Santorini – Gondola ride up or the stairs? What d’ya think?

Arrived and saw the beautiful cliffs with homes/businesses/hotels/churches clinging to the sides.  Little did we know that is just one small portion of the island, I mean we knew there was more, just not how much more.  We took the Gondola up and met our tour guide at the top!  Yipee, we’re the only ones with him so it was like a personal tour.  We literally saw the whole island:  Oia, Fira Town, the Monastery of Profitis Ilias (1711), Red Beach, Black Beach, and even a small village (as all the little towns are called) called M…….. , Yup, I don’t remember the name other than it begins with an “M” but it was awesome.  This is not where tourists come to visit, and to make it even more personal, our guide lived in this village. He knew many folks there.  His home was beautiful (no we didn’t go in, just on the outside!); simple but really cool looking!

I took over two hundred pictures… will have to cull that down to a workable number.  OPA… you now that expression, found out what it means when they use it… STOP!  As in, we’re having so much fun wish we could just stop this moment forever… kinda cool! 

So, lots more to tell, but I’ll just post pics.  Also, funny thing, our guide kept grabbing Jerry’s cell phone to take our pictures in the scenery. Now that was cool!  It became the Jean and Jerry Photo Shoot!

Another interesting tidbit… why are the domes on the churches blue?  When the German’s invaded during the war, they made the Greeks take down all their flags.  The domes on the churches were white at that time, so they painted them blue to still represent the blue and white Greek flag.  Also, the volcanic/earthquake history here is something else.  One more thing, the way they grown their grape vines is totally unique… they grow low and formed in the shape of a wreath. 

This was the view as we arrived and looked out our window!

See the zigzag on the left, those are the stairs you can take...Julie and Jens did take them down!

 His town's clock tower

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