Santorini

Santorini – the file view

Santorini from cruise ship

Santorini cable car access

Last night I dressed up for dinner on the GDR. We looked out for our Australian friends, but without success; they may have been dining in one of the specialty restaurants.

Actually we had one of our best meals: pineapple cubes for an appetizer – freshly cut pineapple; then wiener schnitzel with potato salad, and a green salad to share, with lettuce, avocado and grapefruit with some fancy dressing. The potato salad was not what we were expecting – it seemed like sliced of cooked potato in butter(?), but the schnitzel was amazing – tender, and not quite too much. JD had a glass of Chardonnay which we shared. Then dessert was something else: the souffle was grand Marnier, with an orange sauce. I had that, with vanilla ice cream on the side, and it was hot and beautiful. JD had profiteroles: 3 filled with vanilla ice cream and covered with chocolate sauce. They sounded wonderful but weren’t as good as the souffle – the little choux pastry puffs weren’t great. Overall, though the meal was enjoyable and a success.

Afterwards we were introduced to Wayne and Fiona, another couple from Wellington on our cruise ship.

Then we went to bed. I had completed the online questionnaire; I’d like to complete it for JD, as there are a few suggestions I’d like to make, mainly about excursions.  Today we are not buying an excursion to Santorini.  I know it looks really beautiful in the photos, but today is cold and windy, and it doesn’t look so attractive. It’s also quite hard to get to, taking a tender and then waiting for the cable car access at either end of the trip. The questionnaire was generic questions, about the quality of the housekeeping, the food, room service, the entertainment, the excursions and so on; you manage to say they’re all marvellous or very good and then realise you haven’t really communicated the things that bother you: the crowds, the choice of excursions, the lack of tai chi, singing, or any religious observance, for example.

We had decided that we would not order room service breakfast this time, but since we were staying on board, we’d eat breakfast in the GDR.  It doesn’t start till 7:30 am, and we were awake before 6 am! Still the Internet is far stronger here than it has been.  I have pondered on the fact that once you get used to having no Internet, you do get used to it, and apart from being out of contact with Family in an emergency, it’s actually rather nice.

So this morning we had breakfast in the GDR. They are already taking excursion guests on tenders to the island. We can already see three other cruise ships.

The breakfast menu is more expansive. I am brought brewed coffee, but it’s actually quite strong and not as good as coffee in my stateroom . We start with fruit juice (orange and prune) and JD has Bircher muesli and also orders avocado toast. I order scrambled eggs and English style bacon (soft?) with a slice of toast, but things take a while to arrive: my juice comes much later than his; the eggs and bacon arrive well before the toast. Never mind, the scrambled eggs are delicious, much better than the room service ones (as expected).  I have a remaining half slice of toast with Seville bitter orange marmalade. JD goes back to our stateroom, but I longer over my toast, coffee and juice.

Then I sit on our balcony and enjoy the view.  The high expected today is 21°C, but although fine, it’s quite breezy outside and I’m glad of two lap blankets.

I thought I saw snow on some of the hills, reminding me of Horace’s famous ode, “Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte?” (Do you see how high the white snow is on Mount Soracte?). This turns out to be white houses on cliff tops! Cataracts? Ach so, it was a pleasant reminder.

To get to Santorini, you have to take a tender to the shore; then walk or take the cable car up a very steep hill to the township. We can see three other cruise ships, and I’ve been told it is really crowded there. What’s more, it doesn’t look very attractive!

Tomorrow: Ephesus! our cruise is almost over.

Nga mihi nui