Santorini

This is the main reason I wanted to go on this trip. It was on my "bucket list". This is where my nephew, Josh, spent some time after graduating from college. 

We had to take a tender to the dock where we got in a bus that took the winding cliff roads cross crossing back and forth up the mountain as if it were in a Grand Prix race. Our tour started in a mountainside village just as the shops were opening. It was beautiful. Here are a few pics of the village:

In the town there was a restaurant with last nights main course left out to be eaten by those in need.

There also was a work crew that was fixing a roof on one of the buildings. The family name was the Valendas.

In the middle of the village Mike met a look alike. Will the real Mike please step forward.

Before we left the village Dr Gary came across a fellow traveler in need of medical attention , so Dr. Gary examined the traveler ( pay special attention to Dr Gary's hand). Always the professional he wanted to make sure it was a thorough examination..... 

Following the first stop the tour guide, who was worse than the one we had in Venice took us to a winery. I liked the shirts the staff wore.

We tasted 3 different wines and Dd and I purchased a bottle.

We then went to the main city on Santorini where the city  was very busy and very vibrant. A picture says a thousand words, so here you go:

We walked through the city and the views were spectacular.. Dd, Karen and Dr Gary walked in almost every shop.. Mike and I could not make up our minds on whom we were more worried about, the girls or Dr Gary....

We had a great lunch where we met Jane and Capt Gary. Our waiter had a little daughter that was helping him and it was very cute.

Dd and Karen continued in their efforts to beatify Europe by trying to straighten this tree.

There are three ways off the mountain, walk, cable car or donkey.. Dd, Karen, Dr Gary and Capt Gary walked. Jane, Mike and I took the cable car. Here is the ticket for the ride.

There seems to me that a ticket that says    "One way" is trying to tell you something. Here is the cable car.

Here is a view from the mountain top of the cable car in action.

Once in the car Mike became a bit difficult to deal with as he does not like heights...

Thank heavens the ride only lasted a short time as Mike's screaming was beginning to wear on Jane and me..

The girls had a perilous trip down having to dodge donkeys and their droppings and slippery steps.. It was very dangerous as told by Dr Gary, who "tried to make it down in one piece, and even though he heard Karen, his closest friend, saying how difficult it was Dr Gary left her to fend for herself while he saved his own "donkey". Needless to say, Mike and I had a discussion with him.... Chivalry may not be dead, but it certainly was not alive in Greece on that day.

We waited at the bottom for a long time, after Dr Gary made it down, for Dd and Kaen to survive their life threatening experience. It took them over an hour . Mike and Jane waited with baited breath..

At the bottom of the path there is a sign saying that the donkeys were fully insured.. What about the people riding them or getting pushed over the side on the clif by the donkeys???

All in all, other than the tour guide that was horrible, it was a great day, spent in a magnificent location with dear friends that always have each other's back. That is, all except Dr Gary....

Alvin, a man who checked off an item on his bucket list.  Be well and think kind thoughts......