Thursday, September 25, 2014

Mediterranean Cruise - Santorini, Greece

Santorini was one of the places I was looking forward to the most.  Every picture I've ever seen from there is gorgeous!  And let me tell you...I was not disappointed!  The views are even more stunning in person.  I really wanted to take the volcano tour and see the black sand beaches, but I really, really wanted to take in the sights in Oia.  Since we were limited on our time in port I had to narrow it down.  The times for the volcano tour wouldn't allow us to do anything else and the black sand beaches weren't close enough to Oia to give us enough time to do both and get back to the ship with time to spare so I settled on browsing through Oia.  When it was said and done, there was no way I was going to Santorini without seeing Oia.  If we are ever there again, I will make time for the volcano and black sand beaches.

We had to tender into the port and then take the cable car up to Fira's town center.  Once we got up to Fira we found the bus station to get our tickets to Oia.  This guy was knocked out cold!  I have to say that our boys were so awesome for the entire vacation!  Bringing a 6 month old and 4 year old touring through Europe was not the easiest thing we've done, but they are both excellent travelers which made things a lot more pleasant...for us and everyone around us! 


The bus ride up to Oia was terrifying for me!  I am NOT a fan of heights and this was just a little too much for me to handle.  We were literally going up in a huge bus with no railings on the side of road.  I'm talking a straight drop off cliff right on the side of the road!  I did manage to work up the nerve to look out of the window and take a few pictures.    


My first blue dome sighting!


Finally we made it to Oia and after a little walking we found those iconic views!  These are just some of the sights as we walked around.  We didn't really have a plan...except to stroll around and take it all in!







One day he will have an appreciation for everything he has experienced during this season of our lives.  My four year old self had such a different life than he does.  I love that he is so easy going and takes it all in with us :)


I think he was most excited to be vacationing with his Mimi and Pop!







You could actually ride a donkey up from the port if you really wanted to.  That was not happening!


After we got back to Fira we found a little place to sit down and have lunch.  He's out again!  See...such a good little world traveler.


Next on my list of things to do was get a fish pedicure.  It definitely wasn't the best pedicure I've had, but it was the most interesting!  We had a good time doing it!  Connor was a little confused though!  Haha!


Getting our feet washed by a couple of Greek men before the pedicure :)





We still had some time before we had to be back on the ship so we took the opportunity to stroll around Fira a bit.




I got a couple of these bracelets made for souvenirs.  He shaped the wire to spell out a name in Greek. 


I don't remember if these people were walking or riding a donkey down back to the port.  Either way they are crazy in my book!


We absolutely opted for the cable car ride back down.  I even worked up enough nerve to open my eyes!


Back on the ship and ready for a relaxing day at sea!


We were cruising back to Italy the whole following day so we took the opportunity to enjoy the ship some more.  Of course they hosted family activities in the kid's club.  The first one was scrap booking.  It occupied Connor for a little while but it definitely wasn't his favorite thing.



He didn't quite understand that we were supposed to put our own pictures on the page and insisted that we fill it up with pictures of the animals.  We let him just roll with it though.




A little lunch break and then back to the kids' club for another family activity.


They played Wii bowling!  Several kids actually showed up for this one and Connor was a little nervous when they first started.


Along for the ride!


Once he felt a little more comfortable he was all smiles and having a great time!



He actually did really good and got quite a few strikes!



Champion Wii bowler here!  He came in first place and got a gold medal.  He was as proud as a peacock about it!



Some nights the kids' club would take the kids to dinner and of course Connor absolutely had to go when they did this!  We dropped him off and brought Jameson to the nursery and enjoyed a nice dinner at the sushi restaurant on the ship.


I'm not sure where we were here, but it was a cool view as we cruised on by.



All smiles after coming back from the kids' club.  And still wearing his gold medal!


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