Santorini: black sand, hot sun and more ATVs!!

Santorini, named after Saint Irene, is one of the best known islands in the Cyclades Island grouping. Many years ago it consisted of 3 volcanoes, but after a massive eruption in the 16th C B.C., the centre of the island was blown out, a giant crater was formed and the low altitude parts were filled with water, creating a crescent like shape to Santorini with high cliffs on the west, and wondeful beaches to the east.

Though we've only been to 3 Greek islands, Santorini is certainly the favourite! From the moment you near the port of Fira (Thira) you see the towering cliffs--decorated with striations and topped with the typical white and blue buildings that create the image of Greece--you know that Santorini is something different.

In an attempt to get the island experience, we left the port town and capital city and ventured to the lesser known Perissa, to a cute hotel positioned a 5 minute walk from the beach. Known for it's black sand, Perissa beach is the ultimate Greek beach. It's lengthy, when most Greek beaches are tiny strips trapped in the centre of cities, and it's array of beachside cafes a distance back from the water, ensures you'll have a serene experience, until you need to the chill of the popular Frappe (a cold coffee).

After our first exploration of the beach it was clear that the black sand we'd expected was a truly superior form. The sand was actually tiny pebbles, which made the entire beach experience better; gone were the days of returning to your hotel to get rid of the mini beach that had accumulated inside your bag, towel, hair and bathing suit. The black 'sand' didn't get where it didn't belong, and while it was incredibly hot, the cool water of the ocean made it fine. Another really interesting thing about the beach was that when we entered the water, we discovered that what we thought was a great stripe of white sand under the water, was actually a solid piece of very slippery rock that fell away just 10 feet from the shore. We were too chicken to check out what lay in the unknown, but it didn't matter, since the water is knee deep from the moment of entrance.

We had a great 2 days on Santorini. We sat at the beach and read, cultivating excellent tans; we rented ATVs and learned that our choice to stay in Perissa near the beach was a much better choice that staying in the shop filled Fira, thousands of stairs away from anything resembling sand; we explored the view of Santorini from atop the mountain in Pyrgos; looked at the red beach, which isn't a beach, but a place with a lot of red stones; watched the sun partially set, then realized the wind was too high and kept driving around; and finally, ate at Grandma's, a wonderful restaurant where the pitas are 30 cm long and the Greek salad, bigger than my head. A very short 2 days, but a wonderful 2 days. Now it's time to get ready for our visit to Crete before we return to London and to work.

The cliffs near Fira

Perissa beach



the black 'sand'

the early morning sun over Perissa beach

View of the West side of Santorini, near Fira

Our giant meal at Grandma's

the sunset as seen near Faros

a church surrounded by red rock at the red beach

(though you can't really tell, it is red)

The view of East Santorini from atop the mountain near Pyrgos

Paros, Delos and Mykonos

We left Athens and went to visit the island of Paros. We stayed in the 'popular' town of Naoussa, which apparently doesn't pick up until June. We didn't lack in fun though. We spent a day riding around the island on some awesome fourwheelers, checking out all the beaches and then we spent a day touring Delos and Mykonos. Here are the pictures...

PAROS

As said, we took a day cruise to the islands of Delos and Mykonos. The winds were high...very high and the waves were massive. The boat was small and the vomit was plentiful. We did well on the deck, holding on despite the water splashing over the side, but once I went inside to sit down I realized we were some of the few who remained without a vomit bag against their faces. A fair number of passengers did not hold their breakfast...so much so that the crew spent most of their time replenishing the passengers with bags. Many got off at the first port and took a much larger ferry back. We stayed and had a great day. Here are the pics...

the massive tail and some of the incredible waves we dealt with

DELOS

Delos is a sacred island. It is apparently the birth place of Apollo and Artemis (not Delphi as we thought) and was one of the most important places in the world at one time. It was seen as the birth place of god and was a popular island. No one was allowed to be born or die on this island, and so the island remained a belonging of the gods and no one else. It is actually the highest mountains of a sunken continent, but now its just one big archeological site.

ancient 3-d, 3 colour mosaic

the place where people deposited money to allow themselve to wander through Delos.

the archeological site from the port.

lions that guarded the Sacred Lake

remains of a 4 story home

a clay bathtub.

The Temple of Isis built by the Egyptians (Delos was a multicultural place)

The statue of Isis is the only remaining original marble statue in Delos (the rest are in the museum)

what remains of the theatre

MYKONOS

One of the most famous of the Cycladic islands. Mykonos is supposedly 'glitzy'. It was cute, but after 3 hours we'd had enough of the cute shops and we were ready to get back to Paros.

a woman made general for her bravery in battle in the War of Independence

we looked for the Maritime museum, but only found this giant anchor.

Mykonos' famous church...they really are like the postcards.

We'll be heading to Santorini tomorrow. We'll post when we can (sorry about the lack of description in this one...we're at an internet cafe that costs a small fortune).

XOXOXO