Santorini - April 25-28
The ferry to Santorini is actually a catamaran. The ferry from Rhodes to Crete was a big beast, hardly felt the waves. The little catamaran we catch from Crete to Santorini feels every bump and drop. Before we have gone half an hour, I am in the toilet throwing up breakfast, last nights dinner and wat feels like my stomach lining. I spend the 1.5 hours to Santorini at the back of te boat watching the horizon trying not to feel the boats movement.
As we leave the ferry we are approached by Artemis who has a hotel on the other side of the island, offers us a great price and lifts to the town centre on request. The room is huge, has a view of the surrounding countryside and a kitchen which we have been missing for along time. We get a lift into town, have a look at about 12 hotels and find that Artemis has given us the best deal. We eat lunch overlooking the caldera. If you want to see what the inside of an exploded volcano looks like, which is what Santorini is, go here - http://images.google.com/images?q=santorini+caldera&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
We walk back to the hotel (about 45 minutes through the middle of the island) with a stop at the supermarket for groceries. I cook dinner in a real kitchen which we enjoy wit wine Louise bought. On the 25th, we get a lift into town and catch a bus to Oia, which is the town that most people associate with Santorini - whitewashed houses, blue domed churches. Go here to see it - http://images.google.com/images?q=santorini+oia&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images . We wander through lanes into art galleries, funky clothing and furniture stores and end up at the viewpoint at the end of town where a deserted castle allows a view of te sun setting behind the clouds, above te remains of an exploded volcano caldera. We catch the bus back, hire a car, get our dirty washing from the hotel and drop it off in town and hang it up in the hotel yard. We go for dinner to the fish taverna at the bottom of the road the hotel is on - the only shop of any kind for miles around.
On the 27th we drive to Kamina Beach. Because Santorini is the remains of an exploded volcano, the beaches all have black sand which looks really weird. We visit an art gallery and a few wineries. The volcanic soil is good for growing wine grapes in and Santorini is known in Greece for the quality of its wines. We drive to Akrotiri which is a fishing village built next to the ruins of an archeological site. When I was here 8 years ago I remember visiting a restaurant built into the cliffs right on the water. We go searching for it and find there are a dozen. We have a fantastic seafood lunch on the water. On the way back to the car we visit Red Beach, at the base of red cliffs which have made the sand of the beach below it red, another strange beach experience.
We drop the car in town and go back to hotel. While Beck cooks I go for a walk along the cliffs at the end of the road. They are sandstone and I carve a heart and our initials into it in the hope of taking Beck for a walk there sometime and showing her. I keep walking and find very strange shapes carved into the cliffs by erosion. As I stand on the top of the cliffs a strange sound like a metallic Rolf Harris wobble board goes through the clouds above my head. It feels like lightning is going to strike so I make my way down and head back to the room. Now that Beck has a kitchen she outdoes herself and makes an awesome meal. It is too dark afterwards to take her to the sandstone heart.
The 28th, we book our ferry to Athens and accommodation for our first night there, on the web. Beck and Louise visit the old port and I walk back to the hotel and read and cook dinner for them for their return. We pack and check out the next morning, get a lift from Artemis to the port and catch a real ferry that wont rise and drop with the waves. Heading out through the sea in the centre of the remains of the Santorini volcano must be one of the worlds greatest sights - http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=santorini+ferry+caldera&btnG=Search
posted by flamethrower77 at 2:18 PM
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