After a restful night on seas as smooth as glass, we arrived of the island of Santorini at approximately 8:30 a.m. As we sailed into the caldera we caught a glimpse of our sister ship, SD I, already at her mooring. We tied up next to her and shortly thereafter a tender service was started by the local crews. The one thing I don’t like about using the local tenders is that is that they only run twice an hour, not like on demand when the ship runs the service.
Since we had been here before we had decided that we were going to the beach today. FT wanted to walk up the hill, I’m not that adventurous, and so she went off the ship about an hour before I did. I stayed on board and enjoyed the spa services. She told me that it took about 35 minutes to walk up but that stopped multiple times to press into nooks and crannies to hide from the donkeys who took great pleasure in aiming straight at her and backing her up against the wall. I got a tender and went ashore. I decided that I was going to be brave, so instead of the cable car, I grabbed a ride on one of the famous donkeys and rode up the cliff face! In spite of what people might say the donkeys seemed in good health, and not mistreated at all. The ride was fun. At the top I walked up to the cable car station where I was to meet FT, and I managed to sneak up behind her as she waited for me.
We had one mission this morning before heading off to the beach. I had found a cross that I wanted to purchase, so we stopped and picked that up and then we walked over to the taxi stand. The wait for cabs was horrid. Looking around we discovered that we were right next to the bus station.Being adventurous, we hopped on the local bus which took us right to Kameras, a beachside village at the bottom of the cliff where ancient Thira is located. Kamares is the famous black sand beach. The fare was 1.4 Euro each way. That was much better than a cab, which would have been at least 20 Euros each way. The busses are large, immaculate motor coaches that provide a great ride. At the beach you can rent a pair of chairs and an umbrella for 6 euro per day.
We got to the beach and stayed about an hour or so and decided to have lunch and then head back to the ship. The bus ran at the top and bottom of the hour so we were timing our stay on that, not that we would miss the ship, just to avoid waiting too long.
FT chose the place for us to eat. Her choice was based on the fact that there was a grandma or great-grandma (she must have been 100), dressed in black, who could barely hold herself erect, sitting on the patio. She was giving the grandchildren grief like nothing else. FT figured if she was supervising, that the food had to be good, and it was. FT had octopus marinated in vinegar on very tender greens, a Greek salad and tsziki with fresh pita. I had a pork souvlaki, which was so tender that it melted in your mouth. One of the sides was potatoes, which were grilled and crisp, golden in color. FT thought it was fruit. When the server brought the check, he also brought a pink tinged drink in a small shot glass. When queried, he said it was "ouzo juice", which it turns out was diluted ouzo with grenadine. Very tasty!
We took the bus back, and walked back up the hill so we could go down again. FT walked and I took the donkeys. Great fun again. We went back to the ship and pretty much had it alone until late in the afternoon when people started arriving back. The ones who went on the cooking excursion reported that it was well worth the cost.
We had cocktails by the pool and dinner was again al fresco.
The menu included:
Starters
Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin
Roma Tomatoes with Mozzarella di Buffala
Pasta Portifino
Soups
Minestrone
Lobster Bisque
Salads
Marinated Artichoke Salad
Oven Baked Tomatoes with Aceto Dressing
Chef’s Main Dishes
Grilled Garlic Shrimps
Braised Osso Bucco of Veal Shank
Whole Roast Rib-Eye Beef
Desserts
Tiramisu with Mascarpone Sorbet
Limoncello Baba
Zabaglione with Mixed Berry Compote
After dinner the movie under the stars was David Foster and Friends. We did not attend (missing the night time activity is a bad habit, but the days are so busy that I have to get some sleep). Our gift from Sea Dream tonight was a box of those lovely Sea Dream mints. We enjoyed another wonderfully smooth sail to our next port of call Platys Gialos Bay, Sifnos Island, a distance of 46 nautical miles.
More pictures are available on my flickr page by clicking HERE
The author of this blog is not compensated by Sea Dream Yacht Club in any manner.
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