Santorini on March 27

Yesterday, we visited the most photographed place in Greece--Santorini (from Saint Irene) one of a ring of three islands that form the boundaries of an ancient caldera. We awoke yesterday morning after a long sail from Athens to Santorini in some roughish water that rocked us all night. I wanted to wake before sunrise to see the sun come up, to see if dawn was indeed "rosy-fingered" in Greece. However we were so close to the cliffs of the caldera ring we couldn't see the sun at the horizon. I did see the whitewashed houses, clinging like eyebrows at the top of the cliffs, clustered in the two big towns of the Oea (pronounced "Ia") and Fira. The strata of rock on the cliffs was beautiful and interesting. We took an early breakfast on the ship where I found my favorite Scandinavian cheese on the menu. They called it Bruno's cheese, but I call it gjetost, made of caramelized goat milk. Yum!

We couldn't leave the ship except via tender boats, since the ship couldn't tie up at a pier. The water around was still very rough and the tenders had a difficult time first pulling up to the ship itself, and then docking at the pier on land. We noticed a couple of people had a rough time. Then very large tour buses drove us up the hill, cutting back and forth in hairpin turns in more stomach turning conveyance to the top of the cliff where we finally got some relief in the spectacular view of the ship below in the harbor.

The cataclysmic volcanic explosion that destroyed the island happened around 1,645 BC and some theorize that it was the source of the myths of the destruction of Atlantis. It may also have been one factor in the downfall of the Minoan civilization. 

At the top of the cliff a road runs from one end of the big island to the other. We drove through the town of Fira, dedicated to tourist shopping and resorts, then to the town of Oea, where we left the bus for a stroll through the narrow sidewalk lined with shops and taverna. There was construction going on everywhere, people getting ready for the high season of tourism that will start on Easter and run through September. It's a very popular romantic destination and we stopped to watch a couple--woman in a wedding dress and man in a tuxedo--trying to photograph themselves with a tri-pod camera. The wind kept displacing her veil, and a local stray cat tried to climb up her wedding dress, making for some amusing comments among the tourists who stood watching the drama. At the end of the road was a small circular stone ruin of a fortification from the middle ages. Along the fence were thousands of padlocks, just like I've seen in other romantic destinations in Europe where couples place a padlock to celebrate their wedding and throw the key off the bridge or the tower to symbolize the permanence of their union. I don't know how old this custom is, but we've seen similar phenomenon now in St. Petersburg Russia, and Munich, Germany. Maybe the practice will be seen in the US soon.

The tour guide told us that before Easter is when all the construction has to take place. As soon as the season opens, there is no more building allowed. All over we heard the sounds of electric saws and noticed wet cement and new fixtures. Many buildings were under intensive renovation and had excavations revealing lots of old stonework underneath. More and more tourists are spiking the demand for luxury accommodations, and the retail mix of high end shops proves it.  This is definitely the money spot of Greek resorts. Everyone wants to build on the top of the cliffs, and hanging down the slope to get the best views of the sunset. From the top walkway, many staircases lead to lower shops and cafes, mixed in with rental units, boutique hotels and private homes, white wash everywhere and lots of blue, highlighted by the Greek flag of blue and white, for the ocean and the waves, according to the tour guide. I thought it an interesting place to visit, but I wouldn't want to necessarily spend much time there--too much crowding for my taste. I can imagine it cheek by jowl with people in the high season.

Back on the bus to retrace our route to Fira we got a taste of the crowding that must be intense in the summer. The only road was supposed to be two-way, but the width of the buses and the parked cars crowded the passage so much that a bus could barely make it through by itself. Then we encountered buses coming the other direction. We couldn't figure out how they were going to make it work. One driver seemed to be challenging the other for the right of way. It took us 45 minutes, of negotiation and wiggling for the buses to pass each other along about 100 yards of road. Our tour guide told us that such occurrances are common in the high season. "This is what happens when only one cruise ship is in town.  Can you imagine when there are six or more?"

We finally made it out of Oea back to Fira. I noticed that the other side of the island away from the cliff side (the inside of the caldera) was gently sloping, with cultivation in grapes and enough space at one point for an airport. Back in Fira at 11 am there wasn't much in the way of sunset to be viewed yet, so we stopped to get some local wine and sagagnaki at a very pleasant place looking out over the sea. A jewelry store, with a very talkative and charming salesman (who turned out to be a second generation Greek American from California) sold me on a Greek key necklace and matching earrings. We made our way along the shopping street of Fira, back to a cable car for the descent of the cliffside back to a port tender for the trip back to the ship, still in fairly choppy water. 

Back on board, Rollie took a nap, still trying to shake his cold, while I had a dip in the pool and then tried out the afternoon tea served English style, with sandwiches and biscuits.  After a lecture on Greek civilization by a resident historian, we had our dinner with the first group of strangers at the ship's restaurant. A host seated us at a round table with three other couples. I remember that on our river cruise with Viking two years ago, the most interesting part of the trip was being seated with strangers at meals while we had conversations about our places of origin and shared impressions about the excursions of the day. This we did last night, with three other couples from Los Cruces NM, Denver CO and a small town in Eastern Tennessee. I don't know if we'll run into these same folks again on board. (There are over 900 passengers.) On a small river boat you see the same people over and over and have the opportunity to know folks a little better. Not so much on this big ship. But, in the small world department, we found out that one of the couples has a son in the same law firm as our son, Carl, but in a different town. We exchanged those names.