With a Bazouki and a Bang!

It's Easter in Orthodox Greece, probably the most important holiday celebration of all. We decided to leave our peaceful retreat in Ios, and head over to Santorini for a few days.

The port at Ios

Fast ferry to Santorini

On the fast ferry, which travels at an amazing 34 knots, Santorini is only 45 minutes away in time, but centuries in feel. Santorini is a tourist Mecca, its amazing geography draws tourists (and cruise ships, and planes and ferries) to its archetypical views.

Caldera cliffs in Santorini

The deck hand in action

The main towns in Santorini, Thira, Oia and Akrotiri sit on the high rim of an old caldera that forms the backbone of the island. So the towns sit thousands of feet above water level, the buildings hewn into the impossibly steep hill sides. The view is over the drowned caldera, with the central volcanic plug creating an island in the center.

Thira, perched on the caldera edge

View from Thira to the caldera

However, this geological beauty creates a tourist magnet of irresistable proportions, and the grockle on Santorini is about as thick as it gets in Greece.

Main boulevade

Oia, town on the northern coast

Ameliorating the grockle was the fact that it was Easter, the shops were shut and celebrations were in full swing. The Greeks like to celebrate Easter with a bang, so all night, fireworks of the explosive kind were being released everywhere.

Orthodox church just before the Easter service

One of many bell towers

Frieze over a church door

The churches also feel the need to proselytise loudly, with bell towers competing with each other for the most complex and jangling tone row.

Yet another bar

Caldera edge

We quickly decided to abandon Thira to the carnivorous tourists, and headed by car around the island. Ancient Thira was a spectacle, driving up a precipitous goat track through hair-pin  bends.

Path to ancient Thira

The view from top of ancient Thira

The old city site

Those ancient Greeks must have had some fierce enemies, to build cities in such impossible and inaccessible locations. The climb up to ancient Thira was just dizzying.

Rock carving

So, was Thira the ancient Atlantis legend that Homer spoke about? The legend has it that when Homer died at sea, the old bard's body was thrown overboard. His remains reportedly washed up on Ios, and he is meant to be buried in the town of Piros on Ios.

Pink poppy

Its the time of year for all the wildflowers to bloom, and its a sight with fields covered with a profusion of colour. It will be short-lived, as the sun's intensity will soon sear these fields to a crackly dried brown.

Red poppies and daisies

Fields of flowers

We toured around the island in a hire car. It was pleasant enough, but we missed a sense of Greekness that we'd felt on other islands.

Old city of Thira

Church at Red Beach

Red Beach, famous for its volcanic red sand

It was all a little too picture postcard perfect.

View of the caldera from Ios. 

Church at Ios.

Med colours

We were actually pleased to be able to get on the ferry back to Ios after a few days on Santorini. While the island is visually stunning, the local culture has lost the battle with grockle. Its hard to sense the Greece under the super swifts.

Home time.

Arriving home to Pav on Easter Sunday, we were greeted by a live Greek band (violin, bazouki and vocals) playing at full throttle in the restaurant just opposite Pavlov. They were still going around 4am when I finally managed to drift off to sleep. Such is life in Greece!