Since we were not vaccinated, the Greek government required that we either have a negative COVID antigen test within 48 hours of our arrival or a positive COVID test within the last 180 days.  We had both.  We were also required to show the same documentation on any flight from Athens to the Greek islands.

We flew from DFW to JFK on Delta. Then on American from JFK to Athens. American Airlines staff barely looked at our documents.  On our flight from Athens to Santorini no one checked our paperwork at all.

The hotel arranged our pickup at the airport for 25 euros.  We arrived at the Ellinon Thea Botique hotel around 3:00 p.m.  Just as promised we had a view of the Aegean Sea.

We met Nick and Mary from Nashville. They took our picture at the taverna called Volkan. We managed to get a picture of the Volkan beer bottle but forgot to get a photo of Mary and Nick, although we did get their phone numbers.

The hotel owner recommended Aktaion as the best restaurant for dinner.  It specialized in traditional Greek food.  While making our reservation for a table with a view of the sea, another couple randomly told us that they ate there the evening before, and it was delicious.  Good.  Corroborating evidence that we had made a good choice.  It was. The moussaka was the best I’d ever had.  And the sunset view at our table was perfect.

Closed out our first day with a night view toward Oia—the northernmost point on the island. We’re planning to hike there in a couple of days.

The Greeks call the island by its original name Thera.  Everyone else calls it Santorini.  The island is basically the rim of a volcano.  From the right angle you see the islands that rim the volcano overlooking the Caldera—the center of the volcano that collapses on itself.

Around 1612 B.C. there was a catastrophic eruption equivalent to 40 atomic bombs—the second largest volcanic explosion in the past 10,000 years.  About 20,000 Minoans lived on the island at the time (obviously not aware that it was a volcano).

We visited the archeological site of the Minoans known as the village of Akotiri. Our tour guide John is getting his doctorate in archeology and certainly knows his stuff.  He said the Minoans suffered first through an earthquake around two weeks before the eruption.  Within the two-week period the Minoans who survived the earthquake headed inland, while a few left the island.  Before the eruption the Minoans came back to Akotiri to rebuild their lives. Then the eruption did them in.  They say there were two weeks of darkness and two years of winter.

Hope we’re off the island before the volcano awakens again.

I am convinced that visiting an archeological site, museum, or anything of historical significance, is a waste of time unless you have a guide that knows what they’re talking about.

We also drove up to the highest point on the island where the Greeks have a church to the prophet Elijah.  There are about 500 Greek Orthodox churches and 12 Catholic churches on Santorini.  Most of the orthodox churches have private owners.  Here on Santorini the Greeks are permitted to build their own private church.  They give it a saint name and are required to have the church open to the public once a year on the saint’s feast day.  The private churches are pretty much unused the rest of the time except for an occasional wedding. At least that’s the way it is on Santorini.

Santorini’s biggest export is wine.  So, we visited a winery for some wine tasting.

Of course, the wine was good but the best part was talking to two Russian ladies at our table.  They came to the United States 30 years ago.  They live in Maryland and Georgia and said that Texas was the best place to live because the U.S. is now drifting toward communism.  Unlike most uneducated native-born Americans, they understand how history repeats the same pattern over and over.  Young Americans don’t understand it because they aren’t educated in history.  Many older Americans don’t understand it for reasons that escape me, as they SHOULD know.

Enough politics.  I’m on vacation.

We were desperate to see some Greek dancing but there is none due to COVID.  Speaking of that, we carry the useless paper masks in our pocket, put them on as we enter a restaurant, then take it off when we sit down.  At the archeological site we had to show the papers that we had COVID in the past 180 days, but it didn’t seem like the lady at the ticket counter really looked at it.  She didn’t even ask for our ID to see if our names matched the names on the papers.  John the tour guide didn’t care if we had the mask on or not, except he told us to pull the mask up when the archeological Nazi passed by and glared at us (the archeological site is indoors).

Back to the Greek dancing.  Since there was none, Rebecca found some music at a restaurant called Santorini Mou Tavern.  At each table the wait staff put a flag (or flags) of the countries of the people sitting at the table.  We just had one U.S. flag.  The table next to us had three (a couple from different countries living in a third country).  Rebecca was in her element occasionally walking around starting up conversations and chatting with the folks at the tables. As advertised, the Greek food was outstanding.

But the best part of the evening was watching a cute little girl dancing to the music.  Her Swiss father and French mother live in Zurich.

Why we didn’t move and get the green post out of the way of the dancing girl, I’ll never know.