This was the day I was looking forward to the most. For years, when I pictured Greece, I pictured the famous blue-domed churches and cliff dwellings in Santorini. We began the day going to yet another set of ruins: Akrotiri. After that, we visited Oia, where we took photos and then had lunch and shopping on our own. We checked out of the Majestic Hotel and boarded a ferry. The trip across the Sea of Crete took a couple of hours, so when we arrived in Heraklion, it was dusk. We then had an hour drive to our new resort, the Porto Elounda.

Oia and off to crete

The ancient city of Akrotiri was destroyed by a volcanic eruption sometime in the 16th century BC. Excavation of the site began in 1967. The city was a Minoan civilization, and today the ruins are under cover. The place is very dusty today, but there were some good remains of what life was like back then.

 

We left the ruins and drove towards Oia. After getting a special parking spot on the east side, we followed Armando and Mary to Oia Panagia Akathisto Square, where we learned a little about the town. This was also to be our rendezvous point when we were done for the day.

BACK TO EUROPE

08/29/23—09/11/23

We followed our guides to a special area in town, where we got our first glimpse of the blue-domed churches. We stood in line with our friends and eventually got to the place where our blue clothes were a perfect selection for the churches in the background.

We then had free time to shop and eat. We, of course, took the time to photograph!

View from the Castle of Oia, including the famous windmill

After finding all the right views of the beautiful town, we finally made it somewhere for lunch. It was recommended by Armando and we had a beautiful corner view of the caldera and cliff dwellings from our table. The meal was great and then we fought the crowds to find our way back to the rendezvous point.

We went back to the hotel and gathered our belongings, then drove down the treacherous hill to the Santorini Old Harbor. Our group went to a restaurant for a snack while we waited for the ferry. Once the ferry arrived, we let the swarm of people go ahead of us and then moved up to our section in first class. We ate a bagged lunch and went out on a windy deck with Armando for a little chat. We then arrived in Heraklion and exited the boat.

The sun set over Heraklion as we gathered our luggage. We drove east on the island in the dark and arrived at the Porto Elounda resort. Our room was gorgeous, and had a large balcony that overlooked the bay. The Elounda was one of three resorts on the same property. Many of the rooms had private pools, and everything was lit so well at night.