Contents
- Preface
- San Francisco
- Amsterdam
- Amsterdam, Helmond
- Amsterdam, Zandvoort, Haarlem
- Amsterdam, Bruges
- Bruges, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin
- Berlin
- Berlin, Potsdam
- Berlin, Wansee
- Berlin, Prague
- Prague
- Prague, Karlstejn, Vienna
- Vienna
- Vienna, Salzburg, Füssen
- Füssen, Neuschwanstein, Munich
- Munich, Innsbruck
- Innsbruck
- Innsbruck, Zürich, Lauterbrunnen
- Lauterbrunnen, Jungfraujoch
- Lauterbrunnen, Schilthorn
- Lauterbrunnen, Spiez, Zermatt
- Zermatt
- Zermatt, Martigny, Chamonix
- Chamonix, Mont Blanc
- Chamonix, Mont Blanc, Courmayeur, Aosta, Turin
- Barcelona
- Barcelona, Sitges
- Barcelona
- Milan, Venice
- Venice
- Venice
- Venice, Milan, Cinque Terre
- Cinque Terre, La Spezia
- Cinque Terre, Pisa, Lucca, Florence
- Florence
- Florence
- Florence, Siena
- Siena, San Gimignano, Rome
- Rome
- Rome
- Rome, Sorrento
- Sorrento, Vesuvius, Pompeii
- Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello
- Sorrento, Capri, Naples
- Naples, Bari
- Patras, Athens, Mykonos
- Mykonos
- Mykonos
- Mykonos, Paros, Santorini
- Santorini
- Santorini, Athens
- Athens
- Athens, Amsterdam, San Francisco
Prev :: Friday, 21 October 2005 :: Next
50. Santorini
Photo Gallery
Today was my last chance at a nice relaxing time on the beach — a vacation from my frenetic vacation — and it turned out to be a great success. Despite the clear, warmer weather, I did spend about an hour indoors at the archaeological museum, after what was by far the most spectacular breakfast of the trip on the terrace at my hotel. Instead of the museum, I had planned to stop by the ruins of Akrotiri to the south, but an American couple staying at the hotel warned me that this was closed. Apparently, a roof recently constructed over the ruins to shield them from the elements had collapsed some time ago, killing a British tourist and presumably doing great damage to the ruins it was meant to protect. The museum was worthwhile, with excellent text describing the exhibits — which had survived from the civilization here almost four thousand years ago.
I drove past Akrotiri and noted its closure; it was right by the road on the way to the Red Beach on the southern coast of the island. This was a pretty beach with red sand and twisted black cliffs rising behind it. I stayed for about an hour, and then headed further southeast to the southernmost point on the island. Here I had a decent lunch at a deserted place which overlooked the coastline and a harbor full of small fishing vessels.
After a half liter of white wine, I was definitely ready for a relaxing time on the beach, and fortunately I only had to drive back down the road 100m or so to the northwest to find the greatest beach of my entire trip, at Vlihada Bay. This is a long, wide place with black sand. High cliffs carved into surreal Flinstones-like shapes rise up behind, and this makes the beach quite resemble Blacks in San Diego. At this time of year, the major difference was that Vlihada beach had almost no people! Over the next few hours I saw only around five other people, mostly way off in the distance, on this enormous stretch of beautiful sand. One was an interesting film director, my age, who divided his time between Ia and Athens.
The air temperature might only have been 20° or so today, but it felt wonderfully warm lying on the black sand in the bright sun. This must be unbearably scorching in the summer. Even today, it got hot enough to make it easy to take a couple of fun dips in the sea, which was quite chilly at first but easy to get used to after a vigorous swim and some horseplay. I spent several hours here, but would have very much loved to have had several more.
As the sun started getting low, I drove back towards the north. I had fun ascending the highest point on Santorini, a mountain about 600m high with a great view. At the top is a huge scary military base, with signs warning you not to take photographs. There is also a church and monastery, but this didn't seem particularly open at the time I was there. Coming down, I stopped and walked around the village at the base of the hill, which has a couple of beautiful churches. These have high white facades in front, cut with rows of arched holes containing bells. I made it back to Fira just in time for another unbelievably spectacular sunset.
Walking north for about fifteen minutes along the path which leads right along the edge of the cliff to the next village, I found my destination for dinner, Vanilia. This was easily one of the greatest meals of the trip. A few couples were already here, but for some reason none of them had taken the seat just by the wall overlooking the spectacular village on the cliff and the sea below — perhaps because it was the most exposed, and the air was now quite chilly. Well worth braving the cool temperatures to enjoy this view, though. At this point I was actually happy to be dining on my own, and not lonely, because a companion would merely have served to distract me from the stunning landscape! I had excellent moussaka and wonderful baklava for dessert — much superior to what I had tasted in the US. The local vinsanto was also great, a very sweet red dessert wine. I'm tempted to say it was the very best meal of the trip, but those mussels in Bruges were also really good. Vanilia was definitely the best location for dinner, at least!