Venice to Turkey 10

By travelerdon on June 14, 2026

Day 10, Santorini, May 13

The ship is anchored in Santorini harbor. We Tender to shore at the bottom of the cliffs and take a bus to the top. We walk up to the top of Pyrgos and get our first views of the island. The island is amazingly sparse of growing things. It is almost desert like.

Walking around Pyrgos is quite interesting. One thing for certain is you are always walking up or down. Donkeys are used here to get yourself and your goods around. One must develop great leg muscles living here! On the way up, there are small entrepreneurs everywhere! Want a deck of playing cards? We see the first blue dome of Santorini, but not the blue domes of postcard fame! And the entrance of Mary?

Different views from the top reveal a fairly stark landscape. We have been given limited time at this stop, so visiting the shops is not really possible. Our guides, in the last photo of this set, give us a lot of historical information but I choose to spend a lot of time looking for photographic vistas. Notice a couple of vineyards here. In Greece, it is very common to grow grapes on short vines low to the ground. Very little rainfall here so the grape leaves grow in tight clumps and collect the morning dew!

The lady guide is there to tell us about our next stop, an ongoing excavation of Akrotiri, Thera, that is so important they have built a building over it to protect it from the elements! It is common all around the world to have different guides that have different areas of expertise. Also, different places require their own guides to make an income.

The bus travels on along the island. Notice the vineyards all along the way. No grapevines grow taller than a foot or so as they are self watered by the morning dew! Unfortunately, Greece is no different than most of the world where ‘street artists’ and graffiti taggers leave their mark wherever they possibly can! And donkeys hold a specific place in the culture here!

Then the bus takes us to the top of the island, or in other words, to the north end where lies the city of Oia (pronounced Eee-ah). This is the place where the iconic postcards of Santorini are found. We are excited to take our own iconic photos of the famous blue domes and white buildings. Alas, it seems that Santorini is quite overrated. There are a few blue domes but only a few. The scenic vistas are interesting, but quite different from what we expected.

Santorini has desalination plants for it has no fresh water. The processed water can be drank but is not preferred. Therefore they import bottled water. We never hear stories of what they drank in ancient times, perhaps wine? Oh well, we take our pictures and find a rooftop restaurant where we try some local wines and moussaka. Even though the views were not what we expected, a good time is had by all!

Back on the bus, we travel back to the port where we take the local ferry to the ship. All in all, Santorini leaves us a bit disappointed. This is not an attractive island, but an interesting populated desert island. On the Tender back to the ship, we even spot an interesting landslide formation on shore that resembles a bird!

Back on the ship, we go to the Primrose Bar near our stateroom and get glasses of wine and participate in random trivia sessions. We go to Hudson’s for dinner, which happens to be the main dining room. Food is pretty good tonight. We spend the evening watching the Motown show in the theater and game shows in Penrose. Then to bed it is!