Santorini, Greece

 

Saturday, November 2nd, 2013

Santorini, our last stop in Greece.  Tomorrow is an at sea day, then Naples, then Rome and then home.

Santorini is a beautiful place, often photographed with its white walls and blue domed roofs.  It is a bit famous for its wines, so we took an excursion to the town of Oia and a winery.  Left at 7:15am, thinking that the winery would be at the end of the tour.  Not so.  We were tasting wines before 8am!  There is something wrong with that.  We went with our tablemates Peter and Janet, from Melbourne, Australia. 

The guide pointed out that the way grapes are grown here is different than in other places due to the high local winds.  The vines are grown on the ground, not on trellises.  They select the four strongest branches and weave them into a basket and the grapes grow inside the basket, protected from the winds.  There are over 500 wineries on the island, so the method must work.

After days of urging by Peter and Colleen, John joined Peter in a fish foot massage.  We've seen this all through this cruise and Peter did it in Athens.  He first tried it in Thailand some time ago.  He loves it, so it was tried.  We will try to send photos.  If they don't attach, we might send them when we arrive home.  It was a really odd feeling, having all of these little fish, 200 in the tank, eating  the dried skin from the feet and ankles.  It was interesting that the left foot seemed more appetizing than the right foot.

Colleen & John