Santorini

Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days -- I've had my hands full. 

On March 20th, I took the 5 am ferry from Iraklio. Crete to the island of Santorini.  You're supposed to be there at least half an hour after departure, so that meant getting up at 3:45 a.m. in the morning, and being at the ferry station at 4:30 a.m.  I arrived to find the ferry station pitch black, with not a soul around and no boat to be seen.  After about 5 minutes, a taxi pulled up and a man got out.  He spoke some English, and I was relieved to find that he planned to catch the same ferry I did (I was beginning to think that I had only dreamed that there would be a ferry).  We shivered outside together for a while, and at about 4:45, a couple more people came.  Finally, around 5 am, there was no sign of a boat, but they did decide to open the ferry station, so at least we could wait inside. 

To make a long and dull story short, the ferry didn't come until 8:20 am.  I kept thinking that I could have slept another 3 hours and had breakfast at the hotel, so I wasn't very happy.  We arrived at Santorini at about 1 pm (3 hours and 20 minutes late, but who's keeping track).  The hotel owner was there waiting for me with a sign to bring me back to the hotel, which is perched way up on a cliff. 

This is as good a time as any to give you a description of Santorini.  Santorini used to be, long ago, the center of the ancient Minoan civilization.  It also happens to be an enormous (and still active -- sorry Mom!) volcano.  A few thousand years ago, it blew the Minoan civilization to hell, and changed the whole shape of the island.  It is now a spectacular semi-circle of dramatic cliffs (the caldera edge), surrounding a couple of smaller islands in the center, which are still an active (although dormant) volcano.  It's beyond spectacular to see.  I'll post pictures when I get home.

The hotels and restaurants and churches and shops, all lovely and mostly white, are mostly perched up precariously on the caldera edge, overlooking the beautiful sea and the island that is the volcano's center.  You can take boats to the island at the center of the volcano.  I did so and highly recommend it.  It's the weirdest place, almost entirely composed of jagged black volcanic rocks, but with little red flowers (and just about nothing else) growing on places.  In the middle there is the smoking hole that did away with the Minoans.

My hotel is very pretty, with an absolutely amazing view, and the price is right.  There are a few inconveniences, that I suspect are shared with a lot of places on the caldera edge.  For example, you have to flip a switch and then wait for 15 minutes or so if you want hot water.  Also, you are not supposed to flush toilet paper or anything else that isn't human waste down the toilet.  And finally, if you happen to be a single and not too unattractive American woman, the owner will hit on you relentlessly.

I've learned that there are a few code words to indicate that you are about to be hit on, and in case you are a single and not too unattractive American woman who plans on traveling alone, I pass them on to you. 

First, if a man says that he thinks you seem "sporty", and that he likes that about American women, he probably does not mean that he imagines that you like to run and play soccer.  He means that he's hoping that you'd like to have sex with a strange man.  So whatever you do, don't agree that you're sporty.

Also, if he says that he likes American women because they are so "open", that's code for "they like to have sex with strange men."  If you don't want to have sex with him, don't agree that American women are "open."  Other words to watch out for are "crazy", "adventurous," and "independent".

I want to say here and now that pretty much without exception the married men and the women here in Greece have all been delightful and charming, and have been very kind to me.  But the single men -- oh my!  I keep wondering what it is that American women have done here in the past that makes so many of the single men so certain that we're all prostitutes!  As for me, I'm planning to get a t-shirt that says "NO.  I DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP WITH YOU."  However, I suspect it would not do any good. 

Anyway, the owner of my hotel keeps asking me to go to dinner with him, and trying to ply me with wine, and talking about how he's not married and how he likes American women because they are so "open", and calling me in my room to see if I want  him to bring me anything. Luckily, there was (until today, alas!) a delightful family from Mississippi staying in the suite next door to me -- a mother and father, a grandmother, and two great boys aged nine and twelve.  (Seriously, they were delighful.  Why are southern children so well-behaved and sweet?) I latched onto them for my own protection, and seriously, because I liked them very much.  They had a mini-van, and invited me to come on excursions with them, which I took them up on very enthusiastically.  They left this morning, and I miss them very much.

Yesterday, my new little family and I drove out to the site of the Roman/Hellenic era ruins on Santorini.  The guidebook didn't warn us that we'd be driving up and up and up an extremely narrow, guard-rail-less road winding up and up hairpin turns to get there.  It was a crazy windy day, and we were worried we'd be blown right off the hill, but we all agreed it was worth it -- it had to be the best view in Greece, with an absolute city of ancient ruins.  After we left there, we drove up to the pretty little town of Oia, on the tip of Santorini.  It was a lovely day.

My big disappointment here is that the ancient Minoan excavation here on the island is closed indefinitely.  Apparently the roof caved in in 2005, and it's been closed ever since.  Too bad -- it's supposed to be amazing.  However, there's plenty of reason to come to Santorini anyway.

I've more to say, believe it or not, but I need a coffee or an ouzo or something. 

Comments

[Grouchy Brother]

Grouchy Sister,

I think I speak for the entire family when I say that we are certainly more worried about your dates with Serbian Ex-Patriot stalkers then active volcanoes.

That said, let me point out that, relatively speaking, of course, you do not have "your hands full" really. Try:

3 small children
full time job, both spouses
hour commute each day in heavy traffic
you do all the yardwork and a lot of the cleaning and cooking

I have been "out with friends" twice in five years.

What you have your "hands full of" is a month long Greek vacation

THE Grouchy Brother

[Grouchy Woman]

You can see why Grouchy Brother is known as Grouchy Brother. Sheesh! Maybe this is why I go around adopting sweet southern families from Mississippi.

Just kidding, GB. Give the three small children and the wife a kiss for me. B and I had a long distance rap session on her birthday, but didn't get much of a chance to talk to anyone else, except a quick "hi" to Eileen. I'll be back to visit y'all on Easter.

[Grouchy Brother]

Grouchy Sister,

MK is saying "Uppie!" now when she wants you to pick her up. Her vocabulary is now:

Uppie
Ba Ba
Ma Ma
Da Da
No
Bee Bee
...and belly laugh and hysterical crying..the sound not the words

THE Grouchy Brother