We slept like rocks, at 7:30 the door bell rang to our suite with a call "Room Service" we had breakfast in our room. We both thought they were early ... but simply we were exhusted!
The ship was still moving, out the window we could see land. We rolled ourselves out of bead, wrapped in toasty robes and watched the ship slide into the port enjoying our breakfast.
From the balcony ...
The first tender took off from the ship at 9am heading to Athinios, Santorini. The rest of us stayed on board until 10, when the ship relocates to Thira, Santorini, Greece.
This was the original view from our room of the port - Thira.
Original view it changed through the day, we learned that the water is so deep the ship cannot drop anchor, therefore the captain maneuvers the ship around the area through the day. WOW! Still looking a bit ragged, we hopped on board a tender to take us ashore. Warning, I take a lot of "self portrait" shots.
As we stepped off the ship, we were given three options of getting from the port to the town of Fira ... the town is 890 ft above the port. The choices: walk 580 steps, ride a donkey (580 steps) or ride the cable car.
CHECK out the BLUE sky! WHEEW
This is a shot right outside the cable car entrance ... for 8E we opted for the "quick" ride. With the possibility of walking down.
The ride was spectacular! Just one shot from the cable car.
Previously, we decided that we would just walk around the town, not have anything planned. We knew that the area had winding roads, but that we should be able to find our way back to the cable car ... so we wandered!
First shot off the cable car, pretty amazing to see these buildings built on top of each other.
tilt your head for a proper angle ...
just around the corner, a shot into the sea
From the top, a shot of our ship and the caldera ... which is still and active volcano. Our ship is the smaller of the two.
We then began winding through the small city, full of shops ... and walked until we could see the water on the other side.
We found ourselves no longer in the winding shop filled streets - but we did see the water on the opposite side of the island ....
This will be a shot I zoom and crop with the two blue domes they are churches ... I learned that the blue color we see so often in Greece is a Holy color and it keeps evil away. LOVE that color blue!
A hotel, over looking the water ....
on our way back to find the cable car, we sat and watched the traffic 
From here we walked back to the cable car, worn out - ready to head back to the ship for lunch. It was about 1pm. Opted NOT to walk down the donkey trail. There were a few brave souls that did make the trek, so we could all live vicariously through them .... they dubbed the trail the Donkey Doo Trail. We found our way back, and got MORE spectacular shots .... our ship is the only one still at port.
the steep cliffs .... from the cable car
Shot down to the port .... from the cable car
The tenders ran every half hour, so we had some time before we headed back. I then took shots of some blue doors ..... sorry, again the tilting of the head is necessary.
check out the clear water ...
Once back on the ship, we headed to the lunch buffet. We ate on the outside deck and took more pictures ....
a tender leaving port heading to ship
view of Oia ... 
view towards Athinios .... 
Back to Fira ... can you see the winding road, 580 steps ... the Donkey Doo Trail,
From lunch we headed to the suite for a nap ... there was a reception on the 11th deck for our group. This would allow us an optimal view as we head out of Santorini. Please remember, the ship is moving and it is getting dark - the shots are not the greatest, but I think you get the point:)
Fira, the lights are along the Donkey Trail ... the winding trail was to slow down the pirates.
Towards Oia,
Oia,
This evening was lovely, it was still about 70 on the ship, very comfortable! From the cocktail party we headed to dinner ....
our table - making the plan for Kusadasi, Turkey the port October 25th.
I did not get pictures of our meal, but here are our desserts ... they we SOO good!
Following dinner we made our way to the show lounge for the entertainment ... Comedy Magician Harry Maurer.
Aaron was selected to be part of the show, we really thought we had selected seats far enough away from the stage, but he found him. Aaron became a celebrity on the ship - we are not surprised! :)
Following the show we turned in for the night - again exhausted. Lucky us, Day Light Savings time in Europe ended that night and we got an extra hour. We again put in for breakfast room service, 8am, hoping to get better adjusted to the time.
Our heads hit the pillow and we were off to Kusadasi, Turkey .... 139 nautical miles.
GRACE AND PEACE!
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