Early this morning we sailed into the harbour for the Greek
Island of Santorini. This is a very
peaceful and beautiful island with the traditional white washed houses lining
the cliffs along of the island.
Santorni is a small circular archipelago of volcanic islands located about two hundred kilometers from the Greek mainland. The island is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic eruption. The mythology behind this island is closely tied to the legend of Atlantis.
Santorni is a small circular archipelago of volcanic islands located about two hundred kilometers from the Greek mainland. The island is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic eruption. The mythology behind this island is closely tied to the legend of Atlantis.
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| Village of Santorni |
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| Hotel in the village of Santorni |
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| Marg in Santorni |
We decide to go on a hike along a trail that links the
villages of Fira to Oia. It is twelve
kilometers long and it a very narrow trail that goes along the top of the
coast. Wet climbed several large
hills and went down into several shallow valleys.
Along the trail we came upon upscale hotels, homes, churches and
several small memorials.
The trail is a combination of cobblestone, loose gravel and
volcanic rock. Marg tweaked her knee and
decided to go back after walking for about ninety minutes. It was a very smart
decision as the trail got steeper and very uneven. Close to the end of the
trail Heather took a tumble and luckily was not hurt. In all it took us about three hours to
complete the trail.
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| The walk from Fira to Oia |
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| The walk from Fira to Oia |
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| The walk from Fira to Oia |
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| The walk from Fira to Oia |
Video taken approaching Oia
After taking the bus back to Fira, John and myself decided
to take the stairs down to the harbour to catch the tender back to the
Equinox. There are five hundred and
eighty stairs from the top to the bottom and each stair is usually three or
four steps wide. It was a very hard
descent that took its toll on our joints.
Donkeys are a very popular mode of transportation to move
people from the harbour to the village.
We met donkey trains several times on our way down the stairs, including
being blocked by two stubborn donkeys who wouldn’t allow people to pass through
them. Of course the donkeys left their
excrement on the steps, which made for a smelly and slippery walk.
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| Donkey's blocking the staircase down to the harbour |
It was a great relief to get into the hot tub when we returned to the ship.
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