Evening trip: The Ia Sunset

We spend the morning in Pyrgos, the afternoon in Thira and

then we caught a bus to the northern tip of Santorini, Ia. This

town is world famous for it's sunset... reportedly the most

photographed sunset in the world. Ia (or Oia) is yet another

enchanting Greek town with those trademark whitewash

houses, peering over a sheer drop into the sea. Parts of this

town were destroyed in the 1950's when Santorini's most

recent earthquake hit. The locals patched their town together

in a truly impressive way, showing how adamant they were to

stay put. Thousands of tourists flock to the same point every

day, just to watch an event which you can see anyday in most

parts of the globe.

Below: A group of travellers sit on a wrecked stone turret,

gaining one of the finest vantage points for the sunset.

We arrived at Ia some two hours before sunset which was a bit early, but at least we got a seat on the bus. We definitely weren't the first to arrive, but we managed to get ourselves a great view from the top of the town. Like most coastside resorts on the island, there's a big height difference between town and sea, Ia has yet more steep footpaths criss-crossing their way down to the base, with tourists lining up on every step. Some more well prepared visitors had booked into a restaurant with a sun view. (I'm sure that was a pretty penny!) Below: View over Ia's rooftops to

the volcano. The reason why

Ia's sunset is so popular is

all down to

geography.

There is no

land mass

blocking the

horizon so

you actually

get to see

the sun

vanish into

nothingness.

The sunset

is the scene

on many-a-

postcard not

just on the island but all over the globe. It's also used regularly by the movie

industry. In fact, as we were leaving we passed a film unit working on a new

film starring Angelina Jolie - couldn't tell you which one. Below: The sun sets

behind Thirasia.

While we were there

we noticed a wedding

taking place in the

town church. The

newlyweds had their

photos taken between

the crowds and then

made their way to

a waiting boat in the harbour for champagne by dusklight.

There is a daily boat which sits in the middle of nowhere

while the sun disappears. Below: The base of the sun hits

the horizon. Despite the pictures,

we didn't pick the best day to go,

because there was just one, small

cloud in the sky. The best scenes

are made when the sky is busier.

Here's a shot taken from Perivolos

(right) around dusk. It would

have been great to see the view

from Ia on that night. Still, it's

the luck of the draw. And that's

our tour of Santorini. Remember

that no matter how good your

camera is, the real thing is ten

times more vibrant and colourful

so do yourself a favour and go to

one of Greek's less well known islands. There are 660 of them after all!Jon P

Day Trip to: Nea Kameni, Palia Kameni, Hot Springs and Thirasia

Oh yes, when we do a day trip, we really do a

day trip. Starting off at Athinios Port. This is

at the base of a cliff, linked to the island by

this very impressive, windy road... not recom-

mended in a 53 seater. The port is used by

locals and travellers at all hours and seemed

to be busier than the airport! There are

regular links to the islands of Anafi, Ios,

Sikinos, Folegandros and Crete. If you feel

really adventurous and have plenty of Euros

you can island hop to Athens and get a flight

back. We were heading to the port to see the

rest of Santorini - many moons ago it was just

one island. Now, thanks to several earthquakes

and volcanic explosions, Santorini is now five

islands... The main one, making a crescent

shape, two other islands which complete

a doughnut shape, then two more islands in the middle.

This picture not only shows how precariously balanced

our bus was as it headed down the side of the cliff,

it also shows Thira Port, followed by Nea Kameni which

was blasted out of the sea in 1707 - that island's young-

er than Malmesbury Abbey! To the left of Nea Kameni

is the older island of Palia Kameni which has existed

since 197BC. Behind these islands is the other side of

Santorini; Thirasia which was part of the mainland

until 236BC when an eruption blew a number of holes

in the land, creating the islands. After boarding the

cruise ship, it's not long before the cameras start

clicking, looking back at where we've just come, the

idea that buses and lorries regularly make the trip up

the mountainside is a wee bit incomprehendable. Then

attention turns to our right to look that the capital of

the island, Fira (below). Once again, you can see a

steep, twisting road leading up to the city from the

coast. Fira has it's own port which is smaller than

Athinios - the buildings all seem to be hanging periliously

close to the edge of the cliff; not just here in Fira but in

every coastside town and village on the island. There are

also remains of abandoned mineshafts all the way along the

side of the rocks. Santorini is a goldmine when it comes to

pumice and sponge. These mines were shut down but some of

the ladders, shafts and chutes still remain. Fira is the island's

new capital city - the original one was perched on the highest

point (see first article). Fira is full of pricey little restaurants,

and has street after street of quaint little shops and market

stalls. You can walk down to the port or, for the lazier among

us, you can catch a cablecar from top to bottom. Fira has

a cathedral in it's centre and several museums. Buses run

to the capital from all over the island - we stopped here for

a couple of hours on our way to the northern tip of Santorini,

the town of Oia (more on that later). Parts of the capital city

and Oia were destroyed in the 1950s - that was Santorini's last

major eruption to date. Houses were thrown from the edge of

the cliff, and yet residents continue to build them and rebuild

them in defiance at nature's favourtism for playing with this

part of the globe. The biggest eruption to hit Santorini was

around 1650BC. Several earthquake and eruptions came

together to make one of the

largest explosions in history.

This picture shows more clearly

just how close the city is to

falling into the sea below.

We're looking south here so the

land in the distance is the south-

ern part of the main island,

which includes the village of

Perivolos where we were stay-

ing. Santorini is visited by

tourists from all over the globe

and isn't considered to be a

destination used solely by the

Brits and Germans (such as the Canaries).

We met Americans, French, Japanese and

even Greek Mainlanders who couldn't resist

visiting the place. This picture shows the

edge of the island, and you can see why some

people describe Santorini's rock structure as

a chocolate fudge cake. The layers signify how

many eruptions and changes the land has gone

through over the centuries. The white layer on

top is pumice. This piece of rock is the end of

Thirasia. Below shows another amazing

display of how unique Santorini is - two coves

in the mainland. At the far left of the picture

is the town of Oia which is based right at the

far end of the island. The next piece of land

jutting out contains the settlements of

Imerovigli and Firostefari with

the capital city of Fira shown

slightly right of the centre. The

closest piece of land leads

around to the port where we

started. The boat first took us

to Palia Kameni, an island which

is just a couple of thousand years

old. It is home to a hermit and

a family of mountain goats.

Naturally there is a church

(pictured). But the main

feature of this island is the hot

springs which, although it

sounds romantic was actually very muddy and stank of piss. After a quick swim we then headed to the far island of Thirasia which has it's own port, beach and three little towns. Manolas is a row of shops and homes at the foot of the cliff. There's a pebbly beach so most of the tour dipped their toes in the water and watched the fish swim around them. We headed up the zigzag footpath to the town of Agrilla. 45 minutes later we arrived in a ghost town (right) with the most breathtaking views imaginable (left). There are shops, but they were closed, there's a hotel, but I don't think it was all that busy, there's a cashpoint, but it had no money in it. There was, however a restaurant which overlooked everywhere and everything. The wooden frame was dangling over the drop like nothing we'd seen before. This was another town which suffered in the 1956 eruption. Still, we were made to feel very welcome by the restaurant owners, who must be happy to see anyone

(knowing that

whoever climbs

that high will be

in dire need of

refreshments. This

is the view from

our table (Left)

at the Panoramic.

Next challenge:

getting down to the

shore again!

Back onto the boat

and onto the next

stop. The volcano itself (picture above right is taken from the top with Ia to the right and Thirasia to the left) is a fairly new addition to Santorini, appearing in 197BC. Steam and sulphur still bellows out of holes in the rock (left). These pictures don't capture perspective so we'd recommend you go along yourself to see just how deep some of the craters are and how hot the surface is. It's not a high volcano, just 340 feet, but there's enough views to tire you out and we were cream-crackered by the time we made it back down to the boat. To the right is our favourite rock (and we took pictures of hundreds of them!) which has been blown in half either by an eruption or an earthquake. It also shows two distintive layers, a smooth surface on the top and a rough texture lower down. If any geography experts can explain what happened to this rock to make it look like that, please get in touch. And that's another day in the life of the travelling Jackdaws.

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The volcanic past of Santorini

We were here

Perivolos

  We stayed in the resort of Perivolos, about

a mile away from the centre of the more

popular destination, Perissa. Perivolos

doesn't currently have much to offer

visitors with only a handful of restaurants

and very few shops. However, it makes up

for amenities by providing a fantastic

beach which isn't sand, and it isn't

pebbles. Tiny fragments of volcanic rock

in every colour you can think of make up

this beach. Sounds a bit odd... and it is.

It's not sharp so it doesn't cut - it dries

quickly and just falls off you soon after a

dip in the clear turqoise sea. Tiny fish are

quite at home swimming around your toes

while you sit at the edge of the waves. The

tide is very slow moving and we didn't see a jellyfish all holiday - always a plus point. One word of warning about the beach is to be careful not to go out of your depth. You can stroll out quite far and only be in water two foot deep - then the land suddenly drops away from underneath you. Another disadvantage is that you can't build sand-

castles with the rocks - it

just doesn't work!

We stayed at Robertos which

wasn't the best of choices

but it did us for a fortnight.

It was about a five minute

walk from the beach, with

a bus stop close by. We'll

avoid all the negativities

about our accommodation

and focus on the fact that

it had a gorgeous swimming

pool which overlooked the

resort and the beach.

In all honesty, we had to do

plenty of walking to find

our supper. Perivolos only had a handful of restaurants, and as we went at the end of the

'05 season, half of them had shut

for the winter. Still, a walk down

the semi-lit promenade led us to

a whole host of bars, pubs and

restaurants. Here's our tip if

you're staying in the area... walk

with the sea to your right. The

closer you get to Cape Vesa Vouno

(the mountain between Perissa

and Kamari) the more nightlife

you'll encounter. (Picture: the

hustle and bustle of Perissa!)

Here's our pick of eateries and

drinking holes which you've just

got to try if you're in the area. All

of the places mentioned are on

the seafront between Perissa and

Perivolos. (Please remember, this

was compiled at the end of the

2005 season... things change!)

Once again, another holiday... we must be made of money! This time, intrepid adventurers JT and Ells headed for the Greek island of Santorini. Well, I say island... it was an island once. Now it's a collection of five big rocks in the middle of the sea, blown to pieces by centuries of volcanic eruptions - the most recent one being in 1956! So, here's our guide to one of the most interesting, relaxed and gorgeous places in all the 600+ islands.

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Ancient Thira

Thira (or Fira depending on which reference book you pick up) is the capital of Santorini, half way down the west side of the main island (More on that later). But many moons ago, way back in the 9th century BC - that's close to 3,000 years ago, the main settlement was elsewhere. Perched on a clifftop between Perissa and Kamari, Ancient Thira was created by the Dorians - warriors from the mainland who set out to claim Greek's 600+ islands as their own. It is jaw-dropping to consider that this city, which has been through centuries of war, weather, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, still exists as a gargantuan stone ruin.

You can still make out stonework of buildings (pictured) as if it were a giant excavation site. You can walk on the same stones and steps as those who would have lived and worked here all those millennia ago. Looking around the crumbling foundations, you can see pillars and mosaics - specialists have even pin-pointed the stonework which once would have been part of the theatre, there's also remnants of a bath-house. By far the most impressive spectacle of Ancient Thira is the church.

Complete with walls, roof, and altar, it has been preserved in a fantastic condition, which gives you a starting block to imagine what all the other houses, buildings and structures would have looked like in their hayday. The Greek are famous for their ambitions and commitment to religion, in partivular their churches. Wherever you go in whichever part of Greece you will find dozens of small chapels scattered across the fields, in amongst the cliffs and dotted across every town and village - all are white with blue decorations, many with a blue, domed roof and what could be described as a trademark of Greece; the pyramid style arches used to house the church bells.

Although you are unable to enter the church at Ancient Thira, you can peer through the door to see a standard Greek Orthodox setup. Where Christians have the altar, Orthodox have a wooden wall - a hole in the centre is where the preacher performs his surmons.

On either side of the priest - always in the same order - you'll find pictures of Jesus, Mary and the Saint to whom the church is dedicated. This practice is still used today throughout all regions of the Orthodox religion. The church is lit by a single candle, we had to use our night-vision camera for this shot:

But what makes Ancient Thira even more spectacular is it's location. Perched on a clifftop more than 1,800 feet above sea level, this city had an incredible natural defence of sea and rock. It beggars believe to imagine just how these people managed to cart such vast quantities of building material to the top of the Cape Vesa Vouno.  From the Perissa side, it is a fifty minute walk up the steep cliff face to a level platform, where you'll find the gates to the City. From there it is a further twenty minutes up into Ancient Thira itself. For the lazy among you, there is a road from Kamari as far as the level part. Or, you can try our round-the-houses technique of walking to Perissa, getting a water-taxi around the Cape into Kamari, spending an hour walking along the town's pebble beach, looking in the trendy clothes shops, staring in wonderment at the pavements (something lacking in Perivolos), having a couple of milkshakes and then walking up the Kamari Road. (It's a winding 'W' road with more than twenty 180 degree turns).