Santorini
- By: Sarah Douglas
- Created on: 02/09/2010
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Waves roll onto the shore and ebb out again, birds chatter as they pass between the cascading light of the sun and the daily beach-goers, children play along the beach laughing all the while, and here I sit on this fold-out chair on the Black Sand Beach in Perissa. We are on the Greek island of Santorini, we have only been here a day, we hadn’t even made plans for coming to this island we just took what came at us and went with it and now I never want to leave.
In the distance I hear my brother start splashing my dad, so I look over and spot a bird diving into the ocean emerging with its catch and children shouting in joy as they run through the water like my dad and my brother. I had just gotten out of the enjoyably cool ocean and once my feet hit the burning black sand I longed for the water’s refreshing chill to reach me, but instead the soft breeze carried me forward to the plastic, orange seat. I sat beside my mom with my sunglasses shading my eyes, allowing me to relax and just enjoying the day.
We had been driving around the island earlier in the day with a car we had rented from a shop in Perissa, our main goal on the outing was to see the town, Oia. Oia is a town of beautiful blue and white buildings on a cliff. We wound through the thin streets crowded with people and sat at the tip of the cliff, looking down over the buildings with the midday sun reflecting off of the turquoise waters.
Looking over the dark shadows and the blinding whites of the buildings with the calming blue, it is easy to tell why so many photographers come here. For the everyday tourists, the paths down to the houses seemed too steep to set foot, but people littered the cliff. While here on the beach there are many people spread out over the burning black sand and the soothing blue ocean, many like my mother and I are sitting on the provided plastic beach chairs, letting the sun and the wind dry us. Our calm reveries of sand and surf are cut short when the sounds of my brother and dad returning to the seats hits our ears.
I grudgingly get up, to give them their towels, all the while squinting at the light as I leave the protection of my sunglasses. When the two begin drying off, the task is soon set aside for a quick game of snapping at one another with their towels. My mom, my brother, and I start laughing as my dad finds himself lying on the scorching sand after my mom tripped him during his little game with my brother. My dad goes in search of something in our bag and my brother seats himself beside me in another chair after all the laughter has died out. My dad emerges successful and with his camera in hand, he walks somewhere behind us.
“Okay everyone hold up your right hand and give a hang loose sign,” directs my dad. We on the chairs lazily comply and my dad takes a quick picture to remember our afternoon at the black sand beach. Among the hundreds of pictures my dad took of our vacation that one is my favorite and I will always remember the beauty and the peace that came with Perissa on Santorini.
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