Santorini, Greece

Yesterday we visited the island of Santorini, Greece. Promotional pictures of Greece often show the round blue domes of Santorini. I've seen these travel photos many times, and was really excited to visit.

We were on an eight hour tour, and the time flew by. It turns out most of the 500 churches on the island have the blue domes, so we saw many. Also, most buildings are painted white which really makes the blue domes pop.

They built the airport around this church 

The most iconic of the domes are in the village of Oia. I was able to get pictures from two directions. Just beautiful!!

Oia was a quaint little village right on the cliffs overlooking the water. Lots of restaurants, shops, boutiques, views and just a great place. 

I managed to do a little shopping, and Kevin sampled a Greek beer brewed in Athens.

We visited an archeological site called Akrotiri. This was a community that was thriving around 3,600 years ago until the volcano erupted and covered it completely in a deep layer of ash. It was only discovered about 60 years ago when an earthquake uncovered part of it. A museum has been built over the section of the city they have uncovered so far. They estimate there is still much more to find.

Diorama of what has been uncovered so far

This society was quite advanced for their time. They had multi story buildings, beautiful artwork, indoor bathrooms and a sewage system.

Here are some sketches of what they believe it looked like. The paintings on the walls were actually found in the dig, and are on display at a museum. 

This was a toilet. Clay pipes ran down from the crack all the way to ground level, and emptied into sewage pipes. Amazing how advanced some people were so long ago.

We stopped at a winery for some wine tasting. Three types were sampled, white, rose and a red desert wine. Neither of us are big wine drinkers, but it was fun to try some Greek wines.

Next to tourism, Santorini's biggest business is wine. There are 15 wineries on this small island.  With a total population of only 20,000, that's a lot of wine!

They grow the grapes all over the island wherever there is a little extra space.  

We're used to seeing grape vines growing up along trellisses. Here they are trimmed low to the ground in the shape of a basket. Rain is scarce, and this helps the plant retain moisture from the dew, and keeps the grapes in the middle to protect them. They also grow them on terraces in the hills.

After the wine, it was time for lunch and some entertainment. We went to a restaurant where we were served a lunch of pork or chicken skewers with fixings and more wine. One of the side dishes was a local favorite, tomato fritters. Not my favorite!

After lunch, two musicians played some Greek music, and then two ladies in beautiful dresses danced for us.

That's a mandolin on the left. Such a beautiful sound!

Of course, there had to be audience participation. Kevin says he was the photographer, so couldn't participate. 😃 

Finally, we were given come clay plates and encouraged to participate in a Greek tradition of breaking the plates. It's supposed to make you feel better!

This guy gave it his all

A windmill from days gone by.

We stopped in the capital city of Fria for a little retail therapy time. Kevin sampled a local bear called Blue Monkey.

The volcano eruption of 3,600 years ago left a deep layer of ash all over the island. You can really see it as the top light colored layer in the rocks.

The old port was below Fira. The only way to get to the top was a cable car, a donkey ride or walk on the very steep path the donkeys use.

Its the steep zig zag line in the center

A new port was built in 1982. Ships must still tender their passengers, but now busses can pick them up from the tender pier and drive on a hair raising road that switchbacks all the way to the top. Yikes!

Santorini is such an unusual and unique place. It's 14 villages are built along the rim of a dormant volcano. Definitely an unusual place to settle down in. The views from a distance are spectacular with all the white buildings. 

Santorini is the big island shaped like a crab. The water in the center of the islands is the caldera, the center of the volcano. The water in the caldera is a gorgeous deep blue color.

You can see all the houses along the top. Some houses are built into the hills.

There were five cruise ships anchored off of Santorini that day. It is a tendering port. They allow a maximum of 8,000 cruise visitors per day. I think we hit the limit! 

Our ship didn't leave until after dark. Santorini is beautiful at night, too!

Sunset

Our towel animal tonight is a stingray. Some of the towel creations on this cruise are new ones we haven't had on previous trips. Interesting what can be done with a few towels.

Pictures from the balcony with waves from side of ship and a star.

And, a few more sunset photos from two nights ago. 

Sicily, Italy

Today we will be at Palermo, the capital city of the island of Sicily, Italy. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Palermo has a population of 700,000. The island has a population of 5 million. 

The port has the 7th largest dry dock in the world. This ship was being worked on. Looks like they are inserting cabins.

We took another bus tour today.  Things are starting to all look the same! 😃 

We drove up to the top of a mountain to a lookout point. Nice views of the city and the port.

This castle like building is way up on a mountain and must have spectacular views. It was never acastle, but was built as a luxury hotel in the 1920s. It closed down during WWII, and later reopened as a management training center. It is now vacant. What a shame.

This is one of the most popular beaches, just outside the city because of the white sand. The water colors were beautiful!

It was another warm, sunny day, and it was busy. The chairs belong to a club, and you have to belong to sit there. Most were empty,  sad!

During the 18th century Sicily thrived under King Ferdinand.  Chinese architecture was in vogue in Europe, so he build this hunting palace in his private hunting park.

We stopped and were treated to Italian Ice as part of the package. Yummy!!

This monument is in memory of all the victims of the Sicilian Mafia. 

We drove by the Palermo Opera House. It is the largest in Italy, and sure was impressive. It was featured in the movie Godfather III.

Our guide gave us some history on the mafia in Sicily. It began around the early 19th century, and thrived for over 200 years. They even had a summit with The New York dons to broker a deal for drug trafficking. The police ignored it.

In 1982, two magistrates cracked down on the operation, and 200 members were convicted and sent to jail. Those two judges were later assassinated. 

The mafia still exists, but are much reduced. They mainly focus on drugs, money laundering and political corruption.

Another interesting day. Tomorrow is a sea day as we head towards Greece. 

This cutie greated us today. What do you think? Rhino, hippo, ???

Sardinia, Italy

Today we are in Cagliari, the largest city on the island of Sardinia, Italy. We went on another tour. What we're discovering is that the history of all the places we're visiting is basically the same.

Most history dates back to 6,000 BC. Several empires controlled the areas over the centuries until the Christians took over. History in a nutshell.  😃 

We started out by driving up to a lookout. Views of different parts of the city.

Next, we stopped at a popular beach. It's Sunday, and the weather is beautiful. It was also some type of local celebration, so busy, busy, busy!!

The tour advertised seeing pink flamingos. We drove past a nature preserve, and only saw them zipping by out the window. I managed to get a fuzzy picture. 

Our next stop was the former Royal Armory. It's now a history museum. Here's where things went downhill.

 The audio units we were given to hear our guide worked very poorly. Combined with trying to understand someone with an accent and poor equipment, it was very difficult to understand anything. 

The museum covers the period from 6,000 BC to Medieval times. Lots of old stuff!

Amazing jewelry from thousands of years ago

Incredible skills

As we left the museum, people started dropping out. Our poor guide was trying to be nice while collecting their audio devices. This wasted a bunch of time for the rest of us, and it happened at a couple of our stops. By the end more than half had left.

Next, we went to the main plaza in the old city. The Royal Palace, Archbishop's Palace and the Cathedral were all located here. Construction of these buildings was from the 13th century with renovations in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

Royal Palace 

Royal Palace on the right back with Archbishop's Palace in front of it

Cathedral 

Beautiful painting on ceiling of Cathedral. Mass was being held, so we were only allowed a quick walk along the back wall.

Lots of old towers and walls from fortresses throughout. It's quite amazing how newer buildings are right next to ancient ruins.

On the far left side above, you can see part of a tower. This was originally a tower of the old wall, and was incorporated into the new construction.

We sure don't have all these old ruins and churches in the USA. So much history in Europe. 

Whenever you sign up for a tour, its a crap shoot as to what type of guide you get.  We've had one really good one yesterday, one who was okay, and one we had great trouble understanding. Our guide today was really trying. It wasn't his fault his company provided inferior equipment. It wasn't a great tour, but I felt sorry for him.

Corsica, France

Today we are visiting the island of Corsica, France, docking at the largest city of Ajaccio.

This little boat was taking the very heavy ropes from the ship to some of the moorings.

Here's the view from our balcony.  The cruise ship next to us is advertised as a luxury experience by Explora, a division of MSC cruises. 

We did a tour of Corsica, the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. I found it strange that this island is part of France, when all of the surrounding islands are Italian. 

Turns out, back in the 1700s, it was under Italian rule. For about fifteen years in the mid 1700s they were able to become independent due to the efforts of Pascal Paoli. He studied in Florence during the age of enlightenment. He came back to Corsica and wrote the first articles of Democracy in the world. Every household had two votes. He is considered the hero of Corsica.

The French invaded in 1768, and they won. Paoli had to flee so he wouldn't be beheaded. The French banned the Corsican language in public, and made the only language French. In the 1970s, that ban was lifted. About 30 percent of the inhabitants are bilingual and speak both languages. 

There was also a period where pirates and slave traders came to the island. About seventy watch towers were built on the smaller islands surrounding Corsica. If pirate or slave ships were spotted, smoke would be released at the towers. That allowed everyone to hide in the dense forested areas in the mountains.  The slave traders stole white and black people, especially children. Some towers still remain. 

Corsica's main economy is tourism. They are known for beautiful beaches and warm weather attracting many French tourists.

According to our guide, they have so many tourists that they can't catch enough fish to feed them all. There are fish farms out a bit from shore.

Napolean was born in 1769 to a semi noble family. At age nine he was sent to military school on the mainland. He was a brave soldier, fighting right alongside his troops, winning many battles. He got greedy and power crazy, and ended up exiled. Our guide was very knowledgeable, and we learned a great deal more about him. Too much to include here.  😃 

Many streets, plazas and shops sport his name. There is a very large monument dedicated to him.

He is depicted with his hand over his stomach. It is said he often stood that way because he had stomach pain. He died in exile at age 51 of stomach cancer.

We did a bit of a walking tour in the old town area. We saw the house Napoleon was born in and lived at as a child. 

Typical street in old town.

There is a cathedral in the old town built in 1577. Pope Francis who recently passed away made his last foreign visit there six months before his death. 

 

Beautiful pipe organ

Upon our return to the ship, there was a smaller cruise ship docked between us and the Explora. It's owned by a French company called CroisiMe, and even had a small swimming pool. Total of 197 passengers. 

The day ended with another amazing sunset!