Sailing to Santorini

Our first stop on our Greek cruise was the island of Santorini. Like most ports on this cruise, we would be tendering, so we had breakfast in the buffet and waited in the theater for our group to be called. It was a short 20 minute tender ride to the dock where we lined up for our bus. Luckily for Janie, J. R. took the window seat so she didn't have to look down at the winding road with no guardrails we took to the top of the mountain, but she did cling to him most of the ride up.

Oia

Santorini is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 120 mi southeast of mainland. It is the largest island of a circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southernmost member of the Cyclades. The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history about 3,600 years ago. We traveled by bus to the city of Oia on the most northwestern edge of the island. Oia is best known for its blue-domed buildings. Our bus parked in the main car park and we had an uphill climb to the village center at Panagia Akathistos Hymn Holy Orthodox Church where our guide left us to tour the city on our own. We walked along the streets and captured photos of the scenery despite the crowds, finally making our way to the windmill before working our way back to the church and down to our bus.

Lunch in Fira

The bus drove us back to Fira. Our excursion had promised us a "guided tour of Fira" but what we got instead was a death march up the hill from the bus stop where the guide pointed out the cable car stop and took us to our restaurant for lunch and left. Lunch was acceptable but nothing special. The fish smelled fishy and did not taste good but the Greek salad and appetizers were good and we had a great view.

Cable Car Ride

We did a little shopping near the restaurant and thought about exploring Fira but didn't want to have to walk back down to some of the other shops and then have to make the climb back up, so we headed to the cable car. We had heard stories of the long lines but we only had a very short wait and soon were heading down the mountain to the dock and an awaiting tender boat.

Back on the Infinity

After the uninspiring lunch, we showered and changed and grabbed some burgers and hot dogs from the grill on deck and then went to have some coffee and tea before the Martini Bar opened. The evening show was a magic act "Alex Bellotto Presents The Magic Hotel" but we decided to skip that and instead listen to Leslie McDonel do a short set in the lobby. It was billed as a special show but she did only a couple of songs. We headed to dinner at Sushi on Five and then decided to call it a night since the night entertainment was a jazz session by the orchestra.

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