Europe 1979 Venice to Santorini

The Grand Canal, Venice

Basilica Di Santa Maria della Salute

Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore and Giotto's Bell Tower, Florence, Italy

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Roman Colosseum

St. Peter's Square, the Vatican

A cove on the Greek Island of Corfu.

Deb, with four English friends from Leeds.

Great fun renting a scooter and touring the island.

Our international home.

Matala Beach, Crete

Deb at the harbour of Heraklion, Crete.

Fira or Santorini, Greece

The steps from the town on the cliff to the sea.

We opted to walk instead of riding the overworked donkeys.

Thanks to two quick friends we slept on this boat one night after missing a ferry.

After we left Venice by train we stopped at Florence and camped there. We loved the city, the Ponte Vecchio, the David statue and the museums and of course the Duomo of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore. Beautiful building that was completed in 1436.

Then on to Pisa to see the famous leaning tower,  which is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower of the Pisa Cathedral. It of course is famous for its nearly four degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. From there we went to Rome to see all of its antiquities including the amazing Colosseum, the Vatican and St. Peter's Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel.

We took the train to Brindisi and the ferry to the Greek island of Corfu. We loved the island, the blue seas, the relaxed pace, the food and the scooters. I remember taking a scooter to a beach with Deb and when we left we had to go up a steep hill. With the two of us on it, the scooter struggled. So I told her to brace herself and I'd gun it. It popped a wheelie and took off. I looked back and saw Deb standing on the road where the bike had left her with legs spread.

We took a ferry to the west coast of Greece and a bus to Athens where we visited the famous ancient Greek sites before taking an overnight ferry to Crete. We took a bus to the town of Matala on the south coast that we had heard of from our friends Mike and Gail. We camped there and enjoyed the beach, food and hiking over the hills. The hill on the right side of the beach was riddled with caves reputedly used by soldiers in the second world war. Then we took the bus back to Heraklion where took a room and explored the fort and town.
On the way back to Athens we took a number of ferries and visited some of the other islands of the Aegean Sea, starting with Santorini (or Thira). This is a beautiful rugged island formed by a volcano that erupted and blew off half of the island in the 16th century BC. As a result there is a high cliff overlooking the sunken caldera upon which the town of Fira is perched. There are 587 large sloped steps from the port to the town which you can either negotiate by foot or on the back of a poor unfortunate donkey that spends its life hauling visitors up the hill. We decided to walk. We stayed in a lovely room in the town before venturing to the other side of the island and its beautiful black sand beaches. I remember having a case of traveler's trots and having to clamber out of the tent late at night and swat in a field, only to use the flashlight and discover a donkey standing about ten feet away watching me.
On the day we left, we walked all the way down with our packs only to discover we'd missed our ferry. We didn't walk to hike back up, so we hung around and met Sue, a Canadian and her British boyfriend who were sailing a yacht around the Aegean. We spent time with them and had dinner together and then the let us sleep onboard overnight, and we caught the ferry the following morning.