Santorini

 

We must have crossed path of Black cat before seeking visas for Greece. Nothing went smooth. To start with Greece does not have any visa office/consulate in Mumbai; the work is assigned to Consulate of France. It being ‘Consulate of France’ the rush was phenomenal. So they don’t entertain without having proper appointment. It was Diwali time and it was going to be open only for one day between the holidays and I had already booked flight for Doha the same evening. Lady luck oversaw the black cat and we could seek the appointment on that sandwiched day and within an hour we were out with stamped visas. But the immigration officer at Kahira [Cairo] airport had kept Visa section as option for his departmental exam, so was arguing,

‘Your Visa is for France and the date seems to be incorrect!’

My experience about the English of these officers is absolutely bad! World over even these officers who are supposed to be conversant with now globally accepted language for communication, English, lack the grasp of the language very very badly! Our Egypt tour assistant, our man Friday in Egypt, Mehmood [who else in Islamic country] really came handy, and he explained, what I don’t know, to that imbecile officer something in Arabic and lo,

‘Thuck Thakak Thuck’

Our passports were stamped immediately. And we boarded the flight to Athens! English has corrupted our pronunciations no end. Athens by the locals is pronounced with first Alphabet between ‘A’ and ‘E’. We opted for the golden mean and accepted it as ‘AE’ whatever that can be pronounced as!

Athens airport, is it airport? There are indiscreet stations on main lines those are not remembered even on deliberation, it fitted the description. Everything was Dombiwali slow. Slow and lethargic. Members of EU, European Union were flashing their I cards and moved out on the fast tract. Rest of us? We plodded for more than 90 minutes. And I experienced that I had never seen in any western country before. Line Cutting! Absolute crashing! And it was big realization that, we Indians should not feel small, as it is common in India, when the demand is more than supply, ‘Humans’ all over the world, have the same pattern of behavior! Animals at the core! US talks of discipline and human rights, No, their approach is always ‘Holier than Thou’ but when Katrina struck New Orleans rampage, rioting, looting of shops even for simple toilet paper was rampant and phenomenal in the history of the Most Democratic country in the world! Japanese are made of different clay. It’s an art how to keep your place in the queue when senoritas in ultra fashionable branded clothes, with heavily painted faces, may be with Vogue listed cosmetics, wearing luxurious up market perfume try to break the line with most sweet smile plastered on their faces. They would have shamed Rekha in their facial endeavor. Being Indian We were expert in jeopardizing their plans, we did the same with most blank faces and managed to keep our number in the queue!

Ultimately when we cleared with the immigration formalities, may be after 90 o 100 minutes, conveyor belt of our flight had stopped and our luggage had done ….vamoose! Tension was way above the accepted level and we practically were running helter-skelter! To top the problem English! We are under impression that everybody in Europe knows English, high hopes! The way we say here after breaking our heads and the other party does not get a bit of it, ‘Was I talking in Tamil so far you moron?’

Here English speaker says, ‘Was I speaking in Greek/Latin you dumb-ass?’

But the problem here was they do speak Greek! Any say!

And the officer on the counter counterquestions,

‘Where were you till now?’

‘That snail in the garb of immigration officer was practicing for 100 mts sprint for Olympics so…! Try to get our luggage first, you imbecile!’ Of course everything unsaid overtly.

 After running about for an hour or so we could lay our hands on our luggage that was thrown in some obscure corner. Next running race was for flight check in. Fortunately for Santorini there were many counters so the task, by that time everything looked like task, got finished within ten minutes and we heaved a sigh of relief after throwing ourselves in un-cushioned chairs.

Greece is not famous only for her fables but for her islands too. Here too Greece is only for English users, Greeks call their motherland as Hellas. Like Japan is not actually Japan but Nippon for blue blooded Japanese! British really have messed up with  everything, from names to cultures to way of thinking!

Along with the mainland, Greece comprises of thousands of islands, very small to very big, all over the northern Mediterranean Sea. They are so many that they have divided them into different groups. Cyclades among-st them carries significance for Greeks because the island of Delos that’s at the center of the group is taken to be birthplace of God Apollo. It was tough choice to select the island. After lot of homework and inputs from our tour guide Carol, it got narrowed down to Mykonos or Santorini. In the end it boiled down to Santorini for its scenery and thanks to Bollywood that has made it ‘Picture Perfect’!

One can visit Santorini by taking a ferry from Athens and on the way can detour to different islands as ‘Island Hopping.’ We had limited time on hands, ferry takes 10-12 hours to reach Santorini and the frequency of ferry was unsuitable, so we opted for one hour flight by Aegean Airlines.

In US of A there are flights known as ‘Peanut Flights’ because they serve only a minuscule pouch of roasted peanuts. Aegean was still miser. Indian Airlines used to give single ‘Rawalgaon Toffee’ in olden days,[ If you requested for another, you were told, Stalk over!]. Here it was still worse. So what if the fare is less? The plane landed on ‘Santorini Inter National Air Port’ [!] even while the last bite was still lingering in the mouth! The airport [was it airport?], was so spartan that it was like airstrip at Baramati or Karad pretending to be big runway and challenging the flights from the Big apple, New York, no less!

This time our luggage did not play hide and seek, for a change!  We procured it in a short time. We had booking at Villa Manos a newly opened family resort run by Poppy Philitsis. Her husband was waiting for us to be collected. It was late autumn, fall was almost over but the cold was, though not to that level to send the shivers down your spine but for us Mumbaikars it was, COLD! Though it was just 6 in the evening it was quite dark.

Even in that darkness the hotel shone, it was that brand new! Very near from the town center of ‘Fira’. Poppy turned out to be quite talkative hostess not like her husband who was man of few words like all husbands, or become post wedding! After exchanging few pleasantries, brimming from corner to corner of her mouth, she served us goblets of wine, white one, so full, practically filling up to the brims much like her personality, ,

“I have made it personally right from picking up the grapes from our own kitchen garden. Practically Everything I did! From washing the grapes to thrashing them to fermenting the extract and then sieving the wine’ everything I did!”  Her enthusiasm about her recipe was nothing less than that of any Kaku or Tai-Mai from central Dadar or a Mami from Mugbhat Lane Girgaon who would offer a plate of Sago or Black bean fries adding with utmost pride that ‘Everything is homemade. I made it, right from pounding, fermenting to grinding to cooking everything I did. Even the drying on the roof of house!’

The attitude and the boast were very unpretentious. Though the references are totally different in both the cases but the context was the same, that of pride and attitude and it was delivered too in the same manner! Say about the cultural difference….but it’s world apart!

One of my sisters had started ‘Wine Making’ classes way ahead of her times, so the society ladies who used to pass by her home, used to twist their noses askew pretending to have nausea due to eminent aroma. She practically was labeled as an ‘Aunty’ who makes ‘Hooch’ for the ‘Gulley Boys’. Now the same society ladies do not lag behind in the queue at the bar. And No camouflaging of Rum with Cola now! The time changes if it doesn’t, would it be called time?

Our room was one BHK suite. Absolutely extravagant by Indian standards. Asked for the room service. After a sumptuous dinner we hit the bag. We were so tired that got up late in the morning.

The pronunciation chaos was getting on our nerves. Santorini is also known as Thera or Thira. Greeks pronounce Santorini as Sandhorini.  Thera according to English spelling can also be pronounced like, Th in This, or Th in That or Th in Thug! Our south Indian bros can get away with Tira because they don’t know where to use ‘H’ and where not to!

Thera is main island of South Aegean sea. There is another one just next to it, known as Therasia. There are two more but uninhabited. The geography of the islands is very peculiar as they are formed because of volcanic eruptions.

We set out to visit those famous white houses with Aquamarine roofs on the slopes of Thera but we were totally flummoxed. Villa Manos faces sea but there was no glimpse of those houses. The map was directing in totally opposite direction, locals too did the same. But there was no trace of sea on that side, houses and more houses! Ultimately one has to follow what locals tell. After criss-crossing through small gullies and still smaller lanes we reached the top of a hillock. And it was a big, big surprise. The other side of island of Thera steeply juts down in a lagoon of Mediterranean blue waters that’s 12 km long and 7 km wide. And all those houses are built on the slopes of the cliff.

It meant, from Eastern cliff, island of Santorini slopes down towards west to meet sea again on other side after crossing the plateau. Santorini resembles open mouth of a dragon that’s like letter ‘C’ in reverse. There are many habitats on the island, the most central is known as town of ‘Fira’ while the northern most is ‘Oia’ and southern tip is ‘Akrotiri’.

It’s convenient and also prudent to stay in or around Fira because most of the hotels and restaurants are there, plus the hub of the bus service is also at Fira. So every bus either leaves from Fira or crosses through Fira. Another interesting thing one can rent is Quadribike, it’s motorcycle with four wheels. You just have to show your driving license, not necessarily International but even of your own country, and in few Euros, it’s all yours. You can criss-cross the island in any which way at your wish and discretion! Call me coward but I didn’t dare. One thing, in foreign countries you are unaware of the topography but more than that, the traffic rules. And it’s not India that in few bucks you can ‘Patao Pandu’! The law is not only strict but it is followed stringently by everybody, including ‘Pandu!’

There is drastic difference in Europe when you travel ‘in season’ or ‘off season’. As usual there are always two sides for the same coin. Off season remarkably absent are, ‘Crowds.’ You don’t see thronging for every damn thing so rates are less. But the banes are, there are very less services as hardly anybody is around to give them! So many services of convenience are just shut off! On the contrary in season, beaches are bursting at seams due to flood of humanity! Hardly there is any place even to rest your butts. It’s like 1000 fritters being fried in a small wok! Everybody brings his own vehicle, as services of row-row boats are in operation, so there are regular traffic jams, like any crowded city! And I abhor crowds. Off season was just boon for me!

The reason for which we had come to Santorini was in front of us. It was like gorgeous set erected on the stage for opulent and royal opera! It was early dusk, time to put on the lights. Initially only a small house was lit; it looked like a lone firefly in a huge jungle. Slowly one after the other all those beautiful houses from small to palatial manors started putting on the lights and the entire slopes of Santorini bathed in luminescence par excellence! Within a short span of just 20 minutes entire Fira adorned lights like those in Diwali or Christmas! And my camera started acting truant!  It refused to draw the picture on paper. Ultimately after putting it on stand, when I tried the timer, beauty in its utmost form descended upon the screen! Viola!

Satiety is not only about hunger, it could be about your ethereal longings too! Full to the brim we returned home, I mean to Villa Manos. Food is never a problem for me; on the contrary I am a gourmet and like to taste cuisine from various parts of India and world. So never missed usual ‘Dal Chawal’. In fact those who miss should not venture out in the first place. Once abroad if you miss it, collect all your belongings and return to India.

Had nice Greek supper with Greek wine and then succumbed to sleep!