Celebration of Life Tour
Santorini
Santorini is the largest of the 5 islands which collectively make up what remains of a volcano that violently erupted in the 16th century BC. In 1707 an undersea volcano breached the surface, and the last eruption was in 1950. A rather large earthquake (magnitude 7.7) hit the island in 1956. In spite of all the excitement, the island shows evidence of Bronze Age inhabitants back as far as 3000-2000 BC.
We were sailing into the caldera just before sunrise. The white buildings clinging to the ridge tops and spilling down into the caldera looked like snow. As the sun rose we prepared for our first adventure - transferring from the ship to the island using tenders. In this case we were ferried to land in local vessels to waiting busses for a thrilling ride up the switchback road to the ridge.
Our first stop was on the opposite end of the island, all the way to the north. The town of Oia is straight out of a picture postcard. We also learned the name of the town is pronounced exactly the way a new englander would pronounce the name of the appendage on the side of your head used for hearing. Who wouldda known? The morning fog burned off briefely before higher overcase moved in and tempered our photo opportunities for the rest of the day.
Thera is very similar to Oia, with perhaps a few more touristy amenities. From there we had the option to walk the zig-zag trail down to the dock, hire a donkey to make the journey, our use our voucher to ride the gondola to the bottom.
Sailing on to Gythio
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