ST. PAUL'S JOURNEY'S, JUNE 25 RECAP:  On to Santorini! Our cruise ship entered the caldera, which was ringed by sheer cliffs, some hundreds of feet tall. There were other smaller islands in the caldera, uninhabited, the result of volcanic activity, some less than 100 yrs old. There have been many violent eruptions over the last 1,000 yrs. According to geologists, there is a violent eruption every 20,000 years. [For the record, I'm a young earth advocate, which leads me to be skeptical of these timelines.] The island registers 13 sq. miles, with lots of evidence of ashfall & lava. In fact, many houses were built using ashes mixed with water--a surprisingly durable building material. The island is very arid with few trees. We saw grapevines that were trimmed very low to the ground, to protect them from the wind. Because there is little rain, plants depend on humidity to survive. Every time there's an eruption, the island loses landmass, so it's much smaller than in the past. There have been 3 eruptions in the 20th century, the last one in 1950. The island also experiences numerous earthquakes, since it is located at the juncture of 3 faultlines. 

We visited the village of Oia [ee-uh]. The bus had to park in a lot, & we had to walk a steep incline to get to the village. It's a very picturesque village with narrow walkways, featuring a plethora of shops, cafes, & souvenir "traps." Many photo ops. [REMEMBER:  Find Lois' FB page to view pictures. I only post narratives. I can't be responsible for everything.] After awhile I took a breather & did some people-watching while Lois, David, Carmen, & Anita ventured on. After they returned to pick me up--I wasn't worried--we found a tavern & treated ourselves to the local rose' wine. Expensive, but probably the best wine I had on the entire trip. I also treated myself to some Greek frozen yogurt. 

When we returned to the port, we passed by pistachio tree, abandoned ash quarries, & the aforementioned grapevines. The road leading to the port is pretty steep, pretty narrow, with lots of switchbacks. Kudos to our intrepid bus driver. Sorry, I failed to catch his name. You might be interested to know--but even if you're not, I'm going to mention it anyway--there are about 6,000 Greek islands; only about 200 are inhabited. We passed by a lot of them while we cruised. One more thing! It was very, very hazy, & our tour guide informed us that the haze is due to humidity.