By Maryanna Gabriel
I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that I was travelling on a "catamaran" for this quite expensive excursion. The catamaran turned out to seat at least a thousand people. Rather bewildered, I sat down. But oh, no. Everyone had an assigned seat. Once again, I marvelled at the care taken with making expressos and the array of handmade baked goods. We plowed through the Mediterranean from Heraklion, Crete, for two hours towards our destination.
Three enormous cruise ships were anchored in the harbour. At first I thought that the white on the cirque above us was snow until I realized they were buildings. The sheer vertical cliff from the harbour to the top was an eye watering pitch.
We disgorged and were herded onto busses and I noted there were many. The ascent was mesmerizing as other vehicles gave way while the driver negotiated impossibly sharp hair pin turns. Just how many people visit this place a year? From the cruise ships, 17,000 per day. So millions.
We were taken to a place known as Oia, "where every picture is a post card". I think you will agree they made good on this promise.
