Life is Better Cruisin' | Part 3: Santorini

Santorini may have conquered my heart before I even set eyes on it. I have been enamoured with Santorini for as long as I can remember. I would daydream about the traditional blue topped domes, and the stunning views of the village alongside the clear blue ocean. I made it my mission to visit Santorini ever since we started cruising, and when we finally decided we were going to Europe, the only port I had on my list was Santorini. Santorini is an island in the Aegean Sea, it is the result of a volcanic eruption. The island is too small for cruise ships to dock, so passengers arrive on the island by tender. Our ship docked by Santorini just after the sunrise. We had booked an excursion with Royal Caribbean for about $80 per person to see the island. We boarded our bus, and drove around the beautiful island. Our tour guide made a mistake, and thought we would be visiting the winery first (I know its 5 o'clock somewhere but really, at 7 AM?). It was closed, of course, so we had to circle back. It took us a little longer to get to our destination and we lost a little time in the process. Our starting point was the scenic village of Oia. We strolled through the town, exploring their shops and art. We stopped at an old medieval castle to take photos of the picturesque town, and to enjoy the breathtaking view.

Afterwards, we boarded our bus, and headed back to the winery for a brief tasting. Nothing too exciting there, but another break taking view of the ocean (top right). Then our bus dropped us off in Fira, where we parted ways with tour guide. Was it worth our $80? Not at all, but it would have been too difficult to do it any other way (renting a car seemed like too much work). We walked around Fira, and explored the shops and churches in the area. My boyfriend enjoyed a visit to a fish spa, where fish remove dead skin from your feet. He said the experience was pleasant, and ticklish, but his feet felt very smooth after the treatment. I, on the other hand, was too scared to try it out. We ate lunch at Zafora, a restaurant recommended by Royal Caribbean. I ordered a chicken souvlaki, and the boyfriend ordered a grilled octopus. Delicious!

Our view at lunch time were the three ships stopping in Santorini for the day. Gorgeous. Our crew told us there were three ways to get back to the bottom to reach the tender boats: (a) take the cable car, (b) get a ride from a donkey or (c) walk. As we ate our lunch, we watched the line for the cable car get longer and longer. We contemplated on walking but it seemed like a very tricky walk down. After grabbing a few more souvenirs, we eventually lined up for the cable car. The cable car at Santorini was not very high-tech. With three ships at the island, there were a lot of people waiting for it and the cable car could only transport 24 people down at a time. Each trip took exactly 6 minutes, and an extra few minutes to load and unload the passengers. We had been told it would be quite a wait but we thought the crew was just being cautious. Well, they were not kidding! We started lining up for the cable car at 3 PM, right under the hot Grecian sun.

We finally got on the cable car after a long, and hot wait. The short ride to the bottom was nothing special, but we saw this little guy at the bottom of the station. A real-life moustache cat! He was just the perfect model. We were sweaty and frustrated with the cable car, but all that went away when we saw him. We waited some more for the tender, and we eventually made it back onto the ship at 4:15 PM. Oh Santorini, I love you but you need to figure out how to manage a large crowd of tourists!

We had a brief, but amazing time in Santorini. The village of Oia is a dream. Being able to visit the island, and cross it off my bucket list was a dream come true. One day, we'll meet again.

Our cruise was now almost over. We had one more port before we return to Venice, and fly home to Vancouver. I'm sad that my review is ending soon, I've had such an awesome time reliving my memories. Up next is Katakolon, Greece.

Falling in Love with Venice

Ah, Venice...

Venice is the opposite of Rome. It has such a relaxing and mellow atmosphere... really, it made me wonder why I didn't stay an extra few days there instead. The major difference with Venice is that no cars are allowed in the city. People got around by walking or by boats. Tourists, well, they walk or they can take the vaporetto (water bus) or the water taxi (super expensive). On the day we arrived, it was warm and breezy. We took the water taxi to our hotel. The water taxi dropped us off right in front of the hotel but our driver pointed us to the opposite direction and we walked the wrong way for a long time before realizing we were going further and further away from our destination (thank God for Siri). We circled back to where we started, and there it was, Locanda Salieri. After checking in, we climbed three flights of stairs to our tiny room with our luggage. I can't tell you how much of a workout that was, but hey, that's Venice, we're told. We freshened up and decided to explore. Venice is a complete maze, we would have gotten so lost without our phone. We stopped by a local joint for a snack - calamari and fried prawns. I don't have a picture, but it was made fresh, and delicious. We finally made it to the Rialto Bridge as the sun was setting and decided to go on a gondola ride. You don't go all the way to Venice and not ride a gondola, but we had to pay a hefty €90 for the short twenty minutes ride. We walked back to our hotel and grabbed dinner nearby. After some pasta (delicious squid ink pasta, I might add!), fish, and wine, we had ice cream for dessert and called it a night. Although we were exhausted, walking was the best way to explore Venice. It's not really an adventure if you don't get lost a little.

We woke up to rain the next morning. The weather had completely flipped! It was so cold I had to wear my Columbia insulated waterproof jacket. After a quick lunch at a small cafe, we made our way to St. Mark's Basilica. St. Mark's Square had flooded that morning, and we arrived as the water was draining. My dream come true - not a pigeon in sight! We headed over to the Bridge of Sighs for some pictures afterwards. The bridge is located between Doge's Palace and the prisons. The name originates from the “sighs” of the prisoners who passed over it. We spent the rest of the day going in and out of the many gift shops looking at Venetian masks and trinkets. We made it to a metropolitan shopping area, and browsed into the sunset. Later that evening, we met up with the boyfriend's parents for dinner as it was his mom's birthday. We had a nice dinner by the hotel and of course, some wine, spritz and gelato to celebrate.

 

 Readers, I'm going to tell you a truth.

We are horrible travellers. Half the time, we have no idea what we are looking at, and where we are going. We are high maintenance, and we are terrible at decision-making. We don't make it to half our planned destinations and we simply cannot follow our own itinerary. We are at our best when we do things spontaneously. Like, hey, there's a gondola, wanna go? Sure! Funny enough, we didn't plan on a gondola ride prior to our arrival in Venice, we had forgotten gondolas exist in Venice (that's how bad we are at this, and that's probably how we ended up in one - by not planning! Because if I did plan it, we would have saved it for the next day, and ended up not going or having a bad experience because of the rain). So my point, as we were leaving Venice on the people mover, we moped over the fact that we had missed Doge's Palace. Apparently, it is one of the attraction you should see while in Venice. Little did we know...

We saw it at St. Mark's and during our sail away! Well, we are halfway through our trip. All aboard the Splendour of the Seas! Smooth sailing is on our horizon...

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Backstreet's Back!

I know I've been neglecting this blog for a little while, but I promise I have a good excuse! I celebrated my 25th birthday a few days ago, and we went on a little pre-birthday trip to the States. I can't wait to share my experience at the Point Defiance Zoo! But first, before the pre-birthday trip, I had quite an exciting event to attend...

I am so excited to tell you all that my childhood is complete! Last week I had the opportunity to attend my first Backdtreet Boys concert. This is something I've been waiting for my entire life. As young as I can remember (probably at the age of 7), I've loved BSB. They were the boy band of my childhood (*Nsync could not compare to them). I remember singing to their songs on top of my lungs in my room. I love their songs, their voices, their personalities, their choreography, and I must tell you, to this day, the boys have still got it. They can still sing and dance like nobody else can. I still haven't gotten over it. It was amazing. Here are a couple photos from this glorious event...

 

(courtesy of yours truly via Instagram)