Port 3: Santorini, Greece

Santorini was our third stop on the cruise and one of our most favorite. We had to depart our ship via tender boats as the ship could not dock at the port directly. Corraling 12 people to ensure we would meet our tour guide on time was a small feat in and of itself. We ended up making it to the top with time to spare. Santorini was as I imagined--quaint, relaxing, beautiful views at every angle. It was lovely. We enjoyed the tour which took us around the entire island. We stopped at the most famous St. Irene's dome to capture pictures, traveled to the highest point on the island, also enjoyed Red Sand and Black Sand beaches, ate at a cute little Greek restaurant overlooking the ocean, checked out the volcanic views and learned about life on the island. Most of Santorini is built around the tourism industry. It used to be a huge farming island, growing pistachios, tomatoes, wine, but most of those producers have moved into the tourism market as it is much more lucrative. Land is incredibly expensive. I can't remember the price exactly, but it was insanely expensive compared to the US and houses are not nearly as nice. I suppose the state of the Greek economy doesn't help matters at this point, but very sad. Houses are white for the purpose of reflecting heat. They have solar panels on their roof, which actually power their water heaters. Air conditioning is a necessity as temps rise to 110 in the summer. When we were there, the temperature was perfect--upper 70s. Love that! That being said, the water was still incredibly cold though there was a swimmer sporting a G-String. Go figure.

A small alleyway of shops.

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Going up in the cablecar though I really wanted to ride the donkeys. Apparently, they are treated very inhumanely. We had a tight timeline or else I would have opted for that adventure.

Getting off the cablecar.

The Blue Dome of St. Irene, which was the Saint for which Santorini was named.

The most beautiful colored water I have ever seen.

Santorini as seen from our ship.

The kids could have cared less about the beautiful view only a few feet away, but were thrilled to find sand/rocks to build a castle with.

Vineyards. The vines are formed into baskets so they can grow close to the ground. The sulfur from the volcano is great for the plants.

Claire at Red Sands Beach. The cliffs are lava rock formed from the volcanic explosion years ago. The only way to access the beach is from this point and a very long, treacherous walk.

My Mom and Claire on the cablecar.

Claire and Mya on Black Sands beach, again formed by volcanic explosions. The sand was coarse and gritty, but so cool to see a black beach. Mya was so excited to finally build the sand castle she had been hoping for all day. We definitely have some beach babies.