Speaking of Santorini

After posting about Kimmy's photo from Santorini, all of a sudden the island is in the news this afternoon:

An operation to evacuate up to 1,600 people from a stricken cruise ship is under way off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini.

The Greek-flagged Sea Diamond issued a distress signal after running aground and is taking on water, according to local news reports.

The large cruise ships usually come into Santorini's harbour at the rate of 1-2 per day. They arrive in the morning, berthing out in the water (see photo) and Fira town floods with tourists for the day (a lot of Americans, usually) who are ferried back and forth by smaller boats. As the sun sets the ships light up and sail off again. It's really quite scenic. This ship was carrying Americans and Germans, according to the article, and apparently nobody's been hurt as a result, so that's good at least.

But don't let any of this stop you from visiting Santorini (even on a cruise ship). It really is the most beautiful place I've ever been.