The last time we updated the blog we mentioned that we would be hitting a traditional Greek dance club in the evening and would be picked up by our host at 12am. Margarita arrived looking fantastic and ready to hit the night out. We arrived at a small club in Emporio, which is just outside Perissa where we are staying. I was first to walk into the doors and by the looks on the locals faces, this wasn’t a place frequented by tourists or non-Greeks. As soon as they saw Margarita, the looks of surprise left their faces and was replaced with delight. It was a very festive atmosphere, lit up with laser lights, a disco ball spinning on the ceiling and greek music pumping out the speakers. The barmen, Spiros( of course our Greek barman’s name was Spiros) offered us drinks and it was Amstel and Baileys on the cards for Dons and I.
The alcohol, as usual, loosened the joints and got the feet tapping to the rhythms of this magnificent culture. Whenever a person hit the dance floor serviettes were thrown into the air and hands were raised above heads and clapped enthusiastically, as traditional Greek moves flowed. Donna and I were given a crash course on some basics and slowly got the hang of it.
Once they had shown us their moves we decided to give them some South African flavor and sokkie n bietjie. I never throught I would be doing that in some tiny town in Santorini. It was a great experience. The one bar lady was celebrating her birthday that day and came around with cakes for all the guests in the club and also bought Donna and I a drink. Amazing hospitality was shown to us and something that we really can learn from these amazing people. The owner of the club kept pouring us shooters on the house. They went out of their way to welcome us and when we left we were told to please come back. We would have if we could afford it. It is surprising how expensive things are here and the locals still manage to afford it. Four beers and 1 double baileys cost us R200. So we didn’t go back but maybe when we return and we have jobs we will go back and party with our lovely Greek friends.
Sunset in Oia.
The next morning, the day of our 1st wedding anniversary, at about 8:30am when we got out of bed, we walked to the closest small town of Emporio to explore. This place is amazing. It is the typical Greek village that you would expect to see on an island like Santorini. Tiny little walkways. People park their cars and bikes outside the village – these walkways are too narrow. Only for people and donkeys. We were consumed in this maze of houses and churches and just walked until we seemed to be out of the village. We could see the sea in the distance and walked straight for it, crossed the road and saw a DVD store.
One of our neighbours.
We hired Mamma Mia because we heard that it was shot on a Greek island and thought it might have been Santotini. We were wrong. It was filmed on Skopolos – one of the northern islands. If we had time we would visit it but we are keen to get to Sicily. For lunch we went to a spot on the beach called Aquarius to celebrate our special day and feast on some Greek food such as Musaka and Gouvechia of Lamb. With full stomachs we strolled home for some well-earned sleep. As we entered our flat we saw a huge spread of fruit and a bottle of local Santorini wine, which is made in our villiage just up the road. This was a gift from our host, the generous Margarita. We decided that we would save it for Tuesday. And we did. We had a feast of note and we got a bit tipsy as we made our way through the delicious fruit, wine, olives, halloumi and feta. It was great fun seeing Donna with a little too much to drink – a very rare sight as she started singing away to the music coming from the laptop and giggling when she didn’t know the words. A sleep followed this festive feasting.
But this morning we spent on the black beach of Perissa. It was great to soak up some rays as the weather on the island has not been fantastic. We made the most of the 2 hours of great weather until retiring to our apartment to commence the above mentioned feasting.
Tonight is our last night in Santorini. Tomorrow we are taking a Blue Star ferry to Paros at 3:30pm. We will arrive in Paros just over 3 hours later where Yannis, from Stratos Apartments will be waiting for us at the port to take us to our new home for the next 3 nights.
We have just benefitted from the purchase of our Eurail ticket for the first time. We get 30% off our ferry ticket to Paros. A saving of R170. Very cool to start seeing the benefit of having a Eurail pass as transport has been costing us a fortune.
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