drron29

Off Santorini today is the Windstar Star Pride (formerly Seabourn pride 312 pax), Nicko cruises Vasco Da Gama (formerly Statendam then Pacific Eden 1258 pax) and 2 much smaller Expedition ships. But Oia was still quite crowded.

Having dabbled in politics this lot are no problem at all. I take it as a bit of fun.

There are kids and kids. Some are a delight and some are a real pain. Several of those on the second leg of our cruise fell into the second category. The young girl on the current segment is in the first category. Was on my excursion group today and not a problem at all. In fact a delight.

It was off to SALT tonight. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the menu. First the wines and their usual bread offerings. Rojaan started with spring onion wrapped in prosciutto.I had pasta Norma a recipe of this part of Sicily. My pasta was good. Rojaan couldn't cut the spring onion easily. In all restaurants most knives are blunt. Rojaan had the chicken breast stuffed with pistachios and I Kumquat glazed duck. Both good. For dessert Rojaan had watermelon jelly and I chocolate baklava. OK but not outstanding. Sorry I have gone to edit on 3 occasions and deleted this extra picture however when I click save it comes back. I give up.

Another late afternoon sail away with sun setting on Mt.Etna.

Back on board and we shared a porcini pizza for lunch. And the final scenes of Giordnia Naxos.

The magnificent cruise terminal.

As you can see we are going through the clouds now.

And that is our group. Down in the crater which they did not go into I was able to see the reddish lava formed because of a high iron content. So not only was I able to walk around the crater but go into the crater but had time to buy myself a mini calzone as I was peckish. They advertise that it was made with gluten free wheat. Needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Here is the place. Not that great but kept the wolves from the door. So now it is back down the mountain.

Back down and a whole line of busses. And a van with more local products. And ice beside the road. Then off to the second crater.

We now went to walk around one ofthe minor craters from earlier eruptions. There were several slow people in the group so I figured I could walk to 2 of the craters even though one was up a steeper hill. I figured right. So the first crater which when I got up the hill turned out to be a group of craters. At this crater there was a large group og German schoolkids. Things haven't changed since I was a nipper. They stood at the edge of the crater and counted Ein, Zwei, drei and on the count of 3 they all threw a rock into the crater..

This was at the back of the restaurant/gift shop. These rocks were quite warm whereas elsewhere nearby they were not.

We stopped where there were restrooms and you could get refreshments. There were some interesting local products from the lower slopes of Etna.

It wasn't long ago this are was reopened and they hope to reopen a stopping point higher up later this year. There is a gondola up from this point but we didn't have time to do that.

Getting close to where we have to stop. Even up here there is graffiti. A lava tube.

I was off to Mt. Etna. so pictures now from the bus which was a little bit more stable than the tender.

And Taormina where my Brother in law spent 2 months every spring until 2022 supervising the excavations of the Roman and Greek ruins. And from the tender ashore.

The next day we were approaching Giardini Naxos. Couldn't help thinking of worms when saying the first name of the town. Absolutely stunning with Mt. Etna as a backdrop.

Back to Atlantide. First the day's menu. The wines for the night. For starters Rojaan had the beef tataki and I the artichoke timbale. We both enjoyed our starters. I then had the crab and beer bisque. For Mains Rojaan had the prawn dish from the regular menu and I had the Chilean sea bass. Both were excellent. We again decided against desserts.