October 20, 2023
Today we arrived in Heraklion, Crete. I was here this April and toured both the Palace of the Minotaur in Knossos and the city so decided to skip this port and take a “sea day” for myself. The girls are headed into town to grab the hop on hop off bus and check out Knossos, etc.
After a nice lie in, I had a late breakfast and then hit the pool deck to catch up on my reading before heading to the cabin for a nap out of the sun. The girls regaled me with stories about their day while we were quaffing cocktails at the Champagne Lounge. A couple of Cosmos later, I headed to dinner with Glenda at La Cucina while Elaine and Linda headed to the main dining room. After a couple hours playing cards with my casino buddies I called it a night.
Tomorrow is another day. Adventures await…
October 21, 2023
The last port on our cruise is Santorini. Visiting this magnificent island on a cruise ship is not always ideal but today, our ship is the only one in port so the cable car won’t be crazy busy! Yay!!
Santorini’s volcano is one of the few active volcanoes in Europe. The islands that form Santorini came into existence as a result of intensive volcanic activity; twelve huge eruptions occurred, one every 20,000 years approximately, and each violent eruption caused the collapse of the volcano’s central part creating a large crater (caldera). The volcano, however, managed to recreate itself over and over again.
We’ve booked an excursion to Oia, a coastal town on the northwestern tip of Santorini. Oia has whitewashed houses carved into the rugged clifftops, and overlooks the water filled caldera. This traditional village offers charming houses and quaint narrow streets that are ideal for a stroll. Oia is home to beautiful blue domed churches, sunbathed verandas, plenty of shops, tavernas and cafes, art galleries, the ruined Oia Castle, and a million spectacular views. Our guide set us loose for around two hours of wandering, jaw dropping views and retail therapy. Here are a “few” of my favourite pics!
Exploring is hard work so we stopped off to grab a fabulous gelato before boarding the bus to go back to Fira for a bit more exploration.
The girls went for lunch and cocktails and I headed for the cable car to the old port to catch the tender boat back to the ship for the usual routine of R&R for me before getting cleaned up for cocktails, dinner and the show. Tomorrow we’re catching our flight to Rome for the second stage of our adventure; a land tour in Tuscany. Adventures await …
Judy’s Rambles 