Both of us with a view over Santorini rocks looking out to sea.
These are the rocks leading down to Red Beach.. as we said.. no beaches as such on Santorini to get down to this one you have to scramble down the rocks.. and its almost life threatening.. well not quite but you get the picture.. loose volcanic rock.. crumbling and slipping..
Another view of both of us overlooking Oia.. the smallish town in the north of the Island.
Another one of Coraleen on the donkey.. I cant find the one with her doing the impression of John Wayne.
Coraleen from the balcony of the Monastary.. note the clothes she 'borrowed' as once again.. no cover up.. no entry!!
A side view of the Monastary so you can get the picture of just how amazing it really looked on the sheer face of that cliff.
Another one of the Monastary.. from the bottom before we started the trek uphill!
And me in another side view.. note the mountains and sea in the background.
Coraleen overlooking the gorgeous Santorini Calder from Thira town.
View from our balacony in Amorgos.. looking across the valley to the Port.
Coraleen outside the 'white' church in Amorgos port.
Coraleen up in the town between the port and the Monastary on Amorgos.. they all have towns by the same name.. this one was Hora. All the towns have these same church belltowers too..
Coraleen and Vicki outside the Benedictine Monastary on Amorgos.. the silly person who took the photo didnt get much of the monastary but believe me we walked 2kms to it.. so it was there.
Coraleen and I on the donkeys.. I don't look very happy do I? But it did get better on the way back up the 700 steps
View over Santorini.. it was as gorgeous as Positano if not better!
Swimming pool at our hotel.. we spent a lot of afternoons in that pool.. believe me.. it was huge.. not very busy and .. well just extremely inviting!
Another view over Santorini.. this time Oia in the north of the Island..a lot quieter than the capital, Thira.
The 11th Centry Monastary set in the cliff face on Amogos.. gosh am I really that brown.. I must have spent too long in the sun. This morning we travelled to Amorgos and has been much more fruitful. We caught the bus to see an 11th Century monastry built about 500m up from the sea on a sheer cliff. It was truly amazing. The bright white stone monastry juts slightly out over the clear water below.. and must be one of the most amazing things we have seen to date.
We stopped at the village of Chora (Hora) which was picture postcard white and blue with little cobblestoned streets, bell towers and quaint little shops.. and we didnt go to the beach at all. I must say the wind gusts walking along the side of the cliff were pretty scary, at one stage taking my sunglasses off my face and dumping them about 20 steps behind me. Given the 1.5km uphill hike, once again, on shaky ground.. I almost had 2nd thoughts about going back for them.
Some stuff I would like to share with you about Greece..
For one thing its a helluva lot cleaner than Italy. The beaches aren't full of left over picnic rubbish!
The food is just amazing.. Greek Salads on every menu (as you would imagine), Pita Gyros being my favourite which is a warm soft pita bread rolled up with tzazaki sauce (90% garlic in a creamy sauce), fresh tomatoes, onions and Greek sausage and the best its only Euro1.50 or thereabouts.
Toilets.. not so good. Did you know almost every toilet has a sign (which we will photograph and add to the blog) which says 'please do not put toilet paper down the toilet use the bin provided'.. can you imagine the smell in the loos.. even the posh hotels!
Smoking.. I would hazard a guess that 90% of the population smoke.. they smoke while serving you in the internet cafe, in the Post Office, in Shops and yes, you guessed it.. they even smoke while filling your car with petrol!! And at NZ$5 a packet I can see why!
We had been warned Santorini was expensive but still manged to get a Pension for NZ$100 including a pool, aircon, fridge and tv, which incidentally is superflous as no channels are in English. The kind owner took us from the Port up a steep windy road to the Pension in 40 degree heat where we subsequently walked to the Supermarket for coke, cheese, crackers and of course some local wine! after which we plonked outselves by the pool and didnt move until the cool of the evening descended upon us.
Santorini's capital is Thira which was a mere 600m walk (although we caught the bus) and spent a few hours walking through the maze of cobbled narrow hilly streets flanked with picturesque whitewashed shops until we reached the top... and just stood there gawking at the amazing view over the Caldera and out to sea where a couple of Cruise ships were bathing in the imminent dusk. Being famous for its Sunsets we realised the other hundreds of tourists were there to watch the sun sink below the horizon.. and in true picture book fashion the sky turned a gorgeous blood red before disappearing.
Once again.. it was so romantic and only Coraleen to share it with. Everyone seems to have the same idea as to the vantage points for photos so we had to wait in line for a clear shot and even got a couple to take one of both of us together.. a rarity indeed on this holiday.
Almost 25 years ago I was due to depart a cruise ship in Santorini only to be thwarted by high winds and foul seas and was disppointed not to be able to make the donkey ride to the top.
Almost 25 years ago I was due to depart a cruise ship in Santorini only to be thwarted by high winds and foul seas and was disppointed not to be able to make the donkey ride to the top.
These days this inaccesible port is rarely used and the donkey rides are only for gullible tourists like us.. so yes you guessed it.. Coraleen and I got on the donkeys and clippity clopped down the 700 steps and back up again! I don't even like horses, unless of course they are at Ellerslie or Alexandra Park and the pain in my bum and thighs.. but after a few minutes I relaxed and actually enjoyed the view with Coraleen behind me on her Donkey pretending to be John Wayne! Today a cable car has replaced the need for the donkeys but the donkey seemed more authentic and more authentic.
The next day we had planned to hire motorscooters - there are thousands of them on the narrow roads around the Greek Islands - but erred ont he side of caution and hired a car for the same price as two scooters.. well some wouldnt call it a car.. it was archaic, no power steering and despite being small (1.2L) was like a truck to manoevre.
Driving first to the north of the Island we visited Oia which is truly beautiful and much quieter and more laid back than Thira where we, once again, took heaps of photos of typical Greek scenery.. whitewashed houses with blue shutters and blue domed churches overlooking the beautiful Agean Sea.
Being famous for its scenery rather than beaches we decided to explore the island and visit some of the 'beaches'. Red Beach.. aptly named as its at the bottom of a steep jagged cliff of red volcanic rock; the only access being down a narrow hilly unstable path to a black sandy beach and despite looking beautiful we were all too familiar with the additional heat from the black sands of Piha and Muriwai so after taking a few photos gave it a miss. On the way we, once again, stopped to take some photos of more dramatic scenery and came across a group of 7 Australians on their OE.. they asked us to take some photos of them alltogether and when they discovered we were from Auckland they said 'Oh we're sorry' when we promptly reminded them WE had the Bledisloe Cup and WE had the Tri Nations.. and WE were going to take the World Cup amidst much joviality and scoffing!
Last night, we, once again admired the beauty of the setting sun after having spent a few hours relaxing by the Pool.. of course.
