Santorini, Nafplion, Athens (departure)
May 5, 6, 7
Friday, May 5: Santorini, Greece
First, a map and a minor geology lesson. As you can see below, Santorini is in the southern Aegean Sea but it has a rather interesting geological history which was the basis for our excursion today.
The islands making up Santorini are part of the caldera around a volcano on the central island. The outer islands form a rather imperfect ring around the central island where the volcano most recently erupted in 1950. The islands in the Santorini group present very steep and high cliffs toward the center of the caldera. It is these high cliffs that really give Santorini its character.
Snow capped mountains, in the Greek islands?
On our way to breakfast, we stopped to look at the surrounding islands as we approached Santorini. Between the early hour and the clouds, the visibility was not very good and we saw what looked like snow-capped mountains around us. We quickly realized that our eyes were deceiving us as there could not be any snow-capped mountains in the southern Aegean Sea in May. Instead of snow, we were seeing the many buildings built along the crest of the cliffs, all painted white.
Now we could see they were white buildings up there.
As we got closer, we could make out the individual buildings and other structures. The weather was a bit blustery, with winds about 15 – 20 mph, clouds, and a chance of rain. Although the area inside the caldera is mostly protected from large waves, there was still quite a bit of wind-driven chop.
Our excursion today would explore some of the geological aspects of the Santorini islands by climbing to the top of the volcano on the central island. We met up with our tour group on board the ship, as usual, and boarded the “water taxi” (more like a “water bus”) provided by the local infrastructure. A short ride took us to the base of the cliffs where the harbor was which supported most of the boat activity. We were led to what I would call a “trawler” with masts for sails, although the sails were never raised this day. After a few minutes, the boat left the dock and headed out toward the central island. When we approached the dock on the central island (called Nea Kameni) there were several other boats already there, including a couple of rather large sailing “ships”. I think some of the larger boats call this dock their home port as there were very few people already on the island.
We were on one of the smaller boats on the left.
There was some kind of school group (teenagers) who started up the trail just ahead of us, but one of them slipped and sustained a minor injury so we took the opportunity to set out ahead of them.
The lower / first parts of the trail were better prepared.
The trail varied from fairly nice walkways paved with flat rocks, to gravel and dirt in the higher elevation. The peak of the island is 980 feet high, so we had some climbing to do.
This is the “all in one” photo of Santorini.
As we climbed higher, the views got better and better, although visibility was still not very good. In the photo above, you can see several of the significant parts of Santorini. The Encore is sitting at anchor and in front of it is the relatively small harbor area. The zig-zag pattern down the cliff is the “Donkey Trail” where some (hopefully very few) people ride donkeys up to the top of the cliff. Just to the left of the Donkey Trail you may be able to make out the Cable Car lift from the harbor area to the village at the top, which appeared to be the largest of several such villages on the islands.
We continued the climb to the highest point on the island of Nea Kameni, still with only the 14 of us on our excursion and perhaps 3 or 4 other people on the trail. We stopped along the way at one point to check out some active steam vents. There was steam actively coming out of the ground and some of the nearby rocks were nicely warm to the touch: they felt pretty good in the chilly air.
When we got to the top, we took a few minutes to look around us and you can get an idea of what we saw in this video. In that video you can hear the wind blowing. From this vantage point, our guide also pointed out our next stop on our tour, a “hot spring”… sort of….
Where we would be heading next
After a few minutes, we headed back down the trail and were quickly surprised to see a LOT more people coming up.
As we were leaving, many others were coming up.
Going back down did not take very long but when we got back to the dock, we had another minor adventure in store. Our boat had moved in order to give other arriving boats access to the dock. It was now “rafted up” next to some other boats, the fourth one to the right, away from the dock, in the photo below. We had to board and cross over the other three boats on the way to our boat: not really a big deal, but a bit different.
More tour boats had arrived.
We got everyone on the boat and the crew got us untangled from the other boats that were rafted together so we could head to our next stop.
We motored around the north end of Nea Kameni and around to a small island (Palea Kameni) and a small bay on that island: the bay we had looked at from the top of the volcano. Here there is a small hot spring which comes out of the ground very close to the shoreline of the bay. There were people swimming in the warmed part of the bay and we were invited to participate. The water where our boat was, and where we would have to jump in, was about 58F: way too cold for Susan and I. Our guide said that, as you swam in closer to the spring, it would warm up to about 70F or 75F. Of course, then you would have to swim back out through the cold water to get back to the boat. About 4 or 5 of the people on our boat elected to participate and I was very happy to just observe and take photos.
People swimming in the “hot spring”
After retrieving the somewhat chilled swimmers, we left the hot spring and headed back to the main Santorini harbor where we started. We got off the boat and took a few minutes to wander along the walkway ringing the harbor area, checking the several small shops and cafes there. Nothing looked very exciting, so we got back in the “water bus” to head back to the Encore for lunch.
Poking around the waterfront
After lunch we decided that we should really see what Santorini is about, and not just the volcano so we took the water taxi back to the harbor. The real interesting part of Santorini was obviously at the top of the cliffs and there were two ways to get there. We could take the Donkey Trail (walking, I was not about to ride a poor donkey) or we could take the cable car. We had already climbed about a thousand feet to the top of the volcano so we did not feel the need to climb another thousand feet up the Donkey Trail, so we bought tickets to the Cable car for 6 Euros each. Each cable car had room for about 6 people and there were 12 cars total. Six cars would come down together while the other six would be going up. We did get some nice views from the cable car.
Part way up the Cable Car lift
From the cable car we could see people on the Donkey Trail and were glad that we had taken the easy way up. As we neared the top, we could see that the “village” was larger than it looked from below and was rather spread out. I was also a bit amazed that they could (and did) build so much on such challenging terrain.
From the top of the cable car run
We were visiting Santorini in the “shoulder season”, well before the most popular times and our guide had said that Santorini was not at all crowded, compared to the more popular summer season. It sure seemed crowded to me. There were people filling the walkways almost everywhere we walked. I say “almost” because we did do some “unintentional exploring” in some lightly traveled areas. I say that we did not get lost, we just did not always know exactly how to get where we wanted to go.
When we looked out over the “back-side” of the island, I was a bit surprised to see the land gently sloping down to a large, relatively flat area with lots of agricultural fields and some commercial development. There is much more to Santorini than the villages at the top of the cliffs that you always see in the photos.
The shopping areas seemed crowded to me.
When we had enough of the winding our way through the crowds, we found the cable car and headed back down to the harbor and then out to the Encore to relax for a while. The really strange thing is that we did not see any cats in Santorini. Perhaps they know better to live on an island that close to a volcano.
A little before dinner, the captain made an announcement about a change of itinerary. We were scheduled to go to the island of Syros the next day, but the marginal weather we had today was forecast to get significantly worse the next day, and Syros has a very exposed anchorage. Besides being uncomfortable, it would probably not be possible to shuttle people to/from the town in the tenders. Instead, we would go to Nafplion, a town on the Greek mainland and situated on a small gulf with a very protected anchorage. The storm was not expected to be nearly as bad in that area either. When we saw Aimee (the Cruise Director) that evening, I told her that I felt sorry for her because I knew she was working extra hard to get new excursions and other arrangements in place for a different destination.
Tonight, we had reservations in the Colonnade restaurant for a special meal: a Bar-B-Que. There were BBQ ribs, baked beans, corn-pone and such, but somehow it just did not come across as what I think of as BBQ. The menu card emphasized the “by Thomas Keller” part, so perhaps they were trying to make a high cuisine type event out of BBQ, rather than just good eating.
The photo below was taken at dinner that evening and deserves some explanation. We had gotten to know several of the friendly servers in the Colonnade restaurant, which is probably why we ended up eating there so much. One of these servers was an interesting fellow named Ludwig. As soon as he opened his mouth, you knew Ludwig was Scottish. How a Scotsman was named Ludwig was apparently a long story, of which I only heard a small part. Ludwig had apparently had several careers before coming to Seabourn, including working for a non-profit organization for two years in Gainesville, Georgia, about 60 miles from where we live. We usually tried to be seated at one of his tables and enjoyed his service and his personality.
Susan and Ludwig
After dinner was the normal cognac and then another music show put on by the ship’s band, singers, and dancers.
Saturday, May 6: Nafplion, Greece
We had a bit of an interesting night at sea. The storm that the captain had mentioned was making its presence felt for much of the night. Although our cabin was well insulated and relatively soundproof, I could hear the wind and the waves hitting the ship. The Encore was rolling and pitching quite a bit: enough to wake me several times, but at least it was not enough to roll me out of bed. In the morning, the screen on our balcony doors and everything on the balcony was covered with sea salt. Remember that we were on deck 9, probably 60 feet or more above the sea and we had gone through enough rain that at least some of the salt should have been rinsed off the ship. That was quite a storm: we decided that the captain had made a good decision to avoid it as much as possible.
Now, on to Nafplion… Let’s take a look at the map and notice the small, but well protected gulf, Nafplion is located on.
The storm had already passed this area, so the sky was clear and, although the wind was strong, the water in the gulf had only a light wind-blown chop, so there would be no problem getting to or from the harbor.
Wind was about 15 – 20 mph, but blue skies and only a light chop to the water here
There was a limited choice of excursions, and we chose one that offered a tour of the Palamidi Castle & and the Nafplion archeological museum. Like some of our other stops on this cruise, the “Castle” was definitely more of a “fortress”. We would actually see three fortresses today, although we would only visit one of them. We actually passed close to one of these fortresses, the Bourtzi Castle, on the tender, while headed into the harbor.
Small fort at the entrance to the harbor
We unloaded from the tender and found our tour organizer and the other members of our group: there would only be six of us today, plus our guide. And the guide was a bit of a surprise: she was a rather small and frail looking woman, probably well into her seventies. I had the impression that she was called out of retirement in order to staff this last-minute tour. After a quick orientation, we loaded into a small tour bus and headed through town and up the hill to the Palamidi Castle/fortress. You can see our destination in the photo just below.
Palamidi Castle/fortress at top of hill overlooking the harbor
The road into the castle was narrow, barely wide enough for two cars to pass, not to mention allowing large tour busses, and there was no parking area, so the bus diver let us off and then drove off with the bus. There was some confusion at the “ticket office”, I assume it had something to do with the last-minute nature of the tour and possibly a lack of proper briefing of our guide, but after several minutes of “discussion” we were able to enter the fort.
Looking out over the town and area from back side of fort
The castle/fort did offer some very nice views of the surrounding countryside. We wandered around for a while, getting some information from our guide and reading the information boards (in Greek and English). The fortress was built in 1710 – 1714 and looks impenetrable but, while occupied by a Turkish garrison force in 1822, it was stormed one night by Greek troops and the Turkish commander surrendered without a shot being fired.
I suspect a frontal assault by ships would be more difficult: the Palamidi Castle is one of the three forts protecting the harbor. The other forts are the Bourtzi Castle on the little island at the entrance to the harbor, and the Fortress of Akronaupia which sits at sea level at one side of the harbor entrance. The Fortress of Akronaupiais is the oldest of the three forts, having been built by Venetians in the 14th century, although some parts of it were originally built back in the Bronze Age.
From the upper fort you can see the Fortress of Akronaupia and the Bourtzi Castle at harbor entrance.
Our guide told us to meet back at the bus at a certain time, in about 30 minutes, giving us time to look around and take a few more photos.
A lot of people visiting on a Saturday: That is our guide in the blue shirt and green vest.
We wandered around for a while, but there were a lot of people touring the fort, including what appeared to be some school groups. We avoided getting in some longer lines to see some parts, since we were not sure how long it might take to get through the line. Instead, we just looked around and enjoyed some of the beautiful views.
Nice view from up here
A little before the designated time, Susan and I left the fort and headed out to the road to find our bus. The road was a disaster! There were cars and busses everywhere, heading in both directions on both sides of the road. We did find our bus a couple of hundred yards down the road, but I was not at all confident it would be able to get out of the maze of traffic. While we were waiting for the rest of our group, we were treated to what I will call a “lively discussion” between some of the car and bus drivers who obviously had differences of opinion about who should be going where. I’m glad I was not in the middle of that conversation.
The cause of some “discussions” between several drivers
By the time the rest of our group arrived, the road jam was resolved enough to allow our driver to thread his way out of the mess. We headed back down the hill and into town where we left the bus at the harbor waterfront and started walking toward the Nafplion archeological museum in an old part of town. But, on the way, we stopped by to visit a small, old, but rather ornate church, the Church of Panagia.
The interior of Church of Panaghia
This church was originally built in the 15 century as a Greek Orthodox Church but was essentially rebuilt about 1700 in its current form as a three-aisled basiiica. After looking around and hearing the history from our guide, we left and headed to the museum. The museum appeared to be in a rather old building which had been updated and was actually very modern inside. There were at least two floors of exhibit area, with probably 25 or 30 displays on each floor, laying out a timeline of the area from prehistoric times to the 20th century. It was well organized and displayed: the only problem is that our guide wanted to tell us all about it, all of it, in way too much detail.
Our guide explaining the first display at the Nafplion Archaeological Museum… in detail.
We made it through the first floor, but when our guide led us to the 2nd floor and started there, Susan and I looked at each other and agreed “enough?”. By this time the tour was already more than an hour after the planned ending time, after 2:00, and we were getting hungry. We politely told our guide that we had to get back to the ship, thanked her (with a tip) and left. She was still talking to the one remaining tour member when we last saw her.
Some of the colorful pottery at museum
We found our way back to the harbor and the tender pick-up point and got back to the Encore in time for a late lunch.
Oh, although we saw a couple of cats here, they were headed the other way and I did not get a photo of any cats in Nafplion.
We had time for a little rest before the main afternoon event was to take place. This same event had been scheduled the previous week, but got rained out. This was to be a “salute to the crew” event, complete with the usual champagne and caviar.
Preparing for the salute to the crew around the pool deck
At the appropriate time, the crew paraded out onto several levels of the pool deck, although a significant number of the crew were still working on the pool deck, serving the champagne and caviar. Aimee (the cruise director) introduced the key groups of the staff (housekeeping, bar, restaurant, engineering, etc.) and the officers. It sure seemed as though there was a lot of crew members there, as you can see in this video.
After the ceremony was over we relaxed for a while and then headed for one more dinner with our friends in the Colonnade restaurant. Tonight we had to organize and pack our suitcases and put them outside our cabin by 10:00PM, so we called it an early night.
Julin was another of our friends in Colonnade.
Sunday, May 7: Piraeus (Port of Athens)
Early morning back in Piraeus, the port of Athens
We enjoyed a last breakfast in the Colonnade restaurant and then waited for our departure group to be called. Disembarkation was well organized and went smoothly and our luggage was easily found among the thousands of bags.
The end of a nice trip, although not quite as “outstanding” as we had hoped for.
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