At sea - day 5

Another late start for us as this was an 'at sea' day.

We sailed past many Greek Islands, all barren volcanic blobs with an occasional one populated with white settlements.

The weather was pleasant on the deck in the morning but the wind came up in the afternoon so we retreated indoors.

Another gala night in the restaurant and a dressing up night. The baked alaska was welcomed in with music, serviette waving and general revelry.

More music from the Breeze Boys in the Buddha Bar, more singing, dancing and muscles in the theatre, more music, ... then we had to turn the clock back again.

Too little light and too much movement does not make for good photos ..but you get the idea!

Santorini and Mykonos in the Greek Islands

Me at 'earlybird breakfast', I don't  believe it! Another 6 am start as we had to be at the meeting point for our tour of Santorini by 7.30 am. 

First we went by tender to Athinios where we were bussed to Oia village (pronounced Ee-a). 

Note the coaches zig-zagging up the steep rock face of the island

We had quite a long bus trip which showed us a large part of the island. The most interesting things were the volcanic nature of the landscape and the grape vines which were grown along the ground.

Santorini harbour is spectacular and is a caldera of several volcanoes. Oia has the most spectacular views of the harbour. We started our visit at the Greek Orthodox Church.

We had free time to wander and enjoy the amazing village with its white walls, houses perched everywhere and the hints of blue, usually on Greek Orthodox churches.

It is touristy but rightly so with such a beautiful landscape. The souvenirs were mainly classy and there were many high-end jewellery and clothing shops.

Remnants of a Venetian defensive castle remain.

Next we visited Santo Winery for tastings of their red, white and Vin Santo wines with some cheese and olives. Their views were special too.

Back into the bus and on to the capital Fira. After looking in the Metropolis Greek Orthodox church we were to take the cable car down to the port. Standing in the hot sun for 50 minutes being jostled by tourists trying to jump the queue, we finally got to the cable car and back on to the tender. We sailed at 3 pm for Mykonos, arriving at 8 pm.

View of Mykonos approaching from the restaurant port hole. Our waiter made sure we could see the beautiful view.

The sunset was superb tonight. 

We decided not to do a tour as we have been to Mykonos before. We had to take a 15 minute ride on the sea bus to Chora town. I do like a water element in my day!

Chora has certainly gone up-market since we visited in 1996.  The shopping seems to be a major attraction and every spare space is a restaurant. We just wandered and photographed the picturesque alleys. All white with touches of pink and purple bougainvillea ... gorgeous! This is where you can see the full value of cruise ship tourism on a small community.

The ship sailed at 3 am.

All at sea

We have a cabin without a porthole but the tv has a real-time camera from the front of the ship. When we awoke this morning all was dark and quiet so Kel turned on the tv. Sunshine!  He grabbed his phone, 11 am!  How did that happen? Was it too much music in the piano bar, too much theatre entertainment or too much talk to our new friends? Our excuse is that we had had to put the clock forward an hour before going to bed.

Today was a day at sea so after brunch (we missed breakfast) we found sun lounges at the back of the ship on our level 8 and read for most of the afternoon.  We passed Kefalonia and Zakynthos so we were now in the Ionian Sea and seeing the stark limestone features of the Greek Islands.

The menu at dinner this evening was prepared by a 2* Michelin chef. I had an escargot parcel with a wine sauce, roast lamb and a chocolate dessert. All excellent.

Off to the theatre for 'Paris after Dark', our favourite parts tonight were the acrobatics, aerials and amazing muscle control displayed.

Another early start tomorrow so must avoid a repetition of this morning's timing glitch.