Santorini
Trip Start
May 30, 2008
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Trip End
Jun 16, 2008
Santorini, Cyclades, Greece
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
We stayed in the main city of Fira. We had heard of the beauty of Santorini, but it was even more stunning than we had imagined. We enjoyed just spending a couple of hours sipping ouzo or frappes (iced instant coffee) in one of the many restaurants on the edge of the cliff and admiring the dramatic views. The atmosphere in Santorini is very relaxed compared to lively and trendy Mykonos. We were surprised to find out that by 11pm most shops are closed and restaurants are almost empty, and that there are only a few bars in Fira.
We rented an ATV to explore the island. We stopped off at two beaches that are not your typical beach - a black sand beach and a red beach. The black sand beach has very fine volcanic sand that blows EVERYWHERE which was really annoying - we wanted to go back to the pebble beach of Mykonos. But the red beach (because of the reddish sand and cliffs behind it) was really cool and interesting. We also drove to the town of Oia at the northern end of the island that is really popular for its beautiful sunset views. It's so well known that it seems all tourists congregate there in the evening to watch the sun drop in the ocean. We bought beers and found a great spot to watch the sunset. The sunset was nice, but probably not as memorable to us than the crowd it attracted. You know it's a really touristy thing when after the sun sets people start clapping and cheering.
Volcanoes have played a major part of Santorini's history, so we we went on an island cruise to hike the Nea Kameni volcano and swim in the hot springs. The volcano was pretty cool - it produced the biggest eruption on earth that wiped out an ancient civilization in Crete with tsunami waves more than 200 metres high! The hot springs are at the island next to the volcano, and we swam into a small inlet where the water is warmed by the volcano. The last stop was to chill out at the laid back island of Thirassia where we had seafood, drank Ouzo, and went for a swim. It was a fantastic way to spend the spend the day.
Santorini was awesome! We were really impressed by the unique landscape and spectacular views. From what we've seen so far, Greece really is as beautiful as what you see in pictures.
