Day 8....Beautiful Santorini!!
Woke up this morning at 6 after our very late night. We were just arriving in Santorini where we would anchor for the first time rather than dock. We were booked on a tour to Oia, a lovely little village about 20 minutes away. It is perched on the cliff top overlooking the very blue Aegean Sea. We wandered around for an hour, only problem with tours, is that you have such a limited time. Probably should have just got a taxi or bus there. Winding cobblestone paths in and out of the white houses and little churches which were just gorgeous with their bright blue domes. Apparently there are so many little churches and chapels in the Greek islands because families build and dedicate their own to use for special occasions. It is a bit of a status symbol for them to have their own church or chapel. We also learnt the reason behind all the white houses on the islands. Apparently the houses are all made from black volcanic rock, (the island was once much larger before a volcanic eruption which split the island). In the 1930's the Greek government declared that all the Greek island homes must be disinfected with lime. This of course made them white. The people discovered that the homes were much cooler because the white reflected the heat, rather than the previous black absorbing it. So after that they kept using the lime and then started painting the homes white. Almost all of them are still white, but occasionally there is a cream or light yellow one.
We then went on to a wine tasting as part of the tour, another reason I am not such a fan of the organised tour! Wine was pretty ordinary anyway! Got dropped back at Fira, the capital, and had a look around. Mainly tourist shops and restaurants though. To get back down to the port which is way down below, you have a couple of options. To take the cable car, which was included in the tour, or to walk down a very steep and winding path. To go up you could also go by donkey, which would have been fun and had we not done the tour I think we would have tried it. They don't let you go down by donkey though as the donkey has a mind of his own and charges at breakneck speed to get to the bottom!
Tonight was another formal night for dinner, there were two on this cruise. Amazing at how some people get so dressed up like they are going to a ball! And a few guys wore kilts! Met up in the Martini Bar with Brian and Jayne again and laughed until about 3am.