The charm of Santorini

Today we spent a delightful day in the harbor of Santorini. We had breakfast on the balcony and watched the world and lots of boat traffic go by. Perfect spot!!!!!

This island capital is one of the most relaxing and alluring places on earth- despite the large number of tourists and the aggressive shop owners in the town at the top of the hill.

Santorini was once an active volcano known as the “round island” but a massive volcanic explosion in 1628 BC blew it apart. The event must have been felt all over Europe. A huge chunk of rock shot straight up in the air, landing with such violent force it spawned a catastrophic tidal wave. Many scientists believe the eruption wiped out the late Minoan civilization on Crete (70 miles away.)

Although this area looks like several separate islands, and each individual islet has its own name, Santorini is really a single land mass. The watery separations are just the places where the volcano rim is submerged. No one is actually certain how very deep in the water the volcano goes.

The largest section is Thira with two towns on it. The town at the top of the hill is Fira and nearby is a sister town of Oia. Both feature stark white sugar-cube houses and churches with brilliant blue domes set against the deeper blues of the sky and the Aegean Sea. Lucy Kemp learned that the churches with the blue domes are family churches only used for baptisms, weddings, and other family gatherings….but not for regular worship services. The churches with while domes are state church and that is where the regular worship happens. When people think of Greek Isles, the image of Santorini is what often comes to mind.

Fira is laid out in linear fashion along the rim of the caldera of the ancient volcano. The harbor is so very deep that most ships stay in place with the use of their engines because

they are not able to anchor.

Bill, Lucy, Pat and Jerry went on a shore excursion and visited Fira and Oia. They ate lunch in a small restaurant in Fira. They all decided to take the cable car back to the shore level. No one was crazy, wild or brave enough to ride the donkeys down the steep hill. Having been there twice before we enjoyed reading and watching.

After dinner we watched a beautiful sail-away from our table in the Vista Dining Room. The lights came on in the towns high on top of the cliffs. There are small towns on the top of most every cliff we sailed by. The colors of the hills reminded me of the various geological formations that make up this area. There was white, red, black and gray layers of rock and ground. The beaches also feature sand that is red, black and white.

When we returned to our stateroom we saw the remains of a lovely sunset. The color in the sky was so beautiful. What a day- begin and end watching the world and the scenery from the balcony of a cruise ship. How

good is that!!!!!!