Josh and I decided to strike out on our own and rent motorcycles to drive around the small island of Myconos, Greece. We got as far as the motorcycle rental shop before the man behind the counter struck a blow to this idea.

“You both have ridden one of these before, have you? Because if not, this is not a good place to learn. There are many steep hills and sudden turns, and that makes it very difficult to learn here.”

We decided instead to get one four-wheeler and ride it around the island. It was a good idea, since the man was telling us the truth. The hills would have been terrible to learn on. We drove around the island, stopping at various beaches. Unfortunately, it was very cold and windy, so swimming was not an option, but the beaches were still beautiful.

After a lot of sightseeing, Josh and I drove up to a peak on the western side of the island to watch the sun set. We were trying to get to the top of a certain hill, but it turned out to be some millionaire’s compound, probably some Hollywood star. We ended up on the side of a mountain that we had to scramble up. It turned out to be a nice view.

Aww… newly-weds!

Waiting for the sunset, you can see part of the millionaire’s compound, or one of the millionaires’ compound.

Ahh Greece. It’s been a lovely visit!

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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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Today we went on an excursion in Jeeps around the island of Corfu. It was beautiful. I drove, since the jeeps were standards, and Josh took photos out the window. We drove up a mountain road that curved up and up, through little villages that were so small. The road at the villages and several other places was so narrow that you couldn’t fit more than one car on it at a time. Thankfully, we were in a big caravan, so we held up any other vehicles until we were all through. It would have been bad to have to back up out of the way on some of the winding roads.

There were so many beautiful trees, olive orchards for miles, with nets under the trees to catch the olives. Corfu is one of the top producers of olive oil in the world, and it’s a very small island.

Our tour guide took us up to a small village, where we stopped and he told us about Corfu. Then we drove on to a restaurant that overlooks the ocean, it was attached to a hotel, and it had the most gorgeous view! You could see all the beaches and resort areas, and the beautiful forests springing out of the ocean. We ate some Greek food, some excellent baklava, and eventually headed back down the mountain and back to the ship.

Mmm… baklava.

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