The Winds of Crete

We should have been suspicious when the first book about Crete that we found at the Book Stop was Winds of Crete by David MacNeil Doren. Yes, windy today, yesterday, the day before yesterday, ... Writing about Crete's climate in his book Flowers of Crete, Yanoukos Istridis tells us some of the the names of "... the prevailing winds which always seem to be at work in Crete. A moist wind known as POUNENTIS comes from the Atlantic, the hot and dry SIRROCO blows from the Sahara, and the cold VORIAS streams down from the Adriatic Sea and beyond. There are also several other winds rolling unhindered over the sea from all directions including the ESESIOI winds from the Greek mainland, the LEVANTIS from Asia Minor, and the MELTEMI from Central Asia."

This past weekend we traveled to Santorini, leaving early Saturday morning and returning late Monday evening. In spite of discovering a flat tire on our rental car the first thing Saturday morning, we made the bus to Iraklion, and the Flying Cat 4 to Santorini. The trip out on the Flying Cat 4 is best left undescribed, saying only that it is rough seas indeed when one of your souvenirs is a barf bag from Hellenic Seaways.

Santorini is a busy beehive of tourism. Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco; we left our money in Santorini. In Fira, the town on the cliff overlooking the caldera, we visited several good museums including the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Prehistoric Thira. We used the excellent, inexpensive, bus system to visit the archeological site of ancient Akrotiri on the South side of the island and, in the evening, we bused to the North side of the island to watch the sunset from the town of Oia. We also visited, by boat, the hotspot itself, the island of Nea Kameni; most recent eruption in 1956.

Here are a few photos. Yes, that is Suzanna on a donkey.