Santorini, Greece

Sunday October 4, 1992 Santorini, Greece

We have breakfast top ship cafe. My stomach still feels fine except I am now constipated. At 10:30 we take the shuttle boat to the island. Once there we take a tram up the side of the mountain to the town of Thira where we wander around the shops and restaurants, stopping in one restaurant for a coke and a view.

At 1:00 we board a bus to Oia, a very small city, also built on top of a mountain. I have a sandwich there. We could have riden the donkeys instead of the cable car.

Back aboard ship, I nap and dress for semi-formal dinner. We stay up late dancing (12:30). The seas are rough. Thank goodness I have good seasick pills. Still taking the antibiotics.

According to Wikipedia, "Santorini is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera. The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (68 mi) to the south, through a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis."

This sounds like a fascinating place to visit. The photographs of the white buildings built on the rim of the steep caldera make the cities and towns appear almost inaccessible, but with an incredible ocean view once atop the steep sides. Very picturesque!

Athens, Greece

Saturday October 3, 1992 Athens, Greece

A miracle! My stomach pain is gone, only tenderness remains. I'm up at 7 a.m. feeling like I did before we left home, just pain where the tumors are, not too bad. I can stand it.

At 9 a.m. we are off on a bus through Athens, Greece. It's very congested. The streets are narrow. The buildings are dingy from all the smog. It's about 78 degrees, a lovely day. We climb up to the Acropolis and see the Parthenon and all the ruins of temples erected to Athena. It's amazing to see so many buildings so close together below in the city.

We arrive back for lunch. I have soup and salad. That's OK. I had cereal and toast in our room this morning. I have my hair washed and set in the salon on the ship, write postcards, and take a nap.

After dinner and show we are on deck as we sail out at 11 p.m. I feel so much better!

I'm so glad Mom was feeling better this day. It sounds like eating small meals is the key. Also, the fact that she got so much sleep yesterday certainly helped.

I went on a 10-week tour of Europe the summer of 1974 after graduating from college. I loved the small islands of Greece and the turquoise blue water, but I do remember that Athens was very smoggy and crowded. I checked Wikipedia to see what the air pollution is like there today. "In the 1980s it became evident that smog from factories and an ever increasing fleet of automobiles, as well as a lack of adequate free space due to congestion, had evolved into the city's most important challenge. A series of anti-pollution measures taken by the city's authorities in the 1990s, combined with a substantial improvement of the city's infrastructure (including the Attiki Odos motorway, the expansion of the Athens Metro, and the new Athens International Airport), considerably alleviated pollution and transformed Athens into a much more functional city."

Katakolon, Greece

Friday October 2, 1992 Katakolon, Greece

Slept in til 8 a.m. Had 9 a.m. breakfast on the back of the ship. Ate too much. Terrible stomach pains again. Now I feel I want to sleep again. We are anchored out from the Greek island of Katakolan. It's a quiet little village and houses built right on the water. Looks like a high tide would flood them. We take the tender to the village where there are a few shops. It's a lovely day.

I don't feel well at all. We decide to cancel our 9-hour trip for tomorrow and change to a 5-hour trip. I must see the doctor to cancel. He gives me some antibiotics and sends me to bed, willingly. He says take the pain pills Dr. Schwartz gave me. I couldn't eat lunch or dinner today. I can hardly walk.

Doctor says I have a fever. Frank tells our table companions I have cancer at dinner while I'm in bed.

With all those tumors on her abdominal wall there must be tremendous pressure on her stomach. No wonder she can only eat small portions.

Katakolon is the gateway to Olympia, where the ancient Greeks flocked every four years for more than a millennium to celebrate the sacred games dedicated to Zeus. I would love to see that site some day. Too bad Mom wasn't up to the short ride to Olympia. Like I said earlier, both time I have been to Europe I spent the first week sick in bed from exhaustion and jet lag. Mom's immune system is already compromised from fighting cancer. No wonder she is sick. I think if I was ever to take a Mediterranean cruise, I would arrive in Europe a week early to adjust to the time zone.