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!!