Gal Meets Globe: Santorini, Greece September 21-26, 2016

Santorini

September 21-26, 2016

We flew Aegean Air from Budapest through Athens and on to Santorini

Santorini was a large round island until about 1600 BC when a massive volcano erupted and blew most of the island away and caused a tsunami that was catastrophic for Minoans on the Island of Crete more than 80 miles away. Now the island of Santorini is shaped more like a sea horse than a ball. Beautiful white and bright blue accented houses and churches are now built on the rim of the ancient volcano.

View of Fira

Our Hotel at Oia was Mystique...Tons of steps!

From our private deck at Mystique

I don't know how the workers carry heavy baggage to your room!

The Minoan civilization at Akrotiri on the south end of the island was an advanced and strategic seaport in the years just before the 1600 BC volcanic eruption. The ruins of that civilization are only preserved because thick layers of ash from the volcano poured down and covered their homes to protect them from deterioration. Beautiful frescoes in their homes show that they were well traveled and had leisure time to create beautiful art.

Fresco from the room of the ladies

Beautiful frescos remained because they were covered with mud

Amazing pottery

The monkey fresco

Inside the Akrotiri prehistoric town

Large pottery vessels show that they had an abundance of wheat and barley, which they cultivated on the island using step farming.

Pottery and shards

They are still uncovering many ruins

Our first two nights on the island we stayed on the south end of the island in the village of Megalochori at Vedema Resort.

Inside the resort

Going to dinner

Checking in

Pool at Vedema

Barb having a Greek lunch

Inside Vedema check in lobby

Driving down to the beach

We enjoyed riding horses down to the Aegean Sea through the vineyards and into the water on the black sand beach.


We passed a church

Through the water

The sand at the beach is very rocky

Black sand beach

We stopped at a winery

At sunset we drove our rental car to the southwest tip of the island and enjoyed the sunset under a lighthouse.

Beautiful sunset

The lighthouse was built in 1892

The magic and calm of this island is starting to affect us. The people are fun to be with and are calm and satisfied. What is there to complain about? This is a unique and beautiful place.

Red sand beach

Donkey's are available for hire to bring you from the water up to Fira. They also use them to carry loads.

Barb in Fira

Next morning we put our luggage into our mini-Fiat Cabriolet (luggage barely fits) (we barely fit) and drive to the village of Oia (ee ahh) on the north side of the island. The trip took about 50 minutes because we took a long detour along the east coastline of the island and ran into more than one dead end. Getting lost helps you discover alternatives.

It looks like a Flintstone car!

Oia is a beautiful village with a spectacular view of the caldera filled with water with land jutting out of the water on the opposite rims of the ancient volcano. It makes for spectacular scenery.

Oia by night

Breakfast at Mystique

Barb at breakfast

View out our window

Scott

Donkey's

Oia has beautiful marble walkways, as opposed to Fira, which has very rocky paths. Don't wear high heels!

Oia

One of the best ways to enjoy the views is from the water. We booked a semi-private cruise (up to 21 people) on a 45-foot catamaran and discovered that we were the only two guests that day! We enjoyed a 5 hour private cruise and tour of the caldera lazing in the sun, snorkeling near the white sand beach, swimming in the thermal waters above a hot water volcanic vent at Palia Kameni, and enjoying a wonderful fresh fish and Greek salad lunch prepared on the boat by our crew of three sailors.

The name of our boat was Carpe Diem

We snorkeled near the white sand beach

On the boat

Our lunch is ready to barbeque

View of the white rock

Time spent window-shopping at Fira, swimming and tanning at the black sand beach at Perissa, and a lazy stroll up the ancient village alleyways of Pyrgos round out our days.

Black sand beach near Perissa

Scott took a swim

Our funny little car

Pyrgos is a hidden jewel. We drove there late in the afternoon and the pre-sunset lighting seemed to add magic to our climb in a maze of white alleyways past homes with antique doors (with character), and Byzantine churches where bells were ringing and Sunday services were being sung by locals welcoming you to come inside.