'Sunset' island

Here is an entry of our visit to Santorini, Greece in September 2007.

Amongst all the Greek islands, most people consider Santorini (Thira) as the most beautiful island. Being the best place in the world to view the sunset, I have known a friend who had proposed to his girlfriend (now wife) while enjoying the sunsets on a rooftop of a café.

Like most of our adventures, Kay will always do the planning while I sit on my fat-ass and watch the television. When comes to the actual day of the travel, it’s her turn to sit back while ‘implement’ her ever ‘flawless’ plans. To get around the island, we have rented a car since at the time of our travel, public buses are less frequent.

Driving around Santorini is no easy task. The roads are narrow, small and it doesn’t help further since Greeks drive on the left instead of the right. When it comes to night, the roads are dark since certain part of the island has no street lights.

Fira is the main town of Santorini, where most of the cruise will stop for its guest to get-off for a day trip before it disembark again in the evening. From here, we could enjoy the views from the edge of the caldera over the cliffs. Commercial activities are always bustling along the pedestrian alleyways as you can find scores of jewelery, restaurants, arts and souvenir shops. When you go into a shop, rest assure that you will not be bothered by the sales people, unless you need their assistance. Whilst price are pretty standard, you could still drive a bargain to get a good deal. There are scores of gift shops in Fira, so you can take your time to hop from one shop to another to compare prices. If you are tired, you can always go to one of the roof top cafe to have a drink and enjoy the view.

There's lots shops along the alleyway

We took a day-excursion from Santorini to what was left of a ‘dormant’ volcano. It was no easy task as I struggled to haul my fat-ass up to the peak of the volcano under the blasted heat of the sun. The journey upward reminds me of a scene from Lord of the Rings. Just imagine under this sort of hot weather, it would be great if Sam the Hobbit could carry me up the volcano. Maybe I could meet Smeagol, the dancing Golem, performing with his one-piece underwear up at the top of the volcano.

For those who don't know who Smeagol is:

Come master. 'Cum' to Smeagol.

Explore the volcano

The volcano is made of black-stones formed as a result of the lava million of years ago. Every year, holidaymakers tend to bring some of the volcano-stones back as a souvenir. According to the tour guide, if this goes on for another five years, there might not be a volcano left and she might be out of job by then. I have no intention of bringing any of the stones back. But somehow or rather, a piece of the stone manage to pierce through my sandals and followed me back to Santorini.

The stone that got away

Leaving my new-found imaginary friend Smeagol back at the volcano, we head off to the hot springs at Palia Kameni, located just at the back of the volcano. Unfortunately, the boat could only stop about, I think, less than 100 meters away from the hot spring due to the rocky shores. We are required to jump into the waters to swim over if we want to check out the hot springs. Since Kay can’t swim and although I could attempt to float my way to the hot spring, I think I should be a dutiful husband and remained on the boat with her to enjoy the view and sea breeze.

Right after the so-called hot spring excursion, we were drop-off at the port of Oia, Santorini. Like Fira, many of the shops are built along the caldera and has the uniformed blue roof top and white-washed buildings. More importantly, Oia is located at the west side of Santorini and is the best spot to enjoy the view of sunset.

A scenic view of Oia

However, to get up to Oia, I think we might have to go through more than 100 steps and I was not in the mood to give myself a marathon challenge. So I decided to pay 4 Euro to get myself a donkey ride all the way to the top. The donkey is an interesting creature. As soon as it started moving along the winding road up the cliff, it decided to speed up heading straight towards the edge of the cliff, only to manuevor at the last minute away from the edge. And this went on until I reached to the top of the cliff. Along the way, I was contemplating whether to give my donkey a good kick just to stop it from giving me a 'thrill' ride. But then, I decided not to, in case, the donkey got irritated by my kicking and decides to jump off the cliff with me on it.

There is always a donkey to give you a 'thrill' ride up to Oia

Interesting thing about sunsets. Like an economic theory of utility preference, too much of the same thing can have adverse effect. We had viewed the sunset everyday during our stay in Santorini and our excitement towards the sunset diminishes as time goes by.

On the first day of our sunset:

Kay: That is so beautiful! I have not seen anything like that before!

Bob: Oh yes. Such a beautiful moment for both of us! A moment that we have been waiting for a long time.

On the second day of our sunset experience:

Kay: There is it again. The sunset is lovely, isn’t it?

Bob: Yes indeed.

On the third day of our sunset experience:

Kay: Look at the sun.

Bob: Yes…I have seen it since this morning.

Some of the other places to go in Santorini:

Black-sand beach and red cliffs

Explore the white-washed buildings