The Eulogy of a Floating Paradise

As you enter the Cycladic island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea , you experience the constant arousal of all of your senses in an effortless way facing at first  the cosmic mystery of its rugged landscape after the volcanic eruption in the 16th century.

The sight of the whitewashed , cubiform houses , surrounded by the moistened Caldera with depth of up to 400m below the sea level fills you with wonder and admiration for this huge natural geological /volcanological museum.

Walking through the cobbled streets the smell of the prickly pears match with thesalty rose bougainvillea and you indulge in the process of the ancient greek ritual of methexis partaking in the scent of the aegean scenery.

The sense of taste, this memory that  always follows us till the very end of our lives,  as the sign of pleasure and gratification is vivid and present as another landmark of this culinary paradise. Treat your taste buds to some traditional products like cherry tomatoes, white eggs plants, fava, caper and “hloro tyri”, a special kind of fresh goat cheese found on the island, or  why not try some of the exceptional wines produced from grapes grown in the volcanic soil of the island! Assyrtiko, Athyri, Aidani, Mantilaria and Mavrotragano are just some of the distinctive varieties that you can taste at the island’s famous wineries (some of them operate as a museum as well) or at restaurants.

The sense of touch in this volcanic land in the Eastern Mediterranean could be heavenly experienced into diving and becoming one with the deep blue waters and lying on the beaches with white , red or black sand or volcanic pebbles ,spectacular touch of the variety of rock formations  in a unique scenery.

Deep breath for the ultimate time of the sunrise and the sunset , anywhere in the island that you gaze the sun the sense of hearing is mysteriously evoked  y  through the words of the greek poet Odysseas Elytis , who comes to whisper at your heart the words of his poem Ode to Santorini:

You emerged from a thunderpeal’s entrails

Shuddering amid repentant clouds

Bitter stone, proved, proud

You sought the sun for the first-martyred witness

To confront perilous splendor together

To head out to sea with a cross-bearing echo

Sea-wakened, proud

You lifted up your stone breast

Speckled with the southwind’s inspiration,

For pain to inscribe its very heart there

For hope to inscribe its very heart there

With fire with lava with smoke

With words that convert the infinite

You gave birth to the voice of day

You set up the bells on high

In the green and rose stretches of aether

Bells run by the exalted mind

Glorifying the birds in mid-August light

Beside waveroar, beside anguish of seafoam

Through the eucharism of sleep

When night roamed the deserts of stars

Searching for the testimony of dawn,

You felt the joy of birth

You leapt first into the world

Born to the purple, sea-risen

You sent to the far horizons

The blessings that grew in the sea’s night-vigils

To caress the hair of dawn’s fifth hour.

Queen of Aegean pulses and wings

With the words to convert the infinite

With fire with lava with smoke

You found the great lines of your destiny

Now before you justice opens out

Black mountains float in the glow

Desires prepare their craters

In the heart’s tormented land,

And from hope’s struggle a new 

earth prepares itself

To step there with eagles and banners

One morning filled with iridescence

The race that vivifies dreams

The race that sings in the sun’s embrace.

O kore of exceeding anima

Naked sea-risen

Open the splendid gates of man

That the landscape be fragrant with health

That feeling with open wings aflutter

Sprout with a housand colours

And freedom blow from everywhere

Amid the wind’s preachings flash out

The new and perpetual beauty

When the sun of the third hour rises

All glaucous to play the pipe organ of Creation.

 

 

Secrets on Heaven:

  • Sunset in the lighthouse of Akrotiri.
  • Dive in the wavy waters of Kolumbo
  • Strolling in the lively inland village of Emporio with the charming medieval alleys.
  • Enjoy a cup of greek traditional coffee in the village of Pyrgos in the cafe Kantouni.
  • Choose a precious book from one the worlds best bookshops “ Atlantis” in Oia .

 


Written and Curated by Christina Sdoukou