Tour of Santorini

John and I both got up early this morning to watch the ship go through the Caldera at sunrise. The colors of the sunrise over the houses on the top of one of the islands was beautiful.

The sea was rough/choppy today and getting into the tender to take us to the Athinios Port on Santorini was a bit of a challenge. At Athinios Port, we met our guide, Mariana, and headed to our first stop - The Archeological excavations at Akrotiri. At the site are the remains of a catastrophic volcanic eruption in1600 BC. The eruption tore the island apart. The actual artifacts excavated are in the Museum of Prehistoric Thíra in Thíra.

The remainder of our tour included some history, culture and photo opportunities for us. Our next stop was Oía (pronounced Ía) at the upper end of Santorini.

Our next and final stop was Thíra. There we went to a restaurant and had some Greek appetizers (a tomato salad; a fava bean spread; tomato fritters; and meatballs). It was more than enough for lunch for us. After the lunch John and I went to the Museum of Prehistoric Thíra. At the museum we saw the items that had been excavated at Akortiri. After that we headed for the cable car to take us down to the dock to get the tender back to the ship. There had been an option to go down by mule, but we opted for the cable car. At the dock the water was a lot rougher than in the morning. It was a challenge getting from the dock onto the tender. The challenge for the tender driver was to get the tender lined up with the ship. They made several attempts before they got lined up. But what was more difficult was getting off of the tender and onto the stairs to the ship.

Tonight was the BBQ. There was tons of food - salads; meats & fish; side dishes; and desserts. After the dinner, the staff did lots of dancing and in the end we all joined in. It was a fun evening.

Tomorrow we got to Patmos.Read more