Exploring Santorini!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We started our day by visiting the famous excavations at Akrotiri!! I am not necessarily into archeology, but this was particularly impressive!! They discovered this site under a large amount of pumice and lava rock from a volcano eruption in the past. Many sections were quite well preserved and it showed how well developed this community was.

Windows and doors can clearly be seen in the walls. The original wood was decayed after the volcano eruption, but it was replaced with cement as the sections were excavated.

These stones were found as the flooring inside the homes!! I was impressed that they did not have dirt floors, but actually built flooring inside the buildings!

For me, this was the biggest surprise of all!! They had a sewage system inside the city!! The channel was opened up to reveal a section of the sewage system!! This was very impressive to me!!

These pots are in the actual positions as they were excavated. Some of these pots are huge!!

I was quite impressed how developed and advanced this community was!!

I really liked the rich orange color of this flower that was just outside the excavation site.

This little sign made me laugh. The fruit looks great and I certainly would enjoy eating some of them!!

We next drove to the main town of Fira and enjoyed walking around and discovering all the beautiful sites in such a picturesque location!!

I loved the spectacular contrast of colors between the deep blue Aegean Sea and the white buildings. Although it was a hot and humid day, I could not stop wandering around through all kinds of older walkways and streets!

Every turn in the road created a new angle to see such a beautiful place!!

I was certainly not alone!! There are many tourists in Santorini!! This is especially true when the cruise ships come and unload their passengers!!

This is an amazingly beautiful place!!

I thought the color contrasts of the various churches was especially interesting!!

Another turn in the sidewalk reveals another amazing view!!

I especially enjoyed stopping here. They were getting ready to photograph this woman with this long billowing red dress. The wind was blowing on the edge of the cliff and it was fun to watch the lady and her dress flowing in the breeze!!

The Greek blue and white is captivating to see!!

This light blue color was an interesting contrast to the deep blue used on other buildings. In the distance, a cruise ship is visible as the unload passengers to explore Santorini.

Santorini is such a colorful place!!

Travel to Santorini Island and Wine Pairing!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We spent most of the day riding a ferry to the island of Santorini. After checking into our hotel, we went to a local winery and had a wonderful pairing of different wines with a great meal!!

This woman was extremely helpful! She described each wine, wine making characteristics in Santorini, and the food that was paired with each wine. I thoroughly enjoyed everything, but this wine titled “Santorini” was one of my favorites.

This winery emphasizes white wines. I thought all the wines were great!!

The main course was sea bass served on potatoes. It was perfectly cooked and went great with the wine that was served!

I loved the Santorini wine!!

The Sweet Sun wine was the dessert wine. It was very rich and thicker than the other wines. It was sort of like a Port wine, only sweeter than a port.

These guys has nothing to do with wine tasting. I simply thought it was a unique sight to see them walking in front of our hotel while we were waiting for our bus. The streets are narrow, so there was a long line of vehicles lined up behind them.

Last Evening in Paros!!

/ Ed Armstrong
I walked down to the beach and met some friends from our group. We learned from the previous evening that Paros can have some unbelievably beautiful sunsets. With only my cellular phone, we watched the sunset become simply spectacular! The richness of the orange colors was amazing as the sun reached the horizon!!

This is such a wonderful group of people and I have deeply enjoyed discovering Greece together with them!!

After the sunset, we walked back to our hotel. I photographed this church a couple of days ago, but at night, it looked especially wonderful. The sky was not quite dark, and the blue lights within the two towers were so beautiful! This view was a special way to end our time in Paros!!

Visit to Lefkes on the Island of Paros!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We had another wonderful day on Paros. We started the day learning about the high quality marble from Paros that has been used for centuries. This photo is the opening of one of the marble quarries. There are plans in development to open up the opening and allow visitors to enter the quarry to learn more about the history of Paros marble.

After learning about marble, we drove to the picturesque town of Lefkes. This is church in Lefkes.

I liked the beautiful colors of this arch made from bougainvillea plants.

For some reason, I was captivated by the colors and ruggedness of this old door.

Lefkes is a very beautiful town!! Olive trees can be seen growing in the distant hills.

I liked the creative colors painted on these pots!!

One of the members of our group pointed out to me this staircase with these vibrantly painted pots!!

The vibrant colors of Greece are everywhere!!

Gorgeous flowers seem to grow everywhere in Greece!!

I love the depth of the red color in this flower!!

Next on our agenda was to attend a Greek cooking class. This wonderful Greek woman accepted the challenge to teach a group of Gringos how to cook a Greek meal. I was a requirement that everyone wear these lovely caps (to keep hairs out of our food) and an apron from her kitchen!

Our group leader Georgia taught us how to dance Greek dances while our food was cooking. It was a hilarious experience!!

This is our group photo of everyone in our group along with the chefs in the kitchen teaching us how to cook wonderful Greek food!! It was a wonderful experience!!

After our enjoying our Greek meal, we drove to the fishing village of Naoussa. This octopus is ready for someone to buy it and make it their dinner.

The Aegean Sea along with the white buildings makes Greece a spectacular place!!

It is quite a warm day and many people are enjoying the beach and swimming in the aqua Aegean Sea. I touched the water and it was nice and warm!

Beautiful Paros Island!!

/ Ed Armstrong
The island of Paros is gorgeous! The afternoon sun made this church seem to glow! I absolutely love the blue and white colors that are so common in Greece!!

There are all kinds of shops with beautiful walkways. It is not loud, but peaceful and relaxing.

As I was taking the previous photo, this friendly woman ran out of her shop and asked me to take her photo! I was happy to comply. She has a beautiful smile and was fun to see her excitement.

Our group leader described how older marble is often re-purposed from previous buildings and made into a new Greek structure.

This wall was build from an amalgamation of repurposed marble to protect the city from pirates!!

This is a beautiful scene of the Aegean Sea from the island of Paros!

The previous view of the Aegean Sea was taken while standing in front of this beautiful church!

I love the vibrant colors in Greece!! It makes me smile to see such beauty everywhere!!

This is another section of re-purposed marble used to protect the city.

Some of these re-purposed marble are quite old!!

I am captivated by the blue color of Greece that are seen in so many places!!

We were inside a sort of dark church and our group leader was telling about its history. Unfortunately, she is blurry as I had to use a very long exposure to capture the design of the church.

Re-purposed marble was used to make this fountain. Water flowed from it until several decades ago.

We went into this church. The whole outside has old marble to build it. Services were going on when we entered, so no photos were allowed.

I liked the silhouette of the bells and cross of the church against the evening sky.

I liked the repetitive columns and arches in the church grounds!

At dinner, I had my first taste of ouzo!! I really enjoyed it because it tastes like black licorice!!

While eating dinner, we looked at this fantastic sunset!! Greece is such a beautiful place!!

Ferry Ride to Delos Island

/ Ed Armstrong
The small island of Delos is one of the most important archeological sites in all of Greece. We saw kinds of artifacts from the Greeks.

Sections from various columns have been collected and work is being done to better understand the findings.

These lionesses are some of the most well-known sculptures in Delos.

I thought this lioness was impressive!

Stray cats seem to be everywhere in Greece. This group of cats in Delos seemed content to watch all the people walk by.

This sculpture of a left hand is important and our group leader requested a photo to document it. It is stored at the museum on Delos. The right hand is currently stored at another museum.

This foot is also on display in the Delos museum.

The Delos museum contained a number of sculptures.

I thought some of the sculptures were particularly impressive!

As we were walking through the Delos ruins, this friendly lizard stopped by to say hello!

Within a few feet of the previous lizard, this guy was running around. I have never seen a lizard with such a colorful design on its back!

The remanent of the “stucco” colors shows that the buildings created in Delos were not drab colors. Different reds and yellows that these buildings were quite colorful.

These two enclosed “windows” are where lighted candles would be placed to light up a room. Remnants of the wall coloring can also be seen.

I thought this mosaic was especially impressive!! The detail was amazing!

I was also quite amazed at the intricacy with this mosaic!

Ferry Ride to Mykonos!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Today was a very fun day!! We started off with a long ferry ride (about 6 hours) from Athens and headed to Mykonos. I love the colors of the Greek flag and it was flying beautifully from the back of our ferry!

We were on a huge boat and the engines really churned up the water behind the boat!

Our first stop was Syros and it was a cute town. I loved seeing the whitewashed buildings and the blue domes in the community!

Our second stop was Tinos. As with Syros, it was beautiful to see the while buildings throughout the community. It was a beautiful and quaint town.

Our third stop was Mykonos. I loved seeing the vibrant colors throughout the town. These buildings were across the street from our hotel.

This was a church near the main square. I loved the white buildings and blue domes. They were beautiful to look at.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis made this building very famous! They named it after her after she visited.

There were small chapels throughout the streets as we walked through downtown Mydonos.

I thought these waterfront buildings in Mykonos were very picturesque! The afternoon sun highlighted the different colors.

We met up as a group to walk to a restaurant for dinner at this beautiful church.

These windmills along the beach were interesting to see. They no longer spin in order to prevent injuries to people walking near them.

The Aegean Sea is beautiful as it splashes along the rocks near the windmills.

The paint jobs in Mykonos are spectacular! I love the brilliant colors!!

Green was used less commonly, but it provided a fantastic contrast with the while building color!

This red door captivated my attention! Mykonos is such a beautiful town!!

Climb the Acropolis and See the Parthenon!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Today was absolutely amazing!! We climbed up the Acropolis and then were able to see the Parthenon!! This is absolutely an amazing structure!!

This is an amazing theater on the Acropolis. When it was in use, it had a roof over the structure. I especially liked the arches that were built!

I was amazed at the structure of the columns! They were huge and could support an amazing amount of weight!!

The walls with the columns seemed to stretch “forever.”

These sculptures were across from the Parthenon. The quality of their design was absolutely amazing!!

I was completely amazed at the quality design of the columns and how they were shaped!!

I simply stand amazed at how these enormous columns were built!!

I liked seeing how the columns changed their diameter as you looked up to higher sections of the columns!! Truly amazing designs!!

Everyone loved to see this huge Greek flag!!

I am simply astounded at the intricate design of the columns and support beams!!

These intricate designs were created centuries ago without the use of computer technology. Truly amazing!!

I preferred the lighting on the sculptures from this angle. It is hard to believe they exist, even though I am standing in front of them. Amazing craftsmanship!!

The structure and design are amazing. I wish I could have seen it when it was finished!

This is an outside auditorium near the Parthenon. I was never designed to have a roof. You can see the fancier chairs along the front row for the nobility in the town.

We went inside the nearby museum and saw all kinds of artifacts. I really liked this owl!

This display showed the various types of rocks that were used to create colors for the sculptures and other artwork!!

This shows original artwork on the left that used to be part of the Parthenon. On the right is a plaster of Paris product that shows an image that was removed from the Parthenon by the British and now sits at the British Museum.

I liked this sculpture of a lion!!

I was amazed at this Greek sculpture of a woman!! I especially loved how her hair was designed! Absolutely amazing artwork!!

These sculptures were totally amazing to me!!

The detail in this sculpture were amazing to me!!

Parthenon Day and Night

/ Ed Armstrong
For our welcoming dinner for our first night in Athens we went to a restaurant on a rooftop of a building with a great view of the Parthenon. This view was when we first arrived at the restaurant in the evening.

There was a beautiful Greek flag blowing in the breeze near the restaurant. I love the blue color in the Greek flag!!

We watched the sunset and the lights on the Parthenon were beautiful at night!! Athens is a spectacularly beautiful place!!

Arrival in Athens, Greece!!

/ Ed Armstrong
After flying all night, I landed this morning in Athens, Greece!! One of the most famous sites in the entire world is to see the Parthenon that is located on top of the Acropolis!! It is amazing to see the structures of the columns and other sections that have survived for so many years. Our hotel is located very close to the Parthenon and tomorrow we will have tickets for a more closeup view. I am looking forward to learning more about how it was built so long ago with such precision.

We walked around the Acropolis and were amazed to see all the other projects that were built in the same era.

I thought the arches they built were especially interesting!!

I was amazed to see all the structures that were built by the Greeks!!

For a fee, this guy was very happy to have you stand next to him as he was wearing all his armor. I liked his helmet!!

There were several bands playing around time. I really enjoyed these guys’ music.

There so many artifacts around town!! Drivers zoom past some of them with the hustle and bustle of life.

It was encouraging to see the Greek flag prominently displayed around town!!

This guy is a fomous greek poet.