Mon 29 Jun 2009
Searching for solitude in Santorini – Finding in Naxos the friendliest people ever
Posted by Greece Travel Blog under Naxos, Santorini | | Send a comment
Oia is a beautifully restored village dramatically perched on a steep cliff – an image that graces the covers of most Greek Island guidebooks. En route to Oia, we got to enjoy the Santorini countryside. Santorini is a volcanic island and thus most of the sand is black or red. These colours combine with the green trees and blue sky to paint some rather vivid scenery. Volcanic sand unfortunately is not uniformly accommodating for plants, and so some parts of the island are complete wastelands.
It was the ‘tour-bus’ time of day, so we decided to bypass Oia and go further to the village port of Ammoudi. This is a lesser known village near Oia that we got to enjoy almost entirely by ourselves. The cliffs here are a vivid red, and provide a gorgeous background to a quaint seaside village fronted by a few tourist cafes. The port itself is tiny, sporting a hand full of fishing boats. Fishermen sat folding their nets and cleaning their boats. A bit of ‘real’ Greece we guessed – a refreshing change from the highly manicured streets of the Oia and Fira.
We went for a quick walk along the water past a few local fisherman who were pulling out (I think) crab cages from the clear blue water. It was really peaceful here and for the first time on Santorini we got to enjoy a tiny bit of solitude.
We then hopped back on to our quad-bike and headed back to Oia. In choosing to bypass Oia earlier, we had avoided the crowds of package tourists – they were all now huddled into little cafes, hiding away from the noon sun. Still, we pushed on, wandering down through windy cobble-stoned lanes.
It was now lunch time, so we headed indoors for a little air-con therapy. The views here were gorgeous – the white terraces overlooking the Santorini caldera.
Our next destination was the island of Naxos – a 2 hour ferry trip from Santorini. We grabbed our bags and headed down to the port. We were taking “Blue Star”, one of the cheaper companies, and thus had been expecting something rather simple. We got the opposite – plush airplane-like seats with brand new interiors.
Naxos city is one of the larger capitals in the Greek islands, and definitely deserves the title of city or town rather than village. Its still got numerous white-washed buildings, but these were a lot more ‘real’ than those of Santorini, with aging scooters out front rather than baskets of bargain-priced souvenirs.
Our hotel was a few kilometers outside at a famous beach area known as Agia Anna. This was one of the nicer places we stayed on the trip – Iria Beach Art hotel. Art hotels were a new concept to us, but seem to be common in Greece. They are essentially ‘art’ily decorated small hotels, typically with individually decorated rooms. More importantly, the place was run by the friendliest people ever – heartily warm – the type that make you want to come back again and again and again.
That night we feasted on some local fish and a squid salad. And of course a hunk of fried cheese. This had some kind of spice running through hit – a bit of a shock when you first bite in.
By Kit and Melenie Thambiratnam; excerpts, edited by Greece Travel Blog
Tags: blue star * clear blue water * fishing boats * gorgeous background * Naxos * noon sun * quaint seaside village * refreshing change * Santorini * steep cliff * volcanic island * volcanic sand
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