Greece has windmills dotted around. There are not many, but a few. They use solar panels, also. Usually, they are on the top of individual residences and they use them to heat their hot water, I think.
Also, the reason most of the island structures are painted white is that they reflect the sun in hot weather, which they have a lot of.
When we arrive off the coast of most of the islands, except for Crete, we have to board smaller boats to reach the harbor. It's windy this afternoon as we ride our "little" boat in to the harbor below Santorini. If you've ever seen Santorini, you know what I mean. Santorini sits on top of a mountain and the mountain is straight down. No slope. It's breathtaking. As we gaze at our surroundings, I think how beautiful this is and compare it with some of the amazing frescoes that we see in the orthodox churches. You know what? It isn't even close. As amazing as some of the frescoes are, they don't even come close to what the Master Artist can do.
About 14,000 people live on this island. A few days ago, someone asked our tour guide what is the most amazing place, in the world, that she'd ever seen. She said she needed a day to think about it. The next day, she said her answer was Santorini. If you've ever seen it, you know why. It's like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time, or Hawaii, The Sea of Galilee, or Lake Tahoe. It's a lot to take in. There are certain places in the world where our Creator really gets our attention. This is one of those places. Look people! Look!
The way this place came to be has a lot to do with an earthquake of vast magnitude. Picture an island that is a circle. The island is elevated, it's mountainous. That's what the island used to look like. Now picture a massive sea monster raising up its head and taking a massive bite out of the circle. That's what the island looks like now. A cookie after the first bite.
One theory says the ancient city of Atlantis was here. Why? Theory goes that the city simply fell into the ocean as a result of the earthquake in 1600 B.C. The island is really high and there is no doubt that a huge chunk of it disappeared as a result of the earthquake. If there was a city there, it fell to the bottom of the ocean.
I mentioned it was windy. When we got to the harbor, it was really hard for them to unload the boats due to the rocking. We finally got off, but it would get windier.
Santorini is monitored regularly and studied daily because off the coast there is still an active volcano. The last major volcano was in 1950 and the last earthquake was in 1956.
It's quite a drive up the mountain from the sea. Switchbacks galore, on a tour bus. Tourism is the industry of the island, for obvious reasons. A lot of people rent 4-wheelers which you can drive around like a car.
No Atlantis has been found, but in 1967, they did make a discovery. A lava covered city on top of the mountain. It is an amazing discovery because the lava preserved everything so well. Think Pompei. In fact, when they dated the drawings on the wall, they discovered that the oldest wall drawings should be attributed to this people, not those buried at Pompei. This ancient city was buried by an earthquake 4000 years ago and much of what can be seen at the archaeological sight is original. Mind-blowing. The current theory is that the people knew a massive earthquake was about to occur and they fled the city with their valuables. The primary reason for that theory is that no bones and no valuables have been uncovered, except for one gold (pure gold) horse left at an alter, in a box. If you go to Santorini, go to this sight. It's a must see. It's a small town, with houses and roads. They even found a bed. Most of the homes were 2-3 stories.
I found two things amazing about this ancient city. First, they had toilets and for the most part they look pretty much like ours. From what I can tell, in the history of toilets, things haven't changed much. A seat with a hole in it. Second, this city has an underground sewer system that carries the dirty water under the streets of the city, out of the city. Not bad technology for 3500-4000 years ago.
We explored the city for a short while but unfortunately could not stay. I highly recommend figuring out a way to spend a few nights in this place. As we approached "All Aboard" time, the quickest way from the town to the "little" boats is by riding a ski-lift down to the shoreline. I rode down at sunset and boarded the "little" boat. After a few minutes, our "little" boat stopped a long ways from the "big" boat. We assumed they were just waiting to unload boats that were ahead of us. Wrong. We learned that the boat that was ahead of us had a very hard time unloading passengers due to the waves and for that reason, the captain of the cruise ship said no more unloading people from the "little" boats. The people still on shore had to wait an extra hour for a ride. The people on the "little" boat still floating around in the harbor, were told to wait. So I waited. It was windy. I did not get sick but I could have if I had wanted to. The cruise ship captain re-positioned eventually and we were able to get off the "little" boat after about an hour. I did not feel like updating my journal. Thank goodness I get back on land tomorrow. I can't wait to take a good shower...
No comments:
Post a Comment