October 8, 2016

We walked on Deck 14 before breakfast as the ship was making its final approach for the island of Santorini.  The morning temperature was 23 C with a small wind and sunny, but there was a distant haze on the horizon making the view of nearby islands look unfocused. As the ship got closer we could see white patches at the top of the cliffs.  It was not snow, but the houses of some of the 14 villages on the island of Thira, which is the Greek name of this island. It is located in the Aegean Sea.   There were also a few small white patches at sea level which were the small port areas from which either a road or a pathway snaked up the cliffs to the top.

Back in the stateroom to change for breakfast, we could hear the anchor being released.  Today the ship was anchored in the harbour, so the passengers are taking “Tender” boats to and from the ports. Santorini is an island in the Greek group of islands known as the Cyclades located in the Aegean Sea.  It is an island that suffered a volcano explosion thousands of years ago.  Santorini, the name given the island by Venetian merchants who lived here, and the other four islands form an oval which are the remnants of a volcano caldera.  On average, a volcano here will erupt every 20,000 years.   Water is scarce on the island. It is dry, but humid.  The island has three desalination plants which remove salt from sea water and stores the water in gigantic cisterns, from where water is delivered to homes, by truck, to store in the households cisterns. The houses started to be white washed with a mixture of lime and water because of the antibacterial qualities of the lime, to keep diseases at bay.

The groups assembled in the theater to be called when a tender boat, which holds about 150 people, was ready to transport people to the buses at the Athinios Port, about a 15 minute ride away.   The group was on the bus and travelling up the zigzagging roads on our way to the first stop in the village of Pyrgos, population 500, which was once the capital of Santorini. The whole island has a population of 15,550 people. The group climbed up the stairs and streets to view the island from the medieval Venetian castle/fortress.  It just had one entrance to defend when pirates attacked.  Inside the castle lived the Venetian merchants and sea captains of the 13th to 16th century and the Greeks lived outside the walls until there was an attack and they were given shelter in the castle.  Since the Venetians were traders, they were a target for pirate attacks.  There was also the small St. Nicolas church beside the castle entrance. We could see different villages of the island and as far as the excavation of a prehistoric village, Akrotiri, which had been ash covered in a 1450 BC volcanic eruption.  The eruption causes tsunamis to hit Crete and Egypt. The ruins were only found in the 1960s.  It is older than Pompeii.  We could see the ship and the inter-island ferries in the harbour below.  There was a marine level faint fog and some low clouds were rolling over the islands.  We walked back down to the town square to find the way to the nearby bus parking zone.

Next stop on the route was up to the highest point on Thira Island (Santorini) about 600 meters above sea level, to the monastery of Profitis Elias founded in 1711. We passed vineyards on the way to the top. The views were spectacular.  In the lowlands on one side was the small international airport from which a plane was preparing to takeoff.  Within 10 minutes of the plane leaving, very low cloud approached and obscured our view of most of the airfield.  We watched as the cloud covered the view.

Back in the bus, we continued to the Venetsanos Winery, the oldest winery of the island, where a snack of Greek mezes and locally-produced wine was waiting.  The snacks were a cherry tomato, a humus-like spread called fara, a small feta cheese empanada, a meatball, red fritters (made from tomatoes) and a small wedge of white cheese accompanied by the winery‘s white wine.  The view was clear from 200 meters above the Athinios Port, where we had boarded the bus at the start of the journey.

 The final destination of the tour was Fira. Here we said goodbye to the guide at the Hotel Atlantis and strolled through the narrow streets and staircases , browsed in shops and passing a variety of cafés and restaurants, souvenir shops,  art galleries, shoe stores and clothing stores.   We even bought a green striped men’s “Greek” collarless shirt.  We followed the signs to the cable car to take us down to the sea.  There are six cars that hold six people.  It takes less than two minutes for the cars to transit between the shore and the town on the cliff.  There is also a pathway where you can walk down over 550 steps, but it is also used by people riding temperamental donkeys and not a recommended way to get to the port.

We returned to the ship from Fira Port at the base of the cable car. The tender boat ride was less than five minutes to the ship.  The temperature was a sunny 29 when we returned to the ship.

Dinner was in the dining room where we chose Spiced Louisiana Gumbo, Eggplant Caviar and Spinach turnover for appetizers. The entrée was Veal cordon Bleu.  The dessert was either Crème Brulé or Passionfruit mousse.

The entertainer this evening was Greg London, a musical impressionist, whose performance we watched for five minutes and then went to the Café al Bacio for frappes.  A few minutes later we were joined by Brendene and Brian.  Tomorrow’s destination is Kusadasi, Turkey which is 136 nautical mile from Santorini.

Total distance today is 6.19 miles.