Santorini - 7 September

Santorini Source: Wiki Commons

Well today we decided not to get off the ship. I know I'll probably regret it but I just couldn't be bothered. Sacrilege!

We enjoyed having our breakfast here on the back of the ship and lingered for ages.

It was too tempting to just sit on deck and come back here again for lunch. Well when you live in a climate like ours you don't get the chance to relax and eat outside very often.

Here's a photo taken as we approached Santorini.

Santorini was called Strogli in ancient times and is considered to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It's the most southern of the Cyclades Islands and and is the remnant of a volcanic crater that was enclosed by the sea. The giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, measures about 12 km × 7 km (7.5 mi × 4.3 mi) and is surrounded by 300 m (980 ft) high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea. The water in the centre of the lagoon is nearly 400 m (1,300 ft) deep and makes it a safe harbour for all kinds of shipping. The island's harbours all lie in the lagoon and there are no ports on the outer perimeter of the island; the capital, Fira, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon. (Source Wiki)

The volcano is still active and the last eruption was in 1956.

The population of Santorini is about 14,000 (that's apart from the tourists). Fira (also known as Thira or Thera) is the island's capital and is perched 900 feet up on the cliffs overlooking the harbour. Could you fancy living at the top of that? I couldn't.

I also didn't fancy riding a donkey to the top, poor little things. There was a funicular and there's also a road with steps you can see zig zagging to the top at the centre of the photo.

You can climb it on foot too but there's over 550 steps. Can you imagine it?

Later that day I met someone at reception asking for an elastoplast. He had been climbing the steps and fell in the donkey poo! I'll say no more!

Here's a few photographs of places I missed, courtesy of Wiki Commons:

Typical Blue Domed Roof

Santorini Windmills

The Town of Oia

Post 122

Mykonos

After lunch the ship docked in Mykonos, just a few nautical miles from Delos.

I’d never been to Mykonos before, (we don’t get direct flights from our local airport) but I’ve seen all those lovely photos in the holiday brochures. It’s one of the smallest islands in the Cyclades, 16km (10 miles) by 11 km (7 miles) but one of the most popular holiday resorts in Greece.

We didn't venture any further than Mykonos Town where there was plenty to see. There are gleaming white washed houses and shops in a maze of narrow haphazard alleyways, well preserved windmills and lots of tiny churches. Designer shops and the usual tourist tat. It’s exactly like the postcards.

The bay is really a pretty sight with the Venetian style balconies overhanging the restaurants and cafes. In earlier days these were the distinguished houses of ship captains. I love this photo, the water was crystal clear.



The famous windmills of Mykonos are reminders of an earlier time when wind power was used to grind the island's grain. It's not easy to get a decent picture of them, they must specially organise the post card photo shoots. To the rear is a car park and I couldn't resist taking this photo of a car that's much dirtier than mine has ever been and it does get quite mucky. Shows how hot and dusty it is there.

Clean Me!

In front of the windmills was a huge skip. I managed to get a photo to the side of it and cropped most of it off and also someone's motor scooters.

There are apparently 365 churches and chapels on Mykonos but I only took this one photo of a little chapel sandwiched between shops, houses and restaurants.

In the fifties, a group of migrating pelicans passed over Mykonos and apparently left behind a single exhausted bird, Petros. Vassilis the fisherman, nursed it back to health and locals say the pelican in the harbour is the original Petros. It's doubtful after all this time and there are several lurking around. This one seemed to be performing its ablutions in an appropriate place, the local loos!

Petros?

There were numerous alleyways with tiny shops and houses. It was great to find some shade there. You couldn't really get lost though, it wasn't that big.

There were lots of lovely little shingley coves and sandy beaches where you could swim. Oh the heat! Wish I had taken my swimming costume.

Just in case you're wondering, no that isn't our ship in the background. It was in Delos when we were there too.

Next stop Rhodes!

Post 120