A Few New Things

Santorini, Greece

Yesterday, I had two firsts on this little paradise island. I swam laps in the Mediterranean; and I drove a Smart Car.

I've been here for five days now, and I'm rested, the red dust of Turkey is off f my shoes, and I am no longer phobic about crowds after contending with them for three weeks.

So, I decided to leave my cliffside aerie, and find the beach. I rented a car from Spiridokis Car Rental. Dimitri picked me up and took me there to "do the paper work".
An hour later, I had my citron and black Smart Car. Paulus, a lean man with a long, severe face who wore dark trousers and a longsleeved cream shirt that matched his face, was my tutor.

" Always, always, always keep your foot on brake when start," he said looking straight ahead, his thin arm gesturing in the air. "If not, lady, you break car and pay." He handed me the contract as he closed the tinny door and crossed to his office dodging vespa and truck traffic. I'm slow to get mechanical things, so I sat there, trying to figure out what he had said--how do I get it into automatic instead of manual so I don't have to negotiate these hills--and madly fast drivers?

Of course Paulus was watching, a frown on his face, as he rubbed his chin and mumbling in greek under his breath. I heard his voice as I began: "Turn on ignition with foot on brake; patient--only til lights on --then wait; then see N on dashboard, start engine foot still on brake; put first gear--wait; then press button on gear--wait and you see A. Now you drive." And I did. I drove back to the hotel so I was sure I could find my way later in the day. Follow the main road; turn left at the orthodox church; go down lane with stucco buildings inches from the side of the car ( and hope no one is coming the other way ); turn right at the school; then pull into tiny space and park. Mission accomplished. Ho, yes, the car was empty of fuel. Per Paulus: "You get car empty gas. You bring back empty" I think imperious might be a good decriptor for Mr. P.

Now to find Kamari Beach. There are no street signs as you may gather, and even if there are, they're in Greek usually. Every once and awhile they through Enghlish speakers a bone and have the name of the village in both languages.


An hour later, I found a beach, and knew by the direction of the sun that it was at least in the direction of kamari Beach. So, I stopped. There were deck chairs and palappas, and two tavernas It was also about 90 degrees. The black sand as i walked down to the water was already scorching.In contrast, the clear water was cold. There were two jetties about a half mile apart and several people, families mostly. But the beach was littered, and somehow it didn't seem like the place I wanted to do laps. I had a very unmemorable lunch of cod and called my best friend, Ann, in Pa--got her out of bed, it was 6:45 a.m. God bless her, she listened and we chatted about her kids, my "take" on the island, and just caught up. After lunch, I decided this was not Kamari, so I drove on.

Finally, a sign to Kamari in English. I parked and walked down to the lane that is parallel to the beach, the greek version of a boardwalk only it is pebbles embedded in concrete. There were blocks of umbrellas and beach chairs, and an equal number of tavernas and hotels, all with music, some American, some classic Greek.

The beach was easily a mile long. I put on my goggles that I had brought just for this occasion, and slid into the water. It took me ten minutes to settle into a rhythm while I wondered.Are there jellyfish?( yes, but they were small and seemed harmless ) Do they have a Jaws? ( never found out ) Are there tropical fish? ( yes ) Is the water clean or do they dump their sewage into the sea? ( it was clean but yes, they do dump sewage into the sea on most of the island from what I am told. yuk )

As the sun began to travel to the west side of the mountains, I packed up, took a deep breath for courage on the road back to Imerovigli, and put my foot on the brake.

You know the rest.
M.C.