|
Santorini
Diary.
Tues
24th July
We boarded the High-Speed 4 catamaran (75 meters long with a 100
kph cruising speed) and departed from Athens bound for the island
of Santorini – my most anticipated island.
Well 4 hours on a fast ferry equates to more 500 playing & with
the guys upstairs in business class – backpackers you ask?
– (in their defence they were the only tickets left), I sat
down with some other of our fellow travellers and played some of
the best cards of my life. Messier, messier and open messier to
win in three hands. Legendary.
Soon we were cruising through the beautiful water of the Cyclacades
and arriving at our final destination. Here the trip really started
to chill out. We had estimated arriving in the islands around my
birthday however we were nearly 2 weeks early.
As you step off the ferry you are mobbed by all the hotel owners
and their scouts who are touting for business. One of the group
picked up a great deal and we were soon all piled into the bus and
heading up the steep cliff face bound for the suburb of Perissa
on the south eastern coast of the island. With it’s black beach
(volcanic stones) and crystal clear 5 tone blue coloured water,
it is absolutely out of this world.
That night we all just relaxed and went to dinner accompanied by
a few quiet (?) cocktails…say no more.
Funnily enough that night I was stopped in one of the bars by a
man who asked me whether I knew Warren James (a friend from London
for those of you who don’t know Wozza). When I replied yes
he said his name and informed me that I had been in his house only
few weeks previously. It turned out that he worked with Wozza and
we had indeed been at his house prior to a night out recently. Have
to say it’s a small world huh.
Back
to top
Wed 25th July
Being so close to a beach & water like this meant that the only
thing that was going to happen today was lying in the sun and swimming.
At this point I really missed Manly and realised how much I missed
living by a beach.
Some of the others hired moped scooters for the day and went exploring
the island and provided us with anactivity
for the following day.
That night we went to Thira (the capital of the island) for a night
out. After visiting a bar or two we realised that even though we
were on an island in the middle of nowhere you had to be glammed
up to go out clubbing. So instead we ended up where you always go
when the chips are down – an Irish bar.
A good international night was had by all. Baz met an American,
Hummer some Austrians, Brady a Greek girl he couldn’t converse
with (not that it mattered) and Marie some guy from many different
cultural backgrounds. A good night was had by all. We like Santorini.
Back
to top
Thurs
26th July
We
hired the bikes the others had the previous day and set off with
our smurf helmets on. NB: people on bikes in Greece don’t wear
helmets & they drive like they’re possessed by the devil.
We were actually responsible & it’s a good job too. Those
islands are dangerous.
Our first stop was Red Beach with a huge red cliff face (something
to do with the volcano again) & more swimming. After a few hours
we set off for Thira again & savoured the culture in daylight.
It is an unbelievably beautiful city which the postcards and pictures
don’t do justice to.
That day there was 3 ocean liners just moored in the bay doing stopovers.
As the city is situated on the top of the hill the only way up is
via either the gondola (which wasn’t working) or walking/donkey
riding up the zig zag path, which is quite an effort in the middle
of the day.
From here we went in search of the famous blue roofed church so
I could get a photo. But could we find it? No. Well we did in the
end but by that point we had taken photos of about 4 others &
we had another destination to get to.
Ioa is the most northern town of Santorini and is renowned as the
place to watch the sunset because of the colours seen. We got there
along with hundreds of others and crammed into the best spot left
available. It was a very nice sunset although I don’t think
I got the buzz I was supposed to. Call me uncultured I guess. However,
it was interesting that once the sun went down the crowd burst out
in applause? What did they expect – an encore? Very strange.
Back
to top
Fri 27th July
Was an uneventful day really. Didn’t do much. C’mon I’m
on holiday.
Back
to top
Sat
28th July
After seeing the island & chilling out, most of our group had
moved onto other islands so we decided to do so as well. Unfortunately
in the process of trying to get new guests the managers of the hotel
had left locked my passport away in their office. Oh well, new plans.
We’ll leave tomorrow.
Back to top
|
