this past month has been quite a hassle! i had some sort of stomach flu combined with a cold, that led to sinusitis… after 3 weeks in bed, i’ve slowly tried to come back to my daily routine. rolling around in bed so long had me restless and got me into an organization frenzy! which brings me to today’s topic: handwritten spice jar labels.
during my visit to santorini, i had bought some wonderful herb and spice mixes, which i had been wanting to find the perfect spice jars for. after much brainstorming and contemplation (of whether to buy a label printer or which jars to buy), i decided to go analog and handwrite labels to put on these jars from the 100 yen shop (seria probably has the bestest trendiest selection!).
i had A4 size printable adhesive label sheets (the kind that isn’t pre-cut) leftover from a past wedding project. these are great for handwriting or printing any size stickers up to A4, and you have the freedom to create any shape (as long as you’re willing to cut them yourself!). not to mention, the grid lines show through a little bit, helping out with measuring out multiple labels.
when researching accommodations in thira (the main island of the santorini caldera), i read that the capital city, fira, tends to be pretty busy and populated even through the night. fira is well known for the beautiful white buildings and colorful chapels built among the steep cliffs, making for photogenic scenery against the aegean sea.
fira and especially oia (pronounced EE-ah, silent “o”) is especially known for THE superb sunsets, which i will share with you more about my experiences later (if storm chasers exist, i would be the sunset chaser, with all that i went through to catch it). so, gathering that fira is 1. expensive (oia, even more so), 2. noisy (as in—the center of night life), 3. sunset central, i went in the opposite direction. if the sun sets in the west, i went to the east of the island, and found a way more affordable hotel in kamari. and i was SO right to do so, because:
every day (well, except 2 days of gray mornings, but thira sunrises account for all of the beautiful sunrises i see out of my window in tokyo—zero). come on. i came here for the sunrises and sunsets. you will see a lot of them. lucky for you (at least for the sake of my blog), i woke up (without an alarm!) right before the sunrise every morning. =)
after a continental breakfast, my day started. here is a view of kamari city from the hotel, which is located at the top of a hill.
ホテルの朝食後、早速カマリ市から探索をはじめました。ホテルからカマリを一望できました。
first things first, i wanted to get to know kamari a little better. kamari is known for its black sand beach. though, not so much like the black sand beaches of the big island of hawaii, that i visited in 4th grade. here the sand consists of black pebbles.
カマリは、黒い「砂」のカマリビーチで知られています。でも、ハワイ島の黒い砂を連想していましたが、ここは「砂」というより、「小石」の浜辺でした。
there is so much more about charming kamari to share later. this was a busy day—off i went to fira by bus. カマリについては、また今度。この日は、バスでフィラへむかいました。
. . . . .
gasp.
breath.
taken.
i’ll let the photos do the talking.
あまりの光景に言葉を失いました。
donkeys!! ／ 人生初めてロバを見ましたー
(↑this is walking towards oia, looking back to where i started, near the first hotel built facing the santorini caldera, atlantis hotel. see next photo.↓)
i wasn’t in a rush to reach oia this day, and cleverly so, since i got pretty hiked out after i reached this spot (in fact this trip is the home of my newfound joy for hiking). this is skaros rock, a fortress against pirates in the middle ages:
oh yeah, pretty darn hiked out. like, super energetic going downhill… not so much coming back, eh?
疲れました。勢い良く降りたのはよかったものの、帰り道は登り。ヘトヘト。でした。
not to mention, getting to the top required a short but scary bit of rock climbing. i haven’t been bouldering for a while, but the thrill was =)
しかも、この頂上につくのに、ちょっとロッククライミングしました・・・（久々のクライミング、楽しかったですが;;）
in tokyo, we walk a lot. but this isn’t daily life, and obviously nothing like this. i decided to start heading back towards atlantis hotel and the bus station with what little energy i had left.
東京での生活は、必然的に歩くことが多いと思いますが、非日常的なこのような歩き方はしないですよね。アトランティス・ホテルとバス亭までなんとか戻れました。
energy or none, i was constantly exhilarated by the bright, bold colors of santorini like these bougainvillea against a cloudless sky backdrop.
疲れきっても、島中のカラフルな自然と晴天のコラボに常に元気付けられていました。
with that, here is a view of the sun going down back at the hotel, facing toward fira.
カマリに戻り、その日はフィラ方面の夕日が背景になった山のシルエットを見ながら黄昏ていました。
hello world! it’s been months since i’ve properly blogged. it has been, and still is, a period of so-called soul searching―as a person and artistically. during this time, i went on a secret trip to santorini. over a series of blogs i plan to share with you a travelog of my trip, and maybe if i go on new trips around the world i’ll add it to my travelog series. enjoy!
first of all, to explain why i chose santorini are the following key points
まずサントリーニを選んだ理由は:
1. l a n g u a g e ／ 言 語
i’m from the states, i’d just been to paris twice in the past year, and i wanted to go somewhere else where english isn’t the native language. of course, knowing english helps, but being in tokyo where my native languages, japanese and english, are used everywhere―whether i like it or not―i always seem to be picking up on random conversations in the train. for sure, i take bilingualism (is that even a word?) for granted, too. i wanted to go somewhere where i could have a taste of helplessness, at the same time a place to tune out.
2. s a f e t y ／ 安 全 性
i wanted to find a place that would be safe for a “big, big girl in a big, big world♪“ to travel.
このご時世、女性のひとり旅ができそうな旅先をよくよく考えました。
3. g r e e c e ／ ギ リ シ ャ
it has always been my dream to see the place with blue seas and dozens of adorable white walled buildings. plus, ever since discovering greek myths in 4th grade at my school’s library, greece has been a place of interest. i can go way more into the presence of greece in my life, but not here.
4. s u n a n d p e a c e ／ 太 陽 と 静 け さ
living in the suburbs of tokyo, the sky and stars are very precious. i know mother earth has so much more to give in terms of nature. as an island girl, i need sunsets and sunrises. although i love the constant hustle and bustle of the city, my human existence was feigning to hear and feel the goodness of nature―beyond my sleep app’s rain and wave sounds that lull me to sleep every night.
@ athens airport waiting for my transfer to thira (santorini).
アテネ空港にて。ここからサントリーニのティラ島へ乗り継ぎしました。
of course, i had to get a taste of my most favorite salad in the world, greek salad (no surprise here), and most favorite yogurt in the world―yep, you guessed it―greek yogurt. i’m sure to every grecian, airport greek salad and airport greek yogurt ain’t nothin’, but hey, from tokyo, it was awesome to get the real thing.
after about 25 hours from departure, i arrived at thira around 9 pm. in my next travelog post, i’ll share with you day 1, a very full day of exploring!
