So important was this day to me that I set an alarm to be up on Deck 10 when the Pacific Princess first entered the ring of the Santorini islands. There are actually five islands that make up Santorini, all originally part of the same collapsed volcano, but, generally speaking, Santorini refers to the main island that is home to the town of Oia (EE-ah), with its famous white buildings and blue roofs lining the side of the volcano's caldera.
These next few photos were on other islands in the Santorini ring...
Another blustery day. These were many but were much preferable to rainy and blustery days.
G joined me and we had a quick breakfast in the Panorama Buffet and were on the first tender of the day around 9am. In Santorini, local tenders are used in lieu of the ship's tenders, and we were lucky this morning with a large and very comfortable tender with heavily cushioned seats. (On our return, we weren't nearly as fortunate).
The tenders arrive at the narrow strip of land at the bottom of the cliff that is home to the town of Fira (FEE-rah). We originally wanted to take a boat directly from there to the town of Oia, and then a bus up to the top of the cliff, but the owner of that company was honest with us, saying that, given the high winds, he couldn't at that time guarantee that the boat would be able to dock at the base of Oia. The price was good- 15€ per person for the boat and bus to Oia and later in the day a bus back to Fira- but we weren't willing to wait around to see if the wind abated. G had also considered riding a donkey or walking the steps to Fira at the top of the cliff, but I had such an allergic reaction just from the donkey dander in the air that he didn't think it would be prudent to be around them either. And the steps are littered with donkey dung that has the same effect on me. Instead we took the cable car (5€ per person) to the top of the cliff.
The following photos are of Santorini...
The town of Fira perched on the mountain. You can see the donkey trail and the cable car that are used to reach the top of the cliff.
Fira
It turned out to be a beautiful day
We encountered little boys like this one 'playing' the taivaeri (Greek accordion) in several Greek ports.
In exhange for a €, we'd get a smile, a great photo op, and a few asthmatic notes. ;-)
From there we were given directions on how to get to the public square and the local bus station but we walked for 45 minutes by the time we finally reached the square (we must have taken the long route) and never once did we see a public bus. I don't know if it was because it was Sunday or because it was so late in the season, but we were getting nowhere trying to get to Oia the cheap way. When we were approached by a taxi driver who offered to take us for €20, I was in his car before he finished the sentence. Within 30 minutes we were in beautiful Oia, making our way along the narrow alleys and up and down steps while we stopped at every lookout for another several photos. We found exactly the spot from which the most familiar photos of the town are taken plus several other lookouts where we could see the windmills in one direction and the Pacific Princess at anchor in the other. The sun was shining brilliantly; it was a perfect day.
The flat side of Santorini is largely agricultural
The following photos were taken in Oia on Santorini...
The view we'd come to see!!
Mom, it's the Greek version of what we saw in Provence!
Photo ops in every direction
I loved this!
Bougainvillea everywhere
We explored Oia on these sorts of 'streets'
Another of the views we'd come to see
Many of the properties are now vacation rentals
We walked up and down and around and around for at least an hour and a half and G announced he was ready for something to eat. We stopped in a couple of restaurants until we found one with an upper terrace and absolutely unbeatable views and a great menu and the most personable waiter named Costas and we knew we had found our home for a few hours. We started with drinks- G had a local beer called Volkan Blonde that had citrus and honey in it and I had a local white wine called annys...something- and then ordered lunch and another round of drinks and then some bread with wonderful goat cheeses and finally dessert (baklava).
Our view for the afternoon. Does it get any better than this...
...yes. With the addition of this. :-)
The Pacific Princess at anchor in the distant left
We kind of thought we'd stay right there until sunset at 5pm, and there was another couple there from the Pacific Princess doing the same, but around 4pm we realized that if we drank anymore, we'd have a heckuva time finding our way out of that maze of alleys after dark (not to mention all the darkened steps we'd have to navigate in a slightly inebriated state) and we paid our bill and made the appropriate appreciative remarks when Costas showed us photos of his haby daughter and gave him a hug and generally felt like we were saying goodbye to a friend. And very carefully made our way back to the taxi area.
These two boys did live in Oia and ran and jumped along the streets with no fear of tripping.
Can you imagine growing up in a place as beautiful as that?
Church of Pangia of Platsani, Oia
Our 20€ return ride dropped us off in Fira and (I had forgotten about this part) we walked up and up and up on cobblestones to the top of the cable car. I was then really happy we hadn't stayed in Oia until after dark! We took the (less than) 5 minute cable car ride back down to the tender area and climbed aboard what had to be the oldest, dingiest and rockiest tender ever and sat and sat for several bouncy minutes (G started schooching away from me as I grew greener and greener) until we thankfully left the dock and started bouncing our way back to the Pacific Princess. Never have I ever been so happy to reboard that ship!
Fira cable car wheel
We went to almost directly to first seating dinner (it was not open seating tonight) not one bit hungry, but I had soup and G had a tenderloin and we had sorbet for dessert. The Pacific Princess doesn't sail until 9pm tonight, and the Club Restaurant was at least 1/3 empty, so by 6:30pm we were done and tonight's show didn't begin until 7:45pm. We returned to our cabin to lay down just for a minute and...well, you can guess how that ended up. It is 8:30pm and G has been asleep for almost two hours and I have transferred all the photos I took today to my iPad (I'm now up to 400 favorite photos to upload to this blog when I return home) and written this post and am 15 minutes away from sleep myself. Lively we are not, but we're having fun anyways anyway. ;-)
We spent the day on Santorini drinking wine and eating Greek food while gazing at the unbeatable views. Life is good. :-)