Santorini, Greece: Sept.12 - 16
Santorini, Greece : Monday September 12, 2005
This morning came very early with a 5 am wakeup call from Brian. We were in the taxi for the airport by 5:30. The kids were barely functioning but we kept pushing them along. We had to catch a flight to Athens and then to the island of Santorini. A ferry would have been at least 24 hours long because we switched island chains, from the Dodecanese to the Cyclades. Ferries within an island group were relatively easy for travel but there weren’t many options between groups.
At the airport we were stopped by the security guards because of Brennan’s dagger purchased in Turkey. We knew that it was going to be a problem and Brennan just didn’t believe us. I guess it will be shipped home soon. Brennan got “the LOOK” from Brian many times before we checked in.
We flew Aegean Airlines and their staff was courteous and efficient. So the flights were uneventful and very short. The landing in Santorini was shocking because I had fallen asleep and the brakes were applied with great force. I guess that there wasn’t a lot of runway for the pilots to work with.
After a little negotiation we got our tiny car from Europcar. We didn’t have the printout of our email correspondence because we never received it. We did have our reference number and eventually that was good enough. As we drove out of the airport I realized as small as our car was, there were many that were even smaller. The “SMART” car was a very popular choice for couples, as were scooters and quad off road vehicles. We haven’t seen as many donkeys here as in Turkey but there were certainly more on Santorini than in Rhodes.
Well my navigating skills were once more put to the test. Armed with a Greek map, my glasses and sheer luck, I managed to get us through the main town of Fira and onto the road to Oia, where we would be staying at Alexander’s Boutique Hotel. Oia, (pronounced EE ah), was at the north end of the island perched atop the cliffs of the remains of an ancient volcano. As we drove north, Brian believed that I had gotten us turned around in Fira and that we were actually heading south. I knew that I had followed all the signs correctly. With experience, I learned to read from the bottom of the sign to the top so I had enough time to direct Brian. I stuck to my guns and insisted we were going in the right direction. I was correct about that but I did have us on the wrong road. We took the scenic route into Oia, not the direct route. The signs we followed spit us out onto a different road than the one we should have followed on the map. However, we discovered that we weren’t alone in making this mistake. Dimitris Tzannis, the reservations manager for the hotel, did the same thing when he arrived in Santorini for the first time. Dimitris was originally from Houston. I don’t know how we managed to pick two hotels with American connections but I am pleased with our choices so far.
Alexander’s was our treat for the islands. It was another cave hotel; this time a traditional Greek one perched over the caldera. The outsides were painted a bright white and trimmed with blue doors and windows. In the sun, they shone like brilliant sugar cubes or snow houses. It was an amazing sight. Finding our exact hotel in all the cave hotels was a little harder. We had a general idea of where the hotel was located in the town but we made several passes by car and couldn’t see it. We were told that the entrance was an archway made of black and red volcanic stone and we couldn’t miss it. Well I guess we could because we had to park the car and ask for directions. It turned out that the archway was off a path that was below street level. So we couldn’t see it from the car.
We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and soon we were exploring the streets of Oia. Sierra thought it was exciting because it was the town that one of the main characters in the book “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”, goes to for the summer. In the movie version, the actress is taken to her grandparents’ house by donkey through tiny lanes and by white washed houses, just like in the real Oia. We found a taverna recommended by Dimitris after a few wrong turns. Its name was Polski Lokal. I thought maybe I had heard him incorrectly because it sounded Polish not Greek. It turned out that one of the owners must have been Polish because one section of the menu was in that language. We were so hungry that I forgot to ask. The food was fabulous too.
Brian, Sierra and I passed the rest of the afternoon at the pool. Brennan was still not functioning fully and he preferred to hang out in the room and catch up on homework and a nap. At the pool, we met Wayne and Hayley Harris, a very nice couple from South Africa. It turned out that they were in the room next to ours. We had some great chats with them and often ran into them during our stay in Santorini. It was funny how our schedules were so similar.
Around 7 pm, we walked to the main part of the village to see the sunset. We were told that they were spectacular. Well I think that every tourist on the island was there too. Bus loads of people from Fira were dropped off to see the sunset. Every possible viewing spot was filled. It was like a carnival. We hung around for a while but when we realized that it was too cloudy for a really sensational sunset we headed for dinner.
The restaurant we chose was a favourite for the local wild cats. At one point there were 10 hanging out in the laneway. Maybe the owners gave them the fish tails and heads, I don’t know. We had calamari and mussels, as well as the ever popular gyros and a hamburger with cheese. Now a hamburger with cheese is not to be confused with a cheeseburger. Brennan was very surprised when he got two burger patties but he accepted them with good grace. Upon cutting into them, he discovered melted cheese and that they were delicious. I was happy about that because I didn’t get very many mussels and I really didn’t want to share!
As we fell asleep in our comfy beds in our dark cave room, I heard the sound of distant rumbling. My first thought was “Oh no, an earthquake”. Then I realized that I heard some trucks passing overhead. Our room was directly under the road. It didn’t bother us again and we preferred it to the rooms farther down the hill that required more stair climbing to reach.
Santorini: September 13, 2005
One of the things we discovered during our talks with Susie was that Tuesday the 13 th was a bad luck day in Greece rather than Friday the 13th, as in North America. Thankfully we did not have a bad day.
My day started at 7:30 am. I was up and out quickly to get some early morning photographs of all the charming buildings and incredible scenery. I enjoyed wandering around the alleys and stairs to catch a glimpse of what was around the next wall or bend in the walkway. I worked up a good sweat as I climbed all those stairs, as it was already 24C. Yesterday I had noticed donkeys in the alleys to carry the luggage to the lower hotels. Cars were not allowed in the center of the village. As well as homes and shops (especially jewellery stores), there were many churches in Oia. They varied in size but most of them had blue domed roofs. All of them had at least one bell; some had multiple bells tiered upwards from the church roof. All the churches had tall poles, painted blue and white like old-fashioned barber poles. I haven’t discovered the significance of these poles yet. Unfortunately later in the day after downloading my images, I discovered that my camera had gotten dirt inside it at some point during our trip. I thought it was just on the lens and had tried to clean it myself before going out but it didn’t work. So I guess that I’ll have to find a camera store and get it cleaned. Maybe it was my bad luck for the day?
Everyone else’s day started with a lovely continental breakfast on the terrace, overlooking the sea. Sierra wasn’t pleased with all the fruit but she loved the croissants. The rest of us enjoyed all the offerings, especially the fresh squeezed orange juice. I was very hungry by this time!
We headed off on the direct route to Fira and decided that we actually liked the scenic route better. The main road goes up and through the hills while the scenic route follows the eastern coast line. In Fira, we managed to find the agency for the Blue Star ferries and bought some tickets for our trip to Naxos on the 17 th. I am glad that we chose not to stay in Fira, as it was much busier and noisier than Oia. Both towns are high on top of the cliffs, so not exactly for beach lovers. I think that there might be a resort area at the bottom of the cliff outside of Fira but I am not sure. We haven’t ventured in that direction yet.
From here we turned south and with some great directions from our South African neighbours, we made it to our destination of Akrotiri. It was an ancient city that is currently being excavated. Historians believe that the residents of the city left it before the volcanic eruption in the early 17 th century BC that destroyed the island for centuries. They have not found any human remains yet. The interesting feature for us was that we were able to see how the excavations were done. The entire site was under many large canopied roofs, held up by rows of scaffolding. The rock walls were propped up in places and falling down in areas where restoration hadn’t occurred yet. Everything was coated in dust. What a difference it was from the final product of other ruins that we have visited. I found out later that only about 4% of the city was excavated so far.
Near the ancient city was a recommended beach called Red Beach; so called because of its red pebbly soil. We almost didn’t make it because there was limited parking, stupid people both in vehicles and walking, and Brian’s lack of interest. However we did manage to find a spot and we trekked up and over the ridge to see the beach. Yep, it was red. It was also full of white umbrellas that stood out vividly from their dark surroundings. As it was still early in the day, we decided to pass on a swim. I think that we will go back there on Friday for a snorkel.
From Akrotiri, we continued on to the diving center of the island at Perisa, on the southeast coast. Brian and Brennan booked dives for themselves for the 14 th. We picked up picnic supplies at a “large” grocery store and headed to the black beaches. We had planned to picnic and then snorkel at one of these beaches but the water was just too rough. So we had a delicious lunch at the beach and then headed back to the hotel pool to cool down.
Guess what, we are actually getting tans. This is an amazing thing for the McKinney family. We have been exposed to so much sun that it’s working its way through all the SPF 30 sunscreen.
We skipped the sunset tonight and thus the crowds. Bedtime was early and we didn’t hear any trucks.( NEXT PAGE )