Thira (Santorini), Greece, 11 October 2018.

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(Click on any image to see it in a larger size, if you are on a PC or tablet at least.)

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From Emporio, we headed to Perissa and here we are on the beach.

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We hoped to visit Ancient Thera, a ruined town that spanned many eras, potentially stretching back 11,000 years, but visible elements are mainly Roman and Byzantine.  The site was abandoned after an eruption of the volcano in the 8th century AD.

I wasn’t aware that there were opening times and we got there five or ten minutes too late.  There was at least half an hour before all visitors had to return and I tried to persuade the gate keeper to let us race up there and be back before that time but he wouldn’t budge.  So the above view of a wall at the top of a cliff was all we got to see.

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I’m not sure exactly where this church belltower is.  Perhaps we are looking back at Perissa.

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This is the Chapel of Panagia Katefiani, below the Ancient City of Thira.

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Back at Perissa Beach again and the yacht has probably moved.  We would have had lunch at the small town here.

. We have now gone back to the caldera side of the island and are somewhere above the Port of Thira, looking north.  in the distance, a cruise ship and a three-masted ship pass by while people lounge below on a house or hotel balcony.

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In the other direction, we see a catamaran and a ferry at the port.

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A catamaran is leaving port.

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Also a ferry, probably heading for Crete.  The ferry takes three and a half hours and the cat two.  The ferry is much cheaper and also takes cars.

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Donkeys returning from a hard day carrying tourists (some overweight) up the steep slopes from the port.  Picturesque and traditional they may be but there is controversy here about cruelty to the donkeys.

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Now it’s much later and we have returned to Oia and I have fought through the dense crowds to get a key position for sunset views at the point.  This is as far as you can go and we are in the ruins of a Venetian Fort, built to safeguard the island from pirates.  Some photographers kindly made room for me when I arrived.

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This image may look crooked but it’s actually not.  The eye is drawn to the island on the right rather than the faint horizon behind it..

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I am now looking back at the township of Oia, looking towards the north coast.  This is taken with a wide angle lens.

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This image and the next three are taken from the same viewpoint, looking at the township of Oia, with a long telephoto lens.  There are a couple in close communion holding beers at the bottom.

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This is one of the two windmills visible in the earlier wide angle view.  There is a light on in one of the rooms of the windmill and thirteen people at bottom right camped for a sunset view (though partly obscured by the watermark, even if you click for a larger view).

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This is the other one.  Only two people visible in this one.

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Still with the long lens.  St Sostis Orthodox Church at the top.  I make it twenty one people visible in this one.

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Back to the wide angle.  Looking south at the Township of Oia along the caldera coast.  It’s getting darker now.  this is a thirteen second exposure.

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Looking over the Venetian castle at the view across the caldera.  Fifty second exposure this time.

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Much later, after dinner and back across the road from where we were staying at the other end of Oia.

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