Season’s Greetings

Tuesday, 24 December
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas

Happy and safe travels to one and all in the new year!

Teaser: Leg Two Down; We're Home

Monday, December 9
Winter Garden, Florida

107 days of gallivanting around the world came to an end today. We picked up our "condo on wheels" a few hours ago in central Florida. Tomorrow, we start our trek to the Panhandle and then we'll be traveling west to Texas. I will try to get into the blogging rhythm as soon as I can ... stay tuned.

Top left: On the veranda of Cabin 7204 crossing the Med from Italy to Spain.
Bottom Left: The Roman Theater of Antiquity in Cartagena, Spain.
Center Top: A tree-climbing goat en route to Taroudannt, Morocco.
Center Middle: The cathedral in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands.
Center Bottom: Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Right: The Tower of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

Teaser: One Leg Down ...

Sunday, November 24
Civitavecchia, Italy

The first leg of our back-to-back cruises ended this morning when we docked in Civitavecchia, the port that serves Rome. In a few hours, we will begin the TransAtlantic Cruise that will bring us home on 9 December. We expect to have as much fun on this next leg, as we did on the one that just ended. One big difference ... where we had just two days at sea on the first leg, we will have nine days at sea on the second leg — something we are really looking forward to.

Clockwise from top left:

17th century glass from a sunken galleon, Archaeology Museum — Bodrum, Turkey.
The Ruins of Pompeii — Napoli, Italy
The Ruins of Delos — Mykonos, Greece
Ayva Tatlısı (a tasty dessert made with quince) — Marmarİs, Turkey
A Chapel on the cliffs of Fira — Santorini, Greece
The Ruins of the Church of St John — Selçuk, İzmİr
The White churches and blue domes of Oia — Santorini, Greece
The Parthenon — Athens, Greece
The Mosque of Kanunİ Sultan Süleyman (Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent) — Rhodes, Greece

Center: Naval Museum — İstanbul, Turkey

Santorini: Oia … Photolog

Tuesday, 19 November (Part II)
At Sea in the Aegean — En route to the Greek Mainland

I wrote about our visit to the Greek island of Santorini in the previous post [here]; and teased you a bit about Oia, where we spent most of the day.

Arriving with other DIYers who took the public bus from Fira, we went our own way to explore the town, which felt fairly deserted for most of the morning.  We strolled through the maze of narrow streets; going up and down steps, around corners, and all the way to the castle at the tip of of the promontory.

Seeing the houses terracing up the steep cliffs, I had to wonder at the logic for the layout of the town.  Sure, those houses — some of them probably B&Bs — have great views.  But we’re in big time earthquake country here.  And to boot, the island sits within the very active Aegean volcanic zone … Santorini itself is a remnant of a flooded volcanic caldera!

But I wasn’t there to question the whys of how and where Oia sits.  I was there to enjoy this picture postcard perfect town … on a day of sunshine and blue skies … couldn’t have asked for better.

Love the terrace … not to mention the dog!

So, slip off your shoes — you won’t need them since we did the walking for you — and make yourself comfortable for a virtual tour of one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen in our travels.  And if you think there are too many photos in this post … too bad ;-)  Just remember — it could be worse; I have hundreds of photos from Oia that didn’t make it into the blog … and, at least the words are at a minimum!

See the castle at the very end of the promontory? …

… Here’s a closer look.  That’s where …

… our stroll brought us … to capture this image of Oia.

Canine or human … we’re all after the same photo-op ;-)

You might think that the photo on the left is of a church.  it is … but look in the
bottom Left corner to see what I’m really photographing! … And if you still
can’t see the subject, just look at the photo on the right ;-)

The Holy Church of the Akathist Hymn of the Virgin Mary, known locally as Panagia Platsani, is the principal church of Oia.  The hymn from which its name is derived means “unseated” in Greek.  Except for the aged and infirm, the congregation is expected to remain standing in reverence during the chanting of the hymn.  The tradition dates back to 626 AD when, after defeating Avari and Persian invaders, the people of Constantinople stood through the night, chanting a hymn to the Virgin Mary.

Panagia Platsani was originally built inside the castle on the promontory.  After its destruction
in the earthquake of 1956, given the unstable soil there, it was rebuilt in the center of town.

Most of the holy items in the church are from Russia, a country to
which sailing vessels from Oia transported wine produced in Santorini.

And so ends this virtual tour of Oia.  I’ll leave you with an iconic image from this incredibly scenic town …

Moving onto Athens now …