Both days of Greek Island visits were days in which we planned to go ashore and walk through the villages. For each island the ship “parked” offshore and tendered people to the islands aboard local boats provided for that purpose.
At Mykonos we had to transfer at the dock to a small ferry called the Sea Bus, which cost 2 Euros each way. Just as we arrived at the dock in town, the clouds that had been coming across the tops of the hills dropped a deluge of rainwater and we sheltered for about half an hour with many others in a little shop and then a small Orthodox church. Eventually the rain passed and we dodged water holes and small streams down the middle of the narrow streets until the gutters could collect it all.
Most of the houses and buildings on the islands are made of rock and covered in white limestone, some with the distinctive blue, red, green, or brown trims seen in pictures.
We walked through some shops as we made our way to the area known as “Little Venice”, a small neighborhood sitting on the sparkling waters of the Aegean Sea. There we found seven of the 16 remaining iconic windmills on the island. The earliest were built by Venetians in the 1500’s, and have been used to grind wheat for centuries until the middle of the 20th century.
As we stood looking at the windmills uphill from us and the beautiful Agean Sea below, a rainbow appeared.
God’s continued sign of His Covenant with man to never again destroy the earth with a flood.
We made our way back along the waterfront and across town toward the port and reversed our route to return to the ship.
Friday was our day at Santorini. Getting into the city of Thira is a bit of a challenge. Cruise ships tender and ferries arrive throughout the day with people doing day trips from other islands or staying over. There are several ports, but the main one has three ways to get up to the top. One is a cable car for which you stand in line and pay 6 Euros, two is a steep climb on switchbacks uphill, and three is the same climb but on donkeys. Another option is an excursion that takes a tender to a different port, where a bus will take you to town, drop you off, pick you up several hours later and reverse the process. Rather than wait in what are reportedly long, hot lines (up to 2 hrs) for the cable car on each end, we opted for the 9:00 a.m. excursion.
Unfortunately, we learned late last night that the tour operator postponed the starting time to 2:30 p.m., a time that will not work for us for several reasons. After attempts to find some other remedy, we decided to remain on board, take showers, wash out clothes, and have a relaxing day. Don’t be too surprised or feel sorry for us, we have had a great day and are very grateful to have had a day to rest before heading into Athens and to the top of the Acropolis tomorrow!
Rambling along in the promises of the Creator. We wish you many blessings.