Santorini

Beautiful Church

For years now I have seen photos of the island of Santorini and I have dreamed of visiting this exotic Greek island, and hoped it would meet my expectations. Well to my great joy it was even better in person that any brochure photograph can capture. The small villages of white stucco buildings perched high above the blue Mediterranean Sea took my breath away.

Panoramic view of caldera

   

The island of Santorini is crescent shaped and in fact is the remnants of the tip (called a caldera) of a still active volcano creating a deep blue lagoon within the Aegean Sea. In fact this volcano caldera is the largest the world and it’s explosion is responsible for the complete loss of the Minoan civilization in 1450 BC. On the one coast the island has high rocky cliffs while of the other side it is surrounded by volcanic black beaches. With its iconic white villages built high on top of the rocky cliffs with spectacular views of the entire caldera.

Greek Windmill

Left view of Oia

Right view of Oia

We were fortunate enough to be booked into the village of Oia, which is most photographed village on the island for a very good reason with its famous sunsets. Every angle of this amazing town was spectacular and as Laurence send several times, “It is impossible to take a bad picture in this town”. The town has no roads it is just a small sidewalk that weaves it way up and down through the houses, churches and shops of this quaint little village. Our traditional cave home had an amazing view of the ocean and the village but came with price, the steepest staircase down from the main walk of about 4 stories, and in 35 degree heat was a real work out. We were also fortunate enough to be temporarily adopted by one the many Greek island cats, we named here Maphette, who Laurence spoiled with cheese treats daily (sound familiar).

Maphew in Santorini

So everyday Laurence and I would make our way down the main staircase to the water and take a swim in the blue crystal clear water before attempting to climb the over 300 steps back up to the village. We made it our work out routine for this very quiet and relaxing portion of the trip. Et joined us once on our journey down but she took the more traditional method of climbing the hill, a donkey.

Stairs down the hill

Etienne on her donkey

We also rented a car one day and explored the island further afield from our little village of Oia. Each stop had a different charm from the main town of Thira with its countless shops (catering to our now hated cruise ship tour groups, or zombies as we referred to them) to the black pebble beach of Perissa Beach. And the views along the road side were all magnificent and breath taking.

Church in Thira

Dome of Art Deco Church

Left view of  Thira

 

Right view of Thira

This portion of our holiday was always planned to be full of slow days, hot weather, just lying by the pool, cool drinks and roof top dinners and we did it all. Our memories of Oia, claiming to be the location of the lost city of Atlantis, will be with us for a lifetime and can’t wait to visit this island again.

Painted Ass