Ah Santorini a heavenly paradise. Beautiful beaches, beautiful women, great food and cheap accommodation what more could man ask for.
Alicia, myself and Neil pulled ourselves out of bed at about 5:30 on thursday morning and took a fairly brisk walk through an absolutely deserted downtown Athens to reach the metro station.
It defined belief that a city the size of Athens could almost completely shut down but at that time of the morning the only thing that was moving were a couple of stray cats and dogs. After an 30 minute wait at the train station and then a 20 minute metro trip we arrived at the port of Athens.
Needless to say the ferry network in greece is quit substantial and not at all like City Cats.
The 9 hour voyage over was fantastic! I've never seen water so blue or so clear. Great chunks of rock or all shapes and sizes jut from the Mediterranean sea like god had grabbed a handful of pebbles and simply dropped them from heaven. The 'Cyclades' (The series of greek islands most famous) are not all inhabited and even those that are inhabited very few of them are really crowded and the populations fluctuate wildly between the summer and winter months
Relying on tourism that is only realy profitable 4 months of the year means that the smaller islands pretty much close down during the winter. Some of the larger islands support small wine and olive farms but even those are not enough to support the entire the summer population.
As of may 1st the isle of Santorini has only just begun to awaken from its winter slumber. Many shops are still closed and the vast majority of hotels remain abandoned awaiting the return of their owners and the invasion of package tour tourists that will arrive in about 7 weeks.
This place is truly special, this amazing island is all that remains of a massive volcano that was once to home to a race similar to that of the ancient Minoans. The people of Santorini are helpful, kind and friendly not at all like Athenians. In this paradise on earth it is plain to see why not much gets done. Every where you look buildings remain half finished or completely abandoned however to be fair it also plays host to some amazing hotels and restaurants that jut out over the cliff line. The peace and tranquility that this vista induces in all people, tourists and locals alike, is not exactly conducive for back breaking physical labour so it may be many years before the unfinished hotels and villas are ready to accept guests.
Neil and I have been surviving mostly on 'Gyros' which are very similar to Donar Kebabs and pretty much all that qualify for Greek fast food and I'm sorry to say doesn't seem et to change that much. Even purchasing ingredients from the local supermarket (Santorini doesn't have a fresh produce market funnily enough due to the lack of fresh produce) works out to be more expensive than eating gyros for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Anyway i've now been on the island for 4 days and have visited the red beach, the black beach and seen the most incredible sunset i'm likely too on this trip.
If your ever in greece see the sights in Athens, marvel at this cultures successes and accomplishments in ages past and then head straight for the greek isles they really are truly breathtaking and far more rewarding
As always
Carpe Diem
Ralph Bragg