Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Greece Part II - Santorini_

We arrived in Santorini and headed straight for Perissa beach after a short bit of hassle at the ferry port. All the travel guides were right - if you don't know exactly where you're going when you arrive at the port, you'll be hassled to no end! We decided on Perissa though, and were in a cab on our way there shortly after. We stumbled about a bit, not having booked any accommodation and decided that - as it was getting later in the afternoon, and the sun was fading - we should waste no further time looking, and just get in the water and have a couple of beers first! We did so, and found ourselves somewhere to sleep not long thereafter. Most of our time on Santorini was spent either on the beach sun baking, eating, drinking Mythos and swimming (not all at once, necessarily) but we also managed to get out on a quad bike for one of my 5 days there which was pretty good fun, and an awesome way to see the island. There were a bunch of other quads out, but I can only imagine the chaos in peak summer season - there would be maniacs everywhere, I am certain! We visited Red Beach too which was pretty amazing - named so because of the colour of the sand and rocks created by a volcano back in the day. Hell of a beach to get to though, but worth it!

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One of the highlights of Santorini - for me at least - was the amazing food. And in fact, I had what remains as the Best meal experience of my trip at a restaurant called Ntomatini, which I highly recommend to any visitors to Perissa Beach. So much so that the night after I saw Jamie off at Santorini airport, I went back for a second time and ate much the same thing! So good!! I also met Kristy who waitressed there, an Aussie girl travelling around Europe in a big yellow bus with her crazy Brazilian friend Joyce! I hope to meet them on the road one day and travel together for a bit, looks cool! Check it out:

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After much good food, much more relaxing, lots of beers and then a night fuelled by too much red wine, I decided it would be a good idea to spend my last night in Santorini... sleeping on the beach. It all made sense at the time - full moon, gorgeous beach under the stars, warmed from the inside by a litre of red wine... hmmm, not so much. Possibly the worst night of 'sleep' I've had. But an experience all the same. And I met myself yet another friendly stray puppy - this one I named Jasper, and she stayed with me the whole night, and barked at any strangers that came nearby, so cute! Plus, I did watch a crazy lightning storm off in the distance over the water and got to see the best sunrise I have seen all trip so all in all, it was actually worth it in the end! Up early to get my ferry to Crete too, so it all added up to be a brilliant idea... I'm convinced anyway...

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bonjour Swillis,
That looks bloody fantastic!
Monsieur Browne

Ads said...

haha.. indeed it was monsieur browne!! Bonjour!

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to thank you for the beautiful words about my restaurant "Ntomatini" in Perissa! Kristy had given me your blog spot awhile ago but I had not found the time to check it out until now! My daughter was so happy to see pictures of "Jasper" as she was our favorite stray of 2010...we had named her "kouchuna" which means cutie/doll in Santorinian slang! She ate well at our place! Hope all of your travels are joyous! Hope to feed you again someday!!! -Lisa & Kosta