santorini
17 May 2019
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.
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.
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.
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.
Some more scenic vistas along the caldera.
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.
Pyrgos is less manicured than the caldera villages, so feels a little more authentic.
The ruin of the venetian castle dominates the skyline.
Pyrgos buildings come in other colours, not just blue and white.
Although there is still plenty of blue and white around.
I found lots of wildflowers amongst the castle ruins.
Local donkeys are used to carry both tourists and loads up the hill.
One of the many village cats.
The king of the castle.
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.
Oia is very manicured and polished and filled to the brim with expensive shops, boutiques and restaurants.
Oia also has it's own castle albeit ruined.
Oia Castle overlooks the pretty fishing village of Ammoudi.
I walked the 300 steps down to Ammoudi but chose to take the road back up the hill to the village.
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.
I'll leave you with a final shot of this iconic view of Oia.
Next stop on my Greek Odyssey is Milos followed by Athens.
See you all again soon.
Bye for now,
Jillian
