Eastern Med cruise

JoeyandDavid · October 2, 2005

Jacketwatch

Thanks for the link I bookmarked it .. I loved the picture of the door person/greeter :)

Skipper ~ I knew We could count on you for some expertise!.. Is the donkey ride something that you did?.. that sounds like fun!

edited for spelling

jacketwatch · October 2, 2005

Skipper: I think that did it! Now Santorini is a must :grin: .

J and D: You're welcome. BYW the area its in is very good too. It just came to mind that there is another hotel in the same price range called the Colon and its next to a cool attraction, the Barri Gothic Cathedral. :cool:

TheSkipper · October 2, 2005

Hi Gang,

NO I did not do the donkey ride up the mountain, but you can watch them making their way up as you ride the tram to the top.

At 245 lbs, I don't think they had a large enough donkey to get me up that mountain, would need an entire mule train!

By the way at least one of the local dogs rides up and down whenever he feels like it. He rode up with us and it did not concern the operators at all, they said "he is always riding."

And, it is my understanding that there are no privately owned cats on Santorini, they are all community property and fed and spoiled by everyone. Quite friendly as well.

BTW, Santorni is the favorite spot for one of our favorite artists, Igor Medvidev. Most of this painted scenes are done in Santorini. He claims the light and color there is the best in the world.

Shari2 · October 3, 2005

Hi Jacketwatch, Joey, and Ed!

I asked my daughter what she liked about Santorini, and she said pretty much the same things. She just thinks it has so much character and charm with the city built on a cliff and the donkeys and the trams and the water is so beautiful there.

She wasn't there on a cruise, she flew to Athens and toured Athens, Mykonos and Santorini and stayed on all the islands for a bit. She mentioned that part of Santorini is volcanic. She mentioned that shopping seemed very European with many visitors from Europe. She mentioned that it was kind of a "once in a lifetime" place to see.

jacketwatch · October 3, 2005

Thank you Shari. Somehow I sort of feel drawn to Santorini and if missed it just wouldn't feel right. We'll just have to go I guess. :cool: :smiley:

JoeyandDavid · October 3, 2005

Thanks Shari , so glad to hear that.. Thank your daughter also for us.. What was her observations on Rome (it's also on our Itinerary) :wink:

Shari2 · October 4, 2005

Joey...

She didn't go to Rome. She wasn't on a cruise. She flew to Athens by way of Italy, I think, and stayed on Athens and then flew to Mykonos and then to Santorini and then flew back to Athens, I think for her flight back. She booked with a certain tour group. I remember it was pretty exausting with the long flights to and from and in between the islands. That's another reason why I love to cruise.

I would love to go to Rome.. Joey...Can you smuggle me aboard? :grin:

JoeyandDavid · October 4, 2005

Sure Shari.. Do you have your own designer trunk of do we need to Ebay? :grin:

jacketwatch · October 4, 2005

J aand D! FWIW we spent a day in Rome in 2002 as a port stop for the Splendour. I loved Rome though I am a bit of a history buff so being in Rome and seeing ruins from 2000yrs. ago was pretty neat for me. As we disembarked there were plenty of cabbies just waiting for you so we negotiated a price to see the sights. The difference in $$ was incredible. The ships tour was $170.00 pp so for the three of us it would have been $510.00 but we got the cab for $200.00 and were on our own time as well. We hit all the major sites including the Vatican, the Sistene Chapel, the Coliseum, etc. Do be aware that if you want to enter St. Peters shorts are verboten. You must have longpants and no tank tops so we missed St. Peters. :angry: Hwever as it was late July it was H O T in Rome then so it would have been pretty uncomfortable to see the rest of the city uncomfortably dressed. In short Rome is an amazing city to see and we really just saw a small part of it. I would love to go again and have more time to see it all. Any other specific questions? :cool: