It has always been a bucket list item to visit Greece and its islands, and they were as beautiful as expected and housed boatloads of ancient artifacts. However, they were on everyone else’s bucket list, too. Poor little picturesque Santorini offered up its beautiful blue roofs, but you had to elbow your way in to snap the requisite photo. We tourists need to ration ourselves. Our guide said they had already passed a limit to building construction (for new AIRBNB, hotels, etc).
Just in time, since downtown Thira already looks remarkably similar to the cruise ports of Juneau, Mazatlan, and Malaga. Jewelry, t-shirts, bars. I enjoyed my souvlaki pita and fries, just like they make it in Castro Valley! We are homogenizing these cultures even as we strive to see them.
At Delos, we had a unique opportunity to walk among original ruins, in what has been a two-century ongoing archaeological excavation. Delos was itself an ancient swirl of cultures, so maybe the blender approach is just as old.
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