Making memories.... (Santorini, Athens, Sardinia)

Hi folks, CJ here...

It's been a few days...and it's time to catch up. First let me finish off a bit about Santorini... We really enjoyed our stay there...and, as many of you noted, there were just a 'few' stairs involved... safe to say our stair-climbing muscles are getting a good work out. The colours of Santorini were amazing... I think we've finally agreed on what colour to paint our house trim.... And, Ron, I think of you almost every day as the cazillions of motor scooters...everywhere... zoom back and forth. All these places, Santorini, Athens and Sardinia are loaded with scooters... for one thing, they're the only vehicles that can move about with almost no problems. We rented a car in Santorini for one day..and drove for miles. We pretty much drove as far as you could, and then worked our way back... checking out the beaches and back roads along the way. It was a lot of fun. We also had dinner in a fabuous restaurant called Nikolas's...where we sat next to a family not only from Ladysmith, but from Kathy's school... old friends as it were... Mel, it was the 'me too' story in real life. Did I mention the driving yet? In all these places when you drive, you have to fit in... that means driving like a lunatic... far too fast, far too close to the car in front of you...without a care as to what anyone else is doing..and quite prepared to jerk the wheel left or right at a moments notice...to avoid smunching some poor pedestrian or idiot bike rider..... I fit right in!!! so far so good... and I'm driving again..here in Sardinia. I know I've jumped all over...so will try to sort it out now.

We enjoyed Santorini. There's many stories to tell...but we have to save something for dinner parties...so will move on.

We spent a whole day in Athens.... and that was pretty much enough. We put miles on our running shoes (on a very hot day) hiking up to the Acropolys (sp?) and all that goes with it.... we've photos to show at some point. We were only in Athens for a day, and left early the next day (again we tempted fate by dragging our luggage down the road, down into the subway and off to the airport...).... flew out of there and off to Cagliari, Sardinia. Being the troupers we've become, we lugged our gear onto a bus and headed into town... then, following our directions we bobbled (bobbling is what your wheeled luggage does as you drag it up and over stones, rocks, cobblestones, etc..... without a care) it up the cobble stone roads (did I mention uphill?) for several blocks...and to our B&B. Luca, our host, was magnificant... a truly nice man (we've been blessed with wonderful hosts throughout our journey). He spent an entire day (the next day) guiding us through and about the 351st parade and celebration of St. Efisio. The parade is the largest religious parade in Europe. Decorated carts, pulled by bulls, from each village for miles.... with all the men and women in costume (handed down father to son, and mother to daughter) and each village being different and more proud than their neighbours.... and horses all decorated with their very proud riders...again, all representing their villages. It went on for over 3 hours... the grand finale being the bull-drawn carriage carrying the effigy of St Efisio.... it's a long story but this fellow refused to allow Christianity to be banned in Sardinia and, for his troubles, he was beheaded 351 years ago. Since then, every year, the island has celebrated and remembered.... it was truly amazing to be part of that.

We're now winging our way north (in the rain...first we've had) by car... (yup, I'm driving agian). We meet Sea Whisper in Olbia (north-east coast of Sardinia) on the 7th..... and, until then, we hope to do some touring in Sardinia.... will head across to the west coast tomorrow, then up and across the top before meeting up with the boat.

We've lots of photos and Kathy will post them when she gets a chance... We've found that internet is not that common here in Sardinia and you may not hear from us so often over the next few weeks.... We've loved hearing from those of you that have had a chance to write.... we've definitely has some home-sick time.... even tho' we're having fun. We are also getting pretty good at doing laundry in bathroom sinks and hanging it up to dry on our portable clothes line.... seems self-serve laundromats haven't become very popular here either. Anyway, please know that you're in our thoughts... we miss you all..... take care and thanks for checking in....

We'll be onboard Sea Whisper as of May 7th...and probably not able to blog much after that.... Probably get back to you when we hit France..... around the 20th. Take care....

Lots of love,

Carolyn & Kathy