Santorini, Greece
Today was spent on the volcanic island of Santorini, Greece. We glided into the bay created by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. Watching the sun rise over the cliff’s, reveals several towns built along the rim seeming to float on the edge. The scale of the place is stunning.
Our day long tour started with a tender ride across the bay to get our motorcoach. After a very precarious drive up the zig zag road cut into the mountain, we enjoyed the history of the ancient ruins, and by enjoy, I mean we struggled to stay awake.
Santorini Wine Tasting
From there we headed across the island for some wine tasting. Growing grapes when you have a climate that is brutally hot, very windy and has almost no water is so different than the wine country we live in in California. You’ve all seen how grapes are traditionally grown on vine. Here those vines are grown in a basket shape on the ground. This allows them to be protected from the wind and collect what little water is in the air to grow the grapes. There is no irrigation, just moisture from the air – unbelievable. The wine was awesome and even Marcus enjoyed it – SHOCKER. I was only able to buy 2 bottles due to the current export laws. Otherwise I would have had a case shipped home.
Oia - The Blue Roofs
Our next stop brought us to the picturesque town of Oia. If you’ve ever seen the iconic photo of Santorini, this is where that shot was taken, and yes I did get the same shot. After wondering the town, we enjoyed a gourmet lunch on a rooftop deck overlooking the sea. We were on a very small group tour today. Sometimes you get a great group, and sometimes not so much. Well we had “THAT” family in our group. You know the one’s that somehow annoy everyone with the simplest of things. Of course we got seated with them at our table to lunch. I may have drank that first bottle of wine a little too quick. At least the view was great and I got one of my favorite shots of my beautiful wife.
Back On Board
Heading back to the ship, we avoided the donkey path and headed down the mountain in the gondola while trying to avoid the most annoying kid in the world from our “favorite” family. We nicknamed him White Erkel. Yep, you get it.
Check Out Some of the Other Stops
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