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Post date: 15-Sep-2009 21:30:54
Colin and I rented a 320cc ATV today (Quad as we call it) to go geocaching in Santorini. We figured it would be the best way to see the entire island since 4 out of the 5 geocaches we went to look for were located on top of cliffs.
The first geocache we found was called Taxiarches - Santorini named after the white church Taxiarches on the cliff side that it is hidden by. It took us just over an hour from Perissa to travel to this cliff. Getting there was half the adventure and we got to tour a lot more past local houses. It's hard to tell which road leads to a certain part of a cliff when you're on the opposite edge of a cliff with a huge canyon in the middle. We parked the quad near the church and of course I checked to see if we could go inside the church. The only door that was open was to the outhouse. After we got off the quad and hiked a bit further up the hill, I heard a loud bang. I jumped in mid-step up the rocky cliff. We looked down below us and saw that there was a man with a rifle and two dogs. My first thought was okay no more geocaching for me if we're going to be shot. Colin assured me that the man was hunting birds. That's great that some guy and his dogs are out hunting birds on Monday afternoon, but I still am glad that I am wearing a pink T-Shirt so I am highly visible. This cache is not too far from Red Beach and we drove there after we found this cache.
Our second cache was located on another cliff at the highest area of the island at 505 meters above sea level. It's name is Santorini meets the clouds. It's next to a radar station, a military building and a church. The church was open, so I got to go inside and have a peak. There is a great view of the airport and there were quite a few people walking and driving up to see the view, so we had to be careful when we opened the cache.
The third cache we found had a K-9 Travel Bug in it that we took, so that will be a challenging mission for us. We need to get pictures of the TB with police dogs or other security dogs. We heard shots being fired again just above us so this made me a bit paranoid. This cache was called "Panagia Episkopi - Santorini."
Our fourth cache was the hardest for me because of the hike and the height. I do have trouble with heights. Santorini Souvenir Swap was rated 3 for the terrain and 3 for the difficulty. There was a great view of Kamari beach but it very high up. Some people were running and walking the path to the top. It took us quite a while to get the quad up the path. I had trouble walking across the mountain path to this cache because as you walked if you slipped you would end up at the bottom of the cliff. Okay, I did let the fear make me exaggerate a little-there are a few pine trees to break your fall and a few large boulders.
The last cache was thankfully not on a cliff. I did love driving up the steep cliffs and flying down them on the quad around the tight one way bends, but my nerves can only handle so much excitement for one day. Airborne was near the airport and a nice beach. It was also a fairly quick and easy find. The location wasn't quite as obvious as our previous cliff finds. Since we were on flat ground and near the beach no one was firing guns. We did see a total of about 5 people hunting and carrying guns. I am guessing this is quite the Greece pastime or maybe everyone likes to eat birds for supper.
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