November 13, 2016 - Postcard from Santorini

You could stand anywhere on the island of Santorini, close your eyes, spin around three times, and take a photo, and you would end up with a postcard-worthy picture. It is really that scenic.

We took a tender from the ship to a small landing. From there we rode on a very steep cable car or tram up to the capital town of Fira, 1,000 feet above.

Our guide, Apostolos, was waiting for us as we emerged from the tram.

(You don't have to take the tram. You can walk, or you can ride a donkey up.)

Apostolos drove us to some spectacular lookout points. We could see our ship, and some other islands which are part of the archipelago which includes Santorini. It was possible to see that the harbor was an enormous caldera that had been created by a massive volcanic event about 1650 BCE.

Can you find the ship in this picture?

After several stops to admire the view we arrived in the town of Oia (pronounced "eee-ah"), at the northern tip of the island. It was just stunning.

Oia Cathedral

Only one ship was in today. Nice!

Blue domes are churches

My future home . . . When I win the lottery

Oia is perched on a ridge, like most of the other villages.

Our tour took us around a good portion of the island. We drove up to a monastery on the top of the Mountain of Prophet Elijah (St. Elias!), elevation 2,000 ft.

Monastery bells

The view from the top

The monastery from below

We saw black sand beaches, vineyards, churches, and more. 

Black sand beach

  The vineyards use an interesting method of growing the vines in basket-like shapes. The vineyards of Santorini are believed to be the oldest in the world under continuous cultivation. The wines made here include a sweet wine called Vinsanto.

Grapevine baskets

The climate here is very dry, but fog and dew and high humidity make it unnecessary to water crops. Another major crop is cherry tomatoes. They are made into a paste. There is a Tomato Industry Museum here, but we didn't stop in. Tourism, of course, is the number one industry here, and it has made the island very prosperous. I saw no indications of poverty. Everything is well-maintained and there were no run down shacks. There was very little trash on the ground.  We stopped for lunch at a place called Kali Kardia (Good Heart).. the family that runs the restaurant grows much of the food and makes the tomato paste and other local specialties.

Samples of local specialties

Greek salad

Eggplant salad

 We had a great day in Santorini. When we were ready to go back to the ship Ken decided to walk down while I rode the tram.

The stairs

 Our day was completed by a concert starring Brenda Cochrane. She was terrific!