At Sea - Santorini (Greece) 29 - 30 April 2024     29 April 2024     We were bagged from exploring Pompei. Slept all morning, had a light lunch, went back to our cabin and reserved the Horizons restaurant for 5:00 every day. Went and had dinner at 5:00 as reserved. Rita had duck I had Fettuccini Alfredo.                 Went back to our cabin, slept like a log.     30 April 2024 Santorini     Woke up at 8:00. had breakfast and headed out to the meeting place for the excursion to Santorini at 9:45. On the way we stopped at Customer Services to have the WIFI connection rebooted. It had seized the night before. Arrived at the meeting place which was to take place at 10:45, 40 minutes early. Everything was still closed. So we sat in the Casino which was totally empty, until it opened. Got our bus assigned and we were off to the ships tender. It was really choppy but with help from the attendants, Rita made it on safely. I thought that was the last of our difficulties. Talk about false advertising. The excursion description had said that the bus would pick us up at the tender dock, drive us up to Oia and then drive us to Fira from where we could take a cable car to the tender dock below and back to the ship. They described the excursion as "moderate activity". Well, the bus met us at the tender dock alright, but it was parked half way up the hill. Started climbing up the steep road. Finally the tour guide managed to get a smaller bus that was further down the hill to pick us and the other old fogies up, and drive us to the bigger bus. Wow, I though that was the end of it. The bus drove us to Oia and dropped us off three quarters of the way up the hill. Climbed the steep road with uneven cobble stones and stairs. Made it to the top.              We were going to celebrate the accomplishment by having a glass of local red wine. Checked for my wallet, good thing I did. Not there, checked the other pockets, no wallet. I had left it in the pants I was wearing the day before. You would think it a disaster, not being to savor the local wine. think again. The tour guide on the way up in the bus explained that water was very expensive in Santorini, and that is why the use of public toilets costs 1EU. Now I really started to sweat. Not only were we not able to put anything in our bodies, we also had to keep in what we had. Walked around in Oia took pictures, and started the down climb to the bus terminal. On the way to Fira the guide was explaining to us that the houses on the island were selling for 1 - 1.5 million EU. Looking around at the vegetation I was wondering who would want to live here. The plants were a greenish gray, from the dust they were covered with. I'm not saying some plants, but all plants. I didn't see one healthy bush shrub or anything that didn't look half dead. The white limed houses looked beautiful in the desolate landscape. He was also explaining why there were so many chapels on the island. It was a tradition in the olden days, when there was a storm at sea, the family of the sailors would pray and promise to build a chapel, if their loved ones made it back safe. Also, when electricity was first introduced to the island in the 1960's if you built a chapel in your back yard and put an electric light in it, the church would promote your house, and your application would be put at the top of the pile. When we arrived at Fira, again, the bus dropped us off three quarters of  the way up the hill. There was no way down, the only way was up. The cable car, that went to the tender port was at the very top of the hill. So we climbed and climbed stopping several times for Rita to catch her breath. Asked several people for directions to the cable cars, they all pointed up the hill. Finally, we made it to the cable car, and I stood in line while Rita was sitting on the bench moving up as we went along. A young man from Mexico City, standing behind me with his family and friends, told me to go sit with Rita and he would keep our spot and call us when he got to the cable car ticket booth. While we were waiting a lady who had helped Rita in Pompeii recognized us and came to ask how Rita was feeling. About half an hour later the young man was back and told us to come and rejoin the line. Got to the ticket booth and I handed in the two 6EU tickets the tour guide had given us as part of the package. Thank God I didn't loose them because without a wallet we wouldn't have been able to get back to the ship.         He was able to persuade the attendant at the boarding platform to put us at the beginning of the line. Came down the cable car, and there was another long line waiting to board the tenders. He told us to come with him, and again he took us to the very front of the line and asked the attendant to board us first. It's amazing how many wonderful people there are in the world. Restores your faith in humanity. We couldn't stop thanking him enough. Had a quick dinner and as soon as we got back to our cabin, I grabbed the bottle of wine we had remaining, and for no other reason than to kill the pain, we guzzled it down.