June 23, 2011

June 23 - Heraklion, Crete / Oia, Santorini

Calypso sailed through another night on the Aegean Sea to Crete. The sea rocked us kinder this time. Mandy spent wee morning hours with Odgen in Knossos – home of Minos and the Minotaur. The rest of us slept in and awoke to a glorious morning. Utah ladies led the walk from the port to the city of Heraklion; we walked with purpose and others trusted our confidence. They were not led astray. We walked around the city, shopped, and spent tine in a small shady park. Amanda spent a special moment in an old wooden swing with Sandra pushing, but refusing to use a teeter-totter due to a bad experience. We felt the “sea-legs” as we waited for the shoppers. I swear the island was swaying!

More eating back on the boat – Lunch – as the ship sailed along to Santorini. (our waiter had some toothpick tricks to show us!)

Tender boats shuttled us to land (to avoid a disaster, like previous ships sinking) and a bus wound up and around the narrow roads of the town of Oia. Picturesque cliff top views of sea, volcano, and beautiful pastel box houses stacked atop one another. We couldn’t stop the photography as we wandered through the quaintly perfect streets straight from a movie set, and saw the start of the sunset.

The film “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants” filmed here and we happened to take a few group pictures in front of the home where which they stayed. Amy wore our own travelling pants to commemorate our friendships. Then a winding trip back through the mountains and small towns then down the switch backs to the tender boats. We sat on the upper deck of the tender boat with our new best friends from the EF Tour and enjoyed a relaxing sunset trip back to the ship. It is over too soon, yet the anticipation to return home sounds good too. The news of protesting and power strikes in Athens makes our families at home nervous, but we are oblivious to the threats out on the ship. Tanya was done with the three-hour dining room meals and left us for the buffet style dinner and a nap.

Knossos Κνωσός (Mandy's tour): The palace is about 130 meters on a side and since the Roman period has been suggested as the source of the myth of the Labyrinth, an elaborate mazelike structure built for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Labyrinth may have come from labrys, a word referring to a double, or two-bladed, axe.

the Grecian sea water is so CLEAR!

By Fars: shuttle to port, windy walking, Mandy’s mythology mixed w/ archeology tour, the park, Chelsea’s throw-down toys from the street vendor, new jewelry, sitting atop the tender boat on the way back, Our group!, we are UTAH, steph taking pictures, toothpick tricks at lunch, specialty drinks, Oia fun-facts ("fun fact #1..."), sunset, Big-A chicken @ dinner, being “helped” into the tender boat.