Santorini, Greece – July 24, 2024

Last updated on August 21st, 2024 at 05:06 pm

Photos from Santorini

Video from Santorini

Santorini is one of the most visually arresting islands in the Aegean. Its whitewashed capital of Thíra perches on a cliff 1,300 feet above the sea, offering spectacular views of this magnificent city and surrounding turquoise waters. Thíra’s winding streets are a delight to explore and its charming cafés invite lingering respites in the Cyclades sun. Not to be upstaged, the island and its surrounding islets also offer opportunities to experience fully the natural volcanic splendor, from thermal spring soaks to caldera hikes.

We woke today to sunrise over Santorini.  We won’t actually anchor here today; the caldera is about 1400 feet deep, so anchors don’t do much good!  Additionally, there are about 7 other big ships in Santorini, and there simply isn’t dock space here for ships that big.  We’ve been told that there will be about 15,000 visitors in Santorini today.  This is quite a contrast to when we visited here on December 24, 2021, when our ship was the only one here, and we only had a little over 300 passengers on our ship.

Santorini had a massive volcano explosion about 3600 years ago, much more powerful than the volcano that buried Pompeii.  The result was one main island that today has about 15,000 permanent residents (does the number sound familiar?), and another island that has about 400 residents.  There are about 4 other islands that are generally uninhabited. Santorini earth was mined and used in the building of the Suez Canal.

There are evidences of human inhabitants here dating back over 5000 years. Our tour today began in the Star Theatre as we were dismissed by groups to the tender boat that took us to the port. We will start in Akrotiri, the archeological site of a town of the Minoan civilization dating to the Bronze Age, 3600 years ago. Extensive ruins of the Minoan civilization have been found on Crete. Akrotiri was covered in 60 feet of ash until it’s discovery in 1962. Some speculate the myth of the Lost City of Atlantis was based on Akrotiri. Akrotiri is different from other Minoan cites excavations as it appears to be a city not a palace. Houses appear to be two to three stories high, looking very similar to houses now in cities on Santorini. Wood frames were used for door ways, window frames and between floor. Because it was buried under all that ash for so long, the site is remarkably preserved. The archeological site has been covered with a roof to protect it from the elements. This protected us from the sun, but it was still very hot, since it was not air-conditioned. A YouTube video tour of the site can be found here.

Spectacular frescoes have been discovered with vibrant colors made from mineral pigments. Molds have been made indicating ornate table legs, terracotta ovens, hibachi grills. Ornate pots were also found. Pots are important in that archeologists can use them to date sites. It also shows where the people had trade contracts. The people were incredibly advanced- a toilet hooked to a sewage system in a 2nd story room was discovered. Most of what has been discovered are the 2nd and 3rd stories of the houses. Further excavation is needed for the 1st floors. Only about a third of the city has been uncovered.

It is speculated that a series of smaller earthquakes and eruptions warned the people and they left the island. Frames now thought to be bed frames were found along roadsides. It is thought beds were moved outside due to eruptions and earthquakes. So far, no skeletal remained have been found in Akrotiri. Perhaps the best sign that the inhabitants left their homes prior to the eruption that buried the city is a figurine found in box hidden in the floor, dated 1000 years before civilization in Akrotiri. The figurine was a solid gold goat. No other gold has been discovered.

Written tablets with Linear A writing were also discovered. These have also been found in Crete, and have not yet been deciphered. This was a fascinating place to visit.

After Akrotiri, a 30 minute bus ride took us from the southern part to the northern part of the island and the city of Oia. We visited Oia in 2021, for which Joyce was thankful as it was VERY crowded today. Our guide led us to a square with a blue-domed church, directed us to some picture spots and gave us free time letting us know when we needed to return to the bus. The crowds made it near impossible to move. We went in a couple shops, Alan braved the crowds to get to a couple picture spots. Our time in Oia was fairly brief and after a short stop in the church we made our way back to the bus and headed to the pier. One of the ‘highlights’ was taking a full-sized bus through a series of 7 switchbacks to go from the top of the island to the pier area. The guide said that the driver could make it down with his eyes closed!

According to our guide, we had a specific time for the tender back to the ship. We arrived at the pier at that time, but waited about 45 minutes for our specific boat, with several coming and going from other ships as we waited. As the boat we were assigned off-loaded passengers, we joked it seemed to be a clown boat, just when you thought all the people were off, more came down the steps! We were finally able to board and chose seats on the upper deck. As long as we kept a hand on our hats so they didn’t blow off our heads, we enjoyed great views of the other ships, the caldera and the islands of Santorini surrounding us on our ride back to the Viking Sea.

This evening we have a reservation at the Chef’s Table, one of the specialty restaurants on board. We have never eaten in this one. There is a 5-course set dinner menu that changes every few days. Today’s menu features spices from India. A specific wine is paired with 4 of the courses. Part of the incentive to book the cruise when we did, was inclusion of the Silver Spirits Package, which allows unlimited alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages any time of day, not just with meals. This will be wasted on us and we rarely drink alcoholic beverages. There was a list of premium wines to be paired with the dinner courses that were included on the Silver Spirit package, so this seemed a good time to take advantage of the package and sample some things we wouldn’t normally have.

The wines paired with the first two courses were white wines. The 1st course was a carrot and cardamom foam/mousse. The 2nd course was squares of seared tuna. The 3rd course was a palate cleansing green apple ice. The wines paired with courses 4 and 5 were red wines. The main course was 2 triangles of beef tenderloin, long strings of mushroom and purple potatoes. Dessert was an apple dish served on shortbread with caramel sauce. The spicing of all courses were unique and hard to describe using cinnamon, saffron, cardamom and other spices. The wines were good, though Joyce can’t honestly say she tasted all the notes and undertones the sommelier described.

While eating at the Chef’s Table, we had missed the lobster buffet in the World Café. Alan wanted to check it out so we went up and shared a lobster tail and treated ourselves to some gelato.

The entertainment this evening was a movie of a classical concert, so we decided to skip it. We checked the launderette on the way to our stateroom and found all 3 washers/dryers available. We made use of each & had our laundry done on a jiffy.