Heaven on Earth

My favorite of the cruise stops were Santorini and Mykonos. They were both very touristy, but that didn't take away from their charm. The area of Santorini that was formed by a volcano and the towns rest on the lip of the volcano. To get up to the towns you have three options- cable car, donkey (no guide so they walk wherever they want) or walking up the same path as the donkeys (potential to be squished by aforementioned uncontrolled donkeys and sidestepping their abundant droppings). We chose to the take the donkey route. It was fun, but an adventure for sure!

Here is one of the old Greek donkey- herder. They spoke no English, he yanked me off when the ride was over!

Beautiful Fira; we took a taxi to another town, Oia, to walk around and have a delicious Greek dinner. We also got authentic baklava to have for a late night snack. Mmmm!

Next stop, Mykonos! We rented some ATVs and drove them around the island eventually stopping at a beach to spend the rest of our time there. It was so fun to drive around the island and look down at the water and different little villages.

Here is the beach we stopped at. The water was a little warmer than Croatia and we rented a couple of beach chairs under thatched umbrellas. It was blissful!

This is the town of Mykonos that we wandered around before catching the last boat back to the ship. Every building was white with brightly colored shutters and doors in shades of blue.

One night on the ship they talked up a "Chocoholic Bar", so we got in line early and I ate a light dinner to save room. Between Cameron and I we tried everything, and I can't say they had anything spectacular. We all left feeling disappointed, unfortunately. Luckily, I had gotten more baklava in port that day so it wasn't a totally rotten day!

And... the chocolate Eiffel Tower.

This was Crete, we took a bus to the Palace of Knosos, and ancient Roman settlement and walked around. Crete was a lot more industrialized than the other places we had visited.

Towel Dog, he's such a stud!!