More About Santorini

We did a tour in Santorini which didn't work out so well. They were waiting on some folks to arrive (which is why we were at the little bar where Brian had his first Greek beer - see earlier post) and started late. And there were way more people than they said there would be. And we ran behind all day so we didn't get to spend the time we should have at 2 of the 3 places. And our tour guide dropped us at the cable car station to get back down the mountain to the ship (more about that in a minute) and then disappeared. And we waited in line for about 1-1/2 HOURS to go down the mountain in a little metal car zooming through the air on a metal cable that skimmed through a cut-out in the retaining wall!!! Brian said it reminded him of the scene in the movie, "Where Eagles Dare" and he was right! But the visit to the winery was good ~ except for the unsuspected fellow traveler that Brian knocked a glass of wine over (it was a white wine, thank goodness!). He was a very good sport about it.

In a previous post you saw the picture of us on the tender boat over to Santorini. In that same post you saw another picture showing the town, way high up on the top of the mountain (for lack of a better word). What I didn't tell you then is that there are only 3 ways to get up and down the mountain - cable car (the recommended way) or a rocky trail that is very steep and takes about 30-45 to walk. And, oh yeah, it's also the same path the donkeys take (which is the 3rd way to travel, but boy, do they smell!). Following are some pictures.

View from the winery.

Food we had (and the poor guy, in the blue shirt,

who wound up with wine in his lap). It was very good!

 

The lines in front and behind us, waiting for the cable car.

The cable cars coming through the cut-out in the retaining wall. 

On a positive note, this was waiting for us when we returned to our cabin, courtesy of our cabin steward:

He made an elephant the first night, using my sun glasses, but I didn't think to take a picture. Sorry about that - it was very clever! I can do Italian much easier than Greek but here goes - Yassou (which means both hello and good bye).