Santorini take 2!

UPDATED: 10/10/2011

Santorini is an absolutely beautiful city on top of a cliff. When you are at the bottom you can choose a few different modes of transport to get to the top (walking, cable car, or riding a donkey). From the top, the town itself is very narrow, and you pretty much only have the choice to head to the right or the left. To the left is an absolutely stunning church with a remarkable bell tower.

The church's bell tower is above, and below are some interior shots.

We went out the backside of the church where I saw a huge tree with large red fruits on it. Upon closer examination I saw that they were pomegranates! Very cool.

Below is a general street shot. The sidewalks are very narrow. For the most part there are very few actual roads which makes it great for tourists and pedestrians. However, it does make you wonder how they deliver stock and supplies to all of

A view from the top.

If you went to the right you would end up at this church which is much more modern but still stunning.

A view of the highest point in the city.

The modern church.

The cruise ships look so small from the top. The two small boats on the right side are mid-tender.

This is Paul. He just signed on two voyages ago and is our new Training & Development manager. I think he's a bit lonely - working in a department of 1 I would be lonely, too. So I am taking him under my wing! He's very nice - used to work for Disney's HR department.

A view from the right side looking all the way back to the left side. You can actually see the clock tower from the first church we visited (if you look at the palm tree and follow that line straight to the left you will see it... very small in the distance).

You can see it easier in this picture.

This is Elizabeth - I believe I've mentioned her before. She works in the shops and is signing off tomorrow :(

If not for the cars, I really love this picture.

A street view of the other side of the cliff (headed toward the opposite side as the ships are docked on).

You can kind of see the staircase that you can walk up if you choose not to ride the cable car or the donkeys.

SOOOO PRETTY!

Below is a sequence of 3 shots of the cable car in motion. It is AMAZING how vertical the climb/descent is.

Here come some donkeys!

Back down at the bottom of the cliff waiting for our tender back to the ship.

This is our tender boat.

This is clearly not my ship. But it's funny... it used to be a Celebrity ship, and it was sold to a European company. Where you see their logo (white circle with red graphics), they literally just tacked that over the Celebrity "X" logo. You can still clearly see the X underneath the circle... they just painted it red. HA!

I really like this picture. It shows the entire staircase on the right and the cable car track on the left. It certainly gives you some appreciation for people (like me!) who walk the 600+ steps to the top of the cliff. And believe me, the rises are about normal (10" or so) but the runs are NOT level! They are like another step with how steeply they slope upward.