SANTORINI, GREECE GLISTENS ON THE AEGEAN SEA!

Thursday, October 29, 2026
Day 24/50
Santorini, Greece
70F, sunny

Apartment building

Let me just say this first, Dear Readers—we now know there are two ports on the island of Santorini.

 

Buildings perched on top of the mountain

closeup

Mountaintop white buildings

a stunning sight

Another view

We awoke this morning to the most beautiful site, mountains with pure white buildings perched all along the top. This was the Island of Santorini!

 

Santorini was formed as part of the rim of a massive prehistoric volcanic caldera that collapsed into the sea, around 1600 BCE. This collapse created dramatic cliffs and panoramic views of the Aegean Sea.  The catastrophic impact of this eruption destroyed the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri and sent ash and pumice as far afield as Egypt and Israel.  It is also believed to be one of the largest volcanic events on Earth in the past 10,000 years.

 

Santorini, the largest island, has a permanent year-round population of about 15,500 residents, which swells significantly with over 2 to 3 million visitors each year. It is part of the Cyclades island group in the southern Aegean Sea, 120 miles southeast of mainland Greece and is about 28 square miles. 

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Small things that fascinate me: The two small islands in the center of the

Santorini caldera, Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni are the youngest volcanic land in Greece. Palea Kameni (Old Burnt Island) is less than 2000 years old, while Nea Kameni (Young Burnt Island) began to form only 425 years ago and its youngest lavas are less than 50 years old.  An island just popped out of the sea 425 years ago! Imagine that! Both are uninhabited.

 

This image gives you an idea of what I

described--Santorini is on the top and right, 

a couple other islands form the

circle. The original volcano was in the middle 

and "sank." The small island in the center 

developed less than 2000  years ago

The larger one in the center is an active 

volcano, and the mass bubbled 

up about 425 years ago 

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We had to take a water shuttle to the island, and from there we had a Princess “On Your Own Tour” in Fira. The tour guide on the bus and in Fira was the worst ever. She was only speaking loud enough so a few in front could hear. I kept asking her to speak up, but she continued speaking to only a few as she was indicating where we were to meet up with her to return to the bus.  At that point she was leaving us on our own and we had no idea there were two cruise ports in Santorini, and we were dropped off at one, which we now know was Athinios Port.

 

Island Princess

At 8:45 a.m. in the morning shops and many cafes were closed and we were trying to find our way around Fira. We encountered a gentleman helping other people with directions. When we found out he was a taxi driver, we made the decision to hire him to take us around the island. 

Island Princess from Fira

After negotiating the price, we rode away, off to nearby Oia. Oia is famous for its panoramic views, marble sidewalks, and the St. George Orthodox Church (Agios Georgios). The church is a great example of traditional Cycladic architecture and is one of the most identifiable sites on the island because of its eye-catching blue dome and whitewashed stone walls.  

Marble walkway in Oia

St. George Orthodox Church in Oia

Marble walkway

From there we traveled to Finikia, a peaceful, traditional village about a mile from Oia, with pedestrian only cobblestone alleys. George said that the wealthy live in Oia, but the regular people live in villages like Finikia.

 

A lane in Finikia

Another beautiful church

Finikia

Another highlight was visiting Kamari that has one of Santorini’s biggest and blackest beaches, stretching for about 2.5 miles.  We walked along the beach for a bit and even found two pieces of beach glass!  Santorini is known for having black sand beaches, white sand beaches, and red sand beaches! 

Kamari!

Black sandy beach

Another perspective

Black lava

Red lava

We stopped at a deli and found tiropita, a “sandwich” we found at Erie’s Greek Festival, Panegyri, last year—so delicious: a five cheese (feta, ricotta, cottage, cream cheese, and sour cream) mixture in filo dough.  Heavenly! We also shared baklava and kataifi.  More Heaven!

 

The best tiropita!!
https://www.erotokritos-santorini.gr/

By this time, we wanted to return to the shuttle and here is where things went kerflooey.  George asked us and we described the port where we arrived in the morning. He dropped us off at that same port where we met our bus to Fira.  Princess buses were parked at what we now know is Athinios Port, but the bus drivers told us the water shuttle was not returning until 5 p.m. (it was 1 p.m. at the time).  That is when we learned that Princess was running shuttles all day at the port of Fira. We called George back and he returned to take us back to Fira. We were not going to walk the 588 steps down to the waterfront, so we took the cable car down.  By 2:30 p.m. we were back on the ship!

I calmly mentioned all of this at the Shore Excursion Desk before we went to dinner tonight. I use the term “calmly” loosely.

All in all, the weather was perfect, George saved the day, and Santorini is exquisitely beautiful.

https://eastendtravel.gr/  (ask for George Vatikiotis—he was fantastic)

CABLE CAR PHOTOS!

I couldn't figure out which photo I liked better--

For location purposes!

Where in the world are we?