A Trip of Celebration

Just another word about Santorini. The site we went to was totally covered and enclosed to prevent erosion. The parts which have been excavated point to a thriving port city. Buildings are often 3 stories high but were totally covered over. One of the most significant things they found was a golden ibis. The next morning our boat docked at Crete. We had booked a tour to an ancient Minoan village which was built around 2000 B.C. There were extensive buildings on the site and we each received a tablet with a sun shield which we could enter the number of the building, push a button and point the tablet at the building. The program would then show the building as it would have been when completed. There were massive columns that were made from huge tree trunks. It was very busy as there were multiple tours on site. There were fascinating murals. Experts are not sure why the civilization died out. We then walked through the town, had a coffee and pastry and went back to the ship. A pilot tr...

We left Rhodes after dark and were scheduled to arrive in our next island, Santorini, in the morning. Tim got up early and was able to take some stunning photos in the early morning light. Santorini is a small Greek island known for its white buildings with blue roofs. Its towns are located on top of steep hills with the traditional transportation being mules (donkeys bred with horses). Now there are buses which take tourists up from sea level and a cable car to take people down what is also 600 steps. We opted for a tour and were part of a phalanx of buses which snaked up the switchback roads. Our first stop was a tour of a very old set of ruins outside the main village of Fira. These were very interesting as they had interesting murals and huge columns. On the way we stopped at a scenic lookout which gave a dramatic view of the cold era that the three islands were formed from - the result of a volcanic eruption. Back in Fira we walked around in and out of the shops after taking in th...

Rhodes is a Greek island as opposed to a Turkish one. (Cyprus is partly Turkish and partly Greek!) We arrived mid-morning after a fairly long sail from Cyprus. We took a Hop One/Hop Off bus for a bit of a tour and then walked along the harbour. We located the House of the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John and went for a tour. A spectacular building with tiled floors and extravagant furnishings. The ceilings were all different and intricate. There was an interesting presentation in each room - the original monk who created the Order in Jerusalem spoke to us about the purpose of the Order - to help and provide care for people on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Over the years the Order grew and included sons of the wealthiest families in Europe. When the Muslims overran Jerusalem the Catholic Pope granted various islands to the Order. In time, it grew to be a military force which was evidenced in Malta when the Knights of the Order repelled the Muslims. Eventually the Order came into disre...