Santorini and Crete

Santorini

After the 3 days in Athens, we boarded the Olympic Countess and began our 7-day cruise. The morning of Day 1 was spent on the scenic island of Santorini. Some people say that Santorini is very picturesque and romantic. We can say from personal experience that it really isn't at 7:30 in the morning.

This is a pack of stray dogs who were asleep in front of the Hotel Atlantis at Santorini. The fact that we were taking pictures of Greek stray dogs should tell you something about how exciting we found Santorini. Again, maybe it was just the early morning.

OK, there was one pretty thing to take a picture of on the island. This is Frances overlooking the scenic harbor view and with the town in the background.

This is a picture from said scenic harbor view of our boat, the Olympic Countess. She carried about 850 passengers and was about 600 feet long from stem to stern, to give you an idea of how far up we were.

Crete

Shortly before lunch, we left the sleepy island of Santorini and made for the city of Heraklion on the island of Crete. On arrival, we boarded a bus and headed for the palace of Knossos, home of the legendary King Minos. We were very impressed with this tour, mostly due to our wonderful (and extremely knowledgeable) tour guide Vangelis. In fact, we were so very impressed with this tour that we almost completely forgot to take any pictures of the place. These are the only two which made it out.

This is a reproduction of a fresco at the Palace of Knossos. You can tell that the figures in the fresco are men because of their red skin tone, a result of working outdoors in the sun regularly. In contrast, women have white skin tone, since they tended to work indoors.

This picture shows a fresco of a bull, sacred animal to Minoan-era Cretans. Like much of the Palace of Knossos, the fresco and the structure around it are reproductions of the originals, which is why the site appears to be in such good condition.

After our tour of the Palace was over, we went back to Heraklion. After a brief run-through of the Archaeological Museum there, we went to ask our tour guide a question. As soon as he saw us, he said, "Oh, glad you're here. Come, try some Cretan honey." We said, "Sure, but we have a question for you." He just shook his head and smiled, saying, "Try the honey first. Ask your question later." We came away with very good answers to our questions and two small jars of Cretan honey =8^).

	This is a pack of stray dogs who were asleep in front of the Hotel Atlantis at Santorini. The fact that we were taking pictures of Greek stray dogs should tell you something about how exciting we found Santorini. Again, maybe it was just the early morning.
	OK, there was one pretty thing to take a picture of on the island. This is Frances overlooking the scenic harbor view and with the town in the background.
	This is a picture from said scenic harbor view of our boat, the Olympic Countess. She carried about 850 passengers and was about 600 feet long from stem to stern, to give you an idea of how far up we were.

	This is a reproduction of a fresco at the Palace of Knossos. You can tell that the figures in the fresco are men because of their red skin tone, a result of working outdoors in the sun regularly. In contrast, women have white skin tone, since they tended to work indoors.
	This picture shows a fresco of a bull, sacred animal to Minoan-era Cretans. Like much of the Palace of Knossos, the fresco and the structure around it are reproductions of the originals, which is why the site appears to be in such good condition.