Today Josh and I were in Santorini. We signed up for one of the cruise excursions: a trip to a live volcano. So, early in the morning, Josh and I met with the other people in our group and got on a smaller boat to go over to the volcanic island.

When we got there it was very interesting looking. The whole island was created out of dried lava, but not in big slabs, it was in small pebbles and dust. We hiked up to the top of the island, maybe 2 miles, and the tour guide showed us some places where the steam was billowing out of the ground from the volcano. They are always monitoring it, to make sure it’s not about to erupt, but it was still interesting to think about it suddenly exploding. I was disappointed that it wasn’t like in the movies, where you can look down and see the lava bubbling. Instead, it looked like a desert, with only minor traces to indicate that there really was an active volcano underneath.

The volcanic island

Steam issuing from a hole in the ground

Look! An alligator! This is actually the edge of the island of Santorini, and it’s amazing likeness to an alligator.

I love the boats. These ones were beautiful.

After out volcano tour, we headed over to Santorini. This island is very interesting, in that half of the island is lined with cliffs of black rock from the volcanoes, and the other half dips into the ocean with beaches. Our original plan had been to travel to the other side of the island and hit the beach, since it was a hot day. We were docked on the cliff side, and in order to get onto the island, there were only two choices. You could hike up a winding road that zig-zags to the top (or buy a ride up this road on the back of a donkey), or you could pay to ride the lift. We opted for the lift, and rode in the little 4 person car up to the top.

Almost all the buildings in Santorini are painted white. I don’t know if that is to keep them cooler, or just to look nice for the tourists coming in on boats. The white houses on the black cliffs are beautiful.

The island of Santorini

An amazing sail-boat. It was gorgeous and huge.

We walked through the streets, and it was a maze. We got some lunch, which was not nearly as good as the other places we’d eaten, and more expensive. Then we attempted to get to the beach. We couldn’t even find a road that had cars on it for a long time, at the coast, all the traffic is pedestrian, so there are only pedestrian roads. When we finally found the real city behind all the coastal shops, we weren’t able to find a rental car, or a bus stop, or anything. We tried to walk there for a little while, but we were both hot and tired and getting grumpier by the minute.

We headed back to the shops and toward the ship, and finally made it to the cliff. The line to go down on the tram was winding itself through the streets, seemingly endless. Josh and I figured that walking down the cliff would be a lot easier than walking up it, so we decided to attempt it.

The road down was awful. I highly recommend the tram to all. The reason the walkway is so bad is because of the hundreds of donkeys that walk up and down it every day. It’s covered in manure, and stinks to high heavens. The manure is also hard to walk on, not because you’re trying to avoid it, but also because it can be slippery, and the hill is very steep. We didn’t fall, but it was tricky.

There were some tourists who rode the donkeys down. They were screaming and yelling like they were about to die, since the donkeys RAN down the steep hill. It was very funny.

The donkeys to carry you up and down the cliffs

The trail to the bottom

Taking a break from dodging asses, about halfway down.

It was a long day, and we were so glad to get back to our lovely ship and rest.

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We sailed into Iraklion, which is on the island of Crete. It was a beautiful, but very windy day. The Mediterranean Sea is always so beautiful - it’s the color of aquamarine that you always imagine when you go to the ocean, and then the water is usually a gray or blue instead.

Very close to the port was a long walkway that jutted out into the water, and had an old fort attached to it. Josh and I decided to walk down it and enjoy the beautiful day.

That’s my windy-day hairdo.

The fort - called Castello del Molo.

We went inside the fort, and it was pretty interesting. Very tall, with a lot of different rooms. I mean, it’s still an old fort, basically big stone walls and empty rooms that used to be used for soldiers quarters and supplies. But this one had a gorgeous view from the top of the city and the sea.

After exploring the fort we headed into the city to find some lunch and see what else there was to see. We found this old church, that had a very interesting chandelier… it had miniature stained-glass icons decorating it. You can see it closer if you decided to look at all the pictures.

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We got back from Cairo last night. W put into port at Alexandria, and Josh and I took a train to Cairo. I couldn’t stay awake on the train - but we passed through a lot of smaller farming villages. Cairo was very dirty and loud and smoggy. The traffic was awful; no one used lanes, they just crammed as many cars/motorcycles/people as could possibly fit onto the road, and honked all the time. They had traffic lights, but didn’t use them. Instead, the only way to have any order was to have police officers directing the traffic on the corners.

On Sunday, when we arrived we went to visit the Egyptian Museum. There was so much in there, lots of heiroglyphs, mummies, statues, papyrus, boats, chariots, weapons and the most exciting part was King Tut’s stuff. It was beautiful - very detailed gold and colored glass sarcophagi. He had three sarcophagi around th him. We didn’t go to see the actual mummy… it cost more, and that’s pretty gross anyway.

It was so hot in the museum. They didn’t use air conditioning except in the few small rooms where King Tut’s stuff was kept. The rest of the museum was so hot and stuffy.

The consierge at the Sheraton where we stayed said that everything closed at 3 pm because of Ramadan. It didn’t seem like it - but the other place that we wanted to go was the famous Coptic part of the city, where the Citadel (a very large mosque, plus some museums) and a very old Catholic Church were. We didn’t make it over there though.

We went back to the hotel to cool off and went to the pool for a little while. In all the places we’ve stayed they have lipless pools - they’re beautiful!

Later we got a cab to Giza and ate dinner on a roof-top where you can see the lightshow on the pyramids at the same time as you are eating dinner. The lightshow was fun to see for free - but I wouldn’t have wanted to pay for it! We probably enjoyed it more our way. Afterwards, we stopped in a little shop and this girl showed us how to make papyrus, and I bought a papyrus of a map of Egypt. It was priced at 1800 LE (Egyptian Pounds), but we bought it for 200 LE (about $35 US). It’s nice, probably still overpriced though.
She tried to sell us perfume too - but we finally escaped.

The next day we went to the pyramids and walked through the valley around them. We went into the second great pyramid. It was an interesting experience. We walked a very long narrow passageway down, where you have to walk bent over double, then a straight bit, tall enough to stand up, and another passageway up where you have to be bent over again. Eventually you find yourself in a large open room - the burial room. It was very creepy in there… they lit it just enough to see where you were going, and you can imagine what it must have been like to go into the pyramids with a torch or a lamp flickering against the narrow walls, staring into the dark mystery of a king’s tomb. Also, they had the side passageways blocked, but if you were exploring it, it must have been very frightening.

The Sphinx is smaller than I thought, but it was very large. He only looks small compared to the pyramids.

We headed back to the hotel, checked out, went to the train station and back to Alexandria. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any of Alexandria except what we saw between the train station and the port. I guess Josh and I will have to visit again to see the Library and the Lighthouse, both which have been rebuilt, but are famous anyway.

The Egyptians trying to sell us things were very pushy and obnoxious.
“Where you from?”
“USA.”
“Ah, welcome! I visit your country. I have been to San Francisco.”
“Good.”

“Welcome to Egypt my friend, would you like to see my shop?”

“I take your picture.”

“Very beautiful wife… I’ll give you a million camels for her.”

“Free! Small money…”

It was not very relaxing, but I’m glad we went and saw the pyramids. Very incredible - the stone blocks they used were almost as tall as I am, and as wide as they were tall. HUGE!

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