Greek Islands - Santorini

We left Athens at the crack of dawn on Wednesday and embarked on the 7 hour sailing to Santorini. The boat was pretty good, it was a beautiful sunny day and the water was nice and still. So we spent the whole day sitting up on the top deck enjoying the scenery when there was some available and reading when there wasn't.  Arriving in Santorini was pretty incredible. It is a Volcanic area which has the most picturesque perched village hanging hundreds of metres up the cliff face.

We got off the ferry and caught the bus in to Fira, the main area on the island and made our way to our Campsite - aptly named Santorini Camping. Camping is probably the best way to sum it up because our lodging is very basic. While it isn't costing us very much we pretty much have access to some ground to pitch our tent on and a shower. There should be a kitchen but it is off season and it is occupied by several unused bunk beds, old machinary and a stray dog with its latest litter of (very cute) puppies - which we are not taking home (hear that Kimilla, we are not taking any of them home). So we arrived, we got set up and settled in at the camp site and did a bit or exploring around downtown. Our exploring of downtown included what might be the most stunning sunset we have ever seen, looking from the main street of Fira, out over the Volcano.  Eventually, we our way back to the campsite, had some dinner and spent the rest of the evening pretty quietly.

Thursday we got up at the crack of dawn again, thanks to the nearby roosters and donkeys - but we were okay with it, its part of the charm. We had some porridge (oatmeal) for breakfast and went for a bit of an explore around the downtown. After some quick administration we caught a bus to Akrotiki where we spent the day exploring the Red beach. The fairly distinct area is marked by a bright red sediment and a beautiful stoney beach. It was lovely and warm and we spent most of our afternoon warming up on the stones and cooling off in the water. It was good fun and a really interesting area to hang out in.

Eventually we came back downtown (again on the bus - which is pretty well setup here). I bought myself a cold drink from a small store and went and watched the world pass from one of the nice lookout points along the main street while Kimilla went out and had a look around the shops. It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.

and we boiled up rice and tuna.

Friday Morning we got up bright and early after our porridge and coffee and bought our next lot of ferry tickets which we will use on Sunday. From there we did one of the must-do’s of Santorini and walked from Fira to Oia (pronounced e-ya). The walk took us about three hours from start to finish. It began on the main street of Fira and was made up of about four different stages. The first stage wound around the coastline out of Fira through a narrow cobble stone street which took us past some incredible hotels and houses build into the side of the mountain. The second stage was a little less interesting, it still wound around the coast but it was pretty flat and at points we had to walk along the road – on an upside we did see a cave that housed a donkey. The third stage was pretty interesting as it took us right up and over “” mountain the climb wasn’t too intense but did get a little interesting right at the top whe the track simply stopped and we were left to mountain-goat our way from the top to a little chapel that stood on the Oia side. The final stage took us into Oia.

Oia itself is what you see whenever you see a picture of a postcard of Santorini. It is a stunning place perched high into the cliffs with white and blue stucco buildings and terraces. We took a good long time to explore around the little streets and shops to the Old Port area (the new port being nearer to Fira). The landscape was rather spectacular and very much worth the trip to the Island alone. We couldn’t help but note what a great time of year it was to come here because the place was all but deserted. A handful of tourists from a cruise ship and us – that was about it.

Our afternoon was a tad less interesting, we caught the bus back to Fira and found the best souvlaki place in the world – its call “Nick the Grill”, and I can’t decide if it’s a clever play on words, a grammatical error or if in fact the Grill’s name is Nick. Perhaps I will ask when we eat there again tomorrow. After our lunch we decided to walk out to the Eastern Coast to see the beaches along there, but we got a tad lost in the maze of back roads and never actually got there. Oh and it was happy New Zealand birthday for me.