Greece: Santorini

Greece: Santorini

We had a leisurely morning preparing for departure to new horizons.

Sandy, Annie and Trish went for a last swim at Lee Beach while Squizz had a coffee at her favourite cafe right on the waterfront.

We then all packed and collected our belongings which had somehow scattered right through our villa, inside and out.

It seemed amazing how our bags all seemed heavier.

Squizz took charge of preparing the last supper - we feasted on aubergine, stuffed potatoe skins with garlic prawns, fresh salad, pita bread etc.

 
Too soon it was time to go and we took the challenge of loading our VW caddy with luggage for 6 people plus all of us........all managed to fit and we headed off with Sandy at the wheel.

We made it in good time to the Port at Rhodes and our Blue Star Ferry was already docked. We unloaded all the bags and Squizz & Jenny took care of the luggage while Sandy & Tine organised the tickets. Annie & Trish took the car back down the road to leave it where we were directed to by the car hire people.

Sandy, Tina & Jenny loaded all the bags and pool noodles onto the ferry down in the bowels of the ship with all the cars.

Trish & Annie returned and we all headed on board.

 

We looked around the ship and Tina took on the challenge issued by Annie to find the best location for us to set up base for our 7.5hr journey to Santorini. She came back to where we had set up temporary camp to guide us back to the cafe / lounge area at the front of the boat. Here we settled in.

We celebrated the next stage of our adventure with a bottle of prosecco.

 

 

During the trip we took the time to update our blog and go through the various phrases of Greek we had learnt thus far.

Yes              ne

No               Ochi

OK               endaksy 

Please          Parakalo

You're welcome    Parkalo

Thankyou    Efcharisto

Excuse me / Sorry          Signomy

Greetings / Hello / Goodbye      Ya sou

Cheers      Yamos

Wine          Krasee

Beer            Beera

As we sailed through the wonderful Blue Aegan Sea we read much about about our area. It seems there are 227 inhabited Greek Islands in the Aegan and Mediterranean Seas and that some 17 million people visit this area each year. With a population of 11 million, this provides a wonderful income for the country with 90% of these people coming from Europe although many more are coming from other areas today as the secret of the wonderful culture, interesting architecture, often archeological excavated ruins and the idyllic beaches has reached the world. 

We sailed very close to Turkey with camera shots of villages, churches and individual homes easily accessible from the ship.

 

 

 After a number of refreshments along the way, we docked at Kos, one of the 227 inhabited islands along the way to Santorini. 

 

After Kos we were invited to have dinner at Goodys where we all chose our own and ate heartily.

Various types of relaxation followed as we sailed onto Santorini- reading, a game of Monopoly cards, snoozing, walking the deck and crosswords.

A PA announcement warned us of our imminent arrival at Athinios Port and we were urged to go down to collect our luggage and prepare to disembark. Our driver was there to meet us as we once again weaved our way up the precipitous cliffs.

 

After some huffing and puffing we heaved our cases up the mandatory flights of stairs to our new home for the next week. Thankfully Sarah, who had arrived earlier, heard Sandy's dulcet tones at 1am in the clear night serenity, and was able to show us to our " doll house" size villas-small, white, quaint, quiet, high on a hillside and quite breezy.

After an allocation of bedrooms, or rather beds, the night returned to its serenity as we all nodded off...........

 

The same day we arrived via ferry from Rhodes Sandy's  good mate sarah Speller arrived from Hong Kong. Sarah taught at Clyde Fenton with Sandy in 2009 & 2010 and we have stayed connected through her visits back to Darwin after she moved to Perth and Sandy's visits to Perth. Sarah relocated to Hong Kong a few months ago with her partner Jay and is joining us for 5 days here on Santorini.