The last day of the cruise was probably the best. We started the day in Crete, where we went to see Knossos Palace. Rachel and I both took art history in high school and had studied the palace, so to get to see it was really a dream come true. And, yes, it was as cool as we had hoped.
The famous columns of Knossos Palace
Giant Urns (and a really sweet, but dirty, dog that followed us around the whole time)
Ruins of the palace
Relief paintings at the palace
The Queen's Room
I forget what exactly this is, sorry!
The king's thrown room
View from the palace
Me at the palace!
The medieval fountain in Crete
On the walk to the fountain, we passed three different people playing the accordion- first someone who looked just a bit younger than me, then a bit closer to the fountain was a girl who looked like a young teen, and then this little boy was at the fountain. The accordion is such a happy sounding instrument but they all looked so sad, that it was a really heartbreaking sight (sorry if that puts a damper on an otherwise happy post)
After Crete we went to Santorini, which was truly breathtakingly beautiful. Pictures hardly do it justice. We saw all the famous white houses and churches with blue roofs, which we were sad to learn did not have any special meaning, but originated because they were the cheapest materials for building, but once it other materials that were just as cheap came to the island, they realized the white and blue was really pretty so they stuck with it. We went to Oia and Thira, which, despite being major tourist destinations, have retained a unique charm. We enjoyed exploring, and then made our way to the shore to watch the sunset, which was incredible. We took a cable car down to the boat, so we got a really nice final view of the city before heading back.
The view from the tender boat as we approached Santorini
Rachel and me on the tender boat to the island
A little church and graveyard in Oia
View from Oia
Another view, this time with a church and monastery (There are a ton of monasteries in Greece!)
We loved the colors on this building!
Me! (It would have all matched if it weren't for the poster!)
Church bells
Another monastery
Me again
Not sure what this is, but it makes for a cool picture
Another sunset picture, this time with the ship
The donkeys you could take down to the shore. It sounded fun, but we were told they are very dangerous (they are given food at the shore, so they tend to run down the steps, often hurting the rider in the process), plus they smelled really bad, and did not seem friendly or well taken care of. So....
we took the cable cars instead, and got some really great views
Me and the lovely Rachel at sunset in Santorini. Life is good. (also, I love how tall I look here!)
One last sunset picture
Santorini at night (taken in the cable car, so I apologize for the blurriness)
I'm so jealous! All your pictures are beautiful! And about the white and blue of their buildings thats a cool fun fact. haha
ReplyDelete