This morning we arrived at another Greek island, Santorini. This is our first visit to the island. If you ever look at a map of Mediterranean and Aegean Seas you will see somewhere between 1200 to 6000 Greek islands (just depends on how large you define an island to be). The islands were mostly formed by volcanoes 3600 eons ago. Santorini is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history some 3600 years ago. Santorini is in the Aegean Sea 200 miles south of mainland Greece. It appears from above to be circular with a large bay in the middle. The center is actually the sunken core of a volcano and is filled now with water. This is called a “caldera”. On the slopes rising out of the water is where houses now cling. There was also a big earthquake here on the island in 1956 that destroyed many homes and killed many. You will see photos of this on our tour today, “Highlights of Santorini”.
WHAT WE DID TODAY:
The ship took a little longer than planned to maneuver into a "station keeping" position off the coast in order to disembark all the tour groups via tenders. We used larger tender boats from Santorini to shuttle us ashore to the port of Athinios. It is this port that the tour buses picked us up. After the tours had all departed the ship moved over to the Port of Fira and dropped anchor so non-tour people could go ashore and later we were picked up here after the tours. You had to use a cable car to get back and forth from this port up to the city. Anyway, you will see this at end of today's photos.
Our bus was very nice and our guide was again excellent. We drove to the northern end of Santorini to the beautiful village of Oia where we spent 1 1/2 hours walking through this stunning village with the white washed houses and buildings. From here we had great panoramic views looking down at the caldera which was formed by the enormous volcanic explosion 3600 years ago. Next we drove to the highest peak of Santorini (1883 feet above sea level) for more panoramic photos of the caldera, beach, airport, and the island. Mt Profitis Ilias has a monastery on top of it that was built in 1712. It was not open to the public.
From there we headed down the mountain to the village of Pygos. Here we walked up 100 steps to see the remains of an old Venetian castle sitting on a hill top. It was totally not worth the effort of the climb up to see it. Not much to see!! Next we stopped at a restaurant where we were served wine and a "snack". The snack turned out to be a plate full of goodies.
Back on board the bus we drove back to the village of Fira. Here we had the choice of spending some time walking around or taking the cable car down to the port. We took the cable car down and tender back to the ship.
We were back on board by 2:30 and I am uploading photos and writing this post. This evening we are having dinner with a couple from Dallas, Mark & Glenda. Not going to the show as we will be docking in the port at Piraeus which is the port for the Greek city of Athens. I have a 7 hour tour tomorrow that departs the ship at 8:15 am.
Here is the link to today's photos on the VERY beautiful island of Santorini.
https://goo.gl/photos/8CR5fo6HtdYJJ2cF6
Rebecca was very upset this morning when she discovered on the tour bus that one of her favorite earrings was not in her ear. She stewed about that all day long. Well, miracle of miracles, she just checked at the Reception desk and Annie, the Head Housekeeper, had found it and turned it in. Now she is happy again.
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