Stairs, Storms and Strikes December 16

In the beginning

View of the caldera

So we've started our Christmas holidays .........

Dave standing in the entranceway to our room.

Currently we're experiencing one of the most violent storms I've ever experienced. As I am writing this I'm listening to the wind howl. Earlier this evening we were watching the lightening light up the sky it was quite beautiful and carried on for almost an hour. And then the storm was upon us. The patio furniture outside our suite lay in shambles within minutes.... this is what I imagine a hurricane to be like, maybe it is a hurricane. I'm thankful Dave booked us into the Aroma Suites a hotel that features cave rooms and I was able to retreat into the far recesses of our cave room....the bathroom. The wind did abate for 30 minutes but now its blowing again.

We got out of Athens just before the general strike and were very lucky getting to Santorini. We didn't totally avoid the labour disruptions but it was only a minor inconvience. Instead of taking the metro to the airport we had to take a taxi. And our taxi driver was very skilled at avoiding the conjested streets and managed to keep us moving until we got out of the city. Dropping us at the airport with time to spare. they had cancelled flights due to weather and Wednesday flights were cancelled due to the general strike. We had booked our flight the week before for Tuesday.... how lucky was that.

Hardworking donkey

Stairs from the Port of Santorini

Hiking the caldera ....8km and steps

Since arriving here it seems we've been either ascending or descending stairs.....over a 1000 on Tuesday afternoon alone. This may not be surprising since we are holidaying on a volcanic caldera which rises 300ft above the sea. But we're in good company the donkey's are doing the same but are heavily loaded with construction materials that they bring up from the Port of Santorini to the towns built on the rim of the caldera. Now in the winter months the resorts are building and doing building mainteance work in preparation for the 2011 tourist season. Yesterday we hiked the rim with a detour to Skaros a crumbling castle that was only 800 stairs. There is no way to avoid stairs on Santorini. .... I think the universe has decided we need this kind of excersise to maintain strong healthy knee joints.

The storm is over 2hours from start to finish but now the power has gone out.

250 churches on Santorini

It was business as usual today everyone was cleaning up and the power was back on by 10:30am.  The Happy Wanderers