Santorini
If I had to choose only two or three places that a person must see in the Mediterranean, Santorini would be among them, without a doubt. So after yesterday’s briefing about our plans for the Santorini visit given by the expedition leader, Tom O’Brien, we all got very excited with anticipation for our next day. Early in the morning a lot of us were on the deck while Sea Cloud was entering the giant caldera of Santorini. In the silence of the light breeze we were watching all colors of the rock – black, red, grey, brown – created by the immense volcano whose crater is the middle of the island’s bay. High up on the ridge of rock, the white crown of houses, terraces and churches with their blue domes, was our destination.
We already knew this would be an unforgettable day, so with the local tender we arrived at the Athinios port to board the buses and head to the northern part of the island and the little village of Oia. We wandered through its narrow picturesque alleys looking for the three domes church view that is so well known from guide books and postcards, passing by some outstanding art galleries and appealing cafes on the ridge with a tremendous view of the caldera. Who wouldn’t love to stay in one of the small cute hotels situated on the caldera rim, enjoying the quiet relaxing atmosphere of the village and admiring this incredibly wonderful view every day from their own terrace...? But this was only the first stop of our day.
Soon we departed to the village of Pirgos for lunch. The typical Greek mezedes were delicious. We tried everything that makes Santorini famous: stuffed cherry tomatoes from the island, fava – a dish made from chick-peas - and the renowned Santorini white wine, well known from its quality and smooth taste. We were very happy to meet the charming owner of the restaurant, Nektario, with his enthusiastic hospitality. He was so proud to present his young infant grandson to us on Nektario Junior’s first public appearance!
After lunch we arrived in the capital town of the island, Fira, with an incredible amount of jewelry, clothing and souvenir shops in the narrow alleyways, and many cliff-side cafes and restaurants in between all of this. First we visited the Prehistory Museum with its outstanding exhibition on the Minoan history of the island. An hour later as we walked through the town towards the cable car we got a taste of big cruise ship tourism, as there was a huge ship in the caldera as well. So instead of waiting in the line for the cable car to go down to the port, some of us chose to walk down or to take an adventurous ride on a donkey!
All came back to the ship happy and smiling, feeling ready for a refreshing swim. The water wasn’t as warm as we expected, but who would care when you get probably the only chance in your life to swim in a giant caldera in over 400m of water? So with a lot of enthusiasm, many of us got into the exhilarating water to experience the unique view of Sea Cloud and her masts scratching the blue sky.
Fresh and hungry, we enjoyed a delicious Greek dinner, set up on the Lido deck so we could follow the sun and orange warm sunset light dipping slowly down through the caldera, and disappearing finally behind the island of Santorini.
