Wednesday 4 July - Santorini!

3 July - Day at Sea - Jonty's Birthday!!!

4 July:

The islands of the Cyclades comprise one of the most enchanting parts of Greece, and Santorini may be the prettiest of the Cyclades.  The current name of the island comes from its patroness, Saint Irene of Thessalonika, who died here in 304.  The Venetians called her Sant’Irini, and the name stuck.  There are more Catholic churches here than in the rest of Greece, where the prevailing religion is Greek Orthodox. 

There is no port in Santorini, all cruise ships have to use tenders (smaller boats) to move passengers to shore (takes approximately 10 minutes each way).  Our tenders took us to the island base below the town of Fira.  Santorini’s largest town is a village of dazzingly whitewashed houses clinging to steep volcanic cliffs.  Accessible only by foot, Fira’s narrow cobblestone lanes lead uphill past shops, homes and cafes to a cable car.

Today there were 4 cruise ships anchored…. We were told to expect up to 7!  Once on dry land, we had decided not to line up in the long queue to take the cable car but instead to walk up the 587 steep steps.  Donkeys ( 5)  are the only other method offered…. Avoiding the long donkey queue at the wharf, we started walking and rounded a bend where there were a number of donkeys waiting and their masters touting for business – so we ended up riding to the top on the donkeys – it was quite fun even with the smell and their ‘poop’!  We enjoyed a wonderful day walking around Fira, shopping and touring the places of interest.  David and I sampled some of the local wine – Santorini’s rich volcanic soil and the rare assyrtiko grape combine to produce a world renowned wine – and bought two bottles back to the ship to enjoy later!  We happened upon a pub called ‘Murphys’ and the daily special was ‘home made pizza and a glass of wine for  10’ – sounded good so we settled in (it was almost 3pm) – to hear loud cheering and find that our State of Origin game was being broadcast on the tv in the bar!  We managed to watch the nail-biting final 15 minutes – and Queensland won – fantastic!

Time to leave – decided that we would walk down – again touted by the donkey masters so we paid 10 euro to climb on.  Going down was way more ‘interesting’ than going up – did you know that donkeys have no brakes and no steering!!!!  All I could think was to take comfort in the knowledge that our travel insurance was paid up!  Seriously though, it was a marvel way to end our experience at Santorini – and we would love to visit again one day, if we ever have the chance!