Oia - lightening up a bit

We spent the day today in Oia (pronounced EEEA) enjoyng this small village at the northern tip of the island. We felt much better today as Oia is a bit cleaner and better organized than Fira. The shopkeepers were more helpful and the trinkets and doodads much more intriguing. There are numerous art galleries and artisan shops along the way.

On the left is one of the numerous pedestrian walkways where donkeys are sometimes used to move goods from the parking area. I was thinking that the transportation company I work at - Total Delivery Systems - should get into this mode of transport back home. Total Donkey Systems! Perfect for any enviro-friendly or tricky delivery. Let us show you our ass! :)
Anyway - the neat thing about Oia is that it just keeps unfolding in front of you as you walk. Narrow pathways going in all directions. And here is the really great part - the views from here are astonishing. Check these out!

 It really is breathtakingly beautiful scenery. And what is really interesting for me is what happens when you let go of conventional architectural design and stop worrying about rounded shaped and walls not meeting at right angles. In the picture on the left you can see the homes built right into the cliff side and in many cases neighbors share walls, roof tops etc. The result in my view is a very pleasant looking "subdivision" that is very good use of space and geography. While this village is home to less than 3000 residents, all the shops and amenities are there.

What also makes this area so pretty, are these pink flowers pictured below. They grow on a vine-like tree that adds a dash of color to the white and blue background in just the right measure. In my mind if this didn't exist in reality, a great fantasy artist would have created this perfect balance of color and shapes. Taking it all in is a real pleasure.

And a note to balance my comments from yesterday. We met a number of really nice and well-meaning Greek people on Santorini yesterday. This morning, for example, Brigitte and I enjoyed a latte at a small beach-front shop. An older Greek woman had obviously been up since the early hours of the morning baking the fresh croissants that came out of the oven just when we arrived at around 7:30 am. We ordered  2 lattes and a single croissant (they were huge)which came to about $7 Canadian. Very reasonable and the croissant may have been the best we have sampled so far. What we got was our coffee was the croissant, plus bottles of cold water and 2 slices of marble cake. To our delight and surprise this was all included in the price! And as we enjoyed our "breakfast" the Greek lady looked on with a smile proud that she had made us happy with her work.

And I have to mention Evelyn and her father at our hotel The Bella Santorini who have been incredibly helpful at every turn. Yesterday Jake had an upset stomach and when Evelyn heard about this she immediately mixed up a concoction of some sort to help him out. So maybe I was a little harsh. Not unlike the riots earlier this year in my own home town, a couple lunkheads can really make a mess of it for the balance of folks who are well meaning honest and wonderful people.