may 1 Santorini Greece

I awake to a gorgeous view out the window this morning!!!!!!!! Santorini Greece!! in the Cyclades, Aegean Sea is one of the most spectacular landscapes in Greece and in the world. As I look out the island surrounds us and set high up on the cliffs are all white villages, contrasting against the blue sky, it is breathtaking, seriously! They look like snow capped mountains!

The island forms a crescent around the submerged volcano. The entire center of the circular island sank into the sea when the volcano erupted. It is called a caldera and is the largest one on earth. The volcanic cliffs are red, brown and greenish and are walls of pumice stone...that used to be mined from the island. The road winds up the sheer cliffs from the port to the top of the island, covered with low lying bushes, which turn out to be their vineyards.

There are 13 villages around the island the two most famous and impressive are Oia and Fira. Fira is the capital of Santorini and the largest village all perched on a cliff, with houses, churches, shops and restaurants carved into the cliff side. We visited Oia 1st, it is set way out at the end of the island and is absolutely stunning!! I wandered the narrow paths, wandering down corridors for secret views into houses set into the cliff, pools, real infinity pools...all looking down on the deep blue Aegean Sea. the churches with their blue roofs, match the bright blue sky...it is just as it looks in all the incredible photos you see....

We travel on around the island, vineyards, donkey's, terraced land and the beautiful beaches. We arrive in Fira and head to a lovely restaurant for lunch... with a view so distracting it was hard to look at the menu and order. The baked feta and greek salad were perfect, and lovely Greek wine. We wandered through the narrow streets and shopped, heading for the tram to get back down to the boat..or the donkey ride down the huge cliff...I had a skirt on and was a bit alarmed about riding side saddle down a cliff...so tram it was... Only regret is not being able to see a sunset from Oia!!!