DAY 11 EUROPE TRIP
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE - Santorini
After another enjoyable morning on the ship as the ship entered the waters of Santorini.
It was quite windy here. No wander the yachts were taking shelter in secluded coves from the winds.
Santorini or “Thera” is a very small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea. It was first settled in 3000BC but a volcanic eruption destroyed the early civilisation. It was resettled in 1000BC. Santorini today is what remains after this enormous volcanic eruption and subsequent eruptions with the most notable in 1956.
As we sailed in we could see the northern tip of the island with the village of Oia on top of the cliffs.
We sailed across the flooded caldera to Fira. Fira is a town on top of the hill from the harbour about. The port is below and a very windy track takes one up to Fira.
We went on to the island in tender boats.
On the way in we sailed past some interesting landscape.
We chose to take the cable car to the top. The alternative was to take a donkey ride up or walk the steep windy path up.
Fira is maze of narrow cobbled streets. It is what I imagined a Greek Island to be like – cliff top white washed houses close together, church domes and steeples, stunning views. We wandered through the streets soaking up the atmosphere.
It was just lovely. We caught a local bus to Oia, having checked out the timetables beforehand.
The road wound its way up a very narrow piece of land flanked by water on both sides.
This northernmost village is considered to be the most picturesque. And was it picturesque!
It was just beautiful.
We spent the whole afternoon just taking in the sights.
The views from Oia were also very spectacular.
We returned to Fira and browsed through the town. There was a great view of our ship at one point.
I fell in love with Greek jewellery. We decided to walk down the windy path instead of taking the cable car. We must have been crazy.
The walk down itself was not too bad except that it was slippery in places, but more importantly one had to avoid donkey droppings and the actual donkeys themselves.
Before too long we watched Santorini disappear into the sunset as the ship set sail for our next port.
We skipped the show tonight as we just wanted an early night.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment