Santorini

Today we visited another of the Cyclades, the island of Santorini, which is a fascinating and beautiful place geologically, archaeologically, culturally, and aesthetically. Some of the island's fourteen towns are perched high on the cliffs and mountains, like the capital of Fira, that you can see in this photo taken from the old port that's used as the tender pier by visiting cruise ships. To get up and down from the tender pier to Fira, you can choose a dramatic cable car ride, a walk up almost 600 steps, or a donkey ride. 

View of Fira from the old port

 Our tour took us to the town of Oia (pronounced "Ee-ya") on the northern edge of the largest island. (Side note: Santorini consists of five islands in a sort of ring shape around an enormous volcanic caldera  that is filled in by the sea.) The winding pedestrian street in Oia takes you to amazing views of the dramatic cliffs and the caldera below in which the cruise ships are anchored. Many of the houses along the cliff face are actually excavated from the volcanic stone, which originally was the building method of the less well-to-do, but now have become the most desirable real estate. 

A view from Oia, Santorini

Another view looking over the cliffside town of Oia

Another interesting part of our tour took us to the Thera Prehistoric Museum (Thera is the ancient name of Santorini), which houses many artifacts from the archeological site of Akrotiri at the southern end of the island. Akrotiri is like the Pompeii of the Cyclades, an ancient city that was destroyed in a volcanic eruption around 1600 B.C. Many artifacts were preserved by being covered with volcanic ash; for instance, in the museum you can see a plaster cast of a surprisingly-modern looking decorative wooden table whose shape was preserved in the ash. Unlike Pompeii, the citizens of Akrotiri had advance warning of the disaster and abandoned the city about a year before it was destroyed.

A fresco from Akrotiri

These are just a few photos from our fascinating day in Santorini - look for more later!