I was in the Lido for a 6.30 breakfast to get ahead of the hordes going
on excursions. Kate and Chris were there so we had breakfast together. When
those of us who didn’t need a tender ticket got to the tender stairs at 8.00
am, we were told that all the excursions would be loaded first, as they were
going to a different drop-off near the buses, the we would be taken to the main
drop-off at the donkeys and chair lift. In this port they don’t use ship’s
tenders: they charter local tenders, which is obviously good income for the
local businesses. There are 4 cruise ships here today, so it’s very busy.
Santorini is still blue and white and beautiful! The three of us were on
a tender by 8.40 and on shore before 9.00. I changed my shoes and headed for
the donkey trail. Thankfully at this time of morning, it was in the shade all the
way up; there are just on 600 steps, but each step is up to four or five paces
wide, so it’s step-2-3-4-5 for each , with the average being 4 paces.
At the bottom, the donkeys were lined up, donkey after donkey, and
they’re bigger than the little “pets” you see at fairs and kids’ rides; these
are as big as small horses. Yes, you have to be on your toes watching out for
the poo, which is everywhere. It’s only ϵ6 for the donkey ride, but I wanted to
do the steps and I’m not so sure about being high up on the mountain on a
donkey bumping from side to side. It was quite a challenge and I had a few
moments’ rest here and there; the views were wonderful. Getting to the top at
around 600 wasn’t the end of the walking but it was getting hot, so I climbed
higher, looking for both a wifi café and a keyring to replace my 2005 Santorini
keyring which was attached to the car keys I lost in March this year.
I found a café, ordered a large, delightfully cold iced coffee, and
started looking at emails. Kate and Chris spotted me (they had ridden the cable
car up the mountain) and joined me for coffee. They left again and I kept
walking, ever more steps, ever higher. I found my keyring and decided it was
hot enough, I had gone high enough, so I wound my way through more and more
alleyways until I was gradually going in the downward direction towards the
donkey trail. Meanwhile, Santorini is a photographer's dream!
This time it was in full sun, very hot, and going down 600 steps is
every bit as hard on your knees and legs as going up! By the time I got to the
bottom, my legs were very shakey and I was glad to sit down under the Westerdam
tent with a cool lemonade to wait for the next tender. I had donkey poo in the
grooves of my shoes, of course, and had deliberately brought a pair of shoes
which I didn’t mind leaving behind. With nowhere to clean them properly, I
wasn’t about to fly into Sydney quarantine with this pollution on my shoes, so
I left them behind on the dock. Maybe someone will get them who needs them!
Back on board, I had a shower to cool down and then had lunch. Funniest thing: when I got to Mass and Father Gary was fuming. Someone in the
parish had edited the Google calendar and changed all the 11.00 Sunday Masses to
10.00. He said, “when you get a text saying ‘I know you’re on vacation but ..’
you know you’re in trouble!” He was spitting chips but laughing at himself and
telling himself to calm down because we were about to move out of contact for
36 hours and besides he won't be able to fix it till he gets home on Saturday.
I had given Patsy at our table a gift of my little new testament and she
gave me a lovely cake of local olive oil soap. She and Leslie will be
continuing on to Barcelona and the Patsy continues for another couple of weeks
after that. Kate and Chris will be getting off on Friday in Rome. I have some
onboard credit left, so I’ve replaced my broken Wild Bean travel mug with a
Holland America one. I also indulged tonight and had port and cheese delivered
before bedtime. Tonight we put the clocks back one hour to be reimbursed for
the hour we lost en route to Greece.
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