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Published: August 23rd 2007
Hi all! I'm back in the U.S. of A. Things have been crazy with work, and travelblog.org crashed right as I posted my last blog, so the first Greek Island we visited, Mykonos, will take me a little while to recover again. Until then, I've gone ahead and posted my Santorini blog. It was our second Greek Island and a great one at that. I think I wrote the text on the plane ride home. Please enjoy!
July 21-24 - Santorini
OH MY GOSH! Words cannot describe how amazing this place is. Thank you, Robin, for all your recommendations! I’m so glad we decided to stay in Oia, the most Northern town and high up on the caldera. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Santorini, it is a HUGE volcano, an explosion occurred in 1500 B.C. that was 5 times as big as Krakatoa. I had previously read a book on Krakatoa, the volcano that “was heard around the world” and didn’t realize the scale of the eruption that occurred in Santorini until I was there onsite. It was amazing to be right in the middle of it. I’ll talk later about our trip to the center of
the dried Maaahhhgma. 😊 The first eruption caused the center to drop down, leaving a high cylinder ring, known as the caldera. Towns were built on the top of this ring, and whenever future eruptions occurred, the towns were mostly high enough so they were not affected again. The volcano is still active, so surely there will be another eruption within the next 20-50 years. (Kinda like an earthquake in San Francisco). 😉
The views from our rented apartment were amazing. We had a taxi driver pick us up from the port with a sign “Erin Jones” 😊 so fun when you have that service, but it mostly comes with the room you rent. He drove us to Oia, where we met a man that helped us with our bags. It was so strange, like he was our donkey…not to be demeaning at all! But, he seriously did work that we would have struggled with dearly. We kept going further and further down the cliff of Oia until we reached our apartment. Not hotel, just studio apartment. The bathroom was literally the shower. Seriously, the whole bathroom was the shower. It was cute and quaint.
We arrived right
before sunset, so we tried to catch a great view from the edge of the town, but little did we know 1,000’s of other people would have the same idea. It was so crowded and crazy, with people sitting on rooftops, etc. that we just decided to catch the setting colors from a restaurant with just as gorgeous views. I haven’t really talked too much about the Greek food yet, but that’s because I knew I’d boast on this one. The food here was amazing! So pure and great. Chick peas, fava dip, side of olives, simple salad. Couldn’t have been better paired with some local red wine. Mmmm. If I could go back in time I would. The sunset was glorious from where we were sitting on the edge of the cliff. We then shopped around town; I bought a moonstone necklace and Caitlin a leather bracelet.
We rented a car this time, and drove around to various beaches throughout the day. My favorite was the famous Red Beach. The contrast of the red cliffs against the clear blue water was mesmerizing. We stayed there for awhile and had a photoshoot in the water. I love my new waterproof
camera case. Caitlin and I played with it everywhere we went; making videos under water, etc. I was really sad to leave this beach, but wanted to explore the rest of the island. We checked out the black beach, Kamari, and another very chill beach where we took a nap under a tree. When we got back to Oia, we checked our email and that’s when I saw recommendations from Robin, my boss at Kokkari, the Greek restaurant I work at. She lived on the island for an extended period of time, so she was able to recommend some local restaurants owned by friends.
We went to one recommended restaurant called, Santorini Mau. It’s a garden taverna, with live music played by the owner, Mihalis. This was seriously an extraordinary night. I splurged from my veggie diet and tried the seafood platter with white wine sauce because I had to compare the octopus of Greece to that of Kokkari before I left the area; we enjoyed the music and company of our neighbors. Everyone in the restaurant felt at home. Mihalis and the waiters take pictures of every guest dining there. Pictures of past guests were hanging everywhere, including
Green Day and Jennifer Aniston. Photo albums of guests from even last month were passed around the table. Mihalis just smiled and played music with excitement. He even let a girl at a neighboring table play a solo and sing a cover song. She was 16 and very good. As the night goes on, it comes out that I work at Kokkari and Mihalis is amazed. He visits San Francisco every winter and stays with a couple, Mark and Tammy who happened to be there that night - staying in town for their anniversary. It’s such an interesting story how they all met. Mark and Tammy came to Santorini 17 years ago to get married. They weren’t sure who would marry them or anything. They just hoped to pull it together and they did - and Mihalis played for their wedding night. They’ve been best of friends ever since, or what seems like family now. You can see how much Mihalis loves them and has a whole album of pictures of them at the restaurant. They come back every year, and Caitlin and I felt special to be there that night to meet this amazing connection of friends.
Caitlin
and I stayed until the restaurant closed and had some Ouzo with the music crew, Mihalis, Tammy and Mark. Mihalis was up on the chairs singing and playing his guitar or mini guitar (sorry, forgot their name). He even dug into his albums to find a picture of Robin when she was living in Santorini. We had such a great time, and slept like babies that night.
The next morning we took advantage of the time we had before our sunset cruise and went down the switchback road to the bottom of Oia where a small port is. There’s a swimming area and an island with a church built into the rock. Caitlin and I swam out to the church, and jumped of the high ledge. It doesn’t look that high, but when you’re up there ready to jump off, it’s a bit scary. Caitlin almost chickened out on me. I got it on tape that I had to tell her to grow some balls before she finally took the leap. We had lunch on the port where Robin also recommended, Sunset, owned by Mr. Friday. He was sitting right next to our table and gifted us with a
Oia
View near our studiodessert - ginger/chocolate cake with ice cream. So delicious.
Next was the Sunset Cruise. First stop on the boat was the center of the island on the New Burning thing as they call it. We were right on top of the many layers of magma built up and dried over the years. You could see where the different lava streamed down from consecutive eruptions. Our tour guide was funny and educated, and informed us about various stories and facts for us to either believe or not: Poseidon, God of the Seas, created the fire in anger; that or regurgitated/recycled Africa from the ancient shifts in tectonic plates; maybe people from Hell trying to get out from below; or the lost city of Atlantis, the 2000 Leagues Under the Sea…etc, etc. She was quite entertaining.
Next stop on the boat - hot springs. Caitlin and I smothered ourselves in mud, and I had a hard time getting the brown color off of my skin. But, it felt refreshing - no need to go to a spa. Then, we cruised by an island near Oia, which is part of Santorini, pulled the sails up, listened to someone play sax and
watched the sun set over the sea. Santorini is known for their beautiful sunsets, and I love sunsets, so this was a great highlight.
When we got back to the port, you could take a donkey back to the top of the caldera. I talked Caitlin into it, only to regret it. They seemed mistreated and tired. I felt really bad, and Caitlin had a sad face the whole way up. Oh, well. I just thought we were supporting the locals.
That pretty much concludes Santorini. Such an impressive, amazing and beautiful place. You can tell that the tourists run all over the place, but you are still able to find your hideaways and enjoy the sites very easily. Absolutely loved this place.
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travellingmum
Bobbie
Amazing Photos
simply gorgeous! Greek Islands are on my to do list! This blog made me so jealous!!