Santorini and Kotor (Montenegro)

Santorini and Kotor (Montenegro)

Our next stop (after a day at sea) was Santorini, the island. To get to the city, you have to take a cable car up the really steep hillside. Mom was freaking out during the ride up to town. I thought it was fun, but mom really did not! [Mom’s note: I, in fact, did not enjoy the ride up. Heights make me queasy, and I opted to close my eyes for the few minutes it took to get to the top.]. You can also ride a donkey to get up the mountain, but we didn’t do that. We had to get to mass at St. John the Baptist Cathedral. It looked very holy inside.

After lunch we went on a boat ride to the nearby volcano. On our hike up the volcano, we met an Australian boy who was a blue belt in Japanese jiu jitsu. I thought it was cool to hear him talk about Japanese jiu jitsu, and what martial arts are popular where he lives.

On this volcano island I made a rock pile. In Ventura, near our harbor there are these towers of rocks that people have piled up. So I wanted to make one on this island — to remind me of home. It isn’t as easy as it seems! We went to another island and saw billy goats running down the steep hillside to greet us. That was so cool!

Overall, I really looked Santorini. But the roads were squished and it was hard to get around with all the tourists on the squished roads.

We next visited a place called Kotor. In Kotor, we were supposed to take a tour hiking to the top of a mountain. We were to meet in a park. I got to play in the park but somehow we missed our tour group. We took a bus ride around instead. The water was clear and blue-green and there were also a lot of green trees.

We stopped and saw an old Roman house — well, what was left of it. All that is left are some really cool mosaics. They looked really ancient. It was a short day in Montenegro, so there’s not much to tell. Next up — Sicily (but I’m really looking forward to Naples because that’s where pizza comes from!).