Published Thursday November 18th, 2004

Another 2 days have quickly managed to flash by. In just 2 days so much has happened it's hard to imagine it just being 2 days. My time on Mykonos and my visit to Delos seem like ages ago. It's incredible how fast time seems to pass when one is travelling. Time seems to be stretched out in a fashion which makes the yesterday seem and feel as though it was many-many days ago. Even this, todays morning, feels distant in memory and time.

I find that I'm so incredibly happy, it's almost unfathomable. I walk about with the largest and probably goofiest grin and smile on my face. Oh how incredibly happy I am. If only I could be this happy forever, and if only everyone could share in my wealth of my current happiness..

Yesterday, October 28th, I woke up at around 09.00 After eating a chocolate filled bad I had purchased the night before, I headed to the bus station following signs until I found the main terminal. If one could call it a terminal.. It's more of a parking lot for buses on the edge of Fira, a town on Santorini. The buses uses all seem to be or have been imported from Germany because everything is labelled in German and occasionally one sees a German flag on some bus's manufacturers logo.

Anyway, I asked some guy sitting there, and eventually a few of them, which bus would take me to or closest to Ancient Thira, the ancient city of the island, an archaeological dig. The men were generally unwilling to really help me. In many cases they were somewhat rude and unfriendly, making comments in Greek and then laughing together while I stood in front of the seated bunch waiting for an answer.

Eventually I found a bus which went to the town of Kamari from where the man who pointed the bus out told me I could get to Ancient Thira. Okay, I got on the bus and paid EUR 0.90 to get to Kamari, a little almost deserted village with a beach. It took about 15 minutes to get there from Fira. The bus driver was accompanied by a sort of conductor type person who collected money or fare for the trip while the driver drove and when we reached Kamari, the man pointed at a road and mountain and said, in an amused and joking tone that I could get to Ancient Thira from there. As he said this, the drive and the fare-collector guy with whom I was speaking, laughed at each other.

Irritated by the two unhelpful men and those at the bus terminal, I set out to spite them all by reaching Ancient Thira. For about 45 minutes I walked up a road consisting of only switch-backs ascending 369 metres from the beach to the ancient city of Thira visitor parking which was more or less deserted. I spent another 15 minutes getting to the top of the mountain on which the ancient city once stood. It was an incredible place. Must have been excellently protected being on the top of a mountain surrounded by generally much lower land and the sea as well as hidden away by another 200 metre higher mountain in the north west, the highest point on Santorini.

I explored the interesting ruins of Ancient Thira for some time and then began to leave. As I was walking back down to the parking lot, I saw a small dirt path leading up the steep slopes of Profitis Ilias, the highest mountain on Santorini. It was so tempting that 40 minutes later I had ascended another 200 metres and now stood next to a communications town on the highest point on the island at 566 metres above the sea. The view of the entire island, the Aegean, and many other surrounding islands as well as Santorini's Caldera was unprecedented in beauty.. It was spectacular.

After spending some time on the peak, I headed back down. I was very glad I had good shoes with excellent grip or I would have fallen off of the mountain which featured sheer drops on many sides.

Instead of heading back down to Kamari, I went down on the opposite side on a path leading down to Perissa and Perissa Beach. About an hour after leaving the peak of Profitis Ilias, I was back at sea level.

Stupidly, I had set off without any sort of water or liquids and by the time I reached Perissa, 3.5 hours had elapsed during most of which I was walking up and down steep paths.. I was pretty thirsty. In Perissa I bought a Bacardi Breezer and some water. I 1st drank the Bacardi Breezer with watermelon flavour. It tasted so, so, so very good. mmm..

Soon after drinking something, I caught the bus back to Fira which took about 20 minutes and cost EUR 1.50. When I reached Fira, I went into the centre of town. In the distance one could see a storm of rain coming. The local shopkeepers knew this as one could see rain falling in the distance when looking over into the caldera, and they started to frantically pull their items on display or out in the open in the small streets into safety. The wind picked up drastically quick and small clouds flew up over the caldera cliff sides from lower down, over the town. Soon it started to pour. It was the first time it had rained since I've been in Greece but in 5 minutes it was already done.

I went and had some chocolate cake for a late afternoon lunch/snack and then returned to m hotel room. It was almost sunny weather again as I collapsed on my bed and fell fast asleep, extremely exhausted. Only then did I realise how much ground I had covered in such a short amount of time.

I woke up around 2 hours later at 17.00. With much reluctance, I finally got up and headed into town with my camera bag, tripod, and sweatshirt. The same thing I had with me when I climbed to the top of Profitis Ilias and Ancient Thira and back down, earlier in the day.

I setup my tripod and then took photographs as the sun set, watching the sunset for the 2nd time here. Looking over the cliffs of the caldera, down into the sea, a newly formed and still developing, active volcanic island in the centre of the caldera, nd watching the sunset in this scenery is absolutely spectacular. A photograph could never do the moments of the sunset here justice. It's too spectacular for a photograph to encompass.

After the sunset, I returned my camera to my hotel room and returned to trhe centre of Fira. I purchased some postcards for some people who's addresses I had access to and a new notebook/travel-journal because I had filled my other one the day before. This new notebook is really cool and nice. It has a nice cover and feels more like a journal than a composition notebook.

I went and had dinner and wrote postcards.. Something I never do. After paying the cheap bill, I left the restaurant and eventually returned to my hotel room after strolling around a bit and buying some food for breakfast the next day.

I got up Friday at some time around 10.00. After eating the breakfast I had bought the night before, I went to pay for 2 more nights in the hotel for EUR 50,00.

Being annoyed with the bus people, I asked a taxi driver how much it would cost to get to the Akrotiri, a preserved ancient city. However, the taxi driver told me that this archaeological site was closed. Fine..

Instead, for EUR 12,00 I took the taxi to the town of Oia or Ia, which is how it is pronounced. I had heard the day before that the 28th was some sort of holiday. The taxi driver explained to me after I asked hi about it, that it was a day celebrating the leaving of the Italian army or military from the island or Greece.. I didn't quite understand him, but he was very kind and even slowed down at some of the scenic spots as well as pointed out some surrounding islands and their names.

I paid the man upon reaching Ia and started to explore the small, absolutely beautiful village of Oia/Ia. I had found what I was looking for.One always sees a certain few buildings and churches with blue domed roofs and so forth when seeing images of Santorini. While Fira, the town I'm staying in, looks similar to what one comes to expect to see, it's not as beautiful as Oia/Ia.. But, wow.. Ia... amazing! As I walked around and explored small niches of the town, I kept stumbling upon locations from where George Meis, a photographer famous for this photographs of the Cyclades, took so many of his beautiful shots.

With a location as beautiful as Ia, it's almost impossible to take a bad photograph.. It's so, so, so incredibly and indescribably beautiful. The various colours, the blue domed churches or basilicas and in that style of architect the islands here are famous for.. Illuminated by the bright sunlight.. Absolutely amazing, fantastic, breathtaking and so forth!

Note that photos in this entry have not been altered and could possibly use some white-balancing, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue adjustments among other touch-ups.