Europe 2018 Day 7 - Santorini

From Mykonos, we sailed a little south to another island in the Cyclades group, the stunning Santorini. Also known as Thira in Greek, this and a few smaller islands form a rugged and broken ring around a sunken volcano, or caldera. The original island was destroyed when the volcano erupted. Ships can't actually anchor here, so they just sit and spin all day in the caldera waiting for their passengers to return.

Once Captain Mattias netted us a great parking spot, we boarded tenders to head into the new port of Athinios, where buses would await to take three of us up the switchback road for shore excursions. John and Julie headed off for their Opa! celebration, while Mike opted to explore the charming village of Oia (pronounced EE-ya) at the northern end of the island.

Santorini makes very nice wine from its volcanic soils, though the vines are actually coiled on the ground to conserve moisture in this very dry climate, rather than being encouraged to grow upwards.

Due to warnings about the difficulty to walk back to the cable car from the bus parking area, Jane chose to tender in and take the cable car up and explore the capital of Fira on her own, including a nice lunch with a panoramic cliff-top view of the caldera below.

After returning from a crowded and hot (but stunning!) Oia, I ended up eating at another of the clifftop restaurants, before lining up for the cable car back down to the docks. There was a zig-zag path to walk down which was likely faster in the end, but I wanted to enjoy the ride! Tendering back to the ship, we all met up again and shared tales of our day ashore.

John and Julie regaled us with the story of their highly entertaining tour guide, who among other stops took them to see the home of the "smartest man in Santorini". With very limited and volcanic soil, this man had gathered soil and actually grew a lemon tree on the roof of his house....a lemon tree!!! Who does this??? How to know???

Sailing into Santorini

Busy day in the caldera

Fira-town clinging atop the cliffs of Santorini

Tendering towards the "new" port of Athinios

Quiet day in the streets of Oia

Postcard panorama from Oia on the northern end of the island

Fira and our ship in the distance

Charming Oia

Byzantine castle ruins tumbling down the hillside

Quenching a sudden thirst!

Chaos in the Oia parking lot

This looks like a nice place for lunch....

View from Fira

Cable car up the cliff

I ordered a Greek salad....at least they got the wine (and the view) right!

The caldera from above!

Jane's lunch from a similar vantage

The "other" way up the mountain....donkeys!

Lengthy lineup for a short but steep ride

Waiting my turn....

The Santorini cable car.....going down???

Tendering back to the Star

Flagging down a ride to the ship

Looking forward to a "free" dinner!

Farewell to Santorini