First stop — Santorini !

Never has a place looked even more beautiful in real life than the pictures. The amazing volcanic island of Santorini – where the water and sky are really this blue and the buildings are really this white. Another perfect weather day, 85 degrees and sunny without a cloud in the sky, we arrived at Fira, Santorini in the early afternoon on a spectacular sail in.

Dave and Kayla on Santorini Sail In

Now, the first decision is how to get up the 850 foot cliff that confronts you in the port. I suspected it would be the cable car, and while Zack wanted to walk, in the end Karen surprised us with the idea of taking the donkeys up the hill.

This was truly one of the highlights of the trip – nothing beats an out of control donkey who takes you wherever (and whenever) he pleases up the zig zag path. Here we learned that it was a good decision to not walk, as you must dodge the donkeys and their poop the entire ride up. Kayla’s little white stead gave up around ½ way up the hill, so she had to change donkeys. That gave the donkey in front of Karen just enough time to take a long pee on her leg, soaking her white pants up to the knee !!  While this sounds problematic, perhaps you have not heard of the great shopping in Santorini, where Karen quickly converted her new badge of honor into a new Greek dress.

Kayla takes off on Santorini donkeys

Zack and Karen on Santorini donkeys

Zack enjoying Mom's donkey mess

Karen after her donkey attack

From there you just walk around visiting all of the stores and restaurants along the way, pausing from time to time to take in the amazing views that surround you.

Karen sporting her new donkey-induced dress in Santorini

The view from friendly Christos' porch in Fira - our ship in background

We took the bus out to Oiai, the little town at the end of the island, where we had lunch on the edge of the cliff (Greek salad of course) – and just lots of smiles at idea of being in such an amazing place.

Delicious Greek salad in Oia -- look at that block of feta !

Dave and Karen at the restaurant in Oia

Zack and Kayla along the walkway in Oia

The proud flag of the Panos motherland flying in Oia

Heading back to the boat for our 10:00pm departure, we made the easy decision to take the cable car back down!  As you can see, Karen enjoyed this trip even more than the donkeys.

Karen enjoying the 900 foot descent back to port