A Day in Santorini

 July 2, 2023 – Santorini, Greece

Tendered: 8:00AM to 10:00PM 

Santorini, Greece

After sailing overnight, the ship arrived near the island of Santorini around 7:30 am and tendered, because the port is not sufficiently large to dock a large ship.  The views of the island looked like it was topped with snow, but that “topping” was made up of whitewashed houses setting high above the sea.  

The island is actually the rim of an ancient caldera, and the water has filled the caldera.  Here is a map of the area. 

We had our breakfast before 7:00 am and were ready to leave at 8:00 am.  Getting to the tender was easy and within a short time we arrived onshore at the small docking area below Fira.  Here, there are three ways to reach Fira – cable car, donkey ride, or walk 600 (they are numbered) steps.  We chose to ride donkeys because the line for the cable car was extremely long.  The Princes cruise ship was also unloading passengers.  So, it was quite a mess.  The donkey ride was fun but took longer than I thought it would be.

  

At the top there were great views of the caldera and the tendered ships, as well as the 600 steps.  

Fira is a classic Greek seascape with whitewashed houses accented with blue windows and doors and an occasional blue roof.  First, we walked through Fira 

to meet our Guide, Isesdora, who is a free-lance guide.  He is going to show us the important sites on the island and take us to winery for lunch.  We walked through the city to the Caldera Yachting building where we were to meet.  Once we connected, he drove us to the upper end of the island and gave us time to walk the famous city of Oia.  Here are some of those pictures of this beautiful city.

Then we drove to Greek town of Megalochori, which is a quaint small town south of Fira.  It has very narrow streets and old home clustered together along the streets.  It too was very picturesque.

Next, he took us to the prehistoric town of Akrotiri, which was a Minoan city with its beginnings in the 5^th millennium BCE.  This small Neolithic village gradually grew and during the early Bronze Age (3^rd millennium BBCE) developed into a proto-urban center and harbor town for intra-Aegean trade.  During the Middle Bronze Age (2100-1650 BCE) it became a port-city and greatly expanded its maritime trade beyond the Aegean into the East Mediterranean.  The remnants of the impressive buildings and their rich contents and the drainage-sewage system suggest this affluence.  Sometime after mid-17^th century an earthquake destroyed the city, which was rebuilt with more impressive, public and private buildings.  Their multi-storied buildings were decorated with wall-paintings/frescos.  Another earthquake hit just before the major volcano eruption buried and destroyed the city at the end of the 17^th century BCE.  When it buried the city, it preserved all that was in the city.  Beginning in 1967, excavations of the Minoan town revealed buildings, drainage systems, frescos, and pottery, but no human remains or gold valuables, indicating locals had time to flee before the town was entombed.  That town has been under excavation and can be seen in detail and video at the archeological site we visited.  It was a unique and unexpected visit on our day excursion.  

We drove some in the area before our lunch reservations and took pictures.

We then drove along the black sand beach near our guide’s home.  The beach was quite crowded on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon.  Then we were off to the Venetsanos Winery for a lovely outdoor lunch overlooking the caldera, the ships, Oia, and Fira.  

It was a beautiful location to enjoy with a 2019 oaked chardonnay and Santorinian Salads.  What a great ending to a fantastic day excursion with our private guide who drove us back to Fira.  

I decided to head back to the ship while the others went shopping.  When I got to the Cable Care station, I noticed a line but figured it wasn’t too long at 3:20 pm.  That was not the case because the line stretched up the narrow walkway for at least ½ mile.  I finally got the end of the line, and it took an hour before I reached the station and boarded a cable care for the rapid descent to the harbor.  

The tender boat for Beyond was waiting, filled quickly, and departed for the mother ship.  

It was goodbye to a great day in Santorini.  When I got back to the ship, I headed to the Martini Bar on the 4^th deck to enjoy a Bombay Sapphire Martini and the guitar music and write the blog.

Later in the afternoon, the others didn’t wait for the Cable Care but chose to either ride the donkeys or walk the 600 steps to the harbor and tender boat.  Everyone made it back to the ship and all had a great time.  We gathered for dinner around 7:00 pm and enjoyed dinner on the AFT deck of the Oceanview Café and loved the sunset over the island.  After dark, the lighted city was quite pretty.