Cruise – Greece
After cruising through the Adriatic sea, we entered the Ionian sea and finally the Aegean sea to stop at Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and end in Athens, Greece.
We tagged along with Brooke and Vaughn in their tiny rental car for a day of beaches in Corfu. We were the very first ones off the ship at 7:30 that morning and got the car quickly at the cruise terminal. We headed all the way north to Canal d’Amour beach and had it all to ourselves for a few hours. It was gorgeous. Cory and Vaughn swam through the cave and found a rope on the side of the cliff to jump off of.
Santorini was a bit of a gong show. This was the port I was looking forward to the most, but it was so crowded and difficult. Because everything is built up on the top of the caldera everyone must use the Santorini tenders (they don’t allow the ships to use their own tender boats) and there were 3 ships in port that day. Then once on land you must either walk up the steep and long switchbacks, wait in an incredibly long queue for the cable car or take the donkeys. Taking the donkeys seemed terrible for those poor animals, it was 37 degrees that day, so in the line we got. Nice for me, there were some shops set up while Cory held our place in line. Once we finally got up to town we sped to our rental car and took off for Oia. It was so crowded and there were actual line ups to see some of the iconic views. It felt ridiculous and took away from the magic. We didn’t have time for the other places that I wanted to see which was disappointing.
Mykonos surprised me. It was beautiful, way less crowded and peaceful. We got off the ship early and explored the back streets before anyone was around. We grabbed some street food and ate by the sea with a mean looking cat staring us down.
Our last day the ship dropped us off in Athens. We spent a night there before flying home the next day. We found a Bauzouki shop, toured the city by segway and enjoyed a rooftop dinner with a view of the Acropolis. Loved the people, the food and the vibe of Greece.
