Santorini - Thursday, October 17

One one of my first posts about the trip, I told y'all that I would tell you later . . .about me sleeping on the side of the bed closest to the wall.

For the first several nights of the trip, our ship traveled along the cost of Turkey and the waters were calm. Between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 17, a noise awakened me. I opened my eyes for a second and I realized that the boat was rocking and rolling like crazy. We were crossing over the open water and headed to Santorini. The noise was our bathroom door banging open and closed . . .open and closed. Everyting in the room was moving. Mark woke up and said to me, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm trying not to get sick." He said, "yes, but what are you doing?" I was sitting on the side of the bed and I had my feet (they were clean) pulled up and braced on the wall opposite me and I was staring at a stationary point on the white wall. It wasn't moving and with my feet braced I wasn't moving! I didn't get sick but I did take lots of dramamine. I had a patch but didn't use it. I even went back to sleep at some point. That wall and I were friends haha!

 All of these pictures are out of order and I'm just going to explain and talk as I go!

This was early that morning as the sun was coming up. The water doesn't look rough here . . .but believe me, it didn't calm down.

Mark was sitting on the porch and I said, "Is that snow on that mountain?" It was the white buildings on Santorini! I had no idea they were up SO HIGH.

Our ship was "parked" (docked? anchored -- I think that is the right word!). Our ship was anchored off shore and we had to take a tender over to the port. The water was still very rough.

Their are a couple of towns on Santorini - or sides of the island? To get to the towns, you either have to take a cable car from the Old Port of Gialos to the island's capital, Fira. If you don't take the cable car, you can walk the 587 steps or you can ride a local donkey. The views from the cable car were amazing - we could see the Caldera, the sea, the volcano - all of it!

Pass on by the picture below if you are easily offended. ALL OVER SANTORINI - actually everywhere we went in Greece, there were penises. There were lots of carved ones of all sizes and painted in all sorts of colors. This is Lu - showing us one!

There was a good bit of donkey poop on the streets. Mark had stepped in camel dung in Egypt and he stepped in Donkey Do on Santorini haha!

As you will see from some pictures in a minute, Mark and my friend, Laura Ellis, took a taxi and went to the other side of Santorini. I hung out with Lu and Dave. We visited a small beautiful Catholic Church.

The views from the top were amazing.

These photos are so out of order! We chartered a catamaran for the afternoon. Our boat had six couples plus Laura. I think the other boat had six couples, too. We were on a sailboat and at one point, there were 6-8 foot waves -- more dramamine and thank you, Jesus, for Ginger Gum!

It looks like Mark was getting ready to kiss Dave but I think he was just talking to him hahaha!

Here we are on the cable car headed back down from the town to board the catamaran for our afternoon excursion. Totally out of order - I don't understand why this randomly happens.

Mark and Laura took a taxi to the village of Oia - pronounced EE YA. Oia had HIGH END SHOPPING and amazing houses and hotels with private swimming pools for each room with lots of privacy. Oia is the part of the island that you see in travel ads - white buildings with blue rooftops. I just couldn't get into another moving vehicle so I opted to stay on the Fira side and just walk around.

Lu, Dave, and I stopped in a cafe and Cliff and Carol were there eating! Cliff and Carol shared some of their food with us.

Here we are again -- Lu and Laura on the cable car.

Laura M. (there were three Lauras on this trip and I'm friends with all three) was on the boat. We were just loading the catamaran at the dock. She actually stood for most of the trip trying not to get sick.

me, Laura, and Terrie - such fun to travel with good friends.

It was a gorgeous day but it was windy and cool. I wore my sweatshirt for a large portion of the afternoon. I never put on my swimsuit and I definitely didn't get in the water.

Santorini is an active volcano.The volcanic activity dates back over 650,000 years. They experienced a horrible eruption in 1560 BC, but they also had activity in 1950! There was some seismic activity back in 2011 and 2012.

Our catamaran crew showed us all sorts of interesting rock formations.

Mark was LOVING it!

The captain allowed Laura to drive!

We had a chef on board the catamaran and he prepared a beautiful lunch. I only ate a few bites because IF I were to get sick . . .I wanted an empty tummy.

The crew were all very good natured. He was pretending to push Lu off the boat.

We were pulled up into a cove and the water was calm here. Three of our folks went swimming.

We booked through Odyssey Sailing - highly recommend.

Look at the beautiful fresh and colorful food!

We made it back to the ship in time to change and to attend the White Party. The Captain spoke over the loud speakers to tell us they had moved the ship long enough for the party to happen. The water was still very rough. Everyone wears white to this party. It was outside on the pool deck and it was actually chilly. The servers were handing out pool blankets!!

We bought Mark's tux shirt at the thrift store - not our usual place to shop, but it was perfect for this event.

The deck was decorated and it was truly a party atmosphere. There was live music and lots of dancing.

I've told y'all that Mark loves sweets - this was his dessert plate!

Mark and Dave in their white attire!

I had on a white shirt from Talbots and I bought some white pants at the thrift store.

I am pretty sure I have left out something from this day. Santorini wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was lovely.