Santorini
Copyright © 2023
by Ralph F. Couey
Don't worry - I won't recount the whole trip. There are few things more boring than someone else's vacation. But there were some notable events that I will offer in the spirit of education and preparation.
The first part of the summer was spent trying to secure funding for our renovation. Then, in July, we flew to Athens to begin an 8-day Mediterranean cruise, where we joined up with our son's family. Upon arrival in Athens, we found we were sans luggage. This on-going battle with Lufthansa was partially resolved early this morning after I discovered a missed call that had come in about 1 a.m. The voicemail message reported that one of our bags had been "found" in Frankfurt, Germany (apparently never made it to Athens). There are 12 time zones between here and there, so later tonight I will call them back.
Since we had no clothes, instead of seeing the sights of Athens, we spent several hours buying clothes and toiletries. Never have I missed more the convenience of a WalMart. We did visit the Acropolis, climbing that steep hill in 102 degree heat. Yes, this was the hottest summer in Europe on record. We had dressed in warm clothes for the flight, so that whole event was pretty uncomfortable. That heat followed us to each port, the coolest day we had was in Barcelona where the temps plunged to an icy 95 degrees.
From there we sailed to the island of Santorini (where it was 103 degrees), then after a day at sea, visited Kotor in Montenegro, Corfu Greece, Messina, Sicily, one more day at sea, then ending the cruise at Barcelona. While the family went to visit the sights, I was sprawled in bed at the hotel, a victim of Flu A, apparently contracted on board. But I considered myself lucky after we were told that there were several cases of COVID running around as well. Throughout the entire cruise, there was smoke in the air, a result of the many wildfires burning in the Greek islands.
Because of the schedule, our time in each place was short, which didn't leave much time to see or do things. Still, it was interesting to see. I've been all over the Pacific and Indian Oceans, so this was really my first time to see Europe in detail. I encourage others to do this, but at a cooler time of year. The day we were in Santorini, 28 guests were sent to urgent care aboard ship, mostly heat exhaustion and 2 cases of actual heat stroke.
(A quick suggestion for you, before you check your bags, take pictures of your luggage, front, top, and side, and a picture of the luggage tag after its been attached to the bag. If you like, either store those pics on your phone, or send them to your email. If your bags come up missing, these will be invaluable in your quest to get them back.)
