
horribly stressful to her and I knew she was just short of calling the Embassy
and requesting a Seal team be activated to rescue us.
 |
| Despite our angst, we paused for a photo. |
Meanwhile, back in the jungle...
Sarah and Seth tell this story from a slightly different
view point. Sarah saw the man with the
donkey sign as soon as she stepped off the tender, and she said "There's
the man with the donkeys." She said at that point Caitie and I
disapperated into nothing and we were simply gone, having vanished into a
vapor, or beamed onto the Enterprise.
She said it was as if the rapture happened and she missed it, along with
everyone else on the planet--save Caitie and me. For all she knew, aliens were
probing us at that very moment. They
turned around and we were gone! As if we
had never existed! We're talking
Twilight Zone stuff. She said they
walked down where the mules started and didn't see us, and then walked around
to the cables cars and still couldn't find us.
Seth kept saying, "They wouldn't just go get on the mules without
telling us." His logical right
brained thought process didn't understand what was happening. Finally, Sarah concluded that we had gone to
the mule ride and went to get on the cable cars. By this time, the barbarian population had
increased and they stood in line several minutes before their ascent. It is probable that Caitie and I were already
at the top before them. When they
excited the cable cars, Sarah immediately found several members of our family
party who were waiting for their excursion to start and asked if we had come
by. Of course, we were probably down by
the elementary school by then, so they were clueless. Sarah decided that we must be waiting at the
mule ride exit point, so she headed that way.
Meanwhile, Caitie and I were like Marcus Brody on Indiana
Jones movie 3, where he was wandering through the streets of Cairo mumbling,
"Does anyone speak English?"
We ended up again by the elementary school and by this time I knew that
Sarah was officially in crisis mode.
Forty five minutes had passed and we were worse off than before we
started. Much worse. Finally, we found a man in a lawn chair
sitting behind a short fence with a sign that said, Tourist Information
Center. I asked him how to find the
cable cars and in perfect English he explained that we had to walk all the way
down this street, turn to the left, walk all the way to the end of that street,
and then stop at the church, where the cars exited. How many times had we circled that church
without seeing an exit? Well, we
summoned our strength and pressed on.
 |
| You can see part of the donkey trail from the cable cars |
Caitie and I arrived at the church for the hundredth time and frowned when we saw no
cable car exit. I was growing frustrated
and wanted to pummel the next German barbarian who ignored me, and I had one in
sight. Finally, standing in front of the
church, I realized there was one thing we had yet to try. We hadn't walked THROUGH the church. Would it be that simple? We respectfully worked our way through the
courtyard and into the doors of the sanctuary.
That's when I saw the path extended through a second gate and the path
entered the tourist district.
BINGO! We arrived at the cable
car exit and ran into those same family members who excitedly said, "Have
you found Sarah yet? She was here 30
minutes ago looking for you!" Well,
I planted a flag right there and adamantly refused to move. We would spend the rest of the day sitting at
the only exit from the island.
Eventually they would return to this spot. After another 10 minutes, an incredibly
worked up and completely disheveled Sarah and Seth stumbled off of their cliff
pathway and collapsed in a heap at our feet.
As I predicted, Sarah was distressed.
We took a few minutes to collect ourselves while recounting our tales
and explanations. In all, we only lost
an hour, but it felt like half a day.
Let's now salvage what we could of the day. We needed to find Tony's car rental place,
and it just so happens that Caitie and I had passed it several times, and that
was one place we knew how to find.
 |
| They had many choices at Tony's for rentals |
When we arrived at Tony's I was immediately comfortable with
our rental selection. I don't know if
the man and woman working the store were Tony and his wife, but I suspect they
were. Immediately Tony's wife saw how
exhausted we were and ushered us to our chairs and continually asked, "Are
you okay?" I think she was worried
we would pass out in her lobby. Our car
rental was ready to go, and Tony sat down with a map and showed us step by step
where to go and how to get there. He
told us that if we drove to Oia it would take us 20 minutes. He told us that a trip to the winery would
take 10 minutes. He showed us the map
and told us that if we went to each place we wanted to visit to put 5 liters of
gas in the car when we returned. If we
went to less places, then put a little less gas. He was very agreeable and he didn't get all
wrapped up with the inspection. He
showed me every small scratch on the vehicle and said, "It's
okay." We agreed that the scratches
were already there and then sent us on our way.
Before we leave with our rental, let me also mention that we spent 45
euro to rent the car for the day, and we also added 10 euro for full coverage
insurance for the day. You can't get a
cab ride up to Oia and back and come out any cheaper. And driving in Santorini is NOTHING like
driving in Athens or the rest of Europe, for that matter. Almost all of the cars on the road were other
American tourists who rented cars, so the driving conditions were very familiar
to us. This was an excellent choice! |
| The air conditioning was nice! |
We took off and drove to Oia on a very pleasant drive along
the coastal road that wound its way through the lava flows and ash deposits and
arrived in Oia without any trouble. We
drove through town first and then circled back to see if we could find a place
to park. Having been to Athens and
knowing how the Greeks drive and park, I was certain I could find a place. We stopped behind another rental and
parked. At that time, a huge tour bus
drove around the corner and frantically waved his hands telling us that we
chose poorly. We loaded up again and
drove another block and found a parking lot where we paid 2 euros for 5
hours. That was more than enough time.
We walked along those incredible streets of Oia with the white washed walls and the blue church domes, and were enthralled with the simplistic beauty and majestic complexity of the Santorini village life. The island is simply charming. And the views are breathtaking. I think I can describe the joy you experience as you walk along those incredible streets. Do you remember the day you got married? No, seriously, think back to those days when you were still excited about your spouse and were eagerly anticipating that joyous day. Can you remember the anticipation of that wonderful day when your spouse would complete your life and bring you true joy? Well, that's what actually happens when you experience Santorini. It's like being the focus of a symphony. Or better, it's like being caught up in a symphony and simply experiencing it while it just happens around you.
Oia is a paradise. The weather was great and we had a fantastic day wandering the streets.
We stopped at a cafe in Oia named Skiza, where we had
commanding views of the sea below and the white houses clinging to the cliff
around us. Our waitress was lovable and
smiled warmly whenever we asked her to help us.
She showed us how to sign up with her free wi-fi, and made several
suggestions about the menu. I ordered
the chicken pie, which was to die for, and Sarah ordered the Greek salad, which
was rich with local produce and a crumbling feta cheese. It was really tasty. Caitie ordered a turkey and cheese sandwich
on a baguette, and really liked it, but spent more time trying to beg bites of
my pot pie than eating her sandwich.
Seth ordered the Margherita pizza and gobbled it up. Sarah had a glass of dry red wine that came chilled
which we weren't used to, but it was wonderful.
We also ordered a large bottled water, and the kids got Cokes, one of
which was a tea with lemon. All together
we spent less than 40 euro and were enthusiastically satisfied. We spent another hour walking the streets and
picking up a few souvenirs. I found a
really nice piece of art that came with a certificate of authenticity. 
The stress seemed to be getting to Seth.
Holy Grecian Formula! This food was awesome!
Oia is a fantastic place to visit, and we marked it down as
a place to return to -- without the kids, of course. You could easily rent a hotel room that was
built into a cave on the cliffside and spend a day walking the shops and
enjoying the beauty that is characteristic of that wonderful island. There are also beaches available; one with
black sand, the other with red. And one
or two historical ruins were available to tour.
We didn't visit those places, but we did visit the winery. We drove back to Fira and passed through town
to the winery, which was situated with perhaps the best view of the island
available. All together, that drive took
about 20 to 25 minutes.
The winery was a great place to visit. The views were awesome and the wine superior. We bought several bottles to take home with us.
We spent an hour at the winery and chose the flight of six samples while the kids drank hot chocolate and ate some kind of bundt cake. We liked most of the wines we sampled, but they gave us dessert wines in the flight, and I don't typically like sweet wines, even as an afterthought to a meal. We enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and used the free wi-fi signal to FaceTime our family back home. Of course, we woke them up from an early morning sleep, but it was unavoidable. We bought a few of the selections we enjoyed and then returned to Tony's to drop off our car. Tony's wife was glad to see us and destroyed our credit card slip while we watched her. The car rental was the easiest transaction we worked while on the entire cruise.
We ran into Christopher and Micah, who rented bikes for the day. They had a BLAST!
 |
| A beautiful marina below town. |
I wanted to visit one of the many blue domed churches we saw. They are beautiful churches, indeed.
We ran into George Anne on our way down. The cable cars may be easier, but going up on the mules was super cool.
 |
| Not ready to leave just yet. |
Then we got back in line for the tenders and after a fifteen
minute wait, we were back on the ship and fully lamenting leaving
Santorini. Sarah and I had a few minutes
before our 6 o'clock dining time, so we sat in the Schooner Bar and toasted the
island and made a wish to return. Some
final thoughts about Santorini: We don't
feel regret for not hiring a tour. We
don't feel as though we missed out on anything.
Our relaxing (minus the rough and chaotic mishap) day was a pleasant
change from the regimented tours, and by this point, our Culture Fatigue was
advanced and we desperately needed a simple day of mindless amusement. Seth also noted that next time he would ride
the donkeys. He thought the path was
very narrow and dangerous, but it is a trail as wide as a single lane road, and
the fence lined the path for the entire journey.
After dinner we attended the second of the Centrum Aerial
Shows. We enjoyed the Jack and the
Beanstalk show earlier in the cruise but this one was an alien/techno weird
show that did not really impress any of us.
After the centrum show we decided to attend the main show since tomorrow
is a sea day and we get to put our clocks back an hour tonight! Tonight's show was Brooks Aehron a concert
pianist. It was a fantastic show,
probably our favorite of the trip. He
turned out to be a very accomplished musician as well as a great
entertainer. The ship even gave him an
encore performance the next afternoon (Caitie and Sarah's mom attended) and it
was standing room only in the Tropical Theater!
Tomorrow is a much needed Sea Day, hope the great weather holds out!
What a fantastic day we had! We're going back. (Next time without the kids!)
Part I Getting there
Part II Barcelona
Part III Barcelona Continued
Part IV France
Part V Livorno, Pisa, and Florence, Italy
Part VI Rome
Part VII Sea Day
Part VIII Turkey
Part IX Athens
Part X Santorini
Part XI Sea Day
Part XII Italy: Positano, Sorento, Amalfi Coast, and Pompeii
Part XIII Sea Day
Part XIV Back to Barcelona
Part XV The Journey Home and Final ThoughtsPart I Getting there
Part II Barcelona
Part III Barcelona Continued
Part IV France
Part V Livorno, Pisa, and Florence, Italy
Part VI Rome
Part VII Sea Day
Part VIII Turkey
Part IX Athens
Part X Santorini
Part XI Sea Day
Part XII Italy: Positano, Sorento, Amalfi Coast, and Pompeii
Part XIII Sea Day
Part XIV Back to Barcelona
Part XV The Journey Home and Final Thoughts
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