Santorini - a little bit of Heaven

Wow!  We loved Santorini!  We have just returned from six days in Santorini - almost a week.  What an incredible place.  After a week of busy, busy travel with the Rick Steve’s Italy tour, Mike and I were pretty worn out.  Santorini was just the place to relax and recharge our batteries.  Just look at this place!

If Santorini is new to you... here’s the 30 word summary.  Santorini is an island that experienced a major volcanic eruption somewhere around 1500 - 1550 BC.  At that time there was a prehistoric community on the Island of at least 30,000, who apparently had adequate warning and  escaped.  (More about that later.) Back to the eruption.  The volcano threw huge amounts of lava and volcanic ash on to the island - so much so that the center of Island collapsed under the weight of it and sank beneath the sea leaving only the outer rim of the Island with huge cliffs on the interior side of the rim.  The outer rim included a large island and a smaller one with the sea in the middle called the “Caldera.”

Two other eruptions have happened since the major eruption in 1500 resulting in two smaller Islands being created in the middle of the Caldera.  Palea Kameni was created in 197 BC and nine eruptions have been recorded since this island first broke the surface of the water.  The last eruption was in 1950.  Nea Kameni emerged from the Caldera in 1707 and the volcanic action has continued since with three eruptions in the 20th century.  The last one was in 1950 although scientists detected a swell of molten rock in 2011-12 which caused the Island to rise out of the water by another 8-14 centimeters.  (Hmm... I think that was more than a 30 word description. Sorry about that.)

Today Santorini is considered to be one of the most beautiful Greek islands and is certainly among the most interesting places to visit because of it’s unusual geological history.  While we were there, the Island was inundated with tourists from 3-5 cruise ships each day.  We learned very quickly when not to walk through the local shopping district!

We stayed in the little town of Oia (pronounced Ee-ah.). The O is silent and the “I” has a long e sound to it.  We stayed at the far end of town which put us in a terrific place to watch the sunsets.  Our hotel was called “Golden Sunset Villas” and consisted of several small cave rooms built into the cliffs.  They were charming and very unusual!  Alternatively, one of the rooms was at the top of an ancient windmill - also quite cool.  There were two windmills in Oia.  One belonged to our hotel.  The other was next door.  At the end of the week there was a slight mix up with our departure date and we changed locations.  We moved next door (the opposite side of the second windmill) to Fanari Villas.  Same sort of cave like rooms, but these were luxury accommodations with  a private outdoor jacuzzi, double bath rooms and small living rooms.  There was a dining room with two terrace eating areas, one above the other.  We had dinner there the last night in Santorini.  They brought us a "Volcano Surprise" for desert complete with a simulated eruption.  Amazing hotels - both of them.

We had a couple of cool adventures while on the Island.  The first was a catamaran trip around the island, or at least part of it.  The crew was a small group of young Greek men in their 30s and the trip attracted a young crowd.  Mike and I were among the few people over 50 on the boat.  Most of the young people stripped to their swim suits soon after we left the harbor so we joined them. We headed first for hot springs at Nea Kameni - the active volcano.  The hots springs are at the edge of the water

and turn the water a muddy brown color.  The catamaran pulled as close as was possible and told us that if we wanted to swim in the hot springs we could dive in and swim the rest of the way.  They warned us, however, we would probably smell like sulfur and our swim suits might turn brown or orange.  They also offered to provide life jackets for those who didn’t know how to swim.  That’s when people started jumping off the boat and swimming for the hot springs.  Mike and I looked at each other in amazement.  There was no liability contract to sign.  No one was asked to take a swimming test.  No one counted how many people swam away from the boat, or took names, or created a buddy system.  Mike and I did not go.  After a while, when it seemed everyone was back on the boat, the crew just started up the engines and sailed away.  From there we went to the far side of the main island to see the Red beach and the White sand beach created by the volcanic activity.  There is also a Black beach which we did not see. Near the white beach, they offered snorkeling equipment to anyone who wanted to borrow it to look at the fish and sea bed below.  Mike took advantage of this and was awestruck by the beauty of the sea life.  The evening ended with an on board barbecue and a slow return to port at sunset.  All tolled, it was about a five hour cruise.

The second adventure took place a couple of days later when we rented a car to drive around the island.  We started with Akrotiri which is a little village on the south end of the island.  Right next to the village is an archaeological dig into what is called Ancient Akrotiri.

Ancient Akrotiri is the remains of the village of 30,000 people who lived on Santorini in 1500 B.C. when the volcano struck the island, collapsed the core and reduced it only the rim of the original island.  Like Pompeii  the resulting lava acted as a natural preservative for the town, only the Akrotiri eruption happened 1500 1600 years earlier.  Unlike Pompei, however, there are no human remains and the most valuable pieces are not present indicating the people had ample time to pack up their valuables and leave the Island.  These people were the Ancient Minoans and the original community was on Crete, visible from Santorini on a very clear day.  It’s likely they went there for safety.  Unfortunately, the eruption created a huge tidal wave estimated to be 820 ft high moving at a speed of 217 miles per hour.  It reached Crete in half an hour and many historians believe this is what destroyed the Minoan civilization.

Visiting the archeological site of this ancient community is a pretty awesome experience.  First of all, the archeologists took the time to set up the dig correctly, building the necessary foundations and creating a roof over the dig to protect the site itself as well as the archeologists.  A couple of years ago the roof was reconstructed with better technology and is a wonder in an of itself!  It makes the place very comfortable for visitors.

 I can hardly do justice to describing this place of ancient civilization.  But let me say a few things about it.  Their homes were surprisingly large with several rooms to a home.  Many of them were two and three stories high with steps leading from one floor to another.  They had running water, indoor lavatories and a city sewer system!  

They had incredible art on the walls - most of which has been taken to the Archeological museum in Athens.  Yes, it’s on our list to see when we visit Athens soon.  Some historians have suggested that Akrotiri may be the ancient city of Atlantis that’s is thought to be mythological.  The legend describes an ancient city of art and poetry and great happiness that sank into the sea.  That sounds like Akrotiri.  I just kept thinking about how often we assume we modern people are so much smarter than the ancient undeveloped people of the past.  Akrotiri sure takes that idea to task!  What a privilege to see this amazing place!

I Found It! (Or at least part of it.)

Tuesday, June 19th was an amazing day.  It’s the day I found the early church, or at least a part of it.  I didn’t really even know I was looking for it until we visited San Clemente near the Coliseum in Rome.  This was part of our Rick Steve’s Italy tour, and was the last official day of the tour.  We had been to Venice, Florence and were now in Rome.  The day before we visited the Vatican and St. Peter’s which I found to be sadly disappointing.  The power, prestige, and riches of the cahurch which are meant to impress felt very distant from the Jesus of Nazareth I believe in.

So on this last day of the Rick Steve’s tour, we set out for the Coliseum and the Roman Forum.  As a way of setting the stage for this tour our guide took us first to San Clemente - a 12th century basilica. Ho hum.  Not even very old.  Our guide, Francesca, explained our visit would help us understand how the layers of Roman civilizations get uncovered.

Once inside I was impressed by the beautiful and rather simple sanctuary built on the model of what had been a fourth century basilica.  There was a large choir section right in the middle of the church for intimate daily worship.  As it turns out, this choir section was taken directly from the original fourth century basilica and is decorated with early Christian symbols - not the cross.  The cross was not used as a symbol of Christianity until the late fourth century/early fifth century.  Instead it is decorated with the fish (which is an acronym for the words: Jesus Christ, son of God, savior), the dove - a symbol of peace and the vine - a symbol of the Eucharist or communion (the vine held the grapes from which communion wine was made.)

The chancel mosaic was also quite beautiful and is so characteristic of 4th and fifth century theology that it has been suggested it was simply a copy of the original church’s mosaic.  Jesus is pictured on a cross that is the tree of life planted on the hill of paradise with rivers flowing out of it.  The doves, here a symbol of souls, decorate the cross.  A deer drinks from the river and the phoenix is pictured - a symbol of immortality.  The inscription underneath reads, “Let us liken the Church of Christ to this vine.”  And the scenes around the rivers show people and animals drawing substance and life from the river.  What a wonderful image for the purpose of Christ and Christ’ church.  Our tour, however, was not over.

Francesca, our guide, invited us to follow her.  We headed through a hall and down a staircase.  While we were descended the stairs she explained that in 1857, a Father Joseph Mullooly, the then prior of San Clemente, had discovered a loose tile in the floor of the church, and having lifted it discovered an old pillar descending under the church.  he spear headed an effort to excavate under the church and discovered the original fourth century church buried beneath.  Francesca took us below to this very sanctuary to which St. Jerome refers to in 390 as “a church in Rome that preserves the memory of St. Clement to this day.”  Clearly this basilica was built sometime between the Edict of Milan in 313 which allowed Christianity to come out into the open and 390 when we hear it is a thriving church community.

The fourth century church was remarkable with frescoes around the room and a simple altar with an anchor on the front of it - another ancient symbol of Christianity, recognizing Christ as the anchor that holds us true in troubled waters.  The tour, however, was not over.  Francesca explained there was more below.  We headed down another set of stairs and found a second century building that belonged to someone who had practiced Mithraism, a religion popular with soldiers in Rome at the time when Christianity was also beginning to flourish.  Mithraism died out in the fourth century.

We continued around the corner and sat down in a brick room.  Francesca pointed out the herringbone bricks on the floor and the patterned stone work on the walls characteristic of first century homes.  She said these brick rooms (there were several) were attached to a large public area that remains un-excavated because such an effort would endanger the present church.  That public area, however, is believed to have belonged to a Christian named Clement who made his space available in the late 1st century/early second century to Christians for worship.  We were sitting in a room that either was an early house church or was next to a room that was an early house church on top of which a fourth century basilica was built over which a 12th century basilica was constructed years later.  This was holy ground.  I had chills.  In fact, Mike and I came back again the next day just to sit in this space and think about those early Christians sitting together, perhaps listening to one of Peter’s disciples retelling the stories Peter had told him and breaking bread together and drinking out of a common cup remembering Jesus.

There are a lot of Christian traditions and Christian churches that have grown up since the first century when those early believers gathered in hope because they were convinced God had done something unique and profound through Jesus of Nazareth.  I’ve been looking for those early believers and trying to grasp something of their experience.  I think I found them, at least maybe a few of them.

Postscript...  There is more below this last first century level.  There is evidence of a building that was destroyed in the great Roman fire of 64 AD.  Nero, looking for someone to blame, accused the Christians of setting fire to the city and a great persecution swept through the church in Rome.

Mike Has a New Alias

Mike has often said that he looks like a lot of people.  All his life he has had people approach him in restaurants and stores with big smiles of recognition assuming Mike is their long lost uncle or the guy who lived down the hall in college or a friend from high school.  He has literally had people argue with him about his identity, quite certain Mike was lying about who he really is.  Well... it has happened again.

From the moment we started the Rick Steve’s tour in Italy there were members of the tour group who thought Mike “sure looked like Rick Steves.”  In fact a couple of them questioned him quite closely thinking perhaps “Rick” was traveling incognito to see how the tours were going these days.  The coup de gras came on the night we were out to dinner with the tour group in Florence.  We were having a wonderful group meal at a restaurant.  Mike got up to take a group picture.  Sounds like our Mike, right?  Of course he was egging everyone on encouraging raised glasses and big smiles.  I’m sure it attracted attention in the next room where the waiters had probably mentioned to a few of them that a “Rick Steve’s Tour” was having a meal in the next room.  A few minutes later a couple came into where we were dining and approached Mike.

“We always use your books when we travel,” they said to Mike holding out their Rick Steve’s Guide to Italy.  “Would you mind signing our book?”

Poor Mike.  He was kind as he could be explaining there had been a mistake and he was not Rick Steves.  That’s when several members of the group chimed in, “What you mean, Rick?  Go ahead!  Sign their book!”  But Mike insisted he could not sign because he is not Rick Steves!

Here’s a picture of Mike in front of the Coliseum and a picture of Rick Steves. Do you think they look alike?

Musica A Palazzo

We survived the Rick Steve’s Tour of Italy!  What a busy, busy tour.  We are now quietly located on the Greek Island of Santorini enjoying a little rest and great beauty.  Everywhere we look there is an amazing vista. I want to recall a couple of amazing days of the tour for you and will add a couple of blogs in the next few days.

The best night we had in Venice was spent in the Palazzo Barbarigo Minotto which is a 15th century Gothic Palace overlooking the Grand Canal.  Mike and I, in a free evening, went to see and hear a production of Verdi’s La Traviata, a tragic opera.  The Opera was put on by the Musica A Palazzo which is technically a traveling opera company although they consistently perform in the Barbarigo Palace in Venice.

Verdi’s opera is performed in three acts and all three acts took place in different rooms of the Palace.  We, the audience, moved with the performers after each act.  The really fun part of seeing the opera in this setting is the audience becomes part of the set and the singers interact with the audience frequently.  So for instance, in the first scene, we were all part of a great party.  The soprano hostess went around kissing the ladies in the audience in welcome as she was singing.  Later she handed out champagne glasses for her final toast in the scene.  At one point in the second act Mike found himself seated next to this same soprano as she sat at her writing desk composing a letter to her beloved.  I think he found it a little unnerving to be sitting next to this woman as she was pouring her heart out in song beside him!  It was truly a magical night!  We were not able to take pictures of the actual performance, but Rick Steve’s has a video of the night he visited.  Click here to get a glimpse of the Musica A Palazza along with a bit about St. Mark’s square in Venice: https://youtu.be/w5iFgVaAAos.

Just to add to the remarkable evening... we came out of the palazzo at the end of the night, heading back to our hotel, only to find the streets of Venice partially flooded!  We had to wade through water over our ankles to get back to the Main Street!  We moved through the streets to St. Mark’s Square

which we needed to cross to get back to our hotel and found the entire square flooded.  People (mostly young people) were splashing around the square in water up to mid calf in some places. There was no way to cross it without getting really wet, so we back-tracked and wove our way through other streets getting only a little lost on the way.  Many of the streets were wet and some of them flooded.  Luckily the street on which our hotel was situated was only wet!  The water had already receded.

You may have heard that Venice is sinking into the sea.  Venice is actually a series of Islands that were built on fallen trees.  It is sometimes called the floating city. There are a variety of reasons that contribute to the flooding problem.  If you want to see a few pictures of recent floods, click here:  https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/jun/16/history-flooding-sinking-city-venice-in-pictures.  The city is in the process of building an elaborate system of gates designed to close off the waters at high tide to try to address the problem.  Hopefully this beautiful city will still be around for our grandchildren.

By the Aegean

The Aegean Sea is amazing - more beautiful than I had imagined!  

Thursday (June 7th) we headed off in our rented car with a little cheese brioche from the bakery and coffee in hand about 8:30 in the morning.  The drive out of town, heading for the middle peninsula south of Thessaloniki that stretches into the Aegean.  It’s called Sinthonia.



It took us a little over an hour to reach Kalogria Beach (The Mango Beach Bar.). The beach was set with large tropical looking umbrellas under which sat two blue beach chairs and a small table. These were neatly set up in about five rows all along the beach.  We were told to pick our spot and “the waiter” would be down to collect our fee for use of the chairs and to take any food or drink orders.  The waiter waited until we were settled and then came up behind to take our drink orders and then returned to place them on the table between the two chairs.  Luxury!

The sea was incredible.  We struggled to describe the color of the water.  In places it was turquoise. 

Some of it was a sea green and some of it a deep sky blue azure.  It was crystal clear.  You could see right to the bottom and there was barely a ripple on it.  At one point I ventured into the water which was a bit cold for me, but I got about waist deep and watched a small school of silver fish (about 3 inches long) circle around my feet.  Every once in a while one of them would nibble on my toes.  Too much fun!


Somewhere around 1:30 we decided we were beginning to get hot.  (It actually was cooler on the beach with the breeze blowing off the sea.)  Still, we got in the car and went to a restaurant Elke had recommended called Boukadoura.  It was about 10 minutes from the beach.

The restaurant was beautiful.  It was stone and white plaster with dark wood trim and furniture.  It was situated on a point reaching into the sea, and we were only feet from the water.  After lunch we walked out on the point and looked at the huge rocks around the point in the sea. For lunch we had a wonderful salad – mixed greens with orange slices, hazelnuts, and figs with and orange balsamic.  The rest of lunch was average, but the view and the sea breeze were amazing!

Last night we had a second “sea excursion.”  This time we wandered down to the end of our street and went east once we hit the sea shore.  We were looking for a Trip Advisor recommended restaurant called Hamodrakas Seafood Restaurant.  I was feeling very Greek, or at least as Greek as one can feel with white blond hair!

I was wearing a silky blue pant suit I had just bought.  The Rick Steve’s tour information said that Europeans are very casual in their dress, but I have not found this to be true of the women, particularly in Greece.  The women are mostly in dresses and skirts or dressy pants and tops with dressy sandals, many with high heels.  They particularly like maxi dresses with spaghetti strap tops or pant suits that are similar except that instead of a long skirt there are flowing pant legs.  Clothing is cheap here, so I bought a pant suit.

So off we went to Hamodrakas for some sea food.  The food was delicious.  We had roasted vegetables instead of a salad.  Then I had an herb crusted salmon steak on mashed potatoes with a cream sauce.  Mike had a grilled sea bass and what looked like sea weed accompaniment.  Both were delicious.  We had a half liter of the house wine.  Most places here just purchase the locally made wines and they are terrific!  We were about to order desert when they brought us two pieces of a dark chocolate torte that I think had cookie chunks baked into it.  Great food!

The best part of the night, however, was the location.  the restaurant is 90 years old and we ate out on the extension over the water.  We could see the bay all around us.

We watched the sun set in the west and the lights of Thessaloniki come on and twinkle over the water in the east.  Greece is an amazing place.

A World Away

Today marks one week in Greece, and although Greece is part of the EU and definitely part of Europe, it feels like a world away.  I am reminded frequently of our time in the Middle East.  Traffic rules (or lack there of) are similar to Egypt.  The food is also similar - lots of lamb, vegetables, baklava, coffee and Ouzo! Greece, of course, is not the Middle East, but it is also not Germany, Switzerland or France.

Here’s a picture from our flat in Thessaloniki. We are staying in this flat courtesy of one of the member couples of my church in La Porte - Bert and Adi.  Their daughter, Elka, and their Greek son in law, Yanni own the building which has three flats in it.  Yanni’s mother, who has Alzheimer’s, lives in the bottom flat with a caretaker.  Elka and Yanni have the middle flat and Bert and Adi rent the upper flat and have given it to us for as long as we need it here in Thessaloniki.  Yanni also has a shop in the basement which opens out onto the street.  You walk down about four steps into his shop where he sells water purifiers on the side.  Yanni is a plumber by trade.  Everyone up and down the street lives in these flats.  There are shops opening out on the main street below every flat.  And everyone knows each other in the neighborhood.

The flat is quite comfortable.  We have air conditioning which is very helpful as most days it is in the high eighties or low nineties.  I think most people do not use their air conditioning.  We do!  The net result of the heat, however, is that most of the shops open by eight or nine in the morning and close at 2:00 PM.  There follows a quiet time when people go home and eat their lunch and then rest or nap.  The shops reopen at 5:30 and stay open until 8:00 PM.  Most Greeks eat dinner between 8:00 and 12:00 PM.

We started getting oriented to Greek life and then promptly left for our trip to Philippi with a side trip to Mount Athos. It was an amazing trip!!! (More on that later.). We returned home to Thessaloniki on Thursday night and have been getting a little rest and focusing on getting on our Greek life!  Here are a few of the adjustments:
1. Everything is in Greek and everyone does not speak English as we were led to believe.  All those hours practicing Modern Greek are paying off.
2. We live on the third floor of a big building.  We walk up the marble circular staircase every time we go to our flat.  Everything is in marble here!  We carry everything upstairswith us... suitcases, food, etc.  There is no elevator.
3. We have a small washing machine, but no dryer.  Not really a problem.  The clothes are hung up on a clothes line on the roof, up another flight of marble steps.  The roof is beautiful, by the way.  Elka and Yanni have it set up with table and chairs for dining or relaxing and decorated with plants.
4. The oven is in Celsius.  Thank God for google.
5. We have to turn on the hot water 25 minutes before we need it and then turn it off again afterwards to save on electricity which is very expensive.
6. Food is purchased in a variety of shops that are all within a few minutes walk of our flat. We go to the butcher for meat, the bakery for breads and pastries, the fruit and vegetable stand for fruits and vegetables unless we go to the farmer’s market on Saturdays where the growers sell everything fresh from the farm.  (We went today.) Shampoos and personal care items are purchased at the pharmacy.  Nuts and candy are bought in a separate shop.  Sweet pasteries are purchased in yet another shop!  There are a couple of small supermarkets, but one only goes there for items you can’t find in the local shops - so Elke and Yanni tell us.  Oh... and you need to bring your own bags to carry home your purchases.

So today, I decided to go shopping for a light weight skirt and swimsuit.  The skirt I brought with me is too heavy for this climate and I needed a swimsuit.  So many places to swim here!  Elke offered to come with me, because I had tried shopping on my own and everything on the racks was too tiny. Elke assured me there were larger sizes in the back.  She was right.  Elke knew the shop keepers by name and once she explained what I was looking for, the shopkeepers started pulling out all sorts of different skirts.  Too short?  They had a longer one.  Too long?  They could shorten it for me.  The swimsuit situation was even more personal.  I found a suit I liked, but it was too big.  They sent a girl to fetch a smaller size from their shop down the street.  It was too long, so they sent me to a tailor!  She received me in her home while she was making lunch for her husband and fit the suit to me.  Then she made the alterations and called a couple of hours later so I could pick it up.  The alterations cost 3 Euros, or about 4 dollars!

Part of me thinks I could get used to this simpler lifestyle with close knit neighborhoods.  We made a salad for lunch with fried feta cheese, cashews from the nut shop and fresh cherries from the farmer’s market.  We ate it with a slice of bread baked at the bakery this morning.  Tonight we are walking to the sea shore where we will have a leisurely dinner with Elke.  The waiter will likely bring us an ice cream desert or a glass of Ouzo after the meal “on the house.”   Tomorrow we will go to church again at the Orthodox Church where we understand maybe half a dozen words and have to stand for the entire service.  So maybe I couldn’t get used to everything!

I am a little behind in some of the things I have wanted to post, so here’s a bit about our extravagant Michelin Star restaurant in Paris on Friday night - our last night in Paris.  This was on May 25th.

The restaurant was called Relais Louis XIII because the restaurants sits on the grounds of Couvent des Grands-Augustine’s, the exact place where Louis XIII was proclaimed king of France in 1610.  The decor is reminiscent of the time period.


The dinner was amazing.  We had the six course set menu which means the chief chose the menu for us.  We started with a mousseline of red sweet pepper.  It was light and tasty.

The next course was green asparagus with poached egg and bacon.

The fish course was Hake with cabbage and potatoes in a cream sauce to die for.

 The Poultry was with vegetables Susan – whatever that is.

The cheese course was a Chaourse cheese from Burgundy. It had not occurred to either of us that a cheese course could be a desert, but this was.  It had an apple sauce under it and the cheese was whipped – yummy.  That’s some sort of crunchy toast on top.

The final course was an Ice and Meringue with strawberries.  The ice was actually a gelatin.

After dinner they brought us sweets and coffee.  (Dad got tea, of course.)

It was quite a magical night.  The food was terrific, the service kind and helpful and the location exquisite!