Spectacular Santorini....Eyes Wide Shut

On Sunday morning we gradually sailed into one of the most beautiful places on earth. Amidst a number of Greek isles (too many to count), the port town of Fira on the island of Santorini is high up on the cliffs from the shore. When you get off your tender boat, you have a choice of a long Donkey ride up a switch back path or a ride in a gondola style cable car. We opted for the donkeys going up and the cable car coming back down. The donkey ride was quite an experience as they do seem to have a mind of their own. Guides walk the switch back path all the way to the top in order to keep the donkeys under control. Some people were actually attempting to walk the path.

We dismounted the donkeys near the top and were left with a short walk albeit almost straight up! To be honest, walking up the steep stairs was a bit of a challenge in the 88 degree weather. All the temperatures here are mentioned in celsius so you have to do the conversion in your head. It is roughly like this: take the celsius number and multiply it by two and then add 32. This will give you the approximate farenheight temperature. So 25 celsius is about 82 degrees. The actual conversion is 9/5ths of the celsius number + 32 but that math is a little harder to relate to after a few drinks!

Once we made it to the top of cliffs we visited a few shops and before long we were in a cab with another couple from Toronto, heading for Oia. Once there, Peg and I took photos of the homes and blue domed churches overlooking the cliffs. The main attraction to Santorini has to be the scenery (well, unless you are into shopping because there is an abundance of that there too). The towns of Fira and Oia are as high as 1,000 feet above the shore. After taking a number of photos we headed back down the cliffs by cable car this time. Peg kept her eyes closed the entire way down. Somehow, it all seemed safer that way....