2014 - AEGEAN ODYSSEY - SANTORINI

Moving on to Santorini. I have been here before & so know what to expect.

Rain.

And I was not disappointed. It did rain quite a lot but strangely when I was under cover.

Breakfast first - out on the terrace with Santorini as a back-drop. Not too shabby.

The buffet has the same set up as evening except the food changes. All the usual suspects, well presented & lots of it.

Into the lounge to await the call for Pink group. It's gong to be a long day today with an included stop for lunch at a 'Typical Taverna'.

We have to tender ashore & unlike just about every other tender port I have been to, Santorini sends out it's own tender. Quite large ferry type vessels to get lots of people ashore at one go.

We head away from the closest town of Fira I suspect because the only way up the hill is by funicular or donkey & would take up too much time

It's not long before we get to Oia & the guide drops us in the square by the church, gives us directions to varous lookout spots & two hours to get back to the bus.

Do you think this man is colour co-ordinated on purpose?

Picture perfect .....

I head into a restaurant & up stairs to the roof for a coffee & some photo taking

A favourite wedding photo spot is just below me .... People come here form all over the world to get married. Can't imagine why!

My boat out there I think. That whole area is the caldera of a volcano and most of what we are on is the rim. One massive volcano.One massive explosion.

An amusing piece of outdoor art & ...

what nice boots the bride has .... Careful girl..

Looks like rush hour with another wedding in the middle. Paul & Therese just to her left. We spent a lot of time together on the ship.

This guy could care less ....

old & newer Santorini together ...

A last glimpse of the happy couple & we are off to the Archaeological dig at Akrotiri

I expected to get very wet here as it was pouring with rain but the dig is completely covered.

The site is very well laid out and the radio commentary from our very knowledgeable guide was excellent. Except that my group of 30 some people were strung out so much on the narrow walkways that I started to pick up some other tours commentary. Took me a while to realise I was listenting to a different lady, but noticed my ladies lips were not moving.

The last time I was here it was on a three thousand passenger cruise ship. This time the ship has 300. Which makes lunch strange. From the big ship, lunch was in a restaurant that held our bus load of about 30 - 40. This time we had lunch in a wedding venue & the entire boat was there. Small ship sailing does not always equate to a more intimate experience.

I could have come down the cliff by donkey but chickened out & took the funicular.

Grace, a waitress from the ship was excited that she took the donkey up & down the cliff. Good that the girls get some free time off the ship occasionally.

All that rain presages a storm coming.

A storm at sea - lovely.