Santorini

We had to leave our beautiful little town the next day, by ferry then two buses to the major centre of Iraklion or Heraklion (many places have two or three different spellings, and thats just in English).  Just outside is the biggest tourist draw in Crete, the Palace of Knossos.  This is the partially reconstructed ruins of the advanced Minoan civilization, from a few thousand years ago.  The improvements are controversial, since a hundred years ago an Englishman made these additions based more on his imagination than fact.   That night after a three hour meal with raki and two desserts showing up unordered, a few of us ended up at the old town square fountain to have a drink, with hundreds of locals strolling past until all hours, and a few cockroaches (the only ones I saw in Greece, it might have had something to do with us sitting in the fountain).   Now we are off by high speed ferry, with seats like an airplane, to Santorini, the most spectacular of the hundreds, even thousands if you count the uninhabited ones, of the Greek Islands, in the Cyclades group of islands.  The view as you get out of the ferry is jaw dropping, with white houses spilling over the tops of the cliffs above. We stayed in the town of Perissa, just off the black sand beach.  Santorini was formed by a massive volcanic eruption thousands of years ago, and sits on the caldera edge of the volcano.  The volcanic debris causes the sand to be black.  Close by is a red sand beach, but it has been closed recently due to falling rocks from the cliffside. A few of us went by public bus for about an hour on switchback roads to Oia, where the classic blue domed white churches rise above the cobblestone streets.  After trying and failing to capture the perfect photos, we returned to have a quick dip in the ocean before heading to a winery for sunset.  Wine made here is unique due to the volcanic content of the soil.  Its surprising anything grows here on the barren cliffs, but the wine is amazing. The weather had grown cool and stormy, and we were immersed in clouds which finally lifted to a fabulous sunset with cruise ships below.  They cant dock here but can send passengers in small boats until sunset when they must leave. Because of the stormy weather we had our final group dinner back in Perissa, before our tour leader left on a ferry to his next tour starting in Paris.