The view as we were coming into the island of Mykonos

As picturesque as the postcards.

 

Yes we actually were there.


It is famed for its spectacular sunsets that cast a warm glow over the town.


It was getting quite dark when we discovered this boat along the shore.
 

As evening falls the town changes again.


Two views of the harbor at Patmos.
  

Walking on the steep stone streets through the town where many of the buildings are 600 or more years old. 
The towers are windmills without their sails.
   

The Grotto where John is said to have written Revelation. 
Or rather to have dictated it to a scribe as depicted in the mosaic over the door where you enter.
   

This tiny chapel is one of the places said to be the burial place of Mary.
The claim is also made for locations in Ephesus and Jerusalem.


We joined some locals at one of their favorite places to relax and unwind.


On to Crete.  Arrays of olive groves cover the hillsides with occasional churches. 
It seems like every home has a garden often with orange trees.


We found this fountain in a town square. It looks like it could be used for watering animals. 
Facing the square was a church.
One of our friends from the eclipse cruise was chatting with this woman from the village.


These two sisters invited us into the home where they were raised.

A courtyard with some potted plants and an oven for bread on the flat roof. 
Inside we found lamps, houkahs, pictures, and family keepsakes.
The cask contained rashi also seen being poured.
It is essentially moonshine made from whatever is left after grapes have been squeezed for wine.
The glass I had was very strong but tasted good.
     

The bell maker in his shop and in the back room a rashi still.


This church had a spring in the lowest level.  We were offered a drink of the holy water. 
Other than thirst being quenched I didn't notice any effects. 
The old gentleman drove up in the pickup.  He was probably a Greek Orthodox priest.


A produce stand along the street.
 

We visited a commercial honey factory. 
A beeswax sheet, like the worker is holding, forms a base for the bees to build their combs. 
It is put in a frame in the brightly colored hives out in the fields where the bees do their work. 
The full combs are removed, sliced open, and spun to extract the honey.
There were bees all over the building but no one got stung.


The island of Santorini is a volcano. 
Not very active in recent history but the civilization there 3600 years ago was destroyed by the last enormous eruption. 
The map gives some idea of the size of the explosion that formed the central bay (about 4 by 6 miles across).
The islands of Thira, Thiraissa, and Aspronisi are what remain of the original island. 
Nea Kameni and Palia Kameni are new islands formed since the eruption.

As we approached we could see the steep walls of the island formed mostly of pumice.  
It makes for and unusual architecture with the face of some buildings flush with the rock and the rooms carved into the mountain behind.
Roads from the sea to the town are steep even by Kentucky standards.


We took a tour to Nea Kameni where we hiked to the top of the island.  It is composed of a mix of dense basalt and relatively light pumice. 
You can guess which one I am holding if you have ever tried to hold a rock larger than your head at arms length.


The tour advertised a swim in a hot spring. In fact it was more of a bay that was heated by the volcano.
What went unsaid was that to get there you took this very nice boat.  
But since the bay was too shallow for it to let you off in the warm water you had to swim a quarter of a mile.
The water was cold enough (about 56 F) to take your breath away if you entered too quickly .
 When you got to the "hot spring" I found that it was a lot closer to a "tepid spring". 
Very nice compared to the swim to it of course but as soon as you thawed out from the there you had to swim back to the boat.
 I suppose if you were there in the summer rather than the early spring it would be more pleasant.
 

The last island we visited was Evia. 
We went by car and a large and very uncrowded  ferry. It made a stop at a little island to let some folks off.

A mountain or Roman aqueduct through a town


Lunch was at this seaside cafe where we had several kinds of fish and some wine from a local vineyard.


This may be the vineyard.  These olive tree were certainly some of the oldest we saw.


A fish farm and a seaside village.


This was a vein of asbestos in a rock outcrop along the road.


Every island was different.  We didn't spend anywhere enough time on any of them.