Steppesister
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
I like my vacations. What can I say?That's worse than getting shivved???
Nah. Just calls 'em as I sees 'em.
I like my vacations. What can I say?That's worse than getting shivved???
Nah. Just calls 'em as I sees 'em.
Welcome back!!!Hi Liesa, I'm finally getting caught back up.
Your adventures are so interesting. I love the time you put into each chapter. I don't always read the links but just the chapters are so informative, I feel like I'm there. Your pictures are always fabulous too.
Your meal in Greece has me craving some Chicken Swarmer and salad. I did have some humus at lunch before I even read this.
Looking forward to more.
Only just enough to give a tiny bit of interest to the sky.Your photos are stunning. Nary a cloud in the skies.
Always out to see and always out of rum.Where's a good pirate ship when you need one?
No, the handsome, swarthy pirate that came with it was too expensive.Ah! You hired a pirate ship!
No?
That water isn't really warm like the Caribbean, so swimming isn't something I think I'd do there- at least not much. I'm such a weenie when it comes to my swimming water temps.I had this image in my head of the four of you standing on shore, dripping wet like drowned rats.
I'd say so!!A slight improvement over your last tender ride?
Corrected. Thanks!! (did you ever think about applying to an editing company?)I did send you a PM about it, though.
I think the donkeys have always been there, and the walking path too. I mean I'd assume there was a way to get to the top before the cable car was installed. ??I know my parents rode them when they visited about 40 years ago. They never mentioned any alternative modes of transport to the rim.
I thought the running commentary that my Dad and Laura were having about the birds was hilarious. It was fun riding that thing!The best part of that video is the unintended commentary.
Over-protective partner: "He doesn't like heights either... don't look out the window Michael."
Michael: "Why not?"
I am left with the unanswered question if Michael was puzzled at her concern or... passed out.
I wasn't a fan.Sounds... lovely.
not
OH yes!!! TONS of high-end hotels and Bnbs. Most with private pools overlooking the rim. Super gorgeous.Luggage? Are there accommodations up there? That'd be cool!
I thought it was rather clever.Had to look "stenosis" up... Great word to describe it!
We had a REALLY nice lunch though!Definitely an expert move.
You saved $120 which you can now spend on any manner of ceramic crap, cheesy dish towels, bottle openers, fridge magnets, and polyester clothing made in a thousand sweatshops in China.
I really hope that someday you can get there!! It certainly is pretty and if you don't mind the sheer number of people, there are pretty views to be had. There are also some off-the-beaten-path places to go and things to do if you want to escape the crowds.These two shots alone are amazing. Santorini has been on my bucket list for a long time (about 40 years... when my parents went and described it to me.)
Shots like that just reinforce why I need to go.
Exactly. I just do not for the life of me understand this "tear it all down" mindset. I really don't. Just because it's offensive to you, or EVEN if it/he/she/they have an unsavory past, it may not be that to someone else OR we can learn from it OR we can simply admire it for artistry's sake. I'll have a bit of a scathing commentary on that coming up when I get to my Florence chapters....Absolutely! I mean... I've been in other buildings where I've not shared the same ideals or viewpoints or what have you of the occupants/architect... but that hasn't prevented me from admiring them.
LOL!I first read that as "Ditch the parents!"
It was pretty, just too people-y. There were other islands that were just as pretty with far fewer tourists.I dunno... If these are the "lowest common denominator"... I can't even imagine how jaw-droppingly stunning the better views are!!
I just don't think I could do that to the donkeys. There were passengers who were talking about them in line and how they saw them mistreated and worse, the owners weren't treating the guests very well either. I overheard comments while standing in line to get back on the cable car to go down that they were outright rude when someone did something "wrong" when they didn't understand what they were being asked to do or not to do. Getting yelled at isn't something I'm keen to do while on vacation.Uh, oh!
You need to get yourself one of them donkeys.
Oopsies!Excuse me? This is generalizing! How dare you!?!?
Nah, I'd rather folks admire the scenery.
And... you didn't post the selfie! Or were you too busy grimacing in pain to get one?
Yep! I'd started it about a million years ago when I THOUGHT I was going on this trip. Then.... that.... happened. I gave up and abandoned it, but never took the link out of my siggie, so was able to find and revive it rather than start over. The trip went through MANY iterations and the group changed 3 times, but this what I'm writing now is what it ended up being.I finally figured out that this was a new trip report that had recently started, not a two-year-old trip that was finished.
Your trip looks like it was amazing.
Your first two days of getting from Nashville to the cruise ship sounds like a very stressful deal. I was picturing your race through the train station trying to get mom and luggage on a train before it pulled out of the station. You were incredibly lucky more than once on that trip. Lost luggage and/or delayed flights would have been disastrous. My sister went on a cruise to Croatia in July and their luggage was lost and their flight landed in a different city than booked. It was a nightmare.
I'm so glad you're enjoying the report so far. There is soooooo much more to come! 5? more stops in Greece/Turkey/Italy on the cruise portion and then 2 1/2 weeks in Italy. Stay tuned!Loving your report and look forward to more! Merry Christmas!
If only I played them! Who has that kind of time?!Sounds like you're sharing the cheat code for your favorite Nintendo game or something.
I honestly don't understand the obsession with that crap. Why not be super selective and buy stuff that's more authentic and quality that reflects the craftsmanship of the place you're visiting?Where there are tourists...
I ended up with a few that were keepers.Looks like something you'd see on a poster in a travel agency or something!
Agreed! I'm living (barely) proof!Selfies only lead to bad things happening. I think that's a proven fact.
Okay I’ll give you that one.I like my vacations. What can I say?
Well okay. There is that.Always out to see and always out of rum.
Still? I Heard that he just got a million bucks.No, the handsome, swarthy pirate that came with it was too expensive.
You should come up here in summer for a dip in one of our lakes.That water isn't really warm like the Caribbean, so swimming isn't something I think I'd do there- at least not much. I'm such a weenie when it comes to my swimming water temps.
I did, but their application form had a typo and I corrected it and never heard from them again.Corrected. Thanks!! (did you ever think about applying to an editing company?)
I have a feeling that the cable car is a more recent addition.I think the donkeys have always been there, and the walking path too. I mean I'd assume there was a way to get to the top before the cable car was installed. ??
That was then???I thought the running commentary that my Dad and Laura were having about the birds was hilarious. It was fun riding that thing!
Ooohhh… with high end prices I’m sure.OH yes!!! TONS of high-end hotels and Bnbs. Most with private pools overlooking the rim. Super gorgeous.
Standing by!We had a REALLY nice lunch though!
Maybe some day. No idea.I really hope that someday you can get there!! It certainly is pretty and if you don't mind the sheer number of people, there are pretty views to be had. There are also some off-the-beaten-path places to go and things to do if you want to escape the crowds.
Exactly. I just do not for the life of me understand this "tear it all down" mindset. I really don't. Just because it's offensive to you, or EVEN if it/he/she/they have an unsavory past, it may not be that to someone else OR we can learn from it OR we can simply admire it for artistry's sake. I'll have a bit of a scathing commentary on that coming up when I get to my Florence chapters....
Looking forward to reading all about it.It was pretty, just too people-y. There were other islands that were just as pretty with far fewer tourists.
I just don't think I could do that to the donkeys. There were passengers who were talking about them in line and how they saw them mistreated and worse, the owners weren't treating the guests very well either. I overheard comments while standing in line to get back on the cable car to go down that they were outright rude when someone did something "wrong" when they didn't understand what they were being asked to do or not to do. Getting yelled at isn't something I'm keen to do while on vacation.
But you paid such a high price!Nah, I'd rather folks admire the scenery.
With only a few bruises and some mediocre selfies
Well... technically, that's kinda why you fish anyways... to eat. You're just cutting out the middle man.Well, I mean, fishing in the sense of eating some.
Really!Each one has an eye-catching display to entice its customers and these are perhaps some of the most photographed in all of Santorini.
Amazing how they just crawled up there by themselves.
What an interesting trap! Never seen one like that.
Watched it. Sooo picturesque!It has a drone flight on their homepage so you can see the little area we ate in.
Huh! Had no idea. Just figured it would be busy year-round.Ammoudi Bay Fish Taverna is closed November-March. As an FYI, while you’ll enjoy hardly any tourists to fight for space over and cooler temps, you’ll also struggle to find stuff open. Towards the end of this trip, Anara and I would run into that issue in Tuscany.
I might be slightly envious.(This resident enjoys a laid back lifestyle all of the time.)
<groan>Perhaps she was in a mood, eh?
From the little I've seen, I get it too.It didn’t take long to understand why people keep coming back here.
I wonder how they would feel if I asked for a bit of balsamic to add to the oil.Right away we were given some fresh bread with a dish olive oil and tapenade.
I don't love it either... if it's overcooked and rubbery. And there are soooo many restaurants that do that!My folks don’t love calamari, but we ordered one anyway.
Bit squeamish is she?Under one condition: If my mom could have the “parts without tentacles”. Fine, whatever. It all tastes the same.
Not cooked in charcoal. Yum! That sounds really good.If you’ve never had fresh fish cooked in charcoal, you've missed out on one of life's most wonderful things ever.
Holy cow! Huge!(This platter was about 20"x20")
Uh oh!!!!I was becoming cranky.
Bet you were getting worried, though.In all, perhaps 30 minutes passed before we finally found someone who, for $50 would not only take us up the hill but all the way back to Fira
oh boy...It stretched all the way through the little souvenir shop district and down into the residential neighborhood beyond.
Zorba the Greek??The best part of the wait? We had top notch entertainment! Every hundred yards or so there was a kid eager to earn a bit of quid by playing their accordion.
Oh dear. Hopefully just a scratch and he was patched up and good to go.Someone was escorting an elderly gentleman and asked us to step aside; the poor guy had taken a little tumble and was bleeding from his forehead and arm. This made me so sad, and I hoped that it wouldn’t wreck his vacation too terribly much.
Whee!I took another video to share the journey with you! Aren’t you excited?! Wheeeeee!!
Nice!the smiling staff welcomed us back with cool, scented washcloths and iced, infused water.
And to this day, Mr and Mrs Elder Steppesister can still be found on Santorini. And if you listen closely, you can still hear the forlorn call "Where is it? Where's the SeaPass?"Mom was too busy in a panic over finding her SeaPass to bother with either. Mikki and I found our way onto the return tender telling Mom and Dad we’d see them later on in the room.
Beautiful!
Yeah... buffet food often isn't...Sadly, the buffet food just wasn’t very good.
Nature of traveling, I'd say.It didn't go quite as I'd originally planned but that's ok.
Long! Would you have been in danger of missing the ship's departure time?Mikki and I had thought that we wanted to hike along the rim trail back to Fira (about a 3-4 hour walk)
Glowing praise indeed!Overall, what did I think of the most popular and visited island in Greece? It was ok.
Can't wait!The next day would find us in Ephesus, Turkey, so stay tuned for a write up of our favorite day of sight-seeing on the cruise portion.... Ancient ruins, a Biblical feast, a rug factory and more!!
Merry Christmas to you too! Safe travels and enjoy the time with your family.Meantime, Merry Christmas Friends. I'm moving to my Winter Quarters in Tucson on Wednesday with a stop in Ft. Worth to see my eldest daughter and her family
Hmm... Interesting. Although maybe not so surprising given how different the European life rhythm is for ours in so many ways.We asked our taxi driver what the locals do during the winter, and he told us they travel, workout, spend time with family, work on their hobbies or work the family farm. Most go home as a high percentage are seasonal workers. It’s a completely different life rhythm than we have for sure.
My folks don’t love calamari, but we ordered one anyway. Under one condition: If my mom could have the “parts without tentacles”.
Well, I'm glad you were able to find the one running since the other guy apparently didn't care to come get you!There aren't many who are willing to go down to Ammoudi due to the tight quarters and steep hill. In all, perhaps 30 minutes passed before we finally found someone who, for $50 would not only take us up the hill but all the way back to Fira where we could get a ride down on the cable car. Huzzah! It was all hunky dory!
Yikes! I'm glad it at least moved and you were all able to endure it.That is until we saw the line for the cable car.
Yeah, no one was going to go anywhere in a hurry. At all.
It stretched all the way through the little souvenir shop district and down into the residential neighborhood beyond.
Buffets are good for volume but I've never felt anything at a buffet is "fresh." I can see how it would disappoint after that lunch.Dinner wouldn’t be nearly as good as lunch had been. Sadly, the buffet food just wasn’t very good.
I can see that. I've never been, but from all I've heard about it, I kind of feel like I'd have the same reaction.Overall, what did I think of the most popular and visited island in Greece? It was ok. It was definitely packed solid with people making it less attractive to me personally.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a safe trip!!!!Meantime, Merry Christmas Friends. I'm moving to my Winter Quarters in Tucson on Wednesday with a stop in Ft. Worth to see my eldest daughter and her family so will be absent for a short spell.
Wow, those skies are so blue and the cliffs look like they make for some amazing views.The next morning was another glorious, sunshiny day of perfect Mediterranean weather, soft breezes, blue skies, and even bluer seas. Our ship was safely anchored in the caldera of Santorini with its towering rocky rim surrounding us 270 degrees.
That's pretty incredible capacity!Anyway, the cable car was super cheap at $3 pp each way and can move 1,200 people in an hour.
It's just like a Disney ride!The streets of the area just above the port where the cable car dumps its passengers out is a maze of $hitshops where you can find any manner of ceramic crap, cheesy dish towels, bottle openers, fridge magnets, and polyester clothing made in a thousand sweatshops in China.
Sounds like we are gaining in appreciation for American roads...Let me be clear, like most other places in the world, driving does not mean the same thing as in N. America. If you can simply avoid going off the caldera's rim, you are doing great in Santorini.
What an incredible view!
I don't know, these photos look pretty stunning to me.We stopped now and then for “that perfect shot” just like everyone else but, because there were so many doing the same thing, no one got a perfect shot; everyone was reduced to the lowest common denominator.
Aren't we all?It was on this half-hour hike down that I realized I am helplessly lazy and incredibly out of shape.
You know what I hate about getting old? My recovery time has gone to crap. If I hurt something, it stays hurt FOREVER.We diddled around a little and took some photos down by the water, and I learned the hard way that I’m not only out of shape but not 20-something anymore either and can’t climb up and over rock walls very well anymore. I bunged up my knee and arm which sported giant bruises for the remainder of the trip all for the sake of a selfie.
Or your late 40's.I've come to learn that the poopout factor is a real thing when you're in your 80's.
Yeah, this...would not entice me.
That's just a completely foreign concept to me.As an FYI, while you’ll enjoy hardly any tourists to fight for space over and cooler temps, you’ll also struggle to find stuff open. Towards the end of this trip, Anara and I would run into that issue in Tuscany. We asked our taxi driver what the locals do during the winter, and he told us they travel, workout, spend time with family, work on their hobbies or work the family farm. Most go home as a high percentage are seasonal workers. It’s a completely different life rhythm than we have for sure.
Pull my finger!Mikki ordered a cocktail and the rest of us got the hoity-toity gas water.
This sounds like something my parents would do to me.My folks don’t love calamari, but we ordered one anyway.
That is until we saw the line for the cable car.
This is just like It's a Small World.The best part of the wait? We had top notch entertainment! Every hundred yards or so there was a kid eager to earn a bit of quid by playing their accordion. I searched in vain to find the one song they knew to show you that we heard many… many times.
Stunning!
Lots of people will ruin many a wonderful place.It was definitely packed solid with people making it less attractive to me personally.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!Meantime, Merry Christmas Friends. I'm moving to my Winter Quarters in Tucson on Wednesday with a stop in Ft. Worth to see my eldest daughter and her family so will be absent for a short spell. Keep the comments and check-ins coming though. It's always great to hear from you!!
It's good that they aren't allowing cruise ships to dock there for the sake of Venice, but bad for you and your situation.A little background: When I booked this cruise, it was advertised as “sailing” out of Venice. Since that time, Venice is no longer allowing cruise ships to make port there as the wake and weight of the ships is seriously damaging the wetland and shorelines surrounding the area causing irreparable damage to the structures of Venice Old Town and other islands nearby.
I think I might have spent a night there35 years ago on the way from Venice to Rome.Instead, cruise lines are now docking in a port city nearly 3 hours south called Ravenna.
That looks amazing!Breakfast was amazing. I got the requisite croissant pastry, this time filled with chocolate and a thick, strong latte.
Yup. Make sure you carry coins....I wonder if they will get credit card enabled ones...We soon found out that it costs money to go potty in Italy. (This is true in many parts of the world, just a heads up.) Money in the form of coins which we did not have, that is.
That's not bad!In all it took about 30 minutes to be onboard including passport checks
It sounded pretty exhausting!I think I will leave off there, because just writing that makes me want a cocktail and to decompress again from that exhausting travel day.
I've booked mine 5 times, It was supposed to be April of 2020, then March, 2021, Then March 2022, And April of 2023, finally it will be Feb of 2023. I'm even working on the opening of the TR already!Stoked to finally be onboard a cruise I’d booked and re-booked 3 times over the last 3 years, it was time to celebrate; to party; to EAT; to tour…
I can't even imagine doing the bunks. Fran and I spend a bit of time in the cabins so we like our large bed that is on the ground.Obviously, Mikki and I were relegated to those, but we wouldn’t see them until after dinner and turn down service.
Seriously? And only $2100 for the Cruise? I think ours was that per person.....Oops! Time for another drink! (They’re ‘free’ with the purchase of an $2100 cruise).
Interesting menu, there's a little of everything on there.We were given a nice table and left to peruse the menus.
Well, you could have eaten there every night and had something a little different each time. That's why I'm glad we cruise with Disney, because I know their menus pretty well, and know almost what to order at every restaurant. Some people may think that's dull, but I find it comforting to know which things to look forward to at which restaurant.Turns out, this would be our best meal by a very, very wide margin and we probably should have done the upcharge and eaten here for all of our meals.
(Yes, it's a Chihuly.)
At the front of the line boarding the ship? Sea pass, gone. Ready to head down to dinner? Phone, gone. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree… my future is bleak.