Farewell, Santorini

     Last night on Santorini

Santorini, recognized by its white and blue buildings, is also noted for its cave houses. In years past cave houses were dug out of the side of the volcanic cliffs for protection from pirates and marauders. Today, they are much-desired tourist accommodations, billed as "traditional aegean homes." The cave home was usually dug out into two or three large rooms with curved ceilings, one door and maybe a window. Today, they've been modernized with white stucco interior, electricity, wi-fi, and indoor plumbing. Quite an upgrade.

The cave homes piqued our interest so we asked our host about them and also rambled around Oia and the nearby traditional village of Finikia seeking them out. We saw everything from raw hole-in-the-rock caves to those in every stage of renovation. 

Painters were out in full force this week, sprucing everything up for the beginning of the peak tourist season and making ready for the St. George celebration, held the 23rd of April.

As we witnessed daily, it seems many young Asian couples think Santorini is the ideal spot for shooting dramatic engagement, wedding, and anniversary pictures. We noticed several women in bridal gowns, hustling down the street, their trains bunched up in their arms. They were often accompanied by men in black tuxedos and trailed by a photographer.  The women, or couples, would perch atop monuments, low roofs, and high walls. We spoke with one couple in which the wife was posed on steps leading to a terrace, with the Aegean Sea in the background. They were celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary with a Santorini photo shoot. 

Cameras in hand, we headed out for the sunset our last night on Santorini. We'd scouted the perfect location earlier. Next, it was a matter of jostling for position among every other like-minded tourist. Judy staked out one place she thought was perfect, and Annis moved down the path to another location where folks were sitting on the wall, some taking selfies with the setting sun as a backdrop.

Suddenly there was a scream from one of the girls who was trying to take a sunset selfie with an extension wand. Her phone had taken a dive off the wand, past her shoulder and over the wall to a roof several levels below. Yes, yes, a gentleman came to the rescue. He'd witnessed the traumatic episode and hopped off the rock where he'd been sitting, crept along a slanting wall and jumped down to retrieve the phone.

Who knew sunset photos could be so entertaining?

Farewell, Santorini. It's been memorable.