Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Skipping Santorini

Yesterday was a day at sea as we shot through the southern Mediterranean from the Greek island of Santorini to Malta. Being a day at sea, that meant we stayed on the ship, lazed around, read a lot, ate a bit too much, drank a bit too much and then wondered what to do for the rest of the afternoon. Then, after our afternoon nap, we started eating and drinking again.

Our day at sea is not all that different from our day at Santorini, because LK and I decided not to go in. Having spent 10 days on a Greek island before getting on this ship, we pretty much knew what we would find there. And then the conditions made our minds up for good. The ship dropped anchor at the port, and local tender boats came out to shuttle our fellow passengers to land. The tenders, however, were going through some scarily high waves and it looked like a real theme park ride to get to shore .

And once there, because Santorini is several hundred yards above sea level, you have a choice of getting into a cable car big enough for six people, riding a donkey, or walking the very steel path. That's it in the picture. You get on in that building at the bottom and go up the hill to the town at the top.

I could only imagine the looks of horror on the faces of my fellow passengers were I to jump on the cable car with them, and I don't have to tell you what a donkey would be thinking if I moved toward it. And we all know we can forget the steep climb. One stumble and you can imagine me picking up speed as I roll back down the hill, with the locals yelling whatever the Greek is for "Runaway Fat Boy" as people leaped out of the way.

Anyhow, the internet connections this trip have been horrible. I had hoped to put a couple more pictures up with this post, but the uploads keep failing. We have just docked in Malta this morning, and it looks like we will have a great day to walk around what seems to be a very interesting place.

More later.

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