Santorini

Fira

After a fast 2 hour ferry ride, we arrived at the island of Santorini. This island is actually a giant caldera with the still active volcano top in the middle. Most of the settlements are along the 15 mile long island. The west side is a sheer drop-off, 1000 feet,  into the caldera and the east side slopes gradually to the sea. Several earthquakes have broken part of the caldera rim apart and now there are 3-4 separate islands. It is beautiful here and very different and there are small villages, grape farms and beach communities. Cruise ships love this place. Yesterday, we counted 6 in port. And they disgorge the people to swarm through the small, narrow labyrinth of streets lined with shops. And of course restaurants, cafes and bars with views. However, there are no docks for them, only for the ferry boats. Ship tenders arrive at the old port and then to get up top it is either cable car, hiking up 587 steps or ride a donkey up. Arrival at the ferry is easier, a switchback road for cars and buses has been built. Steps are available too.

Our street

Our Patio

 Santorini is a whitewash of homes and blue domes. Many are homes carved into the mountain sides, caves to start with, and therefore keep it cool. They are unique and old ones have been redone and kept the style. We have a cute little place with arched doorways, all plaster, white and blue. It is very charming. Our little street looks quiet except anyone and everyone rides their scooter or quad down it to get home. Voices carry here too and we here anyone coming down the street if they are talking. The main square is chock full of people, shopping, eating, driving thru, catching the bus. Crowd overload.

OIA
Our second day we took the local bus to OIA (EE AH), a town at the tip of the island. It's fame is sunsets. But first it was just a small village, then was destroyed in a 1956 earthquake and with smart marketing rebuilt itself and hit it big with the blue and white theme. Actually the colors are very soothing and calming. Ochre or a yellow is also used. But the theme of the blue dooms and white houses dates back to when the Ottomans ruled for 400 years. Greeks were not allowed to fly their blue and white flag. But in Oia, the whole town was one big, defiant banner for Greece. Today, people flock for shopping the streets and visiting to see the sunsets. It too is on a cliff and there are many cave homes. So we shopped, strolled, gawked at the scenery. It was quiet then, the crush coming around sunset. We did come back the next day for a sunset, the first cloudy day we've had but it still was a good view.

There are over 500 churches on the island, many private. Most are small but some are very large. These are Greek Orthodox churches and there are some Catholic. The guide told us that churches with a clock tower are public and all the rest are private, just little worshipping places. Some look like overgrown pizza ovens

 Day 3, we took an island sightseeing tour and it included going to the ancient town of Akrotiri and the excavations going on there. This community survived here more than 6000 years ago, had 3 story buildings, indoor plumbing and art. Spectacular things have been found here and it was very interesting. They were living on this island along the coast and were wiped out in 17th century BC when the volcano erupted and covered them in ash. Next, we ventured to a beach town, tourist made and pretty much cafes and restaurants along the beach. We did see an old Christian basilica of Ayia Eirini. This is interesting because the name translated to Greek as Agio Eirini, which is St. Irene which turns into Santorini. Next stop on the tour was a monastery on the highest point on the island, way up there. About 1800 ft above sea level. Then a bit of wine tasting and finally up to Oia for the sunset. This is pretty much pick a spot with clear viewing, amongst the hoards of people. Of course there are restaurants and such and walkways. We were just venturing to the end of the island, found a pretty clear spot and WINDMILLS! It was perfect. And no one but us. So we sat and watched the sunset.

Monday is our last full day on the island and we treated ourselves to another bus ride to a local Micro Brewery!  The Donkey Brewery where they

brew 3 beers, 2 pils and an IPA,  Yellow Donkey, Red Donkey and Crazy Donkey.  Tasted all three and even the IPA wasn't bad.  It was a very small operation.  2 guys running the bottling operation right there in the tasting room!  One guy would put the empty bottles onto a conveyer where they would travel about 5 ft to the washing/filling/capping machine and the other guy would put the full bottles in the cases.

As an added bonus, within walking distance of the breweries were a couple more wineries!  Smaller than the big one we saw on the tour and very hospitable!  Tasted some nice wines and even bought a couple of bottles.  The rest of the day was spent at our little place finishing off some left overs and of course enjoying the new wines.  We did treat ourselves to dessert at a nice restaurant with a view of todays sunset.  Tomorrow we catch a noon bus to the port for our 3:30 ferry to Naxos.  Stay Tuned :)