May 29-30 Santorini and Athens

May 29 – Santorini

This was to be an exciting day with a private tour taking us from one end of the island to the other. Sadly, the weather was not in our favour. Having experienced so much hot and humid weather on this trip, it was quite a shock to have to cope with cold, wind and torrential rain.

Undeterred, we thoroughly enjoyed out tour. The guide was able to manage us to be in places once all the other tourists had disappeared and on the whole we were able to dodge the rain. A place we would easily visit again.

Some facts we learned:

·       There are more than 700 churches in Santorini. The village of Pyrgos is the ancient capital of the island and is the village with the most churches but there are currently only 500 residents.

·       The current capital is Fira. Buildings cannot be more than 2 storeys. The majority of buildings were coloured white and blue only. These colours were adopted by residents many centuries ago when the island was under occupation. It was a way to demonstrate they were Greek. In 1986 a law was passed to provide permits to residents who wished to paint the house a different colour. After three months the law was revoked. It did not work. Those houses which gained a permit are still able to keep the colour.

·       Oia (pronounced ee-ah) is the place the film Mamma Mia was made. A beautiful village at the far end of the island.

·       The cave houses in the village of Vothonas are some of the oldest on the island. Cave houses occur naturally in the pumistone rock or are carved into the rock, which is very soft.

·       There are a lot of vineyards on the island and the vines are specially grown low to the ground on a circular frame to protect them from wind and rain.

Approaching the Santorini caldera

Early morning views to the town of Oia on the cliff

Some of the houses with permission to use other than blue and white

Two ships and a more traditional craft in the extinct volcanic crater

Now the towns are all at the top of the cliffs and this is one way of travelling to the top ....

then there's the alternative!!!

Out ship on the right

Our local taverna for lunch

situated on a black sand beach (remember this is a volcano

Our tour companions from the ship

Now this is what I call a Greek salad!!

Oh, and the stuffed tomatoes in Greece - anywhere in Greece - are to die for!

Yummy dolmades

Homes may be built into the rock, but they are beautiful from the outside

unless they are in an ancient lane now long since abandoned

A genuine cave house. Two windows downstairs and one over the door. Animals would occupy the lower area and the family upstairs

In this village the lanes are so twisty and turning that a blue line is painted so you can follow the same route to the main square at the top

This is one of the 'collars' used to train the vines to grow in doughnut fashion

Beautiful local items at every turn

Homes have lots of colour in the courtyards

Arriving in Oia, Torrential rain has just stopped. The water was flowing down the steep, stepped streets

But the bride weathers everything - yes, another wedding when we turn up!!

That weather is still threatening

The dark sky providing an additional element to the whiteness of the buildings

We are headed for the ruined castle, centre right

All stores are beautifully decorated outside. I loved this Pinocchio

Hmmm - that's the direction we are headed - better hurry

Made it! Looking down to the small marina at the bottom of the cliff

Views at every turn

 

On our way back to Fira we had wonderful views of the flat land where all the beaches are. You either have a holiday at the beach or you choose to have your holiday on the cliff. It's a long drive between the two if you care to hire a car

This shop had marvellous, locally made items. Not expensive either

And still the donkeys travel up the hillside. You can see where they have also come down by what they leave behind! Some people brave the walk unaware of what will be underfoot!!

Fira on top of the cliff. The path is clear, the cable car can be seen on the left

In this picture you can clearly see the cable cars about to pass each other. You can also just see some donkeys on the path, just near the white building half way up

Farewell to Santorini. The white cliff top towns looking like snow in the late afternoon light

Unable to take the classic sunset shots on the island, I still managed to snap a lovely sunset after a day of mixed weather

May 30 – Athens

Well I say Athens, but essentially we dock in Piraeus, the port of Athens. As we had visited last year, we had arranged a tour to take us down the coast to the Temple of Poseidon which is at Cape Sounion, the southern-most point of the European mainland (not including islands). This coastal road tour was a welcome relaxing day after rushing around so much in Santorini yesterday.

Again we asked to be taken to a typical; Greek taverna for some local food. Love Greek food as well as some Greek beer.

Leaving Piraeus, we visited a naval museum. This replica Greek warship was build only recently

The eye on the front wards off evil

This is a hot spring. 

This coastal route is very scenic

Rocky shorelines are interspersed with sandy beaches

Umbrellas are lined up along a beach

The first sight of the Temple of Poseidon

 

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Graffiti going back centuries. Look carefully you will see a famous name

Sitting in the cafe this medium sized tortoise took a stroll across a path and into the scrub

Back at busy Piraeus harbour

We were docked in front of one of the sailing ships which frequently cruises the Greek and Croatian islands