From Ruins To Revelations-Crete And Santorini

This pilgrimage day also had multiple ports. When Hubby Tony and I woke up, the ship was docked at the Port of Heraklion in Crete.

Crete has some Christian history; Saint Paul made several visits there. The first is a mention in Acts 27, when Paul's ship stopped on the southern coast of the island. On a later visit Paul left Titus on the island to organize the church, appointed him the first bishop of Crete, and later wrote the Epistle of Titus. 

The ship offered excursions that showcased historical places, but Tony and I chose not to do one this time. Instead, we joined with our friends for a 15-minute walk along the waterfront to the shopping area. Some people from our pilgrimage got directions to the basilica that holds St. Titus relics. We passed on that, but when our group stumbled across a simple Catholic church we stopped in.

Saint John the Baptist church

The main activity for us this day was shopping. Tony and I bought souvenirs, an ornament for the Christmas tree, and a tote bag to carry everything in. When we reached the Lions Square we turned around and headed back to the boat for lunch. 

Wikipedia

 Back at the cabin I found a cute towel animal from our room steward 

This was the last day of the cruise, and after lunch Tony and I spent our time packing our suitcases so we could put them out to be picked up overnight. Afterwards, Tony took a nap, but I went out and walked around the boat. When he woke up we got coffee and got ready to join our excursion group for the evening's adventure.

The last stop on the cruise was Santorini. The island is a caldera (the remains of a volcanic eruption). We had chosen an excursion to Oia Village, the famous city built on the rim of the caldera, where the white-painted houses are carved into the cliffs, many of them topped by blue domes.

Beginning of sunset over the area

At this port, tender boats shuttled passengers between the ship and the shore. The excursion busses were waiting just past the boat dock. Ours went up a steep, switchback hill and eventually arrived at a parking lot. From there, we had several additional flights of stairs to the village. The tour guide mentioned that it would be getting dark when we came back, and she suggested we might want to use our cell phone flashlights for extra light.

Unfortunately, the village was very crowded due to multiple cruise ships in the port. When our tour guide gave us time to explore I had to fight to get good views of the scenery.  Eventually our group found a restaurant on the roof of a building and ordered some small plates to share. 

But the evening wasn't without adventure. I didn't realize I needed to use the bathroom until I had left the restaurant, and the public one on the way back to the bus had a one Euro fee. T(his was the first, and only, time I had to pay to pee on this trip.) All I had was dollars, but the exchange rate was close enough that although technically I shorted the attendant about 15 cents, she still let me in.

The ride back to the ship was in the dark. The tour guide pointed out things that would have been visible during the day, but I chose to close my eyes and rest. Back at the dock, we had a short wait for the tender. Because of so many negatives, this was my least favorite of all of the places I visited. 

Dinner was once again in the buffet restaurant. Back at our room we followed the directions and put our big suitcases outside the door for pickup, saving everything we needed for the morning in our carry on bags.