Aegean Odyssey Day 15 (Santorini)

Visited two museums, foot-and-hand-washed laundry in the bathtub, tried to do some writing and updating of my blogs while being plagued throughout the day by bad Internet connection and difficulty keeping the computer powered up, and had a gyro each for first and second dinner. 

After breakfast we walked up through town to the vicinity of the museums I wanted to visit. When we arrived at the Archaeological museum Diane confided that, with only 56 hours until our departure from Santorini, she was "concerned about the laundry" and we both agreed it would be best if she went back to the hotel to work on it. My guess is that she had glanced into the foyer of the museum when we walked past it the day before and recalled that it was dominated by pots, certainly the sort of antiquity she hates the most. 

Archaeological Museum
To say that I was a bit disappointed with the museum is not to diminish the many wonderful things its two halls, configured in an L-shape, contained. It is the only museum I have visited on this trip, however, where I was provided with no brochure or other guiding information, and about half the items were not labeled in any way, leaving visitors to guess at their provenance and somewhat uncertainly figure things out on their own; there did not even appear to be a guidebook available for sale. 


In general, a preponderance of the artifacts dated to the 7th and 8th century B.C. and were from local ancient cemeteries. Certainly the most striking and beautiful of the objects was the lifelike bust of the goddess Aphrodite (above), which still retained much of the pigment that had been used to color her hair. Other things I particularly enjoyed were the ceramic items with depictions of birds eating snakes, a theme that appears to have predominated in the iconography of local grave goods from this period; and some humorous and even somewhat vulgar statuettes that appeared to have been in vogue for a time, such as a satyr mounted on a fat little donkey that almost could have been the model for the one in Shrek. 

I love artifacts like these because of the connections they make for us with the past and the sorts of questions they prompt. How did someone feel about the person they buried this with? What would I want to be buried with? Contemplating these ancient peoples in this way always makes me quite emotional and I hope part of them knows that they are being remembered and mourned anew. 

Santozeum
Located just a half block down the hill from the Archaeological Museum and apparently situated in what had once been a large private residence is the Santozeum, a museum dedicated to full-sized reproductions of frescoes discovered in the ruined city of Akrotiri. Upon entering visitors are provided with a laminated booklet that provides a crash course in Theran wall paintings and which explains the iconography of those on exhibit; there is also a brief video with interviews with the Princeton archaeologists involved with the restoration of the frescoes. One of the most impressive of the works is certainly that depicting the extended sea voyage of a Minoan fleet from the 2nd millennium B.C., which includes representations of four different Bronze Age seaports. As with the nearby Museum of Prehistoric Thira, a visit to the Santozeum complements one to the archaeological dig at Akrotiri and helps make a trip to it complete. 

When I got back to the hotel Diane dumped some soap and two weeks worth of my laundry into the tub and, after letting it soak in hot water for around half an hour, I got in and stamped around on it for about 10 minutes before working each piece a little by hand. Seemed very reminiscent of pictures I have seen of people stomping grapes for wine and made me wonder if anyone would ever discover a fresco at Akrotiri that would get dubbed "Washerwomen of Thera"; asked Diane to take a picture for posterity but she declined. Then, as I wrung out each piece Diane rinsed it in the sink, wrung it out again, and then found a place to hang it on one of our two balconies. I don't think it was too obtrusive but, suffice it to say, the hotel won't be using any pictures of it taken this afternoon for its new brochure. 

Headed out to find somewhere casual to eat and, after wandering around lower Fira a little, rejected one place because it looked "too hot" and another probable-looking establishment simply because it was named "Meat Corner." Finally stopped at a gyros shop called McDaniel's Snack Bar, where Diane had a pork gyros and I had a lamb kebab pita, both good, along with a couple of cans of Coke Light (hours later I was hungry again and wandered a few streets down to Nick the Grill, where I had a delicious lamb gyro that had a nice hot blob of fat in it). 

Watched the sun set over the caldera from our terrace while the crowds milled below and cheered as it descended beneath the horizon, a tradition that irritates Diane (and which is, admittedly, a little strange; for time immemorial people have celebrated the rising of the sun and even gone to great pains to ensure it would happen, and this is certainly a new spin on that). Then, I went downstairs to the "Colonial Room" and ordered a cup of coffee. I chatted with the barman, Giorgio from Athens, while he went through the prolonged process and learned he was working at the hotel for the season and very much liked Santorini. 

"There are many islands," Giorgio said. "There is only one Santorini."