As we arrived at the island of Crete, day six was a day where the group decided to do a number of different things. We had a small group get up early and go on a "Taste of Crete" excursion. The group had a chance to try the food and drink of the island as well as be entertained by the various folk dances of Crete. They loved the tour!Another group stayed on the ship for the day and slept in, catching up on some much needed rest and relaxation.
Then our tour director Shemy took several of us into the town of Herak
lion. We caught a shuttle bus to the city, and spent the morning just walking through the streets of Heraklion. The small port was nice, as well as the fortress that sat at the end of the port. Crete has many influences due to all the various empires that have controlled it. The
Turkish/Islamic influence is seen in the architecture of the church that is located in the city...it was once a mosque. There are also signs of Venetian architecture throughout the city as a result of Crete being controlled by the Venetians in the 11th and 12th centuries AD.We all agreed that this wasn't the best city to visit in Crete, but we managed to find some interesting things while there. It was a nice morning, and the weather was slightly cooler...which is always welcomed.
Next we made our way back to the ship
and had lunch out by the pool while we made our way to the island of Santorini. Once we made it there, we once again had to take a tender boat to get to the island. We were lucky, there were only 3 cruise ships docked while we were there. So not too many people to have to work around while on the island. Some of us took donkeys up to the city above, some took the sky lift and others made the walk by foot. This is a gorgeous island, and we were there right as the 
sun started going down. Most of us walked around the city and tried to get as many photographs as possible, since we only had a few hours on the island. Most of our group ended up at the same little cafe that was hanging over the ocean. It had an amazing view of the cauldron below. Santorini is an inactive volcano. But it is very easy to see what happened to the island once the volcano blew. It was once a circular island, and now there is a huge part missing..and has left what they call a cauldron.
Dinner was amazing, if rushed. It was very peaceful and we were all smiles as we watched the sun going down. We made it back to our ship for the sunset. Everyone was very happy with Santorini. It lived up to what we had hoped for.
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