Santorini, 23 March hail – 23 mars hagel
Santorini, 23 March hail – 23 mars hagel I left Patmos the 20 March and went to Santorini, via Kos. I stay in Firostephano which is just north of the capital Fira. I managed to book a hotel for 20 Euros. This is one third of the listed price they have for the low season and less than a fifth than their high season price. Santorini is pretty expensive as it is one of the most exclusive destinations in the Greek archipelago. It is very beautiful. The last days have been cold I must say. And today there was a hailstorm. Also very windy.
The 21st I took a long walk, almost 15 km from Fira, where I stay to Oia at the Northern tip of Santorini. It was very windy and steep and I got two rain showers during my walk. In Oia almost everything was closed, but it is a beautiful place. A Greek couple offered me a ride back. Most tourist here seem to be American, Canadian and Chinese, in particular a lot of American and Canadian students. Also in Fira a lot of the places are closed. I have found an excellent Taverna which is managed by a Greek man and his French wife, Simos, they have very good food, and I do my best t speak French with the lady as she loves it – her English is otherwise very good. Yesterday I went to old Thera, the capital of Santorini for around 1000 years. It was built on top of a barren mountain, with only a winding steep path leading to it. One understands how much conflict and war has affected the society when people build cities in those hopeless places. I mean the view was stunning, but it took more than one hour to walk to the fields or to the sea, and to transport all stuff up and down must have been a nightmare. After that exercise I swam on Kamari Beach one of the black lava beaches. Kamari is quite a tourist destination, but it was all quite and only one of twenty beach cafés was open, just enough for me to get a cup of hot tea after the swim. The sea is not very warm. Going back to Fira was a bit hard. Only 10 km but uphill and strong wind (15 m/s) in my face.
Santorini has quite some wine production. It has had to adjust itself to a climate that is too hot and too windy, and they developed an interesting way of training the wine like in small low round baskets (see picture). The volcanic soils give the wine a special flavor. The volcano is also behind the dramatic landscape of Santorini. One strong candidate for the lost Atlantis is the town Akrotiri. One of the biggest volcano eruptions in history destroyed most of Santorini some 3500 years ago. The whole Western Coast of Santorini is part of the caldera, the volcano crater, that is why it is so steep.
Utsikt över Fira och kanten på kratern. Nedan, bilder från promend Fira - Oia
Fira
Below pictures from walk Fira-Oia
Oia
Ancient Thera
Det gamla Thera, huvudstad under tusen år. Ligger högt uppe på ett berg dit man bara kan gå, eller man kanske skall kalla det klättra. Man kan förstå att de var rädda för angrepp om de lägger städerna på sådana ställen.
Kamari. Efter att ha besökt Gamla Thera (bilden är tagen på vägen upp dit) så badade jag på den fina Kamari stranden. Svart lavasand, Massor med hotel och caféer, men nästan allt stängt. Men ett café var i alla fall öppet så jag kunde värma mig efter kyligt bad.
The Wine, a very original way of training them. Looks like baskets.
Så här ser deras vinstockar ut, krypande korgar utmed marken. Högst ovanligt sätt att beskära vin på. Påstås bero på att det är blåsigt.
Solnedgång i Fira
Sunset in Fira
The 21st I took a long walk, almost 15 km from Fira, where I stay to Oia at the Northern tip of Santorini. It was very windy and steep and I got two rain showers during my walk. In Oia almost everything was closed, but it is a beautiful place. A Greek couple offered me a ride back. Most tourist here seem to be American, Canadian and Chinese, in particular a lot of American and Canadian students. Also in Fira a lot of the places are closed. I have found an excellent Taverna which is managed by a Greek man and his French wife, Simos, they have very good food, and I do my best t speak French with the lady as she loves it – her English is otherwise very good. Yesterday I went to old Thera, the capital of Santorini for around 1000 years. It was built on top of a barren mountain, with only a winding steep path leading to it. One understands how much conflict and war has affected the society when people build cities in those hopeless places. I mean the view was stunning, but it took more than one hour to walk to the fields or to the sea, and to transport all stuff up and down must have been a nightmare. After that exercise I swam on Kamari Beach one of the black lava beaches. Kamari is quite a tourist destination, but it was all quite and only one of twenty beach cafés was open, just enough for me to get a cup of hot tea after the swim. The sea is not very warm. Going back to Fira was a bit hard. Only 10 km but uphill and strong wind (15 m/s) in my face.
Santorini has quite some wine production. It has had to adjust itself to a climate that is too hot and too windy, and they developed an interesting way of training the wine like in small low round baskets (see picture). The volcanic soils give the wine a special flavor. The volcano is also behind the dramatic landscape of Santorini. One strong candidate for the lost Atlantis is the town Akrotiri. One of the biggest volcano eruptions in history destroyed most of Santorini some 3500 years ago. The whole Western Coast of Santorini is part of the caldera, the volcano crater, that is why it is so steep.
Utsikt över Fira och kanten på kratern. Nedan, bilder från promend Fira - Oia
Fira
Below pictures from walk Fira-Oia
Oia
Ancient Thera
Det gamla Thera, huvudstad under tusen år. Ligger högt uppe på ett berg dit man bara kan gå, eller man kanske skall kalla det klättra. Man kan förstå att de var rädda för angrepp om de lägger städerna på sådana ställen.
Kamari. Efter att ha besökt Gamla Thera (bilden är tagen på vägen upp dit) så badade jag på den fina Kamari stranden. Svart lavasand, Massor med hotel och caféer, men nästan allt stängt. Men ett café var i alla fall öppet så jag kunde värma mig efter kyligt bad.
The Wine, a very original way of training them. Looks like baskets.
Så här ser deras vinstockar ut, krypande korgar utmed marken. Högst ovanligt sätt att beskära vin på. Påstås bero på att det är blåsigt.
Solnedgång i Fira
Sunset in Fira
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