Greece, Day 9 – May 11, 2024. Today we got to Santorini after a rough night aboard including 10 foot seas and 40 knot winds. Hardly anyone slept well and the Captain looked bushed in the morning. One cannot control the weather and it was not sunny on Santorini as we had hope. In any event, we had a great day and saw many great sites and had some good food.
We toured the famous Church of Panagia Platsani located in Santorini, Greece in the town of Oia. The church was originally located within the walls of the Venetian Castle of Oia but ruined in the earthquake of 1956 and rebuilt in the current location.
All the churches in Oia have blue domed roofs and the knobs you see above are for the workers to hold on to when doing maintenance.
These windmills are one of the signature landmarks of Santorini. They were used to take advantage of the wind and mill and produce four.
One puppet caught our eye in one of the stores in Oia.
We walked all over Santorini and this is the view overlooking the Old Port on the caldera side of the island.
We visited the Akrotiri Archaeological site on Santorini. It is one of the most important prehistoric settlements in all the Mediterranean. It is vast, and they have only uncovered a small portion. For more details, see www.akrotiri-museum.com
We stopped for lunch and had this delicious souvlaki.
The Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Fira, Santorini is one of the few Catholic churches on the island that regularly celebrate mass. Many only open when they celebrate the memory of their consecration.
To get from the Old Port up to Fira, you need to either walk the stairs you see in this photo, or take the cable car, or hire a donkey to ride you up the stairs. The cable car takes three minutes!
The donkeys, mules and hinneys wait to take riders to the top.