Over the bounding main . . .

ahoy all salty dogs . . . today is a sea day. So what does one do on a sea day you ask . . . One makes certain one's patch is securely in place, noshes on a late breakfast and heads for the pool deck with a good book . . . oh, and maybe a bloody mary . . .

Santorini . . .

Back to the preconceived notions . . . the prime destination on my bucket list was Santorini. Don't ask why, once again, I have no clue. All I know are the images I see of pristine white buildings with blue domes . . . and that Oia is known for its magnificent sunsets. So as I finally dig down and start to do my homework on Santorini, I realize that the island is actually the rim of an ancient volcano and that both the capital, Fira and Oia, are perched on the edge of the Caldera. Perched as in you must find a way up to them. There are three choices . . . walking, funicular or donkey. While the 9TS was game for an animal adventure, I took one look at the beasties and the winding steps and scrambled over to the funicular . . . it looking none to safe in its own right.

Up we went.



EEK, don't look down.



I told you not to look.

Because I had my heart set on seeing Oia, and because I still had not lost my fear of missing the boat, we followed the directions I had gleaned from the net and headed to the bus station in Fira. With standing room only and the seemingly Greek passion for speeding around tight corners hundreds of feet above sea level without guard rails, I was starting to think the donkeys might have been a better mode of transportation. We made it to Oia in one piece. I can't say the same for the poor chap who had slithered to the floor suffering from a bout of motion sickness brought about no doubt but the wretched swaying of the bus . . .

Oia was worth the ride. Stunning views over the Caldera. Just amazing.



oh my . .




gasp . . .



and the town itself . . . this is typical . . .



But as brilliant as the scenery was, neither the 9TS nor I were willing to get on that bus again. We hopped a cab with another couple and prayed for safe passage.

Back in Fira, it was time to wander and explore. Clinging to a hillside, we climbed endless stairs and gawked at both the views and the shopping.



The views won hands down.



and this was the view at which we gawked while slurping . . .



Oh, and just in case you thought I was wimping out on the donkeys . . . I was.

Rhodes . . .

as in the Colossus of Rhodes. You know, the God who stood at the entrance to Rhodes and defended the city from intruders . . . one of the seven wonders of the world . . . sadly, it is no longer. Of course I'm not sure why this rendering resembles the jolly green giant . . .



But Rhodes is still there and wondrous. For some reason, I did not think I would enjoy Rhodes. I have no clue where I get these idiotic preconceived notions. The boat docked in port . . no tenders. So we walked to the "old city", which is entirely surrounded by walls. When we managed to get lost, all we did was find a wall and following it around until we found a exit.







Even from the inside, they are impressive.



and then there was the shopping . . .


and although they are known for their leather goods, we managed to do a little damage in the jewelry department too. Sigh.

And of course that makes one thirsty . . . .

Delos and Mykonos . . .

We woke up, looked out the window and found ourselves staring at Delos. Delos is an uninhabited island full of Greek relics . . . an archeologist's gold mine. We ate breakfast and jumped on a tender and went exploring. There were all kinds of paths wandering through the various sites. We headed on a major lane toward the summit but punked out when the going got rough. So as not to duplicate what we had seen, we chose a lesser used path back down. So lesser used that it was full of spider webs . . . . large hearty webs by evidently very well fed spiders. Harrumph. We delicately picked our way down. Absolutely amazing digs. Look at this stuff. Imagine the history. Wow! I was totally impressed . . . with the ruins, not the spiders.







and then there was this little guy. I've seen chameleons before but this guys topnotch matches his rock . . . designer lizards, who'd thunk it . . .



Back to the boat for lunch and on to Mykonos. I have to tell you, I fell in love at first sight. Deeply, passionately in love. Mykonos is amazing. It shines in the sun . . . just glistens. Wow!



Almost all the buildings are white, and they are kept that way by men like this . . .



so they look like this . . .



and this . . .



and this . . .



and yep, this too . . .



and they still fish for a living . . .



and in case you missed it, this little guy was helping them clean the fish . . .



and this . . . this was the start of a tradition. I think we managed to have a local beer in every port. What better way to end a day than to sit on a balcony overlooking the Aegean Sea, slurping a native brew.



Such is life.

Which statement is true . . .

1. When the 9TS and I married in 1997, Katie was seven and had been through a rough divorce. Not exactly the time to leave her and take off on a honeymoon.

2. The 9TS has always wanted to go on a cruise but since I get seasick putting one foot in the bathtub, a cruise is out of the question.

3. Visiting the Greek Isles has been on my bucket list since I was in high school and one of my friends spent the summer in Greece as part of the American Field Service program.

Did you choose all of the above? Just curious, because if you did, you were right. But Katie is an adult, they make Trans Derm patches and at 60, if I don't start working on my bucket list, it isn't going to happen.

So . . . At noon we were picked up by the transfer company and unceremoniously dumped off at OIA. We checked in with United and wandered to the gate, only to find that our flight to Dulles was delayed so long that we would miss our connecting flight to Munich by more than two hours. Which means we would also miss our connection on Aegean Airlines to Greece and then of course, miss the not so proverbial boat. ACK . . . not an auspicious start. I frantically called the cruise hotline and they rebooked us through Chicago leaving at 3:30. Small problem . . . it was already 3:32. A second call and they booked us leaving OIA for Frankfurt and connecting on to Athens. If there were no delays, we could catch the boat . . . maybe. So we ran back to United, reclaimed our bags, took off for Lufthansa and gate sat once again. Frankfurt airport has to be the craziest layout. Our departure gate was a good mile from where we arrived . . . nothing like a little exercise to get the kinks out of our legs. It wasn't long though before this was the sight out our window.



A representative from the cruise line met us at the Athens airport (now June 5) and literally threw us in a cab. Our cabbie, although really friendly, didn't speak much English and my Greek is non-existent. What we did gather was that we were hitting rush hour traffic and so he was going to take back roads. What he didn't mention was that he was going to do so at breakneck speeds down tiny little alleys with inches to spare between us and parked cars, us and pedestrians, us and big buses, us and anything that got in his way. But to his credit, he got us to the boat 45 minutes before sailing.

We had missed the life boat drill, missed the reception but we made the boat and it wasn't long before we sailed out of port, patch in place, staring at this glorious sunset.

Bite me . . .

We've taken to sitting out front after dinner and chatting with the neighbors who wander by. It's normally a very enjoyable way to pass the early evening. But, since the monsoons, the mosquitoes are bigger than the crows. Last night they feasted on the tasty and juicy 9TS . . . twice . . . once on each shoulder.

This morning however, he woke up a little more than munched on. He was obviously the appetizer, main course AND dessert. We're not sure who made lunch of the poor man but someone had a voracious appetite. This has put a damper on our outdoor socializing . . . unless of course we leave a little path of invitations to the pool deck . . . which is, thankfully, screened in against the flotilla of stinging pests in this neck of the woods.



Can I sell you some swamp land in the Sunshine State?

Let the games begin . . .

Over at the Spraground there is fun afoot . . . a new challenge each day for the last seven days of the month.

The first challenge called for the use of this template by Liv Estaban.



Day two asked for the use of one of Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Friday lessons.



day 3 . . . the requirement was to center around an inanimate object.



Day 4 required song lyrics:



Day 5 . . . you had to blab a secret . . . yikes . . .




Day 6 . . . was a color challenge. You could only use the colors provided.



Day 7 . . .