A Round around
SanTorini for my birthday
What would you like
for your birthday, is a question that I find harder to answer every
year. Other than a smallish and ever expanding wish list of kite equipment, the list is
pretty short. This year, for my birthday, I got a tour around
SanTorini, and I could not be more happy about this gift.
We started with a
night sail from our kite spot at Paros, towards the south end of Ios.
After a nightly anchor drop in the tranquil bay, we continued sailing
the next morning. SanTorini is notoriously hard for finding good
anchor spots, but we found some close to the airport. However, we
decided to continue our tour. By this time the wind had picked up
from a leisurely 4 Beaufort, to a strong 6. For about one hour we had
to motor straight against it. Once in the caldera, the waves subsided
a bit, and we could once again switch off the engine. Elizabeth
served a very nice organic! Chocolate mouse on a bed of fruit. Very
nice, and healthier than your average birthday cake. Once inside we
could see at least 4 cruise ships lined up, and a largish amount of
Super yachts. On the outside of SanTorini we were surprised by the
amount of parasols and sun beds on the beach. I allays thought people
would visit the island, so they could enjoy it's beauty, the
archaeological sites. The volcano and its cuisine and to top it all
off the tightly wound villages, where once terrace is the neighbor's
roof, and only donkeys can transport any loads as the roads are too
narrow and steep for the cars. Apparently, the average tourist does
not care about all this, and prefers to spend his time at the beach.
The caldera, the
steep cliff edges and the cities precariously balanced on top are one
impressive sight. A few years ago, we did a round around the central
island on Andy's birthday, and it is only fitting that we came back
for another round on my own.
After our tour
around SanTorini, we steamed up with the massive cruise ship, that we
have seen before in Stavanger (had MSC written on the side). We were
running at 7 knots, and the large cruise ship took a long time
overtaking us. At about ten o'clock at night, we dropped anchor again
at Paros, to get a good night's sleep in preparation for a few more
days of kiting.
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