Day 12- Crete

Hey everyone- not much to tell today. We have just been lounging around our resort eating a lot of ice cream. I swear my mother is going to miss the scandal and nirvana ice cream more than anything. We just relaxed and swam in the pool- tomorrow we will head into Chania to see more of that city. Can someone please tell me the temperature in Toronto- we are curious what it will be when we get off the plane

Day 11- Crete cont'd

Hey everyone- I know I don't usually write twice in one day but this is when I usually write to give a synopsis of the day. Our resort is absolutely breathtaking. It is just outside of Chania in Kalamaki and is right on the ocean. There are two pools and the beach is right there- it's stunning. Plus there is a fantastic poolside bar which makes a great Pina Colada. We went into town today to walk around and see the harbour and I have to say...I don't get it. I just don't. Everyone said Crete was a must and how spectacular it is and we just don't see it. It is just a busy dirty commercial European city. I mean there are some nice Venetian elements granted but I just don't see anything spectacular. I much prefered the greek villages on the other islands. But our resort has great food so we will just relax out here before we have to go home. And we will tour Knossos on Monday and I'm very excited about that. Oh and did I mention this place has satellite television- English television oh how I've missed you!! We watched Whos the Boss- spectacular!!

Day 11- Crete

Greetings from Crete! We arrived after a very very long trip. Yesterday we just wandered around the village of Firostefani and layed by our pool before we had to leave Santorini. We then took the terrifying trip down the cliff back to the port to our ferry. The port we sailed into in Crete was Iraklio- which is not very nice. Just looks like a big city. We found the bus station and had to wait an hour to get to Chania. Our bus then took 2 1/2 hours- we didn't get into Chania until after 11:30pm. Then being the organized travellers that we are we had nothing booked. We met a nice couple on the bus and we ended up sharing a cab with them and following them to their hotel. It's just on the outskirts of Chania in a beach town- our resort is gorgeous. But the rest of the island to date has been less than spectacular- mom thinks it looks like Cuba. Albeit a much richer Cuba in my opinion. Everyone went on and on about how gorgeous this place is- I hope I see it soon!

Day 9- Santorini

We have just gotten back from our 10 hour excursion and I think we are both about ready to die. I know this might sound shocking since we are such adventurous mountain women but all the climbing today has rendered us useless (more so than usual). We started with a bus tour all over the island which was nice- we got to see most of the major towns. Then we went down the cliffs on the bus to the port- these drivers are insane. The road is about 4 feet wide swirling down the cliff and these drivers are passing each other. It was very very scary. Then we got on our wooden sail boat and sailed across the caldera to the volcanic island. The last eruption was in 1950 so not long ago. We climbed all the way to the top and took pics...it was sooo hot!! We didn't see lava or anything but it was smoking and smelled like sulphur. Plus there is a heat wave that has come over from Africa so it was very very hot. We then sailed to the other volcanic island and swam over to the hot springs. We had to jump off the boat and swim over- I don't think mom was terribly impressed since the water was quite cold before you got the hot springs and the ground was all rocks and covered in slimy crap- we think they were fish eggs because those kept floating to the top. Then we went over to another island for lunch- that wasn't terribly exciting. But the next part will make a lot of your days- it was officially donkey day as Cathie said! That's right- we rode donkeys!! On the boat over to Oia the guide told us it was a 270 step steep climb up the cliff to the town from the port- and by this time we were dying. And it was only 4:45 so still ridiculously hot. A girl on the boat had done it before so convinced mom that it was ok. Oh.my.god. It was so traumatic!! The guys kept yelling at us to hurry but I did manage to get a pic of Debra Ann McGill need Wilberforce riding a donkey- I will sell the pics to the highest bidder. Anyways, the donkeys start going up these steps and are veering VERY close to the edge- and there was only like a 1 foot ledge on the side before the drop off. Then behind the two of us there was a man SCREAMING at the donkeys to go faster- my god it was scary! Near the end my donkey started bucking but I got off. Then moms turned around to go back down and went near the ledge. So she panicked...now most people would throw themselves forward to grad the donkey. She threw herself backwards/sideways to get away from the cliff and looked like she was going to fall off. Top notch instincts as always. Regardless we were both really really traumatized- I had a beer to heal. But now it is kind of funny. Mom hopes that poor Francis didn't get yelled at for turning around- the men were quite mean

We then saw the gorgeous sunset at Oia- amazing! Tomorrow we are off to Crete

Day 8- Santorini

Today was a very relaxed day- we just walked up and down this cobblestone pathway that they have that leads around the caldera. We went up the hill for lunch and then down to Fira for dinner. We also spent quite a bit of time relaxing around our pool- I think it's going to be very hard leaving Santorini and the pool with the caldera views. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the island that will take us to all the islands. We will be going to hot springs and climbing a volcano- imagine! Then we will have to ride donkeys up a hill- although we'll see if that happens since I do feel bad for the poor donkeys!

PS- Thanks for all the comments and emails- keep them coming! We love them!

Day 7- Santorini

Greetings from Santorini! We are sitting in an internet overlooking the caldera right now- it's quite spectacular! We had a bit of drama today- we took the highspeed ferry from Paros and of course had nothing booked. So we got to Santorini and the when we got off on the port mom thought it looked like we were in a mine pit- it's right at the bottom of the cliffs. A man lured us to his hotel promising it was in Fira- the main town. So we went with this strange man in his van to his hotel- which turned out to be in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the island of the caldera. It was also in what I considered to be the hood of Santorini- it didn't look at all like the image I had in my head. It was a good 15 minutes out of Fira- which isn't even the nicest town. So we left our stuff at the hotel- which was clean although in a sketchy area. We had lunch over the caldera and decided we needed to stay in a place with Caldera views. So we walked back to the hotel on the sketchy road and went back to the hotel to get our stuff. The owner wasn't there so we just took our stuff and mom wrote a nicely worded note saying thanks but no thanks...we then ran out and got a cab to our current hotel. It's GORGEOUS!!! Right on the caldera with a pool and a beautiful room. I am still expecting to see fugitive posters with our faces on them since we didn't pay the guy and he did drive us from the port but hopefully it all works out! We got to see the sunset over the caldera and had a great meal. We are now off for our standard dessert of gelato- of course!! Tomorrow we will just be wandering around Santorini

Day 6- Paros

Hello everyone- we missed a day because our hotel doesn't have internet but we just heard from people that they actually miss our updates so we found an internet cafe. Yesterday we made it to Delos- it was absolutely breathtaking and amazing. It is an uninhabited island that is just full of antiquities- one of the most important sites in the world. I was trying to absorb it all and just marvel in the ruins...mom thought it looked like the french rocks. She was busy scoping for Chuckie V the whole time. We then went back to Mykonos where we found out that the ferry to Naxos was broken down. Being the adventurous women that we are (hehe) we went on another ferry and came to Paros instead. We are staying in a tiny fishing village on the north coast called Naoussa- it's truly breathtaking. It's much more authentic and rural as compared to the commercialism and busy Mykonos. And it's much cheaper. Again we got to the docks and got into some strange man's van (seriously). He brought us to his hotel which is on the beach and has a pool- and it was separate rooms for us to sleep in which is nice. We both caught a cold from the nasty German man who coughed and spewed all over me on the plane. So we were able to really rest last night. Today mom didn't feel well so she stayed in the room while I went to the beach. And of course due to my albinoism I'm slightly burnt (thanks dad for the skin). But tonight we have been wandering through the town and went for the neatest dinner- they were having a celebration in the restaurant for a child's first birthday. They had a band and dancers and ouzo and were throwing plates- sooo cool!! We are now off for gelato- I am gathering research to write a book on gelatos of the world (thanks for the idea Lindsay!). Tomorrow we are putting on our travelling pants and heading to Santorini.