Greece - Santorini Island

Holly mother of sunshine this place is like a postcard. I couldn’t wait until the end of my stay here to post an update. I am currently on Santorini Island. I took an overnight ferry from Athens on Sunday night and arrived around 5.30 in the morning.

The drive up along the steep unprotected edge of the cliff form the ferry was mesmerising. It reminded me of parts of the Cinque Terre walk and scary drive in Northern Italy.

I am excited about Santorini Island and excited about my accommodation. I’m in a room on my own, it has 4 beds, TV, balcony, ensuite and fully equipped kitchen. In another room is a Swiss lady named Gigi and a Korean lady by the name of Mia.

On Tuesday, Mia and I hired a 4 wheeler for 24 hours and spent the whole day wandering around the island. The morning was checking out the view from the light house and Red Beach. Around lunch we were heading towards the capital Fira when our 4 wheeler broke (the accelerator come loose) so we waited around for a new bike (tough with the views we had), then made our way straight to Oia on the tip of the island.

It was in Oia where we grabbed a bunch of photos of the Greece I expected. The Greece I have seen in books and brochures. Nothing beats experiencing beauty like this first hand! The colours are amazing, especially the blues and rustics. We then found a sandwich, opened our local bottle of wine given to us in a gorgeous gesture from our friend Gigi (thank you so much again) and sat on a ledge watching the sunset. Even though it was a little cloudy, it was so very beautiful. I spent the last bit of the sun closing my eyes and thought of all the brilliant things in life I am grateful for.

Wednesday Mia took our new friend Laura for a drive to a local lookout where you can see the whole island. On the way up, they stopped to make way for a truck backing out of a drive way. The driver didn't see them and if they hadn’t jumped off the bike and waved to get the truckies attention, he would have backed right over them! When returning the bike, they befriended a lovely guy by the name of Kevin. They went out for lunch and when they got back, we all jumped into Kevin’s hire car and spent the afternoon/evening in Fira.

So many people have said Oia is the place to be for sunset, but I am partial to Fira. In Oia the sun sets into the ocean and in Fira it sets behind the volcanic Island. About 2 hours before sunset, the 4 of us found this amazing restaurant hanging over the side of a cliff. It was in the middle of town and boasted the perfect view! We each ordered a drink and shared a generous platter of meat, cheese, olives and bread. It was a spectacular sunsets. Santorini was everything I had hoped and more!

As I am writing this, I am listening to U2 on the famous black beach of Perssian on Santorini Island. As in the photo, it is literally black sand and the sea bed is all rock, not the stuff that jabs into your feet, but the slippery surface that has everyone in fits of laughter watching unexpected people walk in and fall on their arse. It seriously is fun entertainment. And the burnt bodies – OMG! A group of about 30 Europeans (mainly English) arrived here about 15 min ago and they are so red raw you can almost feel their pain.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Cath from work for and another traveller I have met by the name of Laura. You have both inspired me to continue putting my energy towards my sponsorship proposal for the IDP people of Kenya. I received an email from Cath asking me to put something together including photos and a blurb of what I have been doing to show people. And Laura was asking me about what I did in Kenya, loved hearing about it, felt my passion and donated 100 Euros to the IDP project!! Ahh, I was speechless. She is 21, from Canada with a heart the size of Mexico. When she handed me the money she said ‘this is only 1 luxury day’s travel for me, I can afford that’ I almost farted trying to hold my tears and excitement in!!! I am so overwhelmed, thank you so much Laura. Generally I have no trouble raising money for a good cause, but it has never been so close to my heart and I am finding it unbelievably difficult. I’m scared of failing to get my message across and it not being successful. In saying this, I promise information on projects I have been working on will be available very soon.

I have absolutely loved Santorini but have decided to keep moving and make my way to Mykonos tomorrow.

Only 14 mores sleeps until mum arrives!!!
X