written after honeymoon in April, 2003
Dearest Friends,
Greetings from Spain after two and a half weeks in Greece!!
We have been enchanted and entrapped by the magic and the sweetness of the Greek Island, Santorini. After spending a bit of time there, here are some memories we would like to share with you, we hope it makes an entertaining read.
the Agean Sea
thanks to our friends from Athens, Dora and Antigoni, we were recommended to go before the tourist season begins, which also means the weather would be less predictable than the tourist season as well. We got to see Santorini in all of its different disguises, often within one day. The northern winds plus the volcanic formation of the island can often create some powerful tornado-like ´breezes´...yet on other days, we could lay on the beach in our swim suits (or not ;) and drink in all the sun. Sometimes there would be a sudden fog which was so thich that we couldn´t see each other. By the end of the day, there were often the most unbelievable sunsets right from our balcony with the view of the volcano, which still puffs sulfuric breaths from the rocks. But against the vast blue Agean Sea, with its most audible silence one could imagine, anything and everything appears timeless and endless, as if the world is only made of blue sea.
Spring in Season
whoever said ´nothing grows on volcanic islands´ obviously didn´t mean Santorini, at the moment, the entire island is covered with white daisies, its abundance is so great that from afar, the entire island looks light green because of its mixture of white, yellow and green. Against the backdrop of the daisies, there are bright purple stalks of flowers, shockingly red poppies and buttercups which the sheer size of them would make any poppy blush even more!! If one looks closers, small area rugs of tiny blue forget-me-knots can also be seen. We tried not to step on them because they are so close to the ground. It really makes the heart flutter to see an island be painted in such vivid shades and colors and when the breeze comes through, it is accompanied by the aromas of wild thyme, rosemary and lavender.
the beaches
there are so many beautiful beaches on the Greek islands, we hardly know what to say. But Dora is right, this is the perfect time to go, most of the beaches are completely deserted, but the sun has already embraced the sea enough for us to swim in. The landscape vary so drastically, at our favorite red beach, there are three dramtically different sights: the dark red cliffs and sand, the pitch black rocks and sand, and of course, the beautiful white sand, all three are divided by nature, so from afar, one could see first the red, then the black, then the white. Pumice stones and sea sponges are littered everywhere on the beach, often the only company we had were the few fishing boats passing from afar.
our friends on the islands, the street animals
unlike in a metropolitan city where you see only dogs chained to a person with a small scrap of newspaper in hand, ready to ...
on the Greek islands, I honestly believe there are more animals roaming about than human inhabitants, and they are free to roam about the island, and probably because they are free, they are also very friendly. Hiking or driving, we REGULARLY saw donkeys, sheep, goats, hens and roosters, and of course, dogs and cats, and ah yes, the fish in the shallow sea. They appear in the most unexpected yet natural places, for instance, once we were on a rented moped, cruising around in Ios, we had to stop on a small highway to let a gigantic flock of goats cross, complete with a young sheppherd and his skillful whistles, plus his cell phone. Here are two other funny and sweet incidents:
Zorba, the pious ´Tom-dog´
one day we chanced upon a small orthodox church in Oia on Santorini,
we were attracted by the three men outside the church, with big ropes in hand, ready to ring the three bells on top of the church to announce the beginning of a daily service. As we came closer to the front door, we saw a small black and white dog, sitting squarely outside the threshold, directly facing inside the church, not being disturbed by the deafening sound of the bells nor the passing members entering the church.
Nothing could divert his attention away from whatever he was waiting for from inside the church for the longest time. 15 minutes later, another bigger (say, HUGE) dog came from somewhere, after a few seconds of the usual sniffing each other´s behind, Zorba, the name we lovingly gave to the black and white dog, started to hump the bigger dog from behind, right in the midst of all the church goers. Maybe it´s a common sight on the island, but nobody but us seemed to find it amusing, with its appropriate sequence and location of the story. Anyway, after 1 or 2 minutes of copulating, Zorba returned to the church door and sat down again to face the inside, by this time, the service is well on its way, but the door stayed open, perhaps to let the latecomers enter freely, so we decided to stay by the dog and observe some of the service. We, the three of us, Zorba, Nabí and I, must have made a very nice picture for some of the other tourists passing by, waiting outside with our camaras and looking rather respectful and quiet, sitting outside the church.
They all came by and petted the quiet Zorba and smiled at us, but before too long, began Zorba´s decreasing patience for whatever he was waiting for inside. Meanwhile, the ceremonious service inside was coming to its climax, one could hear the chanting of the entire congregation getting louder, and magnificently robed priests and candle holders were passing by the door entrance with Zorba sitting close by the door, whimpering and shaking his tail frantically. Zorba´s patience soon dwindled down to nothing when all of a sudden, whimpers became high-pitched howls, nothing could stop him.
The tourists looked at us uncomfortably as they passed, and some of the old ladies by the door gave us regular death stares from inside the service, as if we were howling ourselves. Anyway, the story ended when one lady decidedly came out to chase poor Zorba away, we will never know for what or whom Zorba was waiting for, or whether he just wanted to partake in the ceremony, but we were thoroughly happy to have spent some of our afternoon with the church that day.
our last night with an overnight guest
we have been feeding a kitten who came to visit us rather regularly, but as all cat lovers know, cats come and go, you love them and they leave you. This little cat came to us again on our last day there, we decided to feed him, and eventually he stayed late enough, we invited him inside and had dinner with us. After dinner, he could barely keep his eyes open, and fell asleep on Nabí´s knees, and when we tried to put him down on the couch, he climbed back on his arm and stayed sleeping. When it was time for us to go to sleep, we didn´t have the heart to put him outside, so we left him on the couch for the night. He must have been very tired and slept there without moving most of the night. About 4am, he whimpered out a few meows, so we let him out, and a few minutes later, heard him begging to come in again. We didn´t wake up to open the door again, but we wish him a nice life, filled with lots of fresh fish from the fishmongers and other tourists.
in closing
there are so many more beautiful images and stories in our memories, we shall treasure them forever.
We thought of all the friends who came out for our wedding from afar and nearby, as well as the friends who couldn´t make it. We hope to see everyone again very soon.
Much love, Heidi and Nabí
