Santorini, Greece

Santorini is one of the cycladic islands, created by the eruption of the volcano in 1500 B.C. (thought by some to have brought about the end of the Minoan civilization and speculated by some as the famous island of Atlantis). Santorini is a group of islands in a circle about 6 miles across-the rim of large underwater volcano that is still active, and was once on land, but created the caldera is now sits in. Towns are scattered around the island as a series of small villages, two of which I visited, Thira, which is the capital, and Oia, which was made famous in the divine secrets of the traveling sisterhood pants or whatever it was called. Of the three Greek Islands we went to, this was definitely the best. After a more recent eruption, you can see the effort that the people of the island put into getting it back in shape. Sharp white buildings are everywhere as are blue domed churches. Most of the towns are build right into the edge of the cliff, and even into the cliff which is as high as 900 feet in places. It was truly an awesome sight to see not only as we sailed into the caldera to be tendered to shore, but as you walk along in both Thira and Oia (pronounced e uh). I put a bunch of pics up because all the views were so cool. There will be even more on the facebook album. Let me know if you need a link to the facebook album. Many more blogs to come. Enjoy and have a beautiful Reformation weekend.

Satellite view of Santorini. The two islands in the middle are the newest islands in the Mediterranean, with the smaller on being only a few hundred years old. Remember, a huge eruption broke the island apart and caused the caldera of water, it used to be a whole island.

Approaching the caldera

Those were the two ways to get to the top, stairs, or cable car.

The lower part of Thira, where the tenders dropped us off. Lot's of shops and restaurants

Some people chose the donkey route

Looking down on the steps and the water

Built right into the cliff

Thira

Just like in Mexico. I wonder if that is why it was only in English and Spanish?

Me in Oia with the caldera in the background

Looking down from the top of Oia to the caldera

Either Thira or Oia on sail in

The other one from sail in

Tender boat coming after us

Thira from the tender boats

More of lower Thira

Looking back at our ship from the top in Thira

Close up

One of the churches in Oia. I don't know if was in the pants movie or not

Walkways and buildings

Our ship from Oia

Oia down to the water

More of Oia

Built right into the hill

Looking back at Thira from Oia

Wonder how much this hotel costs per night

Across the city, check out the pools

I wonder how far into the baby island it goes

More houses and hotels

Another church

Across the caldera

Stairs going down, I didn't find out where

Bell tower

Me and Oia

Looking at Thira from the cable car

At the base of the hill, taken from the ship

Getting ready to leave the caldera

You can see the markings in the rock. I think it used to be a quarry but I don't remember what Tom the tour guide said over the speaker

Fishing boats

Oia as we were leaving

Either Thira or Oia, I can't tell

People watching us head back out into the Aegean on our way to Sicily

Argostoli, Greece

Of all our stops, I would say that Argostoli was probably my least favorite. There were several different opportunities for things to do, but it was difficult to find a tour to take us to what we wanted the most: an underground lake. All those excursions were sold out from the ship, and way too expensive to book privately, so we took an excursion with the ship that was a little bit disappointing for me.

Argostoli is the capital of Cephalonia, or Kefalonia as the locals say, which is the largest of the Ionian Islands. The water is crystal clear and the mountains are a great getaway from the sea. There is a winery in the mountains where the growing conditions are perfect, and this wine is only available in Argostoli, it is never exported. Argostoli is basically right on a fault, and they have many earthquakes daily, with major earthquakes occurring approximately 4 times per year. Since the big one in 1953, they have instituted new codes for rebuilding. The buildings can be no more than three stories high, the wiring must be run inside the concrete pillars, and the walls must be built in a way that they collapse outwards.

Out excursion took us to a coffee shop where you could look out across the sea, a monastery that had an old church with some great art that survived the earthquake in the 1950's, then to the winery that had some decent wine and some great views. We were back into town by lunch, so we strolled a little along the waterfront, did some shopping and had some food. We were back on the ship in early afternoon to rest up for one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen. Check back later for that. Enjoy the pictures.

This ship was struggling a little

Might be a good summer home

St. George's Castle

A Greek word I could understand

Orange tree

The old church we visited.

All these are inside the church, mosaics, paintings, and sculptures, and most of them survived the great earthquake with little damage.

Notice the crack down this one from the earthquake?

I want to know why this picture is like this, and no one I asked knew.

Stuff they found at the monastery after the earthquake

more stuff they found

When the clock struck, this guy went to ring to the bells. He totally FREAKED out on the bells. I thought he may be having a seizure or something, because he was going nuts.

Winery

Cephalonian wine country

more wine country

Wine bottling machine

Old wine making equipment

How to guide

Old grape press

Modern church, rebuilt after earthquake

Looking to the sea from the mountains

Model of the church of St. Barbara. This church was actually built into the rocks in a ravine below by a wealthy family in thanks for saving their daughter from a potentially deadly fall.

Best shot of the church we could get since the bus didn't stop for this really cool thing.

Across the bay to Argostoli on our way back from the tour.

Pizza

Lighthouse of Agii Theodori