Santorini

What a wonderful part of the world - the island of Santorini - it is perhaps the most breathtaking of all the Greek Islands. We visited the town of Thera with its white-washed houses, narrow streets, open air cafes and glittering boutiques that cling to a steep cliff which is accessible only by cable car or donkey.

The Cable Car

To the south of Thera is the City of Akrotiri where recent Minoan excavations support the theory that Santorini might be the fabled lost continent of Atlantis. Akrotiri is an attractive town perched on the Caldera Rim where the land slopes gently in one direction and falls steeply into the sea in the other direction. Let's enjoy the town at our leisure and relax over coffee as we gaze down upon Kamenes, the two black volcanic islets in the Caldera Bay.

Knossos is one of the major archaeological sites in Greece. It is just a short drive from the Venetian lion-guarded Port of Heraklion to Knossos, once the capital city of the prehistoric Minoan civilization. Knossos is thought to be the basis for the original Labyrinth, housing the mythological Minotaur. As we tour a portion of the excavated and partially reconstructed Palace of King Minos we see the Hall of the Royal Guard, decorated with frescoes and shields, and the Hall of the Double Axes. We enter the King's Chamber housing the alabaster throne amidst paintings of griffins and lilies and see the Queen's Apartment, adorned with murals of dolphins and spirals reminding us of the legend of the Labyrinth. At the end of our tour we will have a vivid picture of this splendid first Hellenic civilization.