iBeck: Greece Part II

Taking a giant hydrofoil speed boat from Crete to Santorini sounded like a great idea. It only takes about 2.5 hours and is relatively affordable. It all started off innocuous enough as hundreds of people filled the rows of seats inside the wide catamaran. Becky, Jeff, Melissa and I settled in, opening books and iPads, ready for the relaxing journey to paradise.

Little did we know that the path to bliss was through the depths of hell. Our first clue was the ~~flight~~ boat attendants frantically passing out bundles of barf bags. We nervously surveyed the passengers and noticed more than a few grasping for handfuls. Uh Oh.

Fifteen minutes into the trip and the books were closed due to queasiness Becky and I reclined our seats, shut our eyes and let the roll of the ship and the sounds of heaving lull us to sleep. Melissa and Jeff were not as lucky. I woke up with about twenty minutes left as the attendants were walking around collecting the puke receptacles, just in time to see the women sitting next to Melissa hand three full bags across Melissa's lap. Jeff was no where to be found; he had made his way to the back to find some inner calm. I am happy to report that the four of us were barf free as we cruised into Santorini, though we were not too keen to see a boat anytime soon.

Santorini is a famous Aegean island for many reasons. It is the result of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, said to have created a tsunami that completely washed over the island of Crete, 123 miles away. This eruption created the caldera, thousand foot cliffs in three main islands.

View of the caldera from the plane. *Photo by Melissa*

The towns on the island are built into the sheer cliffs, and this is where the island really gets amazing. The shops and cave homes are all painted white with accents of ocre and blue mixed. It is breathtaking.

There are two main towns on Santorini, Oia on the North end of the island and Fira in the center. We stayed in an amazing cave house in Oia. You know you have chosen your lodging wisely when tourists stop at the cliffs above to take a picture. Our place:

The view from the walk above our cave (the deck with the chais in the middle of the picture).

To really appreciate the beauty of the island, we took a three hour hike from Fira to Oia.

Exploring Fira before hiking back to Oia

Looking back at Fira after starting the walk.

Oia in the background . . . still a ways to go.

One last beautiful view of Oia before entering the town.

We did it!

Island life demands a dip in the whirlpool following any strenuous activity.

Santorini is not only famous for the views. The archaeological site Akrotiri is also on the island. Akrotiri dates back to 3000BC and one local explained that it is possibly the lost city of Atlantis, reasoning that what has been excavated there has much in common with Plato's description of the lost city. It is an amazing example of a civilisation way ahead of its time, at least that is what we were told. Mostly, it looked like a bunch of ruined walls.

The Greek government built a structure to protect the site from the elements.

While we were on the other side of the island, we decided to check out Red Sand beach. Most of the beaches on Santorini are black sands, so this one is quite famous. The only access to the beach is a precarious 10 minute hike from the closest parking lot, but well worth it.

Jeff and I braving the icy Aegean Sea.

After a tough day of learning and beach going, we finished the day at a winery. The vines of Santorini are famous for several reasons. First, in the 1850's, the grape vines of Europe were destroyed and had to be replaced by California vines (grafted to the roots of the old European vines). This affected all of Europe, except for Santorini, making it the only place in Europe with the original vines.

Because the island soil is volcanic ash, the way the grapes are grown in unique. Santorini gets very little rain, but because the ash absorbs the moisture from the air, irrigation is not needed. This is true for all the island crops - cherry tomatoes, fava beans and capers. And finally, the vines are grown in coils instead of in rows. There are only two other places in the world that grow vines like this.

Melissa holding an old vine coil.

On our last day, we hiked down the 300 stairs from Oia to Amoudi Bay.

Some of the beautiful architecture as we navigated down the stairs.

View from above in Oia down to Amoudi Bay.

Swimming in the bay.

Panorama from Amoudi Bay looking up to Oia. This one is worth clicking on to see the full size.

Of course, a blog on Santorini wouldn't be complete without sunsets. The best place to watch the sunset on Santorini is right where we stayed, the far end of Oia.