On Friday we arrived in Santorini. Santorini is one of the prettiest settings in the world. The island is the outer edge of a massive volcano, and the ships sail into the caldera in the middle. The ship is anchored near the island in the middle, which is the growing portion of the current volcano. In about 1450 BC the original volcano erupted so violently that it destroyed the Minoan civilization throughout the region, and particularly on Crete. It is often thought that the eruption of Santorini and the destruction it caused was the source for the legend of Atlantis. The following shows the map of the island, our ship anchored near the current top of the volcano, and the cable cars we took to the top.
We took a taxi out to Akrotiri, which is the site of a Minoan city that was destroyed by the volcano. It is similar to Pompeii, but is 1500 years older. The large site is enclosed to protect the site and keep it comfortable for tourist. But it is estimated that it reflects only 1/30th of the original city.
We then returned to the main town of Thira. On the way to a restaurant we passed these wonderful door frames and doors. Each door opens some steps that go down the hill to the restaurant or small hotel below. We also stopped into the artist shop Mati.
We ate at a great restaurant overlooking the caldera and town. We wrote out post cards here after lunch. After lunch we shopped at some of the stores, launched our blog from an internet café, and returned to the ship. The last picture shows are last view of Santorini from the ship, with the steps zig-zagging the 900 feet up the cliff to the town.
The next day was an at sea day. Katie continued to hang with her new friends. We went to the Captain’s Champagne lunch. Tomorrow – Etna!!!!
1 comment:
Wow, what a place! Looks fantastic, I can't wait to hear Katie's stories. :-)
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