Oia, Santorini - Blue skies, blue seas and blue domes

As the one behind all the organising and all the booking of the finer details for the trip, I quickly gained the title “Tour Guide” that would stick around for the next 3 weeks. It was a title that I didn’t take on lightly and it came with an immense amount of pressure. On approach to each destination I inwardly started to panic in fear that we would turn up to accommodation hosting nothing but walls of peeling, stained paper, located hundreds of unimaginative streets away from any kind of attraction, and beds of paper-thin mattresses. On the ferry ride to Santorini, this was playing on my mind and once we boarded the taxi bus at the port on the other side, I started praying that the photos were even slightly similar to the reality of where we were staying in Oia.

In hindsight, it would have been near impossible for me to get this one wrong, but I can’t express the relief I felt after greeting our host near the Oia post office, and making our way towards the town. We suddenly walked into what seemed like a movie set of a typical Greek island, clichéd with white buildings resting big blue domes on their fresh, reflective walls. Our host, already sweating from his day’s work, quickly and assertively walked us through the crowds of people and down the myriad of stairs to our apartment. He smiled telling us that there 90 steps to the apartment. We laughed, until we realised it wasn’t a joke.

Once getting down the unending stairs, trying to keep up with our swift host, we lifted our intent, watchful eyes from the narrow steps to see the doorway to our Greek home. A blue picket fence led us to our terrace, which conveniently looked over the glistening water. To our right was a mountain range of stunning little homes, artistically giving texture and colour to the landscape. To our left was the naturally beautiful, earthy-red cliff face, topped with more white, blue and pink structures. I was assured that I did not let the team down with our accommodation, despite the hesitation to climb back up the stairs anytime soon.

However, the stairs were unable to inhibit us for a second, as we were so excited to explore this island, not to mention get some lunch!! We pretty much walked into the first restaurant we stumbled upon and ordered from the fresh menu; tomato and mozzarella cheese salads, grilled fish, pasta, big green salads, all accompanied with the standard basket of bread and local olive oil. It’s hard to believe that one of the things that stunned us the most about the food here was actually the tomato. Tim and I don’t even really like tomatoes! But, shivers, I have never tasted such plump, juicy, sweet and tantalising tomatoes before!!! From this day on, there was not a meal that we indulged in that did not involve the wonders of Greek tomatoes.

Oh man, thinking about the delicious food we enjoyed makes me want to try and recreate every mouthful for you. It’s impossible to do so, but the memories of the food will always be intricately detailed in my mind. One particular meal that was impressionable on me was when we came across a homely little restaurant with blue checkered table-clothes scattered under a big awning. We sat down and instantly worked out that the waiters were the sons of the grey-haired gentleman, who was arranging the oil and vinegar bottles on the tables. This older man’s eyes were framed with deep, friendly and tanned wrinkles and his grey curly hair sat joyfully atop his gentle face. He instantly reminded me of my own grandfather who had passed away only a few months earlier. I immediately loved this man, and whilst he didn’t speak a word of English, I really appreciated the hard work and family culture that was invested into this restaurant.

Whilst it’s hard to believe that we did anything other than eat – we also managed to enjoy many other things on this picturesque island. With the hustle and bustle of the tourists visiting Santorini, there were such a vast amount of shops riddled amongst the houses, displaying stunning art, fashion and souvenirs. We spent a lot of our time going through the streets and just admiring the gifted crafts that were on display. Maree developed an obsession for linen, which was available in abundance in Oia, and both her and Dave managed to purchase some amazing items.

Visiting Santorini means a definite viewing of the sunset, which Oia is enormously famous for. I have to admit, it was an incredibly gorgeous sight, yet a giggle couldn’t be helped, as we watched bus loads of people file, push, shove and queue their way towards the end of the town, to view the going down of the sun. We were spoilt with a prime spot in a restaurant and from here we could see the sky change to warm, romantic colours until it finally fell dark. However, from here we also watched the spectacle of people as they flocked, in hundreds, to do the same. The castle perched on the hill, was covered with silhouetted figures enjoying the beauty of nature.

For me, the highlight of the trip was being on the back of a quad-bike, holding on to the back of Tim, with an enormous grin on my face. My legs felt the warmth of the sun and the fresh wind made the heat bearable. It was such a load of fun and I couldn’t help myself from singing into Tim’s ear, every song I could recall about sunshine and summer. He smiled and laughed graciously despite the repeated choruses wringing in his ear.

Any lack of vitamin D was made up for in our four amazing days in Santorini. We no longer showed the evidence of 18 months spent in the UK, as our skin no longer betrayed our Australian and New Zealand origins. Our legs bulked up with the amount of stairs travelled, but the amount of food we consumed made up for the calories burnt. Absolute bliss!!!­