Santorini

I was recently lucky enough to visit the beautiful Aegean Island of Santorini, this is definitely a place I would love to go back to.

A place I had always wanted to visit, sailing towards the Island raised my excitement, until, after a short tender from the ship, we were there.

“Santorini was named by the Latin Empire in the thirteenth century, and is a reference to Saint Irene, from the name of the old cathedral in the village of Perissa.”

A bus trip through the winding, rugged landscape brought us to our 1st stop, Oia. This was a picturesque town with amazing views out over the Aegean sea. Wandering through the narrow little streets, you find these lovely white painted houses, with blue roofs. They say the blue colour of the roofs brings them closer to the blue sky and to heaven!

“It was devastated by a volcanic eruption in the 16th century BC, causing the middle of Santorini to fall into the sea. It left a caldera, a steep-edged crater , which is a spectacular sight from the island’s clifftops.”

 Next stop was one of the local winery`s, where we we give a tour and an interesting talk on the production of the wine. The best bit was afterwards, when we were able to sample the “products”, Red, White & Rose. 

Our final stop was the capital of Fira. Here you will find cafes, bars, restaurants, all with stunning views, some with several levels of patios & balconies to make the most of the space. When there are several cruise ships sitting in the bay,  the town can be packed with tourists, thankfully we were the only ship in that day.

Fira is where you will have a choice of ways to get back down to the tender. You can take the cable car, make use of the many horses, ferrying people up and down the many stairs, or as we did, use your feet. I did not want to subject the poor horses to another needless journey so used my own legs. It was a pleasant walk down, although not sure if I would have been so keen to do it in reverse.

Do yourself a favour and visit this gem of an island, I promise you will not be disappointed.

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