santorini

We awoke early to see a cloudy morning after a sea day with plenty of high seas. One of our diner table mates indicated that they saw the waves lapping the windows on deck five. We are looking forward to seeing the magical island of Santorini, one of five major islands forming the rim of an undersea volcano which last erupted in 1956. They told us it was chilly, 64 F, but as we boarded the tender to go to go ashore, the clouds let loose and it began to rain. We were not prepared for that!



We left the friendly confines of our tour bus at the most northern town and filled village streets with some 500+ tourists. Off to the shops filled with all types of goodies! Gifts for some, locally made honey for Ed and pistachios for Cindy. We did stop by a jewelry store window and saw a diamond studded panther broche, that could be worn on a necklace too





Wow was it beautiful, Ed had to go in to price it out, but at $1800, it was just out of the budget. Gosh they were pretty and Ed loves cats, but maybe another day!

We again boarded the bus and proceeded to see the black sands beach and tour the island winery. Excellent wine, and of coarse we bought some to enjoy on the ship. The grapes are uniquely grown in Santorini. The vines are bent over and laid on the ground and wrapped in a circle forming a wreath like structure for living their life. They do this because of the high temperature, high winds, and dry conditions. Additionally the island has a very heavy dew each morning providing the plants with their needed watering. They do not irrigate because the island does not have natural water.

Next stop was a very ancient church, very charming, and very interesting. By now the sun is beaming and the sights abound.



With growling stomachs we proceeded to a restaurant for a Greek lunch! Fun, fun! Following lunch it was off to the southern rim of the island and then back to the main city of Fira. Here we were to catch a cable car to descend the cliffs back to the dock to board our tender to the ship.