Mon Aug 12, 2024
Hi Folks! Today we were in the iconic, bucket list location of Santorini, Greece. You’ve probably seen the pictures of the white houses clinging to the cliffs with the blue domed buildings but until you see it in person it is truly unreal. As we were sailing in, I thought the mountains had snow on them but it was all the houses built on top. I didn’t realize the island was so mountainous and pretty much every house had to be built up top. Santorini is actually made up of 5 islands and they were all created by volcanic eruptions. They said there’s no soil here and it’s all volcanic ash. The last earthquake was in 1956 and it destroyed 80% of the island. But there were no deaths due to all the people being on the hilltop gathering tomatoes. How lucky is that!
There are two main towns on Santorini and we went to both of them on our excursion today.
One is called Oia and is a UNESCO world heritage site. This is the area with all the blue domed roofs. There are two types of architecture here. One are the Cave houses which are underground and the volcanic ash around them keeps them cool. No one lives in them now and they all have been turned into hotels and suites.
The other architecture design is called the Captain’s houses. These are old marble houses that were built for all the ship captains that lived in the area. No one lives in these also and all have been turned into expensive shops.
The other town is called Fira and is the Capitol of Santorini. This town doesn’t have the blue domed roofs but most houses are still white. From here you have more of the caldera view which was created by the volcano. This is also where both the cable car and the steps/donkey path are. There are no roads so you have to either take the cable car up and down or walk the 588 steps or ride a donkey. And they say the steps are not only very strenuous, they are very slick due to all the donkey droppings! Lol. Luckily our excursion brought us back to a different pier and we rode a tender back to the ship.
After our excursion, which got us back late since it didn’t start until 12:30, we just showered and went for a late dinner at Compass Rose so we missed the show. It was pretty hot today again so we just chilled after dinner. They say it will be 100 degrees in Athens the day after tomorrow when we get there but we’ll just be going straight to the airport to head home. We’re coming back to Athens this Fall and will “do Athens” then, when hopefully it’s cooler!
Hope everyone had a great Monday!
The Wandering Italian 