Atlantis

Perched on the remaining wall of an ancient volcano, the Greek town of Oia overlooks the Aegean Sea.

Perched on the remaining wall of an ancient volcano, the Greek town of Oia, Santorini overlooks the Aegean Sea.

Once again, it’s time for my Wednesday photo essay. This time my random search through iPhoto landed on Santorini. And that got me excited. It is one of the most photogenic places on earth. Almost any photo you take has postcard (or blog) potential. This post allowed me to revisit the island and once more enjoy its beauty. My challenge, I immediately discovered, was that Peggy and I had taken 400 plus photos. “Okay, Curt,” I said to me, “I have to do more than one blog.” So expect to find Santorini on my next 3 or 4 Wednesday posts. I think you will enjoy the journey.

The town of Oia overlooks the caldera of what was once a volcano and is now filled with the Aegean Sea.

The town of Oia cascades down the inner slope of a volcano toward the caldera that was left behind when the volcano exploded. The wall of the volcano recedes off into the distance. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Some basics: Santorini is a Greek island located in the Aegean Sea, 120 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of the Greek mainland. Once upon a time it was a huge volcano. 2600 years ago it blew its top in a dramatic fashion, destroying much of the Minoan Civilization and giving rise to the myth of Atlantis. All that remains is a large caldera filled with seawater and the weathered edge of what was once the volcano’s wall. Lime-white homes dug into the sides of the cliff perch high above the water and cascade down the mountainside, providing great views of the sea below.

This photo provides a perspective on how high the small communities of Santorini perch above the water. The layers represent different volcano flows that took place before the volcano erupted creating one of the largest explosions in written history.

This photo provides a perspective on how high the small communities of Santorini perch above the water. The layers represent different volcanic flows that took place before the volcano erupted, creating one of the largest explosions in written history. I took this photo from our ship as the sun was setting.

Homes are actually built into the volcanic cliff as this photo illustrates. The added insulation means the houses are cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Forget elevators, escalators, or roads. You get to and from your home, motel, etc. by walking up and down stairs.

Forget elevators, escalators, or roads. You get to and from your home, hotel, etc. by walking up and down stairs.

Stairways that come in a variety of shapes, sizes…

…and colors.

And lead to intriguing places such as this...

And lead to oh so many intriguing places such as this… (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

…leading to oh so many intriguing places.

…and this.

Most homes come with attractive patios, great for sitting out on an admiring a beautiful sunset, or...

Many homes come with attractive patios.

Your patio is your yard, and there isn't much space.

Your patio is your yard, but there isn’t much space.

There is always room for laundry, but forget privacy. What you do on your patio is defined as entertainment by your neighbors above you.

When you live on the wall of a volcano, space is limited.

Every view of Oia, Santorini is different, and beautiful.

I really like the whites, pastels and bright blues of Oia. The blue dome is part of a church. NEXT BLOG: How 25 cents saved one million lives. (More on Santorini next Wednesday.)

Buildings cascade down the cliffs on the Greek island of Santorini located in the Aegean Sea.

Churches, homes, shops and hotels cascade down the cliffs on the Greek island of Santorini located in the Aegean Sea.

I am normally not the cruising type; it’s too social, crowded and regimented for the part of me that demands solitude, wide-open spaces, and independence. Still, when my brother-in-law, John Dallen, sent my wife Peggy and me an itinerary of a 32-day repositioning cruise he was planning to take with his wife Francis, I was intrigued.

The cruise included visits to a number of Mediterranean ports I had always wanted to see and a voyage across the Atlantic I had never made. It sounded like an adventure. It also took place during our Twentieth Anniversary and Peggy, unlike me, loves to cruise. It seemed like a great way to celebrate. We signed on the dotted line and sent off our deposit.

Our ship, the Crown Princess, anchored in the caldera located off Santorini.

Our ship, the Crown Princess, anchored off Santorini. The island behind it is a small volcanic island.

Over the next couple of months I will blog about the journey we just completed. Join us as we visit the Greek islands of Santorini, Mykonos and Corfu, stop off at the historic sites of Pompeii and Ephesus, scale the walls of Dubrovnik, and explore the cities of Athens, Venice, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Cannes and Lisbon. I’ll conclude with our brief stopover on the Azores Islands and trip across the Atlantic.

I will also describe shipboard life where food was served 24/7, our bed was always made, and entertainment was just a few floors away. Be warned, though, the trip wasn’t all four-course meals plus dessert; there was also the Noro-Virus that reached red alert status and forced employees to wear rubber gloves, rolling seas that threatened to dump us out of our bed, the guy who dropped dead in our dining room, and the daring Coast Guard rescue off of Louisiana.

Cruise ships sell luxury and visits to exotic locations. This is an inside view of the Crown Princess.

I am going to start this series with the Greek island of Santorini rather than Rome where we began our cruise. Santorini is more personal, easier to comprehend, has an intriguing history, and is exactly what I imagined a Greek island to be. In 2011 Travel and Leisure magazine declared it the World’s Best Island. Rick Steves, the renowned travel expert on Europe, said, “If you can’t snap a post-card quality photo here, it is time to retire your camera.”

A post card type photo of a church in the town of Oia on Santorini

A post card type photo of the Church of St. George in the town of Oia on Santorini

Santorini is located in the southern part of the Aegean Sea southeast of Athens. Once upon a time it was a huge volcano, now the island is part of a large caldera. When Santorini blew its top somewhere around 1600 BC, it was one of the largest volcanic explosions in the last 5000 years. Effects were felt as far away as China where crops withered. The resulting tsunami destroyed much of the Mediterranean’s Bronze Age Minoan civilization. Legend is that this destruction included Atlantis. In fact, the ruins of Akrotiri on Santorini are considered a prime candidate for being the Lost City.

Excavated ruins of the ancient city of Akrotiri on Santorini are a candidate for the lost city of Atlantis. If so, this mural taken from the ruins may show a resident of the Lost City.

Arrival in Santorini by ship quickly reinforced that we had sailed into a caldera. Everything was up. Fira, the islands administrative center, was perched above us on top of daunting cliffs a thousand feet high. Getting to the top involved hiking, riding a donkey or taking a tram. Riding the donkeys sounded romantic except we would end up smelling like donkeys and not able to sit down for a day. Walking had more appeal but then we would be dodging Donkey poop. We opted for the tram. Once on top, we were prepared to explore.