Weather – sunny
Photo: deserted house after the 1956 earthquake; one of the many blue doors on our walk up to Pyrgos.
Photos: various shots of beautiful Oia....including a jewellery shop!
Temperature - around the 30 mark.
We started the day off with a continental breakfast at the hotel and engaged in some conversation with some of the guests who are generally Canadian or American.
We decided to use the public bus system which the guide book said could be relied upon and we headed to Kamari Beach on the other side of the island. It is a black sand beach and nothing like I expected as it obviously caters for a large influx of tourists in the busy months. The beach, a very long one, was covered with grass-covered umbrellas and sunning lounges. As well, there were so many restaurants it was hard to believe that they could thrive – but they must so we guessed in the tourist season it must be heaving with visitors!
David and Cameron went for a swim at the black pebble beach a little way up from the black sand beach while Desley and I sat at some seats from a café over the road taking in the view. The beach obviously gets very hot as there were planks from the boardwalk to the water and they had one traversing the width of the beach as well. As we had our coffees and teas we listened to some great 60’s music from the café: Spanish eyes; It’s Amore (Dean Martin); The House of the Rising Sun; Oh, Carol etc….yes, maybe it should have been bouzouki music but it was great to hear familiar and loved English songs. With morning tea dispensed with we headed up the street and decided that an afternoon/evening tour was a great way to see the island so we had lunch in readiness for the two oçlock departure.
Santorini is much greener and has much more vegetation than Mykonos. They have an interesting way of growing grapes: the vines are grown on the ground however they are wrapped up like wreaths to protect the fruit from the elements. The island also grows tomatoes and capers – it is the only Greek salad served with capers, a salad we enjoyed at lunch time.
Photo: the boys at Parmari Beach!
Santorini was destroyed by a very severe earthquake in 1956 measuring 7.1 which resulted in 156 deaths and many people leaving the island. Mesa Gonia in the centre of the island has quite a few houses that have been left as shells. The floors were covered with a very pale and fine volcanic ash.
A little way further we visited the delightful hilltop town of Pyrgos. We wound our way around to the highest points to take in the views and some private churches with the famous blue domes. We were able to visit one private chapel – the chapel of St George – built in 1680. All the way we could see the traditional houses – some restored beautifully and others in need of significant repair….probably worth a fortune though!
The volcano we could see in the distance (active but not noticeably) has had three eruptions in the 20th century.
We then drove to the northern most town on the island - Oia. On the way we passed by a large cream home surrounded by black stone fences – Angelina Jolie’s house….didn’t spy her though! We were able to take quite a few pictures of the blue domed churches and the houses nestled on the sides of the hill. We could also look over to Thira, where we are staying, to see it perched high over the cliffs. Oia has very narrow lanes and we found it to be very busy. It is famous for its sunsets, but in truth the sunset from our balcony the previous evening was pretty hard to beat! We ended up finding a café for pizza, rose and beers and had a quieter and less picturesque view of the sunset but a lot more comfortable.
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