Day Fifteen

My time with Contiki will soon be coming to a close! Today we visited Santorini, tomorrow is Crete, then we finish up in Athens the next day.

Today we anchored in the sea outside Santorini at about 8am and headed downstairs to the tenderboat which would take us from the ship to the tiny harbour of the island. The cruise ship experience is all very new to me, so taking one boat from another boat to get to the harbour was pretty weird, although all the older people on the ship seemed to be totally used to it.

We started the day on Santorini with a trip to the village of Oia. Our tour guide described it as "glorious", and I have to say I agree with him. It's just like everything you see on stereotypically Greek postcards, of domed white and blue buildings clinging to the side of the cliffs. But way more beautiful in real life, especially with the perfect weather we had today. We had a chance to wander its picturesque narrow streets and have a look into lots of the little buildings (which just so happened to be shops), and just take in the spectacular view. From where we were, we could directly see the giant volcano that was responsible for sinking the majority of the island into the sea during the height of the Minoan civilisation, about 3000 years ago.

Our tour guide also seemed to be an archaeology buff and told us all about Akrotiri, which is where the extensive Minoan ruins were discovered on Santorini. On the site there are giant frescoes and many buildings, some of which are up to three storeys high, all perfectly preserved thanks to the volcano ash that covered the island (similarities with Pompei again). Looking at pictures of it now, I might have read about it in the past, but I actually had no idea it was located on Santorini so I felt a bit ignorant. It's currently closed to visitors so we weren't allowed to go there, but once the site is opened up again I definitely want to visit! It sounds like the most interesting archaeological site, especially since the buildings are so "modern" compared to other buildings of that time.

After our tour of Oia, we went to Fira to see the main town and were given the rest of the day free. We decided to visit one of Santorini's famous black sand beaches at Kamari, but we all stupidly forgot to wear our bathers so we couldn't actually swim there. But we made it past the blisteringly hot black sand and rocks to walk our bare legs into the water, which was nice. After a while we decided to have an ice cream and sit down for a bit and I had one that was baklava flavoured - so good. Then it was back to Fira on the incredibly crowded bus which was an hour late due to the way Greeks perceive time on the islands. Definitely gives me a new appreciation for public transport in Melbourne, although the two are easily comparable.

For the rest of the day in Fira we just did our usual thing, had a look in some churches, ate a gyros in the shade, and looked around the shops. The buildings in Fira are similar to Oia, but generally larger, so it feels less quaint, but the town is still very pretty. The view from everywhere was amazing, as the town sits high on the clifftop, the same as Oia. We could see our cruise ship from above which was much smaller than the other ones in the bay. We ended the day with a cold drink overlooking the bay, the volcano, and our ship.

That night we had a little Contiki cocktail party at the ship disco, and it was good to have everyone together for a drink instead of scattered throughout the different bars on the ship. Again, after two cocktails I was ready for bed. My Contiki cough is getting better but I think one solid week of drinking every night and getting up early every morning is enough for me for now. I'm still needing sleep to make up for last week.

As I mentioned before, tomorrow we're finally visiting Crete, which I am very excited about!