On Saturday afternoon we boarded the Sun Princess, a mega cruise ship. We joined them on the middle week of a multi-week cruise, so it was a mix of stayer-oners and newcomers.
That night was the usual: eating, drinking, and dancing!
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| Sunset from our cabin's balcony |
Our first stop, bright and early the next morning: Santorini! Super cool that the area is a caldera!
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| Santorini in the morning |
We had bought an excursion. In talking to friends and family, it sounded like the thing to do was just to get up to the town (by donkey or by cable car), walk around the tourist areas, have some lunch and done. But I'm so glad we bought the excursion. What a delightful surprise!
We bussed up to
Akrotiri, a village from around 1600BC (Bronze Age; pre-dating Athens). It's been called the Greek Pompeii. A huge volcanic eruption buried the town in many feet of ash, which has since solidified into pumice (just about the same stuff as
tuff for those of us familiar with other huge volcanic eruptions).
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| The guard dawg |
The site was discovered around 1867, with initial excavations, but the site wasn't started to be excavated in earnest until 1967, 100 years later.
Many artifacts were discovered, including pottery, frescos, and negatives of wooden objects such as furniture. Also a biggie: evidence of indoor plumbing!
No negatives of human remains have been found yet. Only one small gold figurine was discovered, so it appears that the citizens had some advance warning of the impending volcanic eruption and were able to evacuate.
One interesting aspect is that the archeologists and anthropologists believe that the town may have been one of the first to embrace democratic rule. There is no evidence of palaces, etc. It appears that the town was governed by groups of people.
Anyway, it was a delight to have visited this site with a great tour guide! Here are my photos.
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| Plaster casts of olive trees from 1600 BC |
Some structures were 4 stories tall. That's a lot of pumice to discard!
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| The downspout from a roof |
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| The doors and windows are casts of the negatives left by wooden structures |
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| The pots were found standing upright, perfectly intact. It was only recently, during a spate of earthquakes, that they were upended to protect them |
Evidence of indoor plumbing! A recess and a hole down to the ground level.
Some of the Frescos found at Akritiri. Photos from WikiCommons.
After the archeological site, we had a wonderful Greek lunch at a winery. Again, serendipitously, we sat with "our people." Two physicians, one was an anesthesiologist and one was a pediatrician (they didn't know each other). The anesthesiologist's partner was in medical school; the pediatrician's travel companion was a nurse clinician (they were from Canada). We chatted about the differences in medical care in the U.S. vs. Canada, child language difficulties, aphasia. It was wonderful to meet them.
The food and wine was delicious, too. No pictures because I suppose we were busy enjoying each moment!
Views on the bus ride back.
And back in the town of Fira.
