Santorini

September 8,9,10.

Santorini just blew us away with its beauty. It was such a stunning sight to sail into with the cliff top towns of white washed buildings all highlighted in the early morning sun. From a distance it first looked like snow on the top of the mountain.

 Donkeys begin their morning trek down the steep hillside to pick up anyone who wants to pay for their services in the trek back up to the town.

 The beautiful town of Oia which is about a 40 minute ride by bus from the town of Fira.

 Everything in Santorini is very photogenic. Blue domed churches, brightly painted doors with the odd pastel painted building here and there to make a contrast to the whitewash.

I always thought the whitewash was to keep the buildings cool from the scorching hot sun but in much earlier times it was used because the lime in the wash gave protection from the plague and other diseases. The houses are actually tunnelled into the layer of pumice stone  to keep them cool and secure. The pumice stone is very soft but if you cut into it evenly as a platform to lay your floor  and build your house on it, it is very strong and keeps the temperature indoors at an even temperature all year round.

Santorini has a very low rainfall. They do have a large de-salination plant which provides household water at great expense and people collect water from their roofs from the condensation during the night to water plants etc while all the drinking water is bought in bottles from the mainland.

 Time for a quick rest after climbing to the highest part of the town to see the views. It was very hot and extremely humid again. Large crowds were a little irritating on the very narrow cobbled streets and you had to watch your footing on the uneven ground. There were five cruise ships in town the second day we were there and went to Oia which meant around more than 10,000 extra people. After they all left it was much quieter again.

 Great photo spot for some Greek wedding photos. We didn't envy the bridegroom dressed in a dark suit. It was scorching!

 The zig zag line in the photo above is the walking track up to the town and just to the left of that ( but just out tot the picture ) is the cable car.

The towns are perched on a high cliff top. You can either walk up from the waterfront where the tenders docked or you could take a donkey. Most people like us chose to take the cable car which was a quick two minute ride to the top.

A violent eruption thousands of years ago left obvious signs in the spectacular landscape.  ( above )