Travel Log: Living the Dream… in STRIKE! (Day 5)

Previous Day (Santorini - Pyros & Megalochori)

Destination: Greece
Duration: 9 Days 7 Nights (Oct 18~Oct 26, 2011)

Day 5: Santorini

Breakfast in El Greco Hotel was very similar to the one in Athens. One exception was El Greco had tomato fritters which I loved even though it did no good for my fat%. I accidentally found out that their cereal was nice too – the textures and taste were very different from the one we had in Malaysia or in Australia. I wondered what brand it was. Of course there was the ever presence hams and cheese! =)

Cakes and Breads

Olive, Capsicum and Shreded Bread with Olive & Feta Cheese

More Salad Ingredients

My beloved Ham, Salami & Cheese!

Sausage & Bacon

Eggs with Ham

Sunny Side Up & Grilled Tomato

Tomato Fritters, Hard Boiiled Egg & Baked Bean

Fruits & some Condiments

Canned Fruits to eat with Cereals

Cereals & Breads

My Favourite Combination!

After breakfast, we started our island hopping tour which we planned out yesterday with the ground agent. We were sent to Athinios harbor in a another ‘fun ride’ as harbor was of course at the foot of the island and our bus had to turn left and right downhill like crazy in a narrow road again. On the bus, we were told that we had to finish the tour in 5 hours because the rule was: once 5 hours mark was over, it would be considered as a full day tour and we had to pay double of our EUR55/pax.

We were pleasantly surprised when we saw our boat in the harbor – it was a traditional sailing boat. It was a bummer that the sail was not hoisted though. Now we would imagine ourselves as old time pirates sailing in the stunningly blue Aegean Sea! Where was Captain Jack Sparrow when you needed him?

Our Black Pearl!!!

There were lower deck and upper deck on the boat so we went to the upper deck to have a better view of the beautiful scenery. The boat started to sail around the island and our guide gave us detailed explanation of each village we past and the uniqueness of the landscape of the cliff. Apparently you could see the layer of lands very clearly - the layers were caused by volcano activity. We were very lucky that the weather and the sea were very calm even though the captain pointed out that there was a mist of wind coming (which we witnessed ourselves) from afar and would reached Santorini in few days time.

Starting our boat trip!

Look at the landscape!

Long Shot of Fira, Imerovigli & Skaros

Look at the Cave Houses at the Cliff!

Look at Some Land Slide Trail!

Let's Strike a Pose!

Another Pirate Ship?! Let's Blast them!

We reached our first destination of Nea Kameni (new burnt island) – a small uninhabited islet gradually formed through volcano eruption spanning 430 years. Our tour guide informed us that it was very much alive till this day and it was closely monitored by the scientist. The last eruption of Nea Kameni was 50 years ago.

Reaching Nea Kameni

Look at this Stunning from Nea Kameni to the Coast

Not an Easy Hike

Another Stunning View from Higher Ground

Not Even Halfway to the Top..

View from Halfway Up

We were stunned by its view when we reached the islet as it was totally black! It was nothing like I’d ever seen before and basically it looked like a barren wasteland. If the end of the world really happens in 2012 and I happen to survive, this is what I would imagine how earth would look like – burned. We started our trekking on the islet and our destination was the top of the islet. The trek was long, rocky and at some part slippery.

More Rocky Path

Look at the Awesome Craters!

We had a few stops along the way and it took us more than 40 minutes to reach the top. We even had the chance to feel the hot gases that emitted from the fumaroles of the central craters. it smelt like Sulphur… hmm.. demon was there? Guess I watched too much Supernatural. The sun was scorching that day but luckily there was wind so we didn’t break any sweat during our entire hike. Our tour guide also told us that there used to be a beacon thing on this islet many centuries where people were stationed there to watch out for pirates. It worked like in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”, when one beacon was lit, another beacon would be lit at other side when they saw this beacon until everyone was alerted. Another beacon that she mentioned was Skaros – which used to be a castle at the village of Imerovigli.

The Hot Gases!

Look at How Small & How High We are...

Reaching the Top

Amazing huh?

A Panoramic View from the Top

Walking Down...

Look at This!

Sammy was there too!

After Nea Kameni, our boat sailed to a coast of the Palea Kameni (old burnt island) where you could see the hot springs. There was only one single resident living at Palea Kameni near the hot spring as well and our tour guide pointed out the house for us. Since the water was too shallow at the coast, our boat could only stop at around 50 meters away from the hot spring. Normally what tourist did was to jump into the sea from the boat and swim towards the hot springs – of course you would have to know how to swim! So we simply looked from it from the boat – the springs looked kind of yellow.

The Hot Spring & the Single Resident

A Close Up of the Hot Spring

Our tour guide told us a funny story on her first day leading tourists to this hot springs, she said everyone was so excited and she told the group that they had to swim towards the hot springs and everyone agreed. So everyone was lined up at side of the boat and jumped together! There was when thing went wrong as we noticed 1 person never surfaced after jumping! She was so panicked and the boat captain quickly jumped into the sea and searched for the missing person. It was a Japanese tourist and luckily they found him and revived him with CPR. The tour guide was nearly in tears and asked the Japanese why he jumped when he didn’t know how to swim? The Japanese said: “But you ask us to jump!” So ever since that accident, every boat bringing tourist to the hot springs would have an announcement before anyone jumping into the sea “Please do not jump if you do not know how to swim!” even though it seem to be common sense. :p

I'm not going to jump since i have no idea how to swim!!!

We also had some changes on our itinerary as we were running out of time – so instead of docking at Thirassia and let us climb up the 140 steps of stairs or take a donkey ride to reach their village, we simply circled to look at it from their coast.

Reaching Thirassia

The White Trail is the Stairs to reach the Village...

Our boat then headed towards the Oia Port to let us have a walk around. It was a small port with nothing much to see but we were again amazed by how clear and blue the sea was. I’d never get tired or bored of looking at the Aegean Sea! It looked just so perfect.

A Close Up of Upper Oia from the Boat

Oia Port

I really LOVE the Aegean Sea!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!

Can i live here?

Such a Nice Bridge to the Top of Oia

Look at the Doggie?

Leaving the Port - Once Again, Look at the Stunning Blue Aegean Sea!!!

We then headed back to Athinios harbor to end our trip. This was when our tour guide mentioned that our captain was going to give us a surprise and showed us something. The boat sailed slowly near the coast and we were so curious on what was the surprise other than the amazing cliff that was in front of our eyes. Then the boat turned around and there it was! A totally isolated church hidden at a cave beneath the cliff! There were actually quite a lot of churches along the coast in honor of St. Nicholas (for safe return from the sea) but this one was really well hidden. Our tour guide then told us a myth of this church: 10 crusaders had escaped from Jerusalem during the great religion fight and hide in this cave. The enemy walled the cave and left them there to die. After 300 years, people found the cave and broke the wall and the 10 crusaders walked out alive. Thus they built this church in honor of the 10 crusaders.

Churches along the Coast is built in Honor of St. Nicholas

A Surprise? Where is it?

Oh Mine!!!

A Shot of Fira Port during our Boat Ride to Athinios Port - the Whilte Trail is of course the Stairs to reach Fira from the Port!

After the boat tour, we had the remaining day to ourselves so we went to Fira to have a late lunch at Naoussa Restaurant which was rated very highly in tripadvisor. The service was exceptional! We ordered some Oyza and ¼ liter of white wine to go with our main course of moussaka and grilled fish. Oyza was basically a very strong liquor with around 30% of alcohol content. It kind of tasted like candy and it made you head spin! Moussaka was a traditional Greek dish with layers of potato, minced meat and egg plant topped with cream and cheese. It was like lasagna without the lasagna noodle and it was super yummy! The grilled fish was fresh and came with a bowl of Greek salad. We finished all the food and alcohol in no time! The meal cost around EUR 35. I’d never drink so much wine in one meal in my life. After the meal, the owner gave us a shot of some alcohol drink on the house – it tasted like margarita but with blended ice. Nice! *drunk*

The Exterior of the Restaurant

Nice Interior!

Olive Oil & Vinegar

The Infamous Oyza & White Wines

The Moussaka

The Salad

The Grilled Fish - Marinate lightly to enjoy the Real Freshness of the Fish

Inside of a Moussaka

The Complimentary "Margarita" Shot

Look at the Donkeys from the Restaurant

Cute Doggie at the Shop below the Restaurant

We explored some part of Fira in our half drunk stage and managed to stumble into the Catholic Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. Alcohol and Church... Classy eh? The interior of the church looked less impressive if compared to the Meteora Monastery but still looked beautiful on its own.

Interior of the Church

Beautiful huh?

The Altar...

The Exterior

After the short visit to the church, we headed to the Fira main bus station to get on a bus to Imerovigli to look for the lost castle of Skaros. Imagine the once great castle was now basically a rock (due to a huge earthquake in 19^th century) but it was still one of the biggest symbols of Santorini. Underneath the rock, there was a hidden Chapel of Theoskepati that clings to the cliff edge where you could not see from the mainland but only from a boat sailing along the coast. From what I read from the internet, the path to this chapel & the chapel itself were similar to the movie “Mama Mia” wedding scene.

The Shot of Skaros & the Chapel from Boat Trip Earlier

A Close Up Of the Chapel and Skaros

When we reached Imerovigli, we realized that Skaros was actually quite far from the village. We had to walk in the labyrinth of villas in Imerovigli to find the path toward Skaros. Oh mine.. there was of course lots of stairs involved. First of all, we needed to climb down village of Imerovigli to reach the ‘connection’ between the village and Skaros and continue to climb up the stairs to reach Skaros.

Random Church at Imerovigli

The Labyrinth to Reach Skaros

Skaros from Imerovigli - It seems unreachable..

Look at the Sun!

Random Builing at Imerovigli during our way to Skaros

Found the Endless Path...

Getting Close!!!

Hmmm.. or not...

The place was quite isolated and we couldn’t see anyone else and the sun had started setting. We needed to reach Skaros fast to avoid walking in complete darkness. The path in some of the sections was ruined and very narrow – there was no railing at all and the cliff was like less than 1 meter away from you. It was quite intimidating since with one wrong step, you might fall from the cliff. Not to mention that it was windy at times so I was quite worried that the wind will knocked me imbalance to fall from the cliff. Guess I should be glad that I had more pounds to stay steady! Not to mention that we were still half drunk off ourselves butts from lunch.

Endless Stairs!

Really Getting Close...

Almost!!

We reached Skaros safely and managed to catch a glance of some castle ruins which used to be a great castle and capital of Santorini during Medieval period. Imagine that it might look like Minas Tirith or Osgiliath during its glory but unfortunately it looked like a ruined Minas Morgul now. Yes, I’m definitely a geek who cited fictional castles from Lord of the Rings movie. *facepalm* We were trying to look for a path heading toward the Chapel of Theoskepati but we just couldn’t find it. As time was against us, we had no choice but to head back to Imerovigli.

Finally reach it.. feel so surreal! Can't find the path to the Chapel though.. =(

Panoramic View from Skaros

Sammy has to make an appearance!

Heading back to Imerovigli in Skaros' Shadow...

Heading up the Stairs again!

We walked around the outer shore of Imerovigli and noticed all the villas were hotel for tourist. Imerovigli was the most popular destination for honeymooners and I heard that a lot of people came here to get married. I could definitely see the appeal here. =) We also managed to see the sunset at Imerovigli but unfortunately the sun was blocked by the mist of wind as the boat captain mentioned this morning. So it was not as impressive as the sunset yesterday.

A View of Imerovigli

Sunset at Imerovigli with Skaros

The Sun is getting Lower...

And Lower...

Getting Blocked by the Thick Wind Mist...

After the tiring hike, we grabbed a taxi and headed back to our hotel to have dinner which was provided in our tour package. The dinner was inside the hotel in buffet style. The dinner consisted of soup, bread, salads, seafood spaghetti, grilled chicken, rice with lots of peas, stewed beef, mashed potato, sausages, grilled lamb, some vegetables, fried fish, lots of dips and desserts.

The funny thing about the buffet was that it did not serve any drinks at all – I was not talking drinks like wine, soda or juice, I was talking about plain old drinking water. You had to order them separately.

The food was not impressive – the fried fish was so salty until I couldn’t put myself to finish it. The grilled chicken and lamb were simply too hard. The rice with peas was strange but actually tasted nice whilst the seafood spaghetti tasted very ‘seafoody’. The dessert was of pastry base with custard (chocolate, berry & lemon). The base was dunk heavily with syrup so it was simply too sweet. The topping was nice though.

Bread

Soup

Salad Ingredients

Look at the thick Feta Cheese!

Seafood Spaghetti & Grilled Chcken

Rice with Peas & Stewed Beef

Mashed Potato, Sausage & Grilled Lamb

Fried Fish, Eggplants & Vegetables

Lot of Dips

Desserts!

We started planning our journey for tomorrow as we would have a free day until 4pm to meet in hotel to go for a sunset Oia tour with the group. We were disappointed when the hotel concierge told us that the Akrotiri Archeological Site would only opened in 2012 – it was a very well preserved site thanks to volcanic materials that covered the city in 17^th century. It was one of the most important trading centers in the Aegean Sea during the pre-historical years. It was such a shame that we would not be able to visit it. We ended up planning for some other alternatives and actually had to make some difficult decision to cross out some places as time was simply too short.

Next Day (Santorini - Ancient Thira & Oia)

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