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Our Magnificent Journey |
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Chapter 13 |
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2011 |
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Greece, Turkey and Spain |
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Woke at 6 am, enjoyed breakfast of yogurt, croissants, eggs, olives, cheese, coffee and juice at the hotel, then checked out and walked to the dock where we boarded the 9:45 FlyingCat IV, a Helenic Seaways catamaran to Santorini. |
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Met Robin and Jan from Kansas City on the boat and enjoyed schmoozing with them during the 2 hour boat ride. |
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Arrived on Santorini around noon. We were greeted by a driver who took us, quite fast, up steep switchbacks along the caldera until we arrived at Firostefani and our hotel, the Lithies Traditional Homes. Our cheerful hostess Maria greeted us and showed us our room. I should say “rooms” because it is actually a suite of rooms in “cave” style. We even have our own laundry room. This is without a doubt one of the nicest and most luxurious accommodations we have ever had. |
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We settled in and proceeded to explore the quaint alleys, blue/white houses, stone terraces and churches for which Santorini is world-reknowned. |
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The island is filled with thousands of “cruisers” off of the half dozen massive cruise liners several hundred feet below our balcony. Fortunately, they all seemed to disappear as the cruise ships set sail for new horizons in the late afternoon. |
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The island of Santorini is actually an ancient sunken volcano. A tidal wave from an eruption eons ago devastated the Minoan civilization on Crete seventy miles to the south. There are actually several islands that now form a crater-like caldera and in the center is the heart of the old volcano itself, still smoking today. |
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We have seen very few Americans as we travel. Most tourists seem to be German, Russian, Polish, Slavic, Italian and French. |
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Did a load of laundry in our quaint little laundry-room in our “cave house” and then sat out on the terrace as the sun sank into the Aegean to the west. Nearby a wedding was taking place. |
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Maria brought us wine on the terrace just as the sun was setting. The cool air felt wonderful after a day of brilliant sunshine. |
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We decided to walk to Mama Thira for a dinner of delicious barbequed octopus, Santorini salad, local wine and raki. |
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After dinner we walked slowly back under the soft lights of romantic Santorini. Sat out on the terrace for a while watching the lights of the cruise ships criss-crossing the calm Aegean, and then fell into the large, comfortable king-sized bed. |
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| Previous Day |
copyright 1998 / david
and carol lehrman / all rights reserved |
email david@davidandcarol.com |