Byzantine Tour 2011 Day Seven: Santorini, Greece

It is day seven of this trip, but it is the first day that we awoke on the sea.   This means that while we dined and slept, the Crystal Serenity has brought us to the shore of the Greek island of Santorini.  A funny thing about cruising is that when you select the cruise you look at the itinerary and you think, "Want to go there, really want to go there, not sure about there."

Santorini is one of the really want to go theres.  We have always heard great things about it, and today we get to see what the fuss is about.

And now one of the great things about cruising.  The breakfast buffet.

I like nothing more than waking up and seeing sliced mangos and bacon and a fine young man from the Philippines asking me how I would like my eggs.

Yours truly enjoying his breakfast.  Note the pashmina scarf which Barbie purchased in India earlier this year.  It has officially become my favorite piece of clothing during this trip for its softness, versatility, and color.

Welcome to Santorini, Southernmost of the Greek Cyclades archipelago.  I am tempted to mention the plate tectonics and vulcanism that leads to archipelagos like the Hawaiian islands, but you either find that interesting and already know how these things come to be or you do not know and do not care.  Suffice to say that this crescent shaped island is the caldera of a dormant volcano that barely rises above sea level.   What makes Santorini a little cooler than most is that you absolutely see the shape of the volcano's caldera looking down on it from above.

This is what it looks like when you build a town on the ridge of a dormant volcano that rises just above sea level.

A look back at our floating hotel in the morning sun while we take the tender to shore.

We rode a bus up the ridge to there people actually live, on our way to Oia, the northernmost town on Santorini.  Here is something that I did not know.  Santorini has a desert climate.  Driving across this island is like driving to Vegas, view wise.  Except for when you can see the Aegean Sea.  Surprisingly not pretty.

We hopped off the bus and walked through Oia.

The view from the ridge of Oia.  Sure, these people live on a little desert rock with a pretty ugly landscape, but look at the seascape.  Not-a-so-bad.

Barbie and I taking a self-portrait in the Santorini town of Oia.

Yours truly posing with Oia's church.

Little Greek bears who did not make the cut and did not get to come home with us.

Another look at the view.  I took a lot of pictures of the view, and they all look pretty much like this.

Picturesque.  The thing about this shot is that the town is beautiful.  Stunning almost, right?  This is how it looks.  But... that is what it looks like when you get this view of it.  When you are walking through it, the effect is not the same.

Full disclosure.  We had around an hour to walk around Oia and look at shops and such.  There was nothing to see, and after a short stroll and some pictures, we sat down and drank iced tea in the chilly air, looking at the not-so-pretty scenery.

See, I was not joking.  Santorini is literally, technically, actually a desert.

We finished the tour in the main town of Thira, which is... kind of ugly and crowded.  Time for complete honesty.  We did not like Santorini and we cannot figure out why some people do.  I figure that if you stay at a five star resort here you enjoy the following feeling, "We are on an island between Greece & Turkey and Europe & Africa and we are totally isolated with nothing to do but unwind and relax."  If you are like me and want some history and culture and such, this might be a place to avoid.

Though perhaps I am being too harsh.  We are visiting during the Autumn, and Santorini is chilly.  Perhaps in the summer it feels like Hawaii, and I certainly appreciate the joy of having nothing to do in Hawaii.  But then I am forced to consider that Hawaii is lush and beautiful, while Santorini is a dry, ugly desert.

The shopping streets of Thira.  They sell that junk that tourist towns sell to tourists who want to remember their tour.

To return to the ship, we needed to walk through Thira to the cable car that will take us from the ridge to the seaside.  Along the way, I snapped this picture of our ship through this closed restaurant.

Honestly, I cannot remember if we had been looking for this little boutique hotel or if we just liked the name, but it is a shot of Barbie doing a colossal point and how could I leave that out?

We have arrived on the cable car that will take us down to the shore.

Cable car action shot!

I took this shot to show you how some people go up the ridge via burrow instead of cable car.  And now I see that the woman walking in front of the burrow looks a lot like Barbie.

Right?  I know it is the sunglasses, hair and clothes.  Maybe she looks nothing like Barbie in person.  But if you told me that this picture was Barbie, I would believe you even though Barbie was sitting next to me on a cable car as I took this picture.

 It seemed like a good time to take a self-facing-camera-pic with our ship behind us.

We stil absolutely love the ironic English-nonsense t-shirts that Asian tourists seem to frequently wear.  This one reads, "Tonytony Chopper is a caribou who became a doctor according to ... Hililuk's ... wish."  I googled it and it turns out that this makes perfect sense, as these are Anime characters.  And if you want to judge Anime (Japanese animation with intricate plots, odd characters and entire mythologies) then I recommend you look at the characters and connections in the beloved Disney cartoons and explain Mickey and Donald and the person dog and the dog dog and so on.

Confession.  For much of our time on Santorini, I was thinking about the poolside burgers that were going to be lunch.  Blame Santorini.  Had Santorini been more interesting, I would have not been thinking about the food.  

Shipboard lunch!  Note that the lower-left burger is my turkey burger with bacon and bleu cheese.  If you knew me well, you would know that access to this burger pleases me significantly more than it should.

We chilled in the room and watched a DVD from the ship's library, and soon enough... another meal.

My starter, Cream of Cauliflower, with Fried Garbanzo Beans and Rosemary Oil.

Barbie's starter, Palm Hearts, Tomato, Avocado and Endive Cocktail, with Yogurt-Lime Sauce.

My main, Farfalle Paste "al Salsiccia e Ricotta," with Tomato-Basil Sauce, Italian Sausage and Ricotta Cheese. 

Barbie had a starter as her main, Steamed Fresh Black Mussels, in Pernod-Flavored Vegetable Beurre Blanc, Served with Toasted Garlic Bread.

Then came a dessert extravaganza.  Do not ask us why.  Only observe.  I cannot name it all, but the top-right is Refreshing Cranberry Sherbet (hers) and the bottom-left is Freshly Frozen Nonfat Cappuccino Yogurt (his).

After the eats, and some time working and looking around, we spotted a sunset and went as far to the front and top of the ship that we could find.

To bring you this Sunset On The Aegean.

We crashed.  Hard.  Went to sleep.  Early.

Until tomorrow.