Santorini

before i set sail for the Greek Islands i had to stay in the Turkish coastal town of Bodrum. i wouldn't say it was the best way to say goodbye to Turkey. it was pretty, they had a little castle, nice beaches and had a harbor full of expensive boats (if thats your thing). but it was really touristy, full of crap stores flogging dodgy 'tradional turkish' stuff with made in Taiwan tags hanging off the side, plenty of terrible 'doof doof' music pumping out of clubs, as well as its fair share of fat people getting 'tanned'... umm, since when has bright pink been a tan? anyway, i only had to spend a night there.

the next morning i got up bright and early to catch the ferry to Kos. originally my plan was to go straight to Santorini via Kos, but because its early in the holiday season the ferries aren't working in full force as yet, so they didn't have a ferry until the following evening, which was fine, Kos isn't a bad to get stranded for a couple of days. they had some ruins in the middle of the main town (it seems that you can't really escape ruins) and apparently there are some nice hot springs somewhere on the island, but i never saw them, i did a whole lot of nothing to be honest. the last couple months have been hectic to say the very least so i decided i would chill out and do some long walks along the beaches and watching the sun set... wait a minute, this is starting to sound like a profile on one of those online dating sites.

anyway, the next evening i ran into a lot of luck. as soon as i got on the boat i was instantly adopted by an American family, and before i knew it they were teaching me card games, which killed a lot of time. lucky were weren't playing strip poker, i would've lost my pants pretty quick smart - i was horrible! after a few hours we finally made it to Santorini at about midnight. as we were waiting for the ship to dock, i ran into my second bit of luck. i met some fellow australians who were also looking for a place to stay. at the dock they have a number of people from various hotels trying to get you to stay with them, we ended up getting a place for 5 EURO's each, a night. when we got there the place was like a hotel and had a swimming pool, internet, close to the beach, the works! couldn't believe our luck!

there are plenty of Greek islands you can visit, but Santorini is really the only greek island that i was keen to visit. the rest of the major ones are based around partying and i just wasnt really in the mood. also i've been told Santorini is the most 'typical' greek island, with its white buildings and blue painted roofs - the kind of stuff you see on postcards. Pira is the main city that is full of them, they are all really pretty. there are a couple of other towns that are like that too, but i wouldn't say all of them. something i found kind of funny was the crosses on top of the churches have lights on them. which to me looked like something you would see in Las Vegas.
another thing that surprised me was, i knew that white reples sunlight, but i couldn't get over how well it did it. when you touch a building thats painted white, its stone cold, its no wonder that you see people painting all the time. imagine if you owned a paint company that only sold white paint here in Greece - you would make a fortune! oh, here a funny little fact for the trivia bank, apparently they think that Santorini could be the lost city of Atlantis, though some scientists are skeptical, but who knows for sure.

i had great weather while i was here, but the sun here is really strong. i had to buy a hat and some seriously strong sunscreen. usually i'm one of those poor unfortunate people that is either white as a ghost or red like a lobster, but some how i manage to get a tan. i would hate to visit greece without a good pair of sunglasses. because everything is painted white, its a little tough on the eyes, my eyes were burnt quite a few times. but not from the glare from the sun, but from people wearing next to nothing. why is it that its the people shouldn't take there clothes off, are the ones that feel more open to letting it all hang out? having said that, there are some good things about the sun - sunsets. apparently Santorini has some of the best sunsets in the world. pretty big statement, i know, but they are quite nice. i think mainly because alot of Santorini is quite high up, so you see them from an elevated view.

Santorini is quite big and there is a pretty big distance between the towns. before i got here i was tempted to hire a vespa or 4 wheeler, to get around the island, but because i met some people we ended up splitting a car, which didn't end up costing us much at all. i was surprised to find how rocky Santorini is. a lot the beaches are quite strange to me, mainly because when i think of beaches i think of golden sand, but because of the volanic rock they have a lot of different kinds of beaches, some of them with black sand! supposedly when it gets quite hot the sand heats up to scorching temperatures and you can't walk on it.

food wise there is Gyros, which is pretty much the greek cousin of the Kabab. however in Turkey they would put the filling in bread, here they put it in pita bread. but after Turkey i was all kababed out (not even a name change could fool me) so i decided i would hold off on the Gyros until i got to Athens. however one of my favourite greek foods is Saganaki, which is fried cheese, so had have some while i was here, mmm so good! i got some tzatziki dip and olives to have over a few drinks with the people i was staying with, which were also amazing. we went out for dinner one night and i got some really tasty calamari, and i tried some Musaka which is a traditional greek dish that is kind of like a lasagna.

i've been thinking about the Greek islands and find them a strange place. most of the year they are closed, with the majority of businesses shutting up shop to go on holiday. i was speaking to a local guy who told me that pretty much the islands are set up for tourism, and you can definitely see that. i wouldn't say i saw many homes around the place. even the guy that i was talking to wasn't originally from that island, he came here to work over the summer months.

while i was here they had the european extravaganza that is 'Eurovision'. if your not familiar with Eurovision, its like a big song contest that countries throughout europe compete in. generally speaking, its so bad that its good. bad dance moves, funny songs, interesting costumes, i find it very hard to get through it with a straight face. but i was a little surprised that its wasn't that big here in Greece, not many people got behind it all. nobody talked about it, it wasn't really in the press, and not that many places had it playing on there TV's. i always thought it was big in europe. though i have heard that over the last couple of years its been incredibly political, with countries only giving good scores to there neighbours or to there allies. anyway, if you missed it, heres a bit of a clip of what Greece had to offer.

before i got here i was bracing myself, because i was kind of expected the Greek islands to be really expensive, but i didn't really find that at all. i suppose i am visiting here just before the boom, so i guess things are a little bit cheaper. so far the only expensive part has been catching the ferries, which is why i decided to spend most of my time on one island, rather than hop from one to the other. plus i was running out of time, because i booked a cheap flight out of Athens for the 20th and i wanted to spend a couple of days there. not to worry, i saw the island i wanted to see most.

so far i haven't run into Nana Mouskouri or Demis Roussos or any Greek Gods or Godesses, and there hasn't been any breaking of plates, but who knows, i may find them all in my next stop, Athens.