Santorini, Athens, and Istanbul

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We have been traveling a quite a bit away from the trusty laptop in our stateroom and haven’t had a chance to post a Travelblog, so now that we have a couple of sea days we’ll try to make up for it. After leaving Egypt our ship visited the Greek island of Santorini, Athens on the mainland, and Istanbul in rapid succession.

Santorini is a small island with not a great deal to see, but very scenic and lovely. It lies in the Aegean Sea off the southern coast of Greece. In 1500 BC a volcano at the center of the island erupted and the center of the island literally exploded, leaving the harbor in which we anchored. Tenders took us a short distance ashore.

Thira, the island’s main town, is at the top of a tall cliff that overlooks the harbor created by the volcanic eruption. We rode up a winding road on a bus that took us to a local winery for lunch. Santorini is said to be famous for its wine made from grapes grown on its volcanic soil. The winery was quite old and picturesque, but too dark inside for pictures. Very good food though! The owner, who greeted us hospitably, appears to make his living these days entertaining tour groups instead of raising wine.

We then drove down into the main town of Thira, which is build along a cliff that was once the side of the volcano. Lovely little white houses and shops, and little old Orthodox churches with blue domes. And the most gorgeous views of the Aegean Sea and other islands! Finally, a ride down a cable car to the landing area on the black sand beach below, and back out to the ship by tender.

The next morning we were in Piraeus, the port for Athens. Athens is full of old ruins visible on the hills surrounding the city - plainly not just any old city with nothing but skyscrapers! We went of course to the Acropolis, the highest of the hills, where we saw the Parthenon and other famous old ruins. I hate to say it, but their crumbling marble finery was not as impressive as the sleek granite perfection of the Egyptian temples, which were thousands of years older. (Dick snorted at my artsy-tartsy musings and said it was just the difference between marble and granite.) But what was left of the Athens statues was enough to show what marvels they must have been before they deteriorated. Unfortunately there wasn’t time for us to go to any local museums, which no doubt have the best preserved ancient works of art and archaeology.

For the next day we turned back east and cruised between Greece on the left and Turkey on the right, through the Dardanelle Straits to Istanbul, said to be the only city in the world that lies on two continents. Istanbul is a city of 14 million inhabitants. Half of it (3% of the country) lies in Europe, and half (the other 97%) lies across the Golden Horn in Asia (modern Turkey, or Asia Minor as the Romans called it). One of Istanbul’s main attractions is the Grand Bazaar, the mother of all shopping malls, which shelters about 4000 shops under one roof in a maze of little streets and corridors that defies description. Much to my distress, we only spent about an hour there, when I could easily have spent the whole day! Instead, we obediently trotted off to the bus to visit mosques, palaces and whirling dervishes.

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Photos

Parthenon at Athens
The Parthenon looks pretty time-worn, but has actually been restored quite a bit, and the work is still going on. We had to climb many slippery marble steps and rocks to get up the hill to it, but the view was worth it.

Santorini -- Crystal Serenity
The harbor down the cliff from Santorini was beautiful, full of little islands. Most of the shops, houses and churches were whitewashed blindingly white, with picturesque little cobblestone alleys that unfortunately resulted in a bad fall by one of our passengers.

Santorini--Dick and Mary
In the background is the harbor formed from the collapse of a huge volcano in 1500 BC. Archaelogical digs are in progress but no sites are open to the public yet.

Santorini Dog
This friendly pup greeted Mary when she rested against a patio wall in the small Santorini shopping district.

Ampitheater at Athens
One of many ruins visible on the hills in and around Athens.

Temple at the Acropolis in Athens
The whole hillside of the Acropolis is littered with marble fragments still awaiting restoration.

Istanbul Street Scene
This is the street just outside the entrance to the Grand Bazaar, showing one of the thouands of shops crammed with handbags, fabric, rugs, curios, jewelry and trinkets for tourists. What fun!!

Topkapi Palace in Istanbul
The entrance to the palace of sultans, now a museum displaying priceless treasures from Istanbul's past. This was the shooting location for the movie "Topkapi" starring Merlina Mercouri (native of Istanbul) and Peter Ustinov.

Blue Mosque in Istanbul
Named for the thousands of blue tiles that line part of the domes' interior surface. The mosque and its courtyard can hold about 60,000 people who either stand or kneel (no seats or benches). It is surrounded by six minarets, whose function is to issue the call to prayer five times a day.

Interior of Blue Mosque
By Muslim law, there is no representation of animals, humans or angelic beings in a mosque. The thousands of tiles and mosaics represent flowers and geometric patterns. This one was somewhat marred by the maze of lights and sound equipment above our heads. No shoes allowed - they were laid on low benches barely visible to the right of the doors in the picture. On the floor were thousandss of prayer rugs laid in perfect rows. We saw a worker running a vacuum cleaner back and forth over them like someone mowing grass.

Whirling Dervishes
Members of a Muslim sect that intensely trains their devotees in twirling their bodies for several minutes at a time, said to result in a mystical state. The right hand is held aloft to receive the grace of Allah, which is then transmitted to others through the extended left hand. A beautiful and impressive sight.