Thursday in Santorini, Greece

It is Thursday so we must be in Santorini, Greece. The houses are white washed and they are hanging on the cliffs that plunge to a very pretty turquoise sea. One theory is that the catastrophic volcanic eruption in the 1600 BC may have doomed Atlantis; of course it has been doomed in several places around the world. Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of Bronze Age city of around 30,000 people here.

The island is shaped like a fishhook. For centuries it was called Thera and was shaped like a neat, round cone. However that cone was formed by a volcano, and sometime around 1600 BC Thera erupted. The Scientists believe that the center exploded out of the island and the resulting tidal wave may have sent a wall of water crashing over Minoan cities along the northern coast of Crete. They believe that this weakened the Minoans so badly that their civilization never recovered and their influence in the Mediterranean Sea died out.

The current name of the Island, Santorini, comes from its patroness, Saint Irene of Thessalonika, who died in 304 AD. The Venetians called her Saint’Irini and the name stuck. Whatever it is a pretty island.


We rose early and had breakfast in our room and went down stairs to meet up with our tour group. We then tendered in to the dock at the base of the cliff that the town sits on. We were to meet our driver at the top.

Before we got to the van, we had our choice of how to get up the cliff, for the town is way up on top. We could walk up, ride the donkeys up, or take a cable car. Duh! We took the cable car. Riding a donkey trying to brush you off up steps was not our idea of fun. The cable car ride is something else and we had to use it to get back down to the ship. We thought about walking down, but trying to miss all the presents left by the donkeys on the steps did not appeal to us.

There is not a lot to tell, we drove around in a van and saw lots of churches. We found out that they were private churches, owned by a family in the area. They are only used on Son’s day, when they invite friends and neighbors to the church and have a priest come in and preside. The family provides food and drink for the occasion.

We had lunch at a local restaurant down on a black beach by the sea. The ladies got the only thrill, when a 70 year old man came by in aSpeedo. You can use your own imagination to picture this. Judi had a Greek salad, with a slice of Feta cheese on it. The slice was about ½ inch thick and 2X4 inches. I cannot manage what it would cost in the states. I shared a Sea Bass with another guy. It was wonderful. They brought it out, golden brown, and opened it up at the table and removed the bones. From here we came back to the town and headed for the cable car. The ride down was just as exciting as the ride up. We had such a big lunch that we passed on dinner and just had something in the cabin.

Santorini looked like the pictures that we have all seen. White washed houses, with blue doors and window frames. White churches with blue domes and steep cliffs. The Island is beautiful and unique, but it is sitting on a volcano and they are just waiting for it to go. Since 1600 AD there have been no deaths due to a volcanic eruption on the island.


Tomorrow we are in Turkey.