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Published: June 16th 2011
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Santorini
Our room for June 15:) Much excitement on the day we left Rhodes as this was our first ferry trip amongst the Greek Isles. We started off bright and early, and just as well as we were re-directed to the commercial harbour from the tourist harbour... this is half an hour walking with all our packs,so we had to dig into that old travel spirit of ours and toughen up.
Arriving at Symi was wonderful, the town, of the same name, is situated in a curve around the harbour. You might have expected the white and blue colouring here, but that is not the case. Here on Symi the old patricia style houses are painted in pastel colours. Many years ago Symi was famous for its sponge fishing and these sponges were sold in Triest. The locals of Symi took a liking to the Italian architecture so built their mansions in the same style.
As for us, we found a studio located right on the water front with a covered balcony overlooking the small port. It was exciting to see all the comings and goings of the ferries and also the many yachts, which called in to this picturesque little harbour. I have to admit there
was a price to pay to be that close to the action, it was a bit noisy, but we thought it was worth it.
While staying there we went for several walks mainly to small beaches hidden in between the cliffs and rocks. Yes, the water was crystal clear ... and bright turquoise. On Norm's birthday we caught the local minibus to the other side of the island to see the famous monastery, Pamormitis. The bus was full, that's overfull, it took a while to get all the passengers organised, some were struggling to put down little stools in the aisle to sit on, but finally off we went, ie., us and the locals. Panormitis, is located right on the water, a beautiful setting for a monastery, you can feel the tranquility descend on you there. It being a Sunday mass was on when we arrived. Wonderful to listen to the priests chanting in this special environment, we were quite touched by it. Apart from the monastery, the only other thing there is, is a fabulous bakery, so morning tea was a chocolate croissant fresh out of the oven, yum! Full of renewed energy we started walking back. We almost
Santorini
Dinner on June 15 reached the peak of the island then an old ute stopped and offered us a lift. How could we say no😊
Of course there were lots of prezzies for Norm,a 'gold' chain, a spectacular T-shirt, a model Greek ship, a chocolate heart, a book, 'The Economist ' magazine what more can a man want???
Special meeting on Symi. A Danish girl called out to us, it appeared that we had looked after her and her family on Xmas Day in Byron Bay 6 years ago, and she was very touched by that. SO.. good karma does come back😊
Off to Halki. which is a very tiny and quiet island very close to Rhodes. Only 300 people live there and even less during winter. We had planned to stay for a week but it was so lovely we stayed on for 12 days. There's only one settlement, which is around the harbour. It's the cutest little harbour surrounded by small tavernas and a couple of shops. The water is so clean in the harbour that we were able to swim there. Fantastic just to walk down from our studio and have a dip.
Walking and swimming were our main activities. In
Santorini
Breakfast June 16 the middle of the island there's an old town, where all houses apart from one are uninhabited. The inhabitants left in the 60s to go to the USA, as the sponge fishing had come to an end due to disease of these and it was a very harsh life there. Now, people are trying to do up the houses and one family has already moved in. It's a fairly steep walk up there and on top of that we walked up to the derelict castle of St John's, splendid view. At the other end of the island, guess what... there's a monastery, so of course we had to walk there as well, it took us 5 bottles of water!! Yes, it was hot on Halki, about 34 degrees.
Notes on the island. The island only has one taxi!!... the good news is the there's only 12 km of road on the island. While we were there we didn't see it move! We were quite fascinated by the efficiency of big ferries coming in. One day Norm timed it, and it was only 7 minutes before it sailed off again, so you have to be or you get left behind.
Halki
Santorini
The caldera was a great lace for relaxing and ...socialising. There are lots of English holiday makers. It's quite an unusual holiday environment, as most holiday makers stay in villas or studios, and they keep coming back year after year after year. Some people have been coming since 1994. We met quite a few really interesting people there, so it was very social at night having dinners together. It seemed so easy to stay on, but we need a bit of adventure too, so we decided to go to Santorini before it gets really crowded.
The ferry trip took 12 hours but was most comfortable, so no worries. as we expected Santorini was a bit of a culture shock. It's a very busy island with lots of tourists! Still it's worth coming here. The views from the caldera (the famous cliff here) is just superb. The first couple of nights we stayed in humble digs although it was nice and quiet. Then we moved into a room with a caldera view... it's not every day you're celebrating your 20th wedding anniversary, is it😊 Watched the the sunset with drinks on the balcony and had dinner at a nice restaurant after. I felt
Halki
Norm showing off his 'gold chain:) very spoilt.
The other day we did a Bill Bryson, ie., we hopped on a local bus and went to a small village. Great to walk the narrow lanes, no cars allowed, soaking up th atmosphere. W continued on another bus to the southern beaches, but I have to say they're not for us, too built up, too crowded! During our trip it was a bit sad to see the sprawling of development, not organised in any sense or form.
On Satuday morning we're off to Karpathos, we prefer the smaller islands. Bye for now.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Santorini our favorite island
Santorini is for lovers. Nice blog and provided great memories.