Beach, Beach, Beach

Today is Beach Day.  It is rainy and dreary.  We started at Red Beach.  It is a bit of a hike to get to the beach but very doable.  The beach has red lava rocks which is different from the typical black volcanic rock on most beaches here.

 

Our next detour was the Southern tip of the island to the lighthouse.  I ventured out onto the “point” and felt on top of the world.

The Akrotiri Lighthouse is among the oldest lighthouses in this part of the world and was constructed way back in 1892. The lighthouse of Akrotiri is conspicuous by its square shaped tower that looms above 30 feet from the lighthouse warden’s house. Initially, the lighthouse was operated by petrol fuel. But with the introduction of electricity in the year 1988, it has been operated electronically and reportedly emits a radiant white light at intervals of 20 seconds.

Beach #2, Vlychada.  This was a recommendation from Maria, the owner of our Cave House.  This is a beach where you really have to go into the water, turn around and look back at the cliffs.  They are sculpted by the wind.  I bet it would be a sight to see at night.

Beach #3, Kamari.  This is an organized beach full of restaurants, gift shops, beach umbrellas (for a fee).  We had a delicious lunch of Grilled Sardines and White Eggplant, yummmm!!!

Last stop of the day, Sagalas Winery.  This vineyard produces 13 types of wine and you can taste them all for 14 Euros.  It was a beautiful spot to enjoy the sun and be surrounded by the vineyards, colorful flowers and cacti.

Vinsanto

Today was our trip to the wineries day.  First stop, Boutari Winery (they won International Winery of the Year for 12 Years).  Since this was our first vineyard on the island we did the grand tour plus tasting.  Our guide took us out to show us how they wrap the new vines around the wreath shaped stems so they are closer to the ground, unlike in the USA where we grow them upwards.  This is so they are not ruined by the strong "Meltimi" winds plus the volcanic rock absorbs moisture and keeps the vines moist since they don't have a lot of irrigation systems here.
 
Next we saw a 15 minute video on how wine came to be on Santorini.  Then on to the tasting.  This winery produces only white wines.  My favorite is the dessert wine called Vinsanto…only produced on Santorini.  They sun dry the grapes for at least 7 days to increase the sweetness naturally from the sun.  Then they leave it in the barrell for 3-5 years.
After leaving Boutari with our many purchases (everyone picked a bottle of their favorite to bring home), we stopped for lunch at Senior Zorba’s, the only Mexican Restaurant in Santorini…what a treat it was…and oh what a view!  They made the best Salsa!  During conversation we found out that the owners wife is from Denver, hence the road sign for Denver, 11,661 km. 

The next winery we visited was Santos.  We skipped the tour at this one and went straight for the tasting.  They produce Rose’ and Red Wines as well.  After enjoying the fruits of the vines, we headed home to enjoy the coolness of the Cave House.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

May 23rd.  Twenty-Four years ago a beautiful baby girl was born into our family.  We tried to make a special day for her.  Hopped in the rental car and headed to Perissa Beach on the other side of the island.  There were beach chairs and umbrellas tourist ready…and most were FREE (unlike the beaches in Italy).  It was a black beach (very hot on the feet) and there were many restaurants to enjoy for lunch.  We enjoyed it all day long!

After returning to the Cave House, we all spiffied up and headed out to watch the famous Santorini Sunset…along with a few hundred other people :)

Then we went to Candouni Restaurant.  The girls had staked out “THE PLACE” for Jenni’s Birthday Dinner.  It is run by a couple of Greek-Canadians and was Delicious!  Even Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon have eaten there.  Plus the movie “Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants” was filmed there. 

We have heard some devastating news from around the Island.  An American tourist was killed yesterday while walking on the Donkey Path from Armeni Beach where Jay Sea Dee is moored.  Apparently he and his family were on the path, he lost a leg in the landslide that they are still searching for and his wife and daughter were injured.  There were other people along the path as well when a small earthquake caused this large landslide.  We were on the other side of the Island and felt nothing.  John had to take the Volcano Tour Boat in this morning to get the Dinghy out of harms way since he could no longer walk up and down that path due to the ongoing search and closure of the path.  He and Jonathon had taken the donkeys up just 24 hours prior…fate…makes you go hmmmmm.

JAY SEA DEE in Santorini

John and Jonathon took the fast ferry back to Ios and brought JAY SEA DEE over to Santorini and hooked up to a mooring ball.  Now he can see it 24-7…all is good in the world of Captain John.  Jay Sea Dee is the boat on the far left.

We are enjoying great food.  The Greek Salad has become a staple now.

 

Santorini

Legend goes that Santorini was created by a rock given to Jason and the Argonauts by Triton.  The rock was dropped in the ocean and voila…Santorini.

Then came the volcanic eruption.  I have seen dates of this huge catastrophy  between 1400 BC and 1600 BC although more recent soil dating puts it closer to 1613 BC.  They say the tsunami that followed demolished the Minoan civilization on Crete (people that lived there since 3000 BC).  The latest earthquake here was in 1956.

We are staying in a traditional Cave House built into the cliffs over 1000 years ago. 

Off to Ios

Captains orders…leave Zea Marina by 8:30am May 19th.  Weather report says calm seas and light winds…Jacquelyn will be very happy.  We are headed to Serifos for the night.  As we get further away from the mainland, the seas grow to 2 meters and the wind doubles the prediction but we are CRUISING!!!  About 10 hours later we are laying anchor in Serifos.  It was our first anchoring with the new Fortress anchor because our Delta anchor was lost at sea on the way from Malta.  The Fortress wasn’t holding and it was pulling up major clay and weeds…finally it held.                                     

May 20th.  Headed to Ios to leave Jay Sea Dee since there are no recommended marinas on Santorini (which is our ultimate destination).  We arrived in Ios at 2:00pm, med- moored and headed to the travel agency to get our Ferry Tickets.  They had a large flat screen at the ferry dock which showed activity at the docks.  Since we had our AIS system on, JAY SEA DEE had its own pinpoint on the big screen…we were stars for a few moments. 

The Hellenic Ferry Fast Cat 4 took us to Santorini in a half an hour.  We found the rental car and headed to our Cave House which will be home for the next 10 days.  Lugging huge suitcases down many, many, many stairs was not a good start…much whining for sure!  

John can see moorings off the cliffs and wants to bring Jay Sea Dee over to be moored where he can keep an eye on it. 

Athens in a Day Continued

After the Acropolis, we visited the Acropolis Museum.  This just opened this year and was very interesting.  They had a great video of the Parthenon which showed how it looked in its heyday                              .

Lunch for the weary was in the Plaka.  We had sweet red peppers stuffed with Feta cheese, tzatziki (a greek yogurt with cucumber and spices) with bread, mousaka, spicy meatballs and a Greek salad.  Dessert was Greek Yogurt with Apricots and Honey…Delicious!

We passed the Olympic Stadium Reproduction which was built in the 1890’s for the Olympic Games.

Now that we could barely walk any further we finally reached the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian’s Wall before catching the trains back to the marina (yes, they opened up after 4pm).

Athens in a Day

Oh we were so excited to head to the Acropolis and then…SORRY, but the Trains are on Strike.  OK, so we find a taxi who let us pile in and then said he could not take all five of us in one taxi…the Police do not allow that.  So out we come, find another taxi who lets us pile in…no problem.

Not a good start to the day but in the end we made it to the Acropolis…oh my…even the guides are dog tired…haha! (See photo #2)                            .      

The Acropolis is so well known today but most people don’t realize that it was occupied as early as 5,000 BC.  The scaffolding on the Parthenon (Picture #1) looks like it did just five years ago.  The Temple of Athena (Picture #2) stands majestic.  It was built in 424 BC but restored in the 1930’s.

  

The view of Athens from the Acropolis shows how sprawled the city is.  The population is 4 million and it seems they all live in apartments.