Home»Italy > Greece > Paris - Day 18

Santorini lives up to its reputation as one beautiful island comprising its colourful lava rock formations, its deep blue sky and the equally blue sparkling sea, all contrasting with the brilliant white of its buildings.

We took the cruise tour mainly for transportation – first to the high point Profitis Ilias (prophet Elijah)  for panoramic views all around, and the to the village of Oia which really captures the essence of the place with its white, blue-domed churches and great views over the bay.  The bay is in fact the largest volcanic crater (caldera) in the world, created 3,500 years ago by the biggest known volcanic eruption ever.

Today all is quiet, though the volcano is still active deep down, and we began our visit with coffee in a quiet café overlooking the bay, just soaking in the moment.

That was followed by a stroll (aka photo-shoot) through the village for about two hours until noon when our bus would take us to the main town of Fira.  Larger, busier and even more devoted to shopping, Fira was the place to find a restaurant down a small side street, be surprised, and pleased, to discover its two balconies overlooking the sea, and there to enjoy a local lunch.

After schlepping the laptop (albeit light) around for the day in the hope of uploading from the port at Fira it was disappointing to connect without a problem to Wi-Fi only to find the actual connection to the internet was just not working.  Oh well, maybe Tuesday in Naples after Pompeii, otherwise Paris...

[Prev]

[Next]