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Published: April 5th 2007
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Three flights later, after a long and exhausting day of travelling beginning at 4:00 a.m., and four airports later, we arrived on the gorgeous island of Santorini. (Yes, Jeanette, this is where
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, as well as many movies that take place in Greece, was filmed.) Every little village is built down the side of a cliff; our hotel room in Fira was classified as a "cave" room. We enjoyed tons of amazing, traditional Greek cuisine all weekend. The church by our hotel had lots of festivities for the Greek Orthodox Easter weekend, which was the same weekend as our Easter this year. We were also in Santorini the day after the cruiseliner crashed and sunk just off the island's coast, the first time something like that has happened in Santorini's history, and all anyone was talking about on both the island and mainland Greece.
Friday morning, we walked around the town a bit and then head out for Boutari winery - Santorini is known for its dry and sweet white wines. An ex-patriat from Canada gave us a tour and led us through the tasting of a red, a white, and a vinsanto, a dessert
wine made from raisins and the specialty of the island. As buses run infrequently around the island, and since all the villages are relatively close together on the small island, we decided to walk (dangerously) along the highway to the next village, Akrotiri, only to find that the ruins of ancient Akrotiri were unfortunately still being renovated. While we were there, we hiked down to the strinking Red Beach while there...there wasn't much room to sun or anything, but it was incredible to see from above. We stopped at a fish tavern along the waterfront for a light lunch and caught a bus back to Fira. Mom and I walked around the town browsing and shopping through the narrow, cobblestoned streets, and I ran into two of my friends from my Spain study abroad program! It's such a small world. After dinner, we watched the Good Friday evening procession march out of the church and through the streets, complete with candles and big Easter emblems and all the Greek priests marching through the crowds. It was amazing to see so many people gathered.
Saturday, we decided to explore Ia (Oia), the second biggest and coolest village on the island.
We took a bus there and walked around to get a feel for the town. Feeling adventurous, we took a STEEP hike down the side of the cliff to the dock and beach below. The hike provided us with gorgeous views of the village and island as we made our way down to the port. The "beach" with big rocks down below was pretty and peaceful and a nice reward for making it down. We had lunch with the locals and tourists alike at a portside seafood taverna with the local specialty of grilled octopus...mmm! We decided to hike back up the hill instead of taking a tonkey up, which is what many guidebooks reccommend! We shopped and met a nice, chatty shopkeeper who talked our ear off about his theories of the cruiseliner. Window shopping at the bakery filled with Greek and Easter treats was fun, and we took a couple treats to enjoy on the bus ride back. After walking around Fira some more and resting in the hotel, we later dined at the oldest taverna in Fira and had fun chatting to our waiter/possible owner of the restaurant during the meal. We came back out to the main area at midnight to watch the locals ring in the Easter holiday. Holy Saturday at midnight here is like New Year's Eve in the U.S. - there is screaming and kissing and firecrackers. There's also a candle lighting ceremony, and one person lights their candle from the church's and little by little, everyone's candle gets lit. It was a pretty amazing experience to see. Afterwards, all the Greeks go to restaurants or homes with their family for an Easter meal at midnight, with Easter soup, cookies, and red hard-boiled eggs. We went to bed instead.
Easter Sunday! The buses stopped running today, and pretty much everything on the island closed. But, as it was HOT and sunny today, we took a cab to Kamari Beach, known for its awesome black sand and rock beach. We enjoyed a nice relaxing day of laying out, sunning and reading on the beach, and walking along the beachfront. The few restaurants open in town were serving traditional Easter lunch - families cook lamb or goats (the whole animal) on a big spit over a fire, slowly turning it for hours to cook. We had some lamb and Greek salad with other tourists and the family running the restaurant. After cabbing it back to Fira, and seeing that everything was still closed, we lay by the pool, taking advantage of the nice day. We took a walk to the next town over for some amazing views, and stopped at the Catholic Church in Fira on our way back to the hotel. We later enjoyed a last, nice dinner on Santorini while watching the sunset. Santorini is one of my new favorite places in the world, and I'd love to return...or maybe just retire here...
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