Oia in the morning is a beautiful place.
Today the sky was blue, the sunshine bright, the bougainvillea brilliant, and
there were just enough people exploring all the cobbled walkways to make it
feel the place to be, rather than somewhere to avoid, as it was yesterday.
Sunglasses are a necessity, mind – all that white paint is literally dazzling.
And alertness is, too: it’s so easy, wandering along looking at all that self-conscious
glamour, to be distracted and then caught out by an unsuspected step. I had
three lucky escapes today, and was fortunate not to come a cropper.
The shops are enticing, full of casually
stylish clothes, silver and paua jewellery, ceramics, art glass and paintings;
and the cafés are inviting, too, with their sea views and fresh sardines. But
nothing can beat the tumble of interlinked houses down the cliff, all white and
blue, arches and squares, flat and domed, draped with flowers in purple and red and wound
through by narrow paths just asking to be explored, promising the reward of yet
another gorgeous view at the end.
If that wasn’t pleasure enough for one day,
the afternoon brought further delight. On the recommendation of our friendly
Aroma Suites hotelier we signed up for a Spiridakos boat tour, leaving from a
marina full of dinky toy fishing boats (seriously, not much bigger than some
hotel baths I’ve seen) heaped with bright yellow nets, on a comfortable new
catamaran. Our fellow guests were English, Malaysian, Dutch, Chinese, Greek and
Brazilian, and included the cutest and best-behaved baby it’s been my pleasure
to share space with. (Er, since my own, naturally.)
We cruised out for about five hours on that
gloriously clear, blue sea, around the southern end of Santorini, visiting the
Red Beach, swimming at the White Beach and at the Hot Springs which aren’t
really, but are definitely warm – they’re in the centre of the caldera, where
mineral springs bubble up from where the volcano erupted in 1600BC, beside an
island where a contented hermit has lived with his goats and chickens on the
barren rock for the last 35 years.
After a really tasty dinner onboard, heavy
on the fresh fish, the next event was the sunset which, after two fizzers, was
an excellent one of the sepia variety and photogenically assisted by a fishing
boat trailing a cloud of gulls. Warm, calm, beautiful, civilised, relaxing – you
couldn’t better this cruise experience, really. Full marks.
* Oia: pronounced Ee-ah not Oy-ah
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