My favorite port of this Mediterranean Sea cruise was Santorini, Greece, the breathtaking city on top of the cliffs. Before Santorini, we visited two other ports: Kotor, Montenegro and Corfu, Greece. As I thought about these three ports and all the possibilities, I highlighted Kotor, Montenegro and Corfu, Greece and focus on Santorini.
October 7 — Kotor, Montenegro
As we moved in closer to Kotor, we enjoyed the gorgeous scenery as we came into a beautiful bay with the mountains coming closer and closer on each side. The tender was late because of port authorities.
This small country has an intriguing history. During World War II, President Tito’s presence was obvious. Montenegro achieved independence as a country in 2006.
For the first part of the excursion, we went to the city of Budva, considered the “Queen of Tourism.” We had limited time there, and I desperately needed a bathroom, so we had to buy a drink to use one. We walked through narrow paths that wove through the city.
Afterwards, on the way back to Kotor, we spent one hour in an expensive rug shop, listening to an informative presentation on the different rugs. I made the mistake of commenting on the beauty of one rug, and a hungry salesperson grabbed me and took me to another area to see more like that one. Again, I had to go to the bathroom, so I left Lin with this ambitious salesperson, which Lin didn’t appreciate. The price: $10,000 for a rug about 3 feet by 5 feet. Needless to say, we didn’t buy one!
When we returned to Kotor, we toured the fort of old Kotor, a fascinating historic city where we needed more time to explore! We saw a fascinating orthodox church, a cathedral that dated back to 1166 inside the fort. Lin found time to have another gelato, though!
When we tendered back to the ship in the early evening, beautiful sharp mountains surrounded us running down to the sea. As lights came on, we saw an ancient defensive wall lit up in the nighttime.
October 8 — Corfu, Greece
Corfu, one of the Ionian Islands, was gorgeous, surrounded by the azure blue Mediterranean! I dressed in a culotte dress in case we visited a church. Before we left the ship, I needed to exchange my money and get some Euros for the day.
On our excursion, we traveled through the town of Corfu and enjoyed the tour guide’s tales about its rich history and folklore. The old fortress of Corfu sat sentinel on the hill.
As an English major, I loved when he shared Odysseus left his ship here and, legend said, it was petrified.
“Odysseus’ ship, which took him home from Corfu to Ithaka, turned to rock according to legend.”
http://i-greece.gr/news/corfu-homers-odyssey-and-odysseus-petrified-ship/
Another important fact he shared about Corfu—Prince Phillip was born there and we drove by his family’s home (mansion).
When we left Corfu, we traveled through a village, and the bus barely passed through between the buildings. Then we went on up a windy road to the top of a mountain where we shopped for souvenirs and enjoyed the view.
On the way back to Corfu, we stopped at the Mavrommatis distillery where they made kumquat liqueur, a specialty of that area. We bought a variety of kumquat treats!
October 9 — Santorini Island, Greece
All of our ports took my breath away with their beauty—turquoise water and beautiful historic islands! But Santorini Island was my favorite!
At first, as we sailed closer, we saw white on the tops of the gigantic cliffs that looked like snow. As I zoomed in with my new camera, I realized the white was houses. Beautiful white houses trimmed in blue and blue domed churches covered the very top of the cliffs.
As we got closer, we saw a variety of boats in coves along the way. Lin, using his binoculars, saw a large group of hikers on one island as we passed. With my new camera, I zoomed in and saw what he was talking about.
This was another port where we tendered from our ship to the port because of the size of the Norwegian Epic. We knew we were meeting our tour guide up on top by the cable car.
I’m sad to say neither Lin or I knew about the donkeys you could ride up or down the cliff! We found out after we rode the cable car up! I would have loved to ride a donkey up—my ranch girl heart came out! But we had donkey encounters on the trip down.
The cable car was quite efficient and effective, moving people up the cliff. We met our guide at the top and gathered our small group together, and went to their office. The tourists crowded the narrow walkways shoulder-to-shoulder between the busy shops, yet our tour guide said this is not the busy time of year!
Quickly I realized why our tour was called “Panoramic Blue Shade Tour”—blue domes filled Santorini! This was the first time Lin and I didn’t use a Norwegian excursion company. We had waited too late to book them before we left, so we worked with an agent and she booked several tours for the end of our cruise through Viator (viator.com), and we loved them, especially this one!
It was a small group of about twelve.
We had a fantastic young tour guide who told us why they built the houses on the top of the high cliffs. The cliffs are pumice stone, so the digging was easy. So, when you think about it—the houses are cave houses.
Here was another place in the Mediterranean where volcanoes played a big part. The most recent eruption was 1957!
The history of the Santorini fascinated me:
- In the late 30-40s, they suffered a cholera epidemic. They white washed the houses with limestone, and it stopped the cholera.
- In 1956, they had a big earthquake.
- In 1967, they found many archaeological ruins.
- In 1967, during a dictatorship, every house was painted white and the domes blue, being patriotic—the color of the Greek flag.
- In 1974, the dictatorship ended, and the demand of painting houses white and domes blue ended, but the tradition continues.
We toured around Santorini, heading towards Oia, the village world famous for its sunset view. We were given time there to shop and relax. At the spot for sunset viewing, we saw hundreds of locks attached to railings. We found out couples put their “engagement locks” there, with their names and engagement date.
During our free time, we shopped and had a gelato. When we got back to the cable car line, it went on and on—the wait would have been an hour or more. We had already decided to walk down the path, but the line convinced us. What an experience that was! Several white-haired people made the same decision.
Donkey manure dotted our path, and we enjoyed several close encounters with the donkeys. They did have a halter and reins, but it did no good. The donkeys walked wherever they wanted!
By the time we got to the bottom, my legs felt like jelly, and I knew the next day I would feel it, but what a glorious end to our wonderful time in Santorini! We caught the tender back to the ship, and I relished the day’s amazing experience with blue domes in the horizon and donkey humor everywhere!
Finally,
My favorite port, Santorini, lives in my mind with bright blue domes and white washed buildings. Have you ever heard of Santorini? Have you ever been there?
News, News, News!
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- Douglas Coleman’s show-August 5, 2022
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- Book Talk–June 3, 2022
- Live on Purpose Podcast–March 17, 2022
- Zbooks.com–January 19, 2022
- Apostrophes, A Writers Series with Double DD–January 10, 2022
- The On Purpose Podcast–January 10, 2022
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~For me, it’s Christmas all year long! Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A