santorini
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Visiting Santorini has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I'd hoped to go about 7 years ago but Greece's economy went sour; the ferries weren't running and it all became a bit too hard to arrange so I put it on the back burner. Fast forward to 2019 when a conference in Geneva made it all a possibility.
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Excited by the prospect of warm weather I bought a new swimsuit, the first in 8 years. Unfortunately the weather chose to be uncooperative during my stay in Santorini so instead of a swimsuit I wore jeans most days.
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As I couldn't swan by the pool, on my first day in Santorini I decided to walk along the caldera from Fira to Imerovigili to admire the views.
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Everything has been newly whitewashed in preparation for the influx of tourists in June but I found a few surfaces that had escaped the paint brushes.
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Some more scenic vistas along the caldera.
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On my second day in Santorini, the sun failed to appear so I caught the bus to the nearby village of Pyrgos, the highest point on the island.
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Pyrgos is less manicured than the caldera villages, so feels a little more authentic.
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The ruin of the venetian castle dominates the skyline.
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Pyrgos buildings come in other colours, not just blue and white.
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Although there is still plenty of blue and white around.
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I found lots of wildflowers amongst the castle ruins.
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Local donkeys are used to carry both tourists and loads up the hill.
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One of the many village cats.
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The king of the castle.
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On the third day the sun came out so I visited Oia, the jewel in Santorini's crown. Although it's very pretty I actually preferred Fira and the local villages of Firostefani and Imerovigili to Oia.
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Oia is very manicured and polished and filled to the brim with expensive shops, boutiques and restaurants.
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Oia also has it's own castle albeit ruined.
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Oia Castle overlooks the pretty fishing village of Ammoudi.
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I walked the 300 steps down to Ammoudi but chose to take the road back up the hill to the village.
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Trying to get a picture of this church was a challenge. It is 'the location' for pre-wedding shoots so 3 couples and a plethora of photographers were in attendance. There was no way I was leaving without the shot even though I was run down by one of the grooms in the process. He was very apologetic but he was quite a large Afro-american guy and I'm one teeny tiny girl.
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I'll leave you with a final shot of this iconic view of Oia.
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Next stop on my Greek Odyssey is Milos followed by Athens.
See you all again soon.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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