Saturday, August 9, 2008

Santorini, Greece

Summer 2008

Santorini is quite an amazing place. Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island. What was left behind was this gorgeous hilltop and this small island surrounded by the Aegean Sea. With that in mind, the main way to reach the island is by sea and head up the one road either by bus, donkey or cable car. We chose bus to go up and donkey to go down. The bus ride going up was a bit scary at times, but the donkey ride down was for the pure adventurer. So, after spending the day on the island and visiting a couple of quaint villages, having lunch, a stop at the black beach and some shopping, we headed to the donkey station. It wasn't until we actually sat on the donkey that our daughter decided she would not be going down the hill this way. So, instead of heading back up to catch the cable car (which would have been the wise choice), we decided to walk down the long, winding stone path -- with the donkeys... It was a memory! You can actually see the zig zag path on the hill that we took down in the last picture shown below.

Resting by one of the many churches -- great breezes up here


Enjoying the view


Black beach on the east side of the island


Black beach -- it was a bit chilly


The front door to one of the homes -- it's a little bigger than our 7 year old.


A great view at the top of the hill (our ship is in the background)


Gorgeous view


The donkey station


The zig zag road we walked down to return to the ship



Copyright 2008

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