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Let me paint a picture for you, okay?
Santorini is watercolours, oils and graffiti painted not on canvas but on the eternally blue, flat surface of the sea. It has colour Athens doesn’t (which is so refreshing), though still the base of all is the same: Mediterranean white wash- but haphazardly splashed with reds, blues, yellows and donkey shit. This place redefines beautiful as we have seen ‘beautiful’ thus far on our trip, which like a complex strain of the flu- is always evolving; with each bout stronger and more powerful.
I’ve come to realize that I am now at a point in our travels at which I am truly happy. This happiness is not coming out of lack of happiness prior to now, not at all. But I seem to now be able to live in a the moment and comfortably let it slide into the past- savoring it whilst it lasts and letting it go, ready for the next. Prior to now my mind has been frantically trying to cling to every moment, memorize every detail; afraid to let it go as I may never see these sights again. It has been frustrating and as a consequence
of trying to stretch out every moment it just makes time go by mockingly faster. I’ve realized the best way to experience travel is to treat it like a wine… savor then swallow and move on. This is the only way to do it. And there is no better place to do that than in Santorini.
We are booked into a very nice, very reasonably priced hotel with a pool (which waters are just as cold as the ocean- not that that stopped me). There is not a cloud in the sky (which seems just so eternal here), the air is clean, the sun is shining- but does not burn as bad as it does back home. If all the Greek Islands are like this, then rest assured I’ll be coming back. We have also hired a car for two and a half days (slightly overpriced but soooo worth it) and have been discovering the Island at our own pace. It’s just us, the map and the road and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The roads wind and are for lack of a better word- indecisive- they don’t seem to know if they want to be straight
or bending, paved or rocky, on the map or yep you guessed it- off it. We have shamelessly gotten lost over and over again with nothing but the sound of shifting grass and far off Greek music as company.
The city of Fira at one of highest points of the Island is stunning, with its narrow paved streets and restaurants that overlook an indescribable sunset. Everything is expensive, with the exception of wine (thank god!), which is sometimes cheaper than a can of Diet Coke (talk about an incentive). So Jian and I have been eating out of super markets and just living off crackers, cheese, olives, tomatoes and cucumber for the past three days- which with a glass of sweetened wine drunk in front of an ancient port overlooking the ocean, or from the balcony of our room- is just as rewarding (and as yummy) as any overpriced meal.
We parked our car at a sign saying ‘This way to Ancient Thera Ruins’ (basically ruins on top of a mountain/the serene place Aphrodite went to chill out), deciding to walk it up the road. Well that road turned into a mountain climb that took us over an
hour. Soon we were at the highest point of the entire Island, where though exhausted and humbled by the fact that the downward journey would be easier than that coming up- we were graced not only with the best view, but a great sense of accomplishment. We have baked on beaches with white, black and red sand, treated ourselves to early morning jogs through dry fog and cool air, listened to the sounds of church bells ringing, passed under gigantic windmills and thankfully, have been sleeping soundly, though full of VIVID dreaming (we think it must be the wine…. Jian woke up in the middle of the night convinced he had been captured by Hitler and was put in a concentration camp and I woke up laughing after being slipped a roofie by Paul McCartney … weird).
Basically, we don’t want to leave. The landscape has brought out the best in everyone here (ourselves included), people are happy, polite and love certainly seems to be in the air. Later this afternoon we are catching an eight-hour ferry back to Athens (which hopefully is better than the trip over, which was plagued by families with seemingly hundreds of children- surrounded
by clouds of cigarette smoke- within doors, whilst we tried to sleep. If there is one thing I’ve got to say about this part of the world it’s that these people have seriously got to lay off the cigarettes. They are frighteningly marketed over here and just the other day we saw a three-year-old child faux-smoking with the remains of a lollipop with her mother. You can’t to a supermarket, a restaurant, to the toilet, travel agency, hostel or even just walk down the street without coming back smelling like an ashtray. Now people can smoke- I have zero objection to that, to each his own- but to be unable to talk to ANYONE without a fog of smoke blowing into your face- is bound to get on your nerves after a while, especially when Jian a) has bad lungs to an asthma-like degree and b) is a reformed smoker and would like to stay that way!).
Farewell Santorini, we’ll meet again…
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Elise
non-member comment
OMG Ive fallen in love with Santorini! You boys completely took me into the moments of grace and splendour and I felt like i lived in the moments with u! Aaron if u don't write a book Im going to kick u! Santorini sounds like a big warm cuddle during this part of the journey! So SO So happy u lovelies had such a relaxed wonderful experience there! I wish u many more "live in the moment" moments along ur travels as it's the most peaceful fluid way to live! xXx