greece: akrotiri etc.

my original plan was just to just stay on santorini for 2 days and then head over to athens, but after numerous conversations with people at hostels, i was convinced to stay on santorini for another day. there's actually lots to see and do - ruins, beaches, vineyards, more little coastal cities to see.

so i headed down to the southwestern bit of the island to the ancient city/ruins of akrotiri to explore the ruins. the site recently reopened to the public as they were(are) doing some serious renovations/excavations there. the facility is gorgeous - it's all covered so you're "inside" and obviously still quite an active archaeological site. [and just as an FYI, santorini is also known as thera]



it still doesn't have a whole lot of signs, so i think a tour would be the way to see the site - it's cool and pretty impressive, but i didn't really know what a lot of what i was looking at was specifically. in fira, i had gone to a museum that talked about this site, thankfully, so i had a bit of background. it seems that the town was a quite impressive minoan settlement. some really wonderful frescos taken from the site are in the museum. there is also a bit of talk/rumor about this being the site that inspired the story of atlantis - advanced culture, volcano that destroyed the city.


[from the house of the ladies]

what they've done is excavated the city and then built walkways all around it so that you can wander the ancient streets. really, really cool to walk through a couple thousand year old city.



the structures are amazingly well defined, and i love that you can tell where storage buildings were, where the kitchen was, and then i tagged along with a few tours to try to identify some buildings as well.







a very, very interesting place. i'm inspired to go read a book about atlantis!

upon leaving, i walked over to the red beach (as opposed to the white and black beaches, which i did not visit). the "sand" is actually volcanic rock and pretty unique for a beach. i spent a while hear reading and soaking in the sunshine and swimming in the aegean sea. ahhhhh the beach and salt water and i miss the water so much in DC. even though this beach was crazy crowded, it was just lovely to be by the water and in the sun.





and while i didn't actually visit a winery, i passed by a lot of greek vineyards. next time!


[grape plants just lying on the ground. very strange.]

i left the next day for athens. i did really enjoy my time in santorini, and i look forward to coming back to greece and exploring the greek isles. absolutely gorgeous places.

greece: oia

when i told the guys at my hostel in fira that i was going to oia for the rest of my stay on santorini they stared at me in surprise, "but there's nothing to do in oia," they told me. which, to be honest, is exactly how i like it.

my feelings about santorini (fira specifically) in general surprised me because yes, it is just as idyllic and gorgeous as people say and the pictures show, but it was sooo touristy. crowds of people off of the cruise ships poured in every day and while i am jealous that they got to see more of the greek isles and spend time on/in the water than i did, it is also the same 'ole cruise problem - you get a few hours in each place which is time to snap a few photos, eat something, and then you are rushed off without getting the opportunity to experience or soak in a place. the onslaught of tours is just ... not my thing (which is not to say that it is not for others!). although i was relieved to see that tourism is obviously still quite high in greece (given greece's current economic situation)(and if it's low, my goodness, i am only coming in the low season), santorini was not quite my preferred "off the beaten track" sorta place.


[white-washed buildings overlooking the sea]

which is why i liked oia more. most people who are staying on santorini stay in fira and they all flock to oia for the sunsets (of which, p.s., the three i saw had nothing compared to tucson and baja/peñasco sunsets), but then they mostly leave.



oia was still touristy and crowded, but less so. so i felt like, even though still quite the tourist, i was able to feel the town a bit more.


[oia on the outside part of the caldera]


[oia on the inside part of the caldera]

i walked down a winding path on the very tip of the caldera to the seaside fishing village of ammoudi [the lonely planet called it a fishing village. there were boats, but i saw no fishermen/fishing industry looking sorts of things].


[looking down at ammoudi during my walk]


[donkey rides were available once again so that, if you choose (which i did not), you don't have to walk back up]

upon arrival, i followed a little walkway along the seas edge to check out the volcanic rock tide pools (of course i had to go tidepooling in the aegean sea!). saw pretty much nothing except for some cool salt crystals drying in the sunshine.




[cool!]


[view back towards ammoudi. note steepness of cliffs and oia above]

i had a delicious lunch sitting literally on the edge of the sea, from my table when i looked down i could see tiny fishes waiting for crumbs. let me just say, that i could eat a greek salad everyday for forever and be perfectly content. combine that with the grilled fish (that i selected inside the restaurant) and you might just call life perfect.

but really. how can you not be awestruck by such a lovely place?

greece: santorini, fira

greece has been on my bucket list for a long time. and with my trip to rome, i couldn't really resist the chance to take some personal time and hop over to greece for a week. i did a "highlights" tour - as in, i went to the island of santorini and athens - just to get a taste and whet my appetite for a future trip here with iván.


[greece: athens and santorini marked]

[and oh my goodness. i kinda overdid with it the photos and am having a hell of a time sorting through them. so i'm going to end up dividing these posts like crazy to make them manageable - even though i was only there for a week. so stay tuned.]

so i flew to santorini, a.k.a. thira, from rome and arrived at sunrise. i had a hostel reservation in fira (the main city) and took the bus over there. my room wasn't ready, so i left to go wander around and was .... kinda disappointed. i mean the ocean was pretty, but it wasn't the white-washed buildings and cliff that i was expecting. so i'm walking aimlessly around the streets (mind you, it's 8am and no one is around) and follow a cobble-stoned path up a hill...

and OH, i realize, i've been facing EAST when the caldera is to the WEST. and oh.my.goodness. it is stunning.


[this is literally the first photo i took. no editing]


[map to help you orient yourself}

so i spent the morning stunned at the view and beauty of this place, wandering through the cobble-stone paths that hug the caldera rim (there are no streets on the caldera side - no room for them. basically its just paths leading to restaurants and hotels (and some shops)).






[so many cruise ships]


[cliffside path]

all of those little paths mean that there are no street names and it is horribly easy to get lost in the chaos of fira - souvenir shops, boutiques, jewelry, and restaurants (as the guy at my hostel told me, people come to fira to shop, eat, and party). i often walked by a shop where i thought "i should come back here later" to then be unable to find it until hours later when i would restumble upon it. what's impressive about this is that fira is not large by any definition and combined with my generally good sense of direction, it's just a bit indicative of how winding and turning and the quantity of all those shops. restaurants paste signs all over buildings in an attempt to direct lost tourists



you may notice the sign at the bottom there, for the donkey station. the cliff down to the old port is quite steep and although there are paths, most/many would find it a difficult walk. there is a cable car that you can take or you can ride a donkey! i did neither. next time.


[lines of donkeys waiting for riders]


[path down to the old port]

as the morning progressed, more and more people and tourists began pouring into the streets, and i left the bustling center. in the afternoon i walked to nearby firostefani, which is basically more of the same, but smaller and with less people. i stopped for a greek coffee at what most be the cafe with (one of) the world's best views.


[cafe view]


[looking back at fira]


[rooftop garden decorations]

god it was just lovely. and equally so at night



i just stayed in fira this one day. too crowded really, and the next morning, i headed to the northern tip of the island to oia. more to come ...