SANTORINI, GREECE.

I think we have just about recovered from our day in Santorini.

What a crazy day.

Everyone on the ship was buzzing when we arrived. We had all seen the brochures with the stunning photographs of the blue and white houses on the hilltops of the cadera, and having had the disappointment of missing Mykonos, we couldn't wait to get off the ship and see Santorini for ourselves.

We looked over our balcony and saw the tender ships were ready. 

We also saw waves.

Choppy choppy choppy.

 

The shuttle boat pilots weren't concerned though, they needed to get the cruise ship passengers on to their beautiful island to buy some crafts, so we boarded the boats and oh dear Lordy,it was choppy.

 

We had 2 choices to get up to the town of Fira. The cablecar? Or the zigzag footpath?

The cable car queue was ridiculous so we went for the energetic option.

Husb was feeling decidedly ill and seasick after being bounced about in the shuttle boat and I wasn't feeling too grand either, so it didn't help that when we started climbing up the zigzag path, we came face to face with a herd of smelly donkeys hurtling back down. I couldn't risk a photo of them as there were tens of hundreds of them all thundering towards us as well as the next lot of donkeys coming back up again.

Thighs were being squashed, we were flattened against the wall, there were donkeys everywhere. Add to this some little old men urging the donkeys down.

At one point, no, at several points,  gusts of wind blew dried donkey poo into our faces, along with hay and straw and all I could think about were my eyes. 

MY EYES!  :/

and Husb was getting sqwiffier by the minute.

This gives NO INDICATION WHATSOEVER of how fast the donkeys were running down.

After about 45 minutes of being sandwiched in the middle of a donkey derby we got to the top.

And to be fair it was stunning.

An enormous volcanic explosion created this current geological caldera. 

The explosion caused the entire centre of the island to sink leaving a giant central lagoon, surrounded on 3 sides by steep cliffs, 300m high. The cliffs are topped with gleaming white houses and churches, it looks like icing sugar has been sprinkled all over the top of the volcanic rock.It is quite spectacular, and even more so against an intensely blue sky.

The entire center of the circular island sank into the sea during the tremendous volcanic explosion of 3.500 years ago. The eruption caused tidal waves which virtually wiped out the advanced Minoan civilization of Crete 70 miles to the south. Some scholars believe that the island is part of the legendary lost continent of Atlantis which supposedly slipped underwater during the disaster.

What remains today of Santorini is a large cresent-shaped island enclosing a vast bay, the largest caldera on earth (7X14 miles). 

Santorini from the air. I didn't take this.  :)

We went straight to the bus stop to Oia and just as we were beginning to feel better, we were faced with a bus journey like never before, windy roads, bottle necks, sheer cliff drops and drivers who wouldn't give way :)

There were arty shops, crafts, handmade goods, the usual tourist fayre but so much more classy, almost designer goods.

You could see the houses with swimming pools from miles away.

Oia was fabulous, but with time pressing we returned to Fira. The shuttle boats were still doing their job. The Santorini coastguards weren't going to let a few waves stop the shuttle boats bringing cruise passengers on to their island.

There was time for a Greek yoghurt with nuts, nuts and more nuts, and a beer in Murphy's Irish pub on a seat SO HAIRY it MUST have been sat on by a donkey handler...

...and then the walk back down the zigzag path. The donkeys had, by now, done their day's work so were being fed (well fed) and watered and rested so the walk back down was a little less alarming, thank goodness.

It is a unique place. 

I know I wrote it in my A level Art exam but it really DOES look like someone has sprinkled icing sugar along the top of the cliffs on the horizon.

We had loads to talk about at dinner but before that came the hilarious entertainer 

GORONWY THOM

with his juggling skills and fast humour. He was a natural. Very funny.

He was a cross between Aled Jones and Jim Gillson.

It was, all in all. a lovely day. Now we have recovered haha :)

BODRUM, TURKEY

Bodrum's new cruise terminal was built in 2008 and is only minutes from the city so we wasted no time in disembarking this beautiful ship. Look at the size of her!

She looked lovely against another glorious blue sky as we berthed in Bodrum, 

We took a walk around the bay.

(But didn't go in this bit of sea...too rocky, too shingly)

 Queen Elizabeth in the bay.

The Castle of St Peter (centre of photo) dominates the town but we bypassed it in search of a nice sandy beach, as recommended to us in the Bodrum guide.

I think we must have made the taxi driver's day when we asked him to take us 8 miles round the coast... he probably charged us enough to cover his day's costs... but whatever....it certainly wasn't worth him driving all the way home and then back out to pick us up again, so he spent a few hours with us on Camel Beach...tactfully several sunbeds away.

There were banana boats and other boats and water sports and ...

CAMELS!

And OH JOY!!!! Look at this! It was nearly LANE SWIMMING!!!!

 I did loads of lengths Woopwoop  :)

I was SO happy :)

I did The Borini for Belly :) (ouch my hand)

Mr Taxi had a dip too, although his was more of a cool-off than a training session. 

I swam right across and under the pier.

YIPPEE! Happy Ali :)

I even did a couple of side planks before nearly getting ambushed by a few young lads.

We had time to walk around the colourful market area with its fruit and vegetables, craft stalls and bazaar... a busy, lively place...all very nice.

Then back to the QE.

Happy Ali.

She went in the sea :) 

Twinkly water. We like twinkly water.