Tip of the hat…

Her name is Lala…her name for him is “Monchéri” and they live in Antalucia, Spain no less.
Her name means “beloved”…his name means, well you know what his name means.

You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried…;-)

Read all about it here!

PS: even with a sick computer Lala (you gotta love that name) managed to give this little cave-blog a mention… that’s got to be worth some grilled octopus and a bottle of ouzo by the water…. the highest award possible under the Oia constitution.

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Her name is Corine… she is “Hidden in France“….oh, and she “wants her purple couches out of her life… but they won’t leave”.
Her bookshelf has no books in it…only 2 wooden letters – S & M -…aha!  
AND…. she amputated the legs off a desk to make a coffee table…as one does ;-)

But despite this perfectly normal behaviour… she had the good grace to mention us in her wonderful blog, and for that we tip our hat in gratitude !
PS: more octopus and ouzo….

Oia Santorini – Volcano Viewing

 

I was visiting my friend today…he manages Volcano View villas on Santorini. I looked out of his office window and saw this:

300m above sea level…. look closely. What could this little bird be thinking? 

If you can think of a quote please leave a comment.

 

 

Oia Santorini – the Great Walk… a Sunday morning walk on the cliffs of Santorini

Alessi (my son) and I went for a walk this morning. It was a long walk….but not just any walk. This was the Great Walk along the cliffs, facing the caldera of Santorini. We thought you might like to see what we saw…. enjoy ;-)

 

we started up the path…

and soon we were high enough to look back at our village – Oia, in the background…

and in front of us was Imerovigli….

 

and the volcano was sleeping surrounded in endless blue…

 

so we climbed higher…

 

and before long we came across a small church….

 

just an ordinary Greek church you might say…but how wrong you would be! 

 

You see, this church has this view in front of it….

 

and this…..

 

if you want to get married in a magical place….I challenge you to find a better one…

 

it sits on top of the cliff…

 

and its stunning…

 

 

but we continued till we went over the cliff top to the “other side”….

 

the “other side”  (as the locals call the side not facing the volcano)  anywhere else in the world would be considered stunning,
but here…well here its just the “other side”… 

 

the path continues towards Fira…but we decided to leave that part for another day and headed back….

 

so we went back up to the cliff top….

 

looking at our little village in the background….

 

Alessi stopped to collect some wildflowers for home…

 

and we watched the morning ferry leave the island…

 

that’s when we met poppy…

 

and violet…

 

who was next to pink….

 

and this stunning yellow…

 

all of them under the shade of rugged volcanic rock…

 

so we kept walking back down the path….

 

to where the red Vespa was waiting to take us home….

 

where we found Rex having his own morning viewing of the endless blue below…

 

It was a lovely walk on a Sunday morning…we hope you enjoyed it too ;-)

 

 

Santorini Spring

Most visitors come to Santorini in summer…the island is crowded and the landscape dry from the relentless sun. If only they knew what they were missing in spring !  This morning I was riding the Vespa from Fira to Oia…bright sunny day. Thought you might like to see what I saw….

There is so much colour you don’t know where to look first…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santorini has always been a photographer’s dream. But in spring….well in spring its something else again ;-)

 

Oia Santorini – a place to clear the mind

Its late in the season…. another day of running around for paperwork of all sorts. Applications, permits…more applications. I’m alone on the island and just want to sit somewhere and defrag the brain. I get on the Vespa and ride down to Ammoudi (a full post on this magical little spot soon). The little taverna by the water is empty….so Joy (Dimitri’s partner – owners of the taverna) sets a table for me by the water and I sit there with a glass of ouzo…. my mind clouded with all the bureaucratic nonsense of the day. The water below me is so clear I can see tiny lava rocks 5 metres below the water line.

Within minutes….magically it seems, just like the water my mind becomes clear. I remember thinking “I know there are better places in this world…I just can’t think of them right now”!

Oia Santorini – dreaming of a different life

Santorini dreaming !

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Mark Twain ii 

 

The image above was taken only days ago….but I had dreamed of the scene for 20 years. The dream was real all that time. It wasn’t a big dream, it wasn’t an extravagant dream. It was a simple dream…. of a different life!

Oia – Santorini : the great cliff-top walk!

This weekend (weather permitting) we will make the great “Oia to Fira” walk along the cliff top and bring you the images. This is arguably one of the most spectacularly scenic walks anywhere on earth. The walking path has been carved out of the cliff face and is in places 400m above sea level….with the volcano and deep blue waters of the caldera below. The path is 12 kms long and is without doubt the best way to experience the dramatic landscape that makes Santorini one of the most photographed places on the planet.

Looking forward to the adventure and sharing the images with you…. ;-)

THE FIRST PART OF THE WALK HAS BEEN POSTED….see images here!

Santorini sunrise…

 

sublime Santorini sunrise

 

Sunrise or sunset?

Of the 1.2 million visitors to this islands every year, its doubtful that any more than 1% ever see what I consider the most beautiful sunrise in the world.

In the evenings they flock to Oia by the thousands to take photos of the famous sunset. The “sun-setters”, as we call them, hang off every wall, every roof top, every empty spot they can find to witness the magical sunset of Oia.

You’ll find none of them in the early morning though. If they only knew what they miss. Sunrise is the most peaceful, most serene time of the day on this island. On a calm morning the caldera below is like a canvas with the most sublime painting on it….changing each morning with the breeze, the cruise ships and the rare clouds that drift in during spring/summer. Sunrise is quiet, very very quiet. It’s the perfect time to think and try to take in the majesty of the vista in front of you. Sunrise is my time…..