Red Beaches and White Churches
Trip Start
Mar 12, 2009
1
36
43
Trip End
Sep 02, 2009
Perissa, Cyclades, Greece
Thursday, July 30, 2009
My first impressions of the island (known as Thira to Greeks) were made in the darkness of midnight as my taxi driver traveled the winding switchback road from the port to the top of the cliffs overlooking the caldera and then sped along at 100km (in a 30km zone) through the island’s small streets. But starting the next morning during a walk from my hotel in Perissa, a beachfront city on Santorini’s south east coast, I was able to take in the island’s arid, rocky landscape dotted with coiled grape vines, white-washed houses and blue-white churches.
I was quick to note that life here was laid back and peaceful like on Greece’s other islands, yet also interrupted often by the roaring of scooters and ATV’s without mufflers, shuttling tourists and locals alike from town to town and beach to beach. The crescent-shaped island is no more than 2.5 miles at its widest point and approx 15 miles from its north to south tips, so travelling from Perissa to Fira, the main city at the center of the island, would take approx. 20 minutes via car. So with regular buses (which were usually very full) running from city to city, getting around the island was going to be fairly easy.
However, while I did want to check out Santorini’s two main cities (Fira and Oia/Ia, both overlooking the caldera from approx 900 foot-high cliffs) and its much smaller volcanic sister island in its bay (Nea Kameni), my main objective in visiting Santorini was to spend ample time reading and relaxing on the beach and taking long meals in the island’s small tavernas. By the end of my stay, I could definitely say that my mission had been accomplished.
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Below is an attempt to summarize the highlights of my time on Santorini:
~Taking the daily 5-minute stroll down the small street by my hotel to Perissa’s black pebble beach, past white-washed homes and hotels flanked by red bougainvillea and blue gates and shutters
~Filling up each morning at Hotel Drossos on a large breakfast of Greek yogurt, granola, bacon, toast, sweet breads and juice (after eating "real" yogurt in the Middle East and Greece for five weeks, the "flavored" Yoplait-type light yogurt back home is way too sweet for me to enjoy now)
~Taking the 25-minute bus ride from Perissa to Fira to walk through and around the town, including along its cliff facing the caldera (and REALLY enjoying a cold beer at a cafe overlooking the caldera at the end of my hour-long hike)
~Making a stop at the market across from my hotel to buy food for lunches and snacks (sandwich bread/meat/condiments, tzatziki, cookies, fruit, crisps, nuts and drinks) for the week
~While at the Prehistoric Museum in Fira, perusing the ancient art (frescos, pottery, figurines etc) of Santorini (since Akrotiri, its actual archaeological site similar to Pompeii, was indefinitely closed to the public due to an accident there involving a tourist) and learning more about the geography and history of the volcanic island
~Relaxing in the evenings on my hotel room’s large balcony, listening to music from the adjacent Soul Bar and sipping on Santorinian white wine
~After a short boat ride across the caldera, hiking through black and red volcanic rocks to reach a geothermally-active area (with hot steam and yellow sulfur) on Nea Kameni island
~Winding down my trip to Nea Kameni with a stop at the island’s brownish-red and sulfur-smelling hot springs, which we accessed by diving off our boat and swimming approx 150 yards towards the shore and into a small cove
~Using the computer at one of the combination tour office/ferry ticket sales center/internet cafes along my hotel’s street to research W. Europe travels and check in at home
~Dining for hours at small tavernas beach-front (like Yazz, where my Aussie waitress told me her sister worked at a Lone Star Steakhouse) and street-side near my hotel and on fresh fish, stuffed peppers, souvlaki, moussaka, and other fresh-made vegetable and lamb dishes (note: most Greeks don’t start dinner until 9 or 10pm)
~Loving the cool, nearly constant and at times strong breeze that swept across the island after sunset and the very comfortable weather than came with it
~Noting the interesting marketing effort of nearly every business, restaurant, tour operator, market, etc in Perissa to label itself or its products as "The best…" via its signage
~Hearing no fewer than six different languages being spoken when I would relax/read for hours at a time on a lounge chair on Perissa Beach
~Loving the orange and red hues that - despite being on the east (sunrise) side of the island - coated the landscape and white buildings of Perissa at sunset
~Meeting Elena and Laura from Bilbao, Spain, while waiting to catch the second bus en route to Red Beach (where the – very crowded - beach really is red compliments of the towering, iron-rich red cliffs that flank it) and loving having good company to visit with (albeit mostly in Spanish!) that afternoon
~Meeting up with Laura and Elena again the next evening (my last night on Santorini) to tour the island’s most charming city, Oia, with its blue, round-topped churches and narrow streets and to enjoy dinner while watching a beautiful sunset and moonrise (and jamming to some good tunes on the ride back to Perivolos in their rental car)
~On my 15-minute walk back to Perissa at the end of the night, watching and listening to a group of older Greeks dance to traditional music in a taverna along Perivilos, and then taking a quiet stroll along the beach itself as the full moon illuminated my path
~In seven days of laid back life on the beach, reading over 400 pages of a book, listening to five of Piper’s sermon series on Romans and gladly putting an end to my title as whitest boy in Greece
~Enjoying one last morning relaxing on Perissa Beach before departing for the airport for a 40-minute flight back to Athens for one last night in Greece before heading to London
Looking back on the previous seven days, I realized that while I had no regrets about spending the week taking it easy and relaxing on a beautiful Greek island, that at times I had begun to get a little restless. In the previous four+ months of my travels, I had much enjoyed taking many amazing outdoor treks and been mostly on the go, constantly exploring new places. With that thought in mind and as I headed to London, I looked forward with much anticipation to exploring via car, foot and/or van many new territories in England and Western Europe.
