2013-5-3 Santorini 2 (Excavation of Akrotiri)

Wikipedia:
"Akrotiri was a Cycladic Bronze Age settlement on the volcanic Greek island of Santorini (Thera).

It was destroyed in the Theran eruption sometime in the 16th century BC and buried in volcanic ash, which preserved the remains of fine frescoes and many objects and artworks. Akrotiri has been excavated since 1967."

We were very impressed with the actual dig. It has been closed for the past seven years while walkways were added. The site was also covered with a custom cover that opens and closes as needed. There was air conditioning, too. It was beautiful and easy to navigate. There were two sets of stairs—one down into the street level and one back up to the walkway. Bill waited on the walkway and read all the signs while I went down into the dig with the guide but that was only for about ten minutes.

This site is well worth seeing. I thought it was a remnant of the Minoan culture but the guide said no. (Later, I looked it up and Santorini is considered to be a colony of the Minoan culture on Crete.) These people were excellent sailors and obviously familiar with Egypt and other spots on the Mediterranean. They had murals showing African animals such as blue monkeys that never lived on the island.

This was a culture that worshiped goddesses. The murals show well dressed, light skinned women with jewelry and other signs of wealth.  The men are depicted as almost naked and tan all over, presumably from sailing, farming and other outdoor work.

Akrotiri was a small village with four story homes and public buildings.  There is a big square lined with shops. There were murals in all the buildings. These were in excellent shape but have been removed for their protection and stored in climate controlled conditions. There is a museum where you can see copies.

Some buildings had toilets connected to sewers.  The sewers ran under the streets. They had stone buildings with windows and a roof for sleeping outside in the cool air. They had window systems and thick walls to keep their buildings cool. They had tables carved of wood. They had items made of gold. Remember, this site was destroyed about 3500 years ago.

Akrotiri was destroyed by a volcanic eruption but, unlike Pompeii, there was no one left in the city when the eruption covered the town with many feet of ash. There was a major earthquake before the eruption and everyone left. They apparently took most of their furniture and personal items. There were a few beds and other personal items still on the site. No one knows where they went.  

This is the building that was erected over the site. 

2013-3-13 Santorini 1

Our excursion to Santorini was much more difficult than we expected. We took the “Discover Ancient Akrotiri” tour of the ancient excavations on the island. This tour is recommended for people who can walk a short distance. It was a Level 2 tour with a picture of two people walking if you are familiar with the system on HAL excursions. This was a mistake. Walking is not our strong point and Bill uses a walker. I am so glad we took this tour but we really should have taken the panoramic tour.

It was fantastic. The site was discovered in 1967. The guide reported that donkeys broke through a shallow crust to a lower level. The only other clue was pottery shards on the ground. An archeologist put the clues together and decided to dig. Fortunately, he started digging where the site was closest to the surface of the earth.

Our guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable. We first boarded a bus and stopped twice to take pictures of the caldera. There have been twelve calderas formed in the same spot. The island is in the shape of a crescent and the center of the crescent is actually a very deep caldera. The deep blue water and the blue and white houses perched on steep cliffs are famous the world over.

The ship could not dock or drop anchor because the caldera is so deep, so we had to take a tender to the shore. We were worried about that part but it was fine. The ship has an elevator from Deck A to Deck B on the ship where the tender is located. We got on with no problems. The ride on the tender was only about ten minutes.

This is a tender from another ship. 

There are interesting rock formations below Santorini. 

If you look closely at the picture, you can see the tram that runs up and down the hill. 

We were very impressed with the actual dig. It has been closed for seven years while walkways were added. They also covered the site with a custom cover that opens and closes as needed. There was air conditioning, too. It was beautiful and easy to navigate. There were two sets of stairs—one down into the street level and one back up to the walkway. Bill waited on the walkway and read all the signs while I went down the dig with the guide but that was only for about ten minutes.

This site is well worth seeing. I thought it was a remnant of the Minoan culture but the guide said no. Later, I looked it up and Santorini is now considered to be a colony of the Minoan culture on Crete. These people were excellent sailors and obviously familiar with Egypt and other spots on the Mediterranean. They had murals showing African animals such as blue monkeys that never lived on the island.

This was a culture that worshiped goddesses. The murals show well dressed, light skinned women with jewelry and other signs of wealth.  The men are depicted as almost naked and tan all over, presumably from sailing, farming and other outdoor work.

Akrotiri was a small village with four story homes and public buildings.  There is a big square lined with shops. There were murals in all the buildings. These were in excellent shape but have been removed for their protection and stored in climate controlled conditions. There is a museum where you can see copies.

Some buildings had toilets connected to sewers.  The sewers ran under the streets. They had stone buildings with windows and a roof for sleeping outside in the cool air. They had window systems and thick walls to keep their buildings cool. They had tables carved of wood. They had items made of gold. Remember, this site was destroyed about 3500 years ago. Only one item of gold was discovered so far which probably means the people gathered all their moveable goods when they left. 

Akrotiri was destroyed by a volcanic eruption but, unlike Pompeii, there was no one left in the city when the eruption covered the town with many feet of ash. There was a major earthquake before the eruption. They took the hint and left. They apparently took most of their furniture and personal items. There were only a few beds and other personal items still on the site. No one knows where they went.

Our real trial began after the tour when we left the bus to take the cable car down the cliff to the ship. To reach the cable car you are forced to walk up the “Street of Gold”. The street is narrow and not too steep. It’s lined with souvenir, gelato and jewelry shops. It is the world’s longest, narrowest gift shop. It was hot and humid but there was plenty of shade. Most people would have no problem getting back this way. It was harder for us but we took our time and made it up the hill. We thought everything would be fine once we ran this gauntlet.

There was no wait at the cable car and we got right on. There were nice broad steps to wait for the cable car and we managed that fine. It is a three minute ride to the bottom. The problem was that the landing was too narrow and steep when we got off the cable car. We had to cross about 20 feet to the stairs. 

The wheels on the walker are a little less than two feet apart. The steps were about 18 inches wide. We could not set up the walker. There was no handrail. I had to both hold onto the walker and carry our backpack while helping Bill out of the cable car. It wasn’t working. The cable car was blaring an automatic message to get off before it moved back to the top.

Thankfully, one of our fellow passengers stepped up to help. She said she is a speech language pathologist and helps handicapped people all the time. Someone else took the walker and the three of us slowly worked our way the ten feet across the steps to the handrail.

I would not recommend this tour to anyone with a mobility handicap. We saw two falls during the course of the day and those men did not appear to have any mobility problems. Bill saw one man fall and said he would have been okay if he hadn’t tried to protect his camera. When we got back for dinner, one of our table mates said she fell in a women’s restroom on the island. She is a little banged up. She said there was a small lip on the entrance to the bathroom and she didn’t notice it.

2013-5-3 More Pickpockets

Our dinner partners described how they lost their credit cards and about 100 Euros in Palermo. They were in a shopping area when a woman came out of a store and offered small drink samples on a tray. They each accepted a sample. Our friend said someone must have opened the zipper on her purse and removed the smaller purse with her money and credit cards while she was distracted. She didn’t notice until she tried to pay for something and her purse was already open. She knew she had zipped it closed.

This couple is from Australia. The ship allowed them to charge some Euros to their ship card. The ship staff is going to set up a phone call with their bank and help them get them more credit.

We have also heard that children come up and beg for money. After you get the money out to give to them, the pickpockets know where you keep it and how to access it.

Last year, I bought a steel belted fanny pack at REI. It has three zippered compartments that can be locked together to a steel ring. Bill and I both carry a key to protect against locking the key in the fanny pack. I feel safe from the usual kind of pickpocket. Bill doesn’t carry anything except Kleenex. So, if he is found wandering around, no one will know who in the heck he is.

Bill talked to a man who didn’t get his luggage before the ship sailed from Florida. He said the ship staff gave him an emergency clothing kit.

We are sailing into Santorini right now. The ship staff opened all the forward viewing decks. On the 5^th level, they are serving coffee, orange juice and Santorini rolls. They are soft rolls with orange and custard fillings. Just another devious ploy to get me to gain weight.  It seems to be working or my pants are all shrinking because of the sea air.

There are at least three other big ships in the harbor area so the island will be full today. We can’t dock so we will be tendered in to port.

2013-5-2 Katakolon, Greece

We didn’t take a tour today. There was one that would have been okay but Bill wanted a day off. Instead, we slept in and then walked into the port area.

There are two small museums here.  The closest one is devoted to ancient musical instruments but it had stairs so we moved on.

The further one is all on one floor and had easy access. It was fine, especially if you like mechanical gadgets as much as Bill does. It showed how the Greeks told time and communicated over a distance as well as many other inventions. One chart showed how Greek inventions are used in today’s automobiles.

2013-1-13 Corfu

They took off the dining restrictions this morning. So, there must not be much illness on board the ship.

I took a picture of the gorgeous harbor here in Corfu from the deck of the Eurodam and sent it to my granddaughter.

May 1 is a special day on Corfu. To celebrate the end of winter, people gather flowers and put them on the front of their vehicles. Our tour guide gathered some flowers and put them under the windshield wipers of the bus.  As we were getting on the bus, small swallows were flying around. Mary said it is considered good luck to be defiled by the birds. You are supposed to buy a small lottery ticket when that happens.

I would have suspected that anyone else was putting us on, but Mary is the soul of sweetness. We passed a reserve for donkeys on the way up the hill and she spoke at length about people visiting the donkeys.

 

There is also a reserve for the small Skyrian horses that are found on the island. She said they are all cinnamon colored with gentle natures. They are the perfect size and temperament for children.

(I found the picture below on horsetalk.co.nz.)

Mary told us about a book called “My Family and Other Animals”, which is set in Corfu. It is a story about living closely with animals. She said that the main character might open a matchbox and find a lizard or a spider with its children living in the box.  This illustrates a main difference between my culture and hers. I don’t think kindly about spiders having families in my stuff but she does.

The Castle of the Angels which was built in the 14^th century is visible on the way up to the top of the hill. She said that about 1000 people were saved once when they were being attacked because they were able to make it into the castle. That’s how it was named. She talked at length about Greek mythology and also the history of the island starting about the time of the Peloponnesian War.

Bill was really excited about the Ionian Sea because we read the Patrick O'Brian books about sailing here. 

The drive was harrowing for some of the passengers because of the narrow roads. We came within a foot of houses on both sides. The roads were laid out to be wide enough for a donkey carrying a bundle of olives on each side of his back. The wider streets were big enough for two carriages to pass. The real driving problems occur when the olive trees drop their fruit in November. The roads become very slick at that time.

We stopped at the small town of Lakona to buy souvenirs and take pictures. I bought some lavender soap made with olive oil. Mary talked about education on the way down. She said there are many accountants, lawyers and doctors whose education goes to waste unless they leave Greece. She talked about the economic downturn in 2008. She said Greeks are suffering but not as much as the immigrant population from Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan and other countries who came to make a fresh start in Greece.

Mary told us the people on Corfu all celebrate the Greek Orthodox Easter next Sunday because there are mostly Greeks on the island. She said she is married to a Roman Catholic and that is a common situation.

We were on a second cruise that included Corfu in 2015. The weather was better and we took some great pictures of the scenery.