Oktapodi in Oia

Joy sent me a link to this wonderful and funny Oscar nominated Animated Short Film called ‘Oktapodi’. The village in the film sure looks a lot like Oia!

 

And take a look at ‘The Making Of Oktapodi’ at http://www.oktapodi.com/makingof/

Fira Sunset

Fira Sunset

A wonderful view of a sunset over Fira with a typical church in the foreground. Only an HDR photo can show all the detail and dynamic range!

Fira - Caldera View

The town of Fira on the island of Santorini is built on top of a caldera – the remnant of a volcanic cone whose top was blown off.

Do try to visit Fira early in the morning or late in the evening. Otherwise you might end up seeing Fira together with many tourists frantically walking through the streets to see as much as possible before their cruise ships leave.

Oia Dome

The weather in Oia was excellent – bright sun, blue skies. It was a real challenge to obtain a good exposure. Here are some HDR photos which capture more detail than you can see when you were standing there. My eyes were actually blinded when I took these photos because the shots are almost straight into the sun.

At home I noticed the window glass has different colours – yellow, green and red. I couldn’t see that on site. Also, I saw white walls. On the HDR photos I can see the walls have texture!

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Oia Street

  A street in Oia

The streets in Oia are only for pedestrians. Using a car, scooter or bike is not possible.

Greek doors at Santorini

While visiting Oia, Fira and other towns in Santorini I noticed the various doors on the island. Click on the photo below to start the slide show and see the different photos of Greek doors I made:

Santorini

Santorini is a volcanic island, about 200 km from the Greece mainland. It is the largest island of the Cyclades group. Santorini is well known for the blue domes and other wonderful sights which can be seen in the town of Oia.

In a several posts I will show you these beautiful sights.

Iconic view of a blue dome in Oia

  Church Bell

  Staircase inspired by Escher?

More blue domes at Oia

These blue domes are actually all of them which can be seen. There are 1 or 2 opposite these domes. On the rest of the island I did not see any!

Fira

Fira is the capital of the island of Santorini. It is built on the edge of a cliff 260 meters above sea level.

  Boulevard

Fira gets very crowded when cruise ships arrive, and all the tourists walk through the narrow streets. They have to be back at the cruise ship around 22 hours. So it is best to visit Fira early, when it is relatively quiet and the sun is not too harsh.

There are stairs leading from Fira down to the sea.

Last steps of the stairs near Fira. Note they are numbered.

You can also take a donkey!

 
Donkeys on the steps of Fira

 
Fira during daytime

Fira is known for its magnificent sunsets
 
Sunset seen from Fira

 
Outlook over Fira

  A few moments later

Naxos City

Naxos City

Naxos City (also called Chora) is the capital of the Greek island Naxos. It contains a Venetian castle with many tiny roads around it. It has lots of photo opportunities!

Entrance to the roads around the Venetian Castle - Old Market Street

 
Map of the roads to the Venetian Castle

Entrance to house

 
Tiny road

Lots of places to rest

 
Staircase

 
Naxos Portara

Naxos Portara - seen from Naxos City

 
Fast ferry to Naxos

Naxos Photo Tour

On the main street of Hora I found a brochure for the ‘Hidden Naxos Tour’. It turned out to be a tour of the island by professional photographer Stuart Thorpe (blog). He has lived for more than 25 years on the island, so he knows all the ins and outs! The tour gives you a chance to see parts of Naxos you would normally not see. You can ask Stuart all sorts of photography questions, but you do not need to be a photographer to join the tour.
Do take a look at his web site on
http://naxos-photoworkshop.com/Hidden_Naxos_Tours.html
He also started a blog on http://naxos-photoworkshop.com/Blog.html
This is quite an achievement, since he told me he lives somewhere remote on the island, with no electricity, land line or high speed Internet.

We decided to join one of his hidden Naxos Tour. Here you can see some of the photos we made.
Stuart picked us up in his own mini bus, together with two other couples. Both couples visited the island of Naxos many times and had joined the tour multiple times. We drove inland to see some deserted land and, of course, a church.
 
Deserted land on Naxos


Very old olive trees


Inside a church

After a coffee we went to visit the distillery of the Kitron lemon liqueur. It is made from the leaves of the citron tree. It is very difficult to buy the liqueur outside Naxos due to the limited number of citron trees available.


Entrance Kitron distillery

Kitron liqueur is available in several varieties. Colours are used to distinguish them. The green liqueur is the sweetest and contains less alcohol. The yellow liqueur is the strongest and has the least sugar. Clear Kitron is somewhere in between.


Several varieties of Kitron liqueur

The history of Naxos Citron and the making of citron distillate

Citron distillate is made as follows (from the photo, bottom right corner):

• Collection of leaves
  The citron producer collects the healthy citron leaves from the end of October until February. Following the collection, the leaves are dried out in a dry room and then dampened with a small quantity of water.
  The collection of leaves is an arduous task, due to the thorns on the trees and, hence, time consuming. Great care must be given not to gather too many leaves which could lead to the destruction of the tree.
• Distillation phase
  In the shortest time possible after the collection, the leaves are placed in the boiler in low heat, along with pure alcohol and water. This is where the distillation process takes place.
  Depending on the quality of the extract which is being sought, a second or third distillation may take place, in which case the first extract is boiled along with new leaves. In that way the flavour and taste of the Citron liqueur becomes stronger.
• Further processing
  In the distillate, water and sugar are added. Colouring agents are also added for the production of different types of Citron distillate (white-33 vol, green-30 vol., yellow-36 vol.)

Boiler room


Boiler and citron

In case you want to buy the stuff: in the town of Hora, along the water front, you can find the Kitron store.

Kitron Store at Hora / Naxos City

After the distillery we drove to the Monastery of Fotodotis.


Naxos Highway


Monastery of Fotodotis


Monastery of Fotodotis

Next stop: Lunch at a local restaurant 'Taverna Floraka' in the village of Danakos.

The owner Mr. Floraka (The Hobbit of Naxos) prepared everything fresh.

 



You eat in his garden under pomegranate trees

The last stop was the Naxos marble quarry




I want to thank Stuart for giving us a wonderful time, bringing us to the best places and having lunch at a delicious restaurant!

The Island of Naxos

Naxos is the largest Greek island of the Cyclades island group in the Aegean. It has some  beautiful beaches like Agios Prokopios and Kastraki. The largest town and capital of the island is Hora or Naxos City.
When you get off the ferry, you will see one of Hora’s landmarks: the Naxos Gate of Bacchus or Portara.


Portara

You can walk around Old Market Street: a maze of little streets around the old Venetian castle.

Entrance Old Market Street


Map Old Market Street

I made lots of photos in this street:

Staircase


Side street


Perfect place to rest


Banister


Naxos cat
There are a lot of cats in Naxos. During the tourist season they flourish. It seems that out of season they have trouble finding food.

Naxos door