Breathtaking Santorini - Beauty on a powder keg

an idyll on a volcano Santorini the Greek dream island the beauty in blue and white with people who give everything for their traditions an island full of love and life and full of magical moments transport on Santorini is by mule or donkey an agarose are venetus has been keeping donkeys for 45 years he tells the fields with them have transport building materials with them and runs a donkey taxi business yes uh they are working animals but really they're like humans only they can't speak Anna Gillis arvan ET speaks the donkey's language instead hello no no no la they got a lot they got too low hello pun would lo become Iike to let Ducati fool this is what the signal sounds like if I want them to go up or down you want to be 6 a.m. before he goes to work Anna Gillis lights a candle in his own small church right next to the stable he built the church himself when his son died many years ago in a motorbike accident every morning he keeps a minute's silence for him and prays for good business - in the meantime the animals have become his family he's given them all names sorry that's sorry that's our Apache then marika that's our main e over there quiet in the back and then there's Joe Joe's your voice they are all donkeys - Anna gear us even though some of them are actually mules with seven animals he makes his way - Tirra the capital of Santorini five kilometers away Santorini lies in the middle of the Aegean 110 kilometers north of Crete it's an archipelago consisting of five islands a gigantic volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago created Santorini and destroyed the Minoan civilization most of the one circular island sank into the sea and formed a caldera a basin flooded with seawater today it's mainly the edges of the crater that are inhabited in terror the men of the tender Boat cooperative are on their way to work only they can take cruise ship passengers to land it's impossible for the large ships to berth here Terra has no harbour only a tiny concrete pier and the cruise ships aren't allowed to use their own tenders the tenders are opposite on palea kameni the actual volcanic crater in the caldera Dimitry sigalas has been amongst them for 30 years he steers the fleets flagship the captain coolies named after the founder of the tender boat cooperative every year more tourists come to visit Santorini following a difference from the first cruise ships I encountered is vast they used to be really small ships and today you can see over there how big they've become an American ocean liner with nearly 3,000 passengers Dimitri and his crew will be on the water from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. five boats have booked in on some days there can be up to 12 then the population of the island triples you Santorini lives of these day visitors but the big rush is a logistical challenge and Dimitri sigalas knows the passengers aren't always easy he knows his customers they're all different every person is different Americans for example they are very demanding the Spanish are a bit crazy the Italians are crazy too only more so tender boat ballet in the Coderre Dimitri's team have 20 volts today 10 have been deployed an agarose has to hurry otherwise he miss out on good business but it takes time for his convoy of donkeys and mules to reach the capital dear Ana Giro sent his taxi donkeys do most of their work at terrace harbor steps 300 metres difference in height nearly 600 steps this assent is too hard for most of the cruise ship passengers that Dimitri sigalas brings to land today there's the cable car for the old and frail but the donkeys are the most popular the result traffic jam at the donkey taxi stand hello did it hello Ana Geass is running late you'll have to queue at the back with his animals the order is very strict first-come first-served when it's my turn then they can mount and off we go that woman the animals are ready each taxi business is permitted to have up to seven donkeys a license from the island Authority is required to run a taxi business one fare costs five euros an agarose keeps an eye out so that the weaker animals don't get settled with the heavier tourists the animals have to keep going all day he himself walks for the customers this ride is often their first contact with donkeys and they can't speak their language either after 10 minutes the journey is over an agarose often has to assist when the visitors dismount it's hardware money you not just for the animals all day in the Sun it's tiring I've been doing this since I was 15 my father showed me then how to handle the donkeys an agarose and his donkey's climbed a hill at most four times a day after that they're exhausted very slowly they make their way back to mega lo quarry in the afternoon Santorini the beauty is always in danger under these rocks one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes is rumbling it is still active the last big quake of 1956 destroyed the Capitol tira and the town of Oya around 50 people lost their lives - Oh Miku is a volcanologist at Athens University nobody understands the simmering danger better than her today she wants to explain the power of the santorini volcano to two students from a faculty if he is worried because nobody these days wants to know about the threat which is still looming from the bubble of magma under the archipelago I have to tell the people all the time that they live on an active volcano we have to watch it very carefully so people can live here without danger Aquino soon after ANCA business families aboard no products it's nice yeah one has to bear it in mind especially now when everything appears so quiet and peaceful some thought up we need other Puri Toma if you're more fun in the middle of the caldera is the palea kameni this is where the volcano breathers geologically speaking the island is very young it was created by an eruption 2200 years ago measuring instruments and infrared cameras have been installed everywhere they sent their data to Evie's Research Center in Athens the ground breaks open repeatedly the sulfurous gases that are emitted turned the volcanic aisle into a foul-smelling lunar landscape a smoking powder keg in direct view of the island it'll if he takes her students close to the edge of the crater of an active volcano just copy a cannoli off their blueberry you can see very clearly here that the volcano is still active sulfurous gases are coming out everywhere and coloring the rocks green every santorini outbreak has been serious especially as they always throw so many rocks into the air NASA doesn't let up did your photos roll you this the large lumps turn into lots of small missiles that's very dangerous Lexi don't boo the gamma XML severe person IRA it's a scenario that scares a phenom eco she hopes that the early warning systems that have been installed will work as the question isn't whether the volcano will erupt again but when most of the islands inhabitants and its visitors don't want to think about this danger they'd rather enjoy life every evening there's a major performance annoyer hundreds of spectators gather in the old citadel ruin to have the best view of the Sun they say that only on Santorini does it sink into the sea so beautifully if you haven't seen the sunset from Oya you haven't been to Santorini they say afterwards a standing ovation as befits a good performance in the south of santorini near a core theory Yanis pant asus is returning from his friend Manolis who has just slaughtered a goat meat and bones are of no interest to Yunus he's interested in the skin he has special plans for it but first he has to work on it he does it as it's been done for hundreds of years using the force of this see the technology which he found in old traditions Yanni's filled a goatskin sack with large stones and puts it into the surf for several hours g'day fellas I can't give you a ticket that is this see does my work and washes the goat skin it's not just to rinse the see rubs the fur on its own body the sand all the dirt comes out maybe you got the final better mic while the sea is cleaning the skin Yanis has time to cut some reeds he needs them because he's a musician and instrument builder he tries to get sounds out of all sorts of natural materials look I'll I'm in a knife plus for this Reed is easy to process I can use that I build lots of different wind instruments with it in all sorts of sizes so yeah from AFE okay see what mostly the read shows me what I need to do with it and what it wants to be he may give me these are the gifts of nature to man the goatskin sac should produce melodic tones one day but it's a rocky path before he reaches that point Yanis has to repeatedly turn the skin and fill it with stones that takes time after three hours the skin is ready to dry the Sun in the southern Cyclades does this in no time Yanis explains that the leathers now storing the positive energy that the instrument will later emit there are around 300 churches and chapels on Santorini their blue domed roofs are visible from afar blue and white the Greek national colors iose artemius in the east of the island is one of the oldest Greek Orthodox churches here it needs a new coat of paint as the most important Greek festival is just round the corner Easter it celebrated according to the Julian calendar this year in May see Mia's carisi's has chosen a slightly lighter shade of blue for the dome the painter wants it to be distinguished from the many dark blue domes on the island blue to be closer to the sky and God it is really special for me to paint the domes blue Easter is coming and I'm glad when you thought access everything should look fresh and nice on feast days it's not just the dome that needs a new coat all the external walls need a lick of paint the Greeks on Santorini loved the color white they say it's as pure as the foam on the waves of the Aegean Sea meeska reaches maintains the building all year round when he's reached one end he has to start again from the other yeah the human ah I have to paint everything white and blue every year it rains a lot in winter and then you get the red brown sand from the Sahara it makes everything dirty Easter is on its way everyone on the island is getting restless the villagers of Paris are preparing to this place used to be the islands capital high up on a mountain with winding alleyways that were intended to confuse attackers today Pierre Goss is a sleepy village with 700 inhabitants but once a year on Good Friday it turns into the secret capital the preparations are underway in an old garage Elyas caramel Legos is really the villages electrician but in Holy Week he always gets time off for days together with a horde of children he's been filling old tin cans with wood shavings they will become flares and they have special plans for them when the cans are ready they have to be put into these sacks so we can carry them up to the village and distribute them we want flares on every terrace wall and ledge but first the cans have to be soaked in paraffin wax a real spectacle for the children we heat the paraffin wax in this pot very carefully until it is liquid hey let the fun last year Ilyas and the children built 10,000 fire guns this year it'll probably be 12,000 the final spurt before Easter in the flare factory distributing them needs strength the LEAs needs his father left Aries and especially left the rhesus donkey nickels the sacks are quite heavy and there are many steps on the way to the village and it's narrow only a donkey can do that I know you can do the gang have to hurry it's only a few days until Easter a courtier II in the south of the island here Yanni's pant Asus has renovated an old Venetian ruin and installed a workshop the goat skin is dry the reed has been cut now the time traveled to the origins of Greek instrument building can begin first the gold skin is shaved then the remaining fat must be removed not very pleasant work the smell of a fresh goat skin takes some getting used to but if you really love something you can put up with the smell Yanis mission to bring the Sun buna to life the antique Greek bagpipes that Homer said to have mentioned in the 8th century BC all the materials are from the island the goat skin for the bag the read for the mouthpiece a cow's horn for the drone many years ago Yunus met an old Shepherd on Santorini he was the last person to own at some vulner and who could also play it the Shepherd passed all his knowledge to the young man and introduced him to the secret of the Greek back pipes yeah honey many people used to play they used to sing hymns about these instruments I'm trying to find out why they were so loved after the Buddha name to put this not just theoretically I want to build and play them only then can you really feel them if you were seeking master sooner Yanis is now working on his eighth son buna Lazarus that Sam Bona is an instrument from the times when man was trying to imitate nature the leather and other materials give it a natural sound you're cynical Strauss they say the Billy Goat produces similar sounds when he's mating is through a seahorse up of the Torah Yanis has already given a few small concerts with each Sam buna Easter is turning life on its head in mega lokahi as well everyone is busy nearly all the men are gathering at the marketplace this morning in honor of Saint Lazarus they want to erect a huge wooden cross in the middle of the village it's to be 13 metres I the upright alone weighs several hundred kilograms Jesus is said to have raised his friend Lazarus from the dead for the inhabitants of Megillah quarry remembering this is part of the Easter Festival the cross is decorated with rosemary twigs not only because it makes the village smell nice but also because since time immemorial the plant has represented the remembrance of the dead in Greece maria pellicano is the village head and responsible for the spectacle the lazarus tradition is very important to our village we celebrate it like we did when we were children always in the same place at the same time though the elders say that the cross used to be much bigger about 18 meters tall Tomasi go get a knife from the community hall the decorated crosses to become the village figure had to be seen from a great distance they all take it very seriously right next to the marketplace the women of the village meet up in the kitchen of the dumbest quino's family they're baking militina militina are small cakes with a sweet sheep's cheese filling a must for easter only one man is here the man of the house left Ares it is the ferocious yaag Luka this is the traditional Easter cake in the past you really could only get it at Easter now the large bakeries sell it all year round but here at home we only bake them for Easter and that no other time nobody needs as well as left us the Dow has to be very thin when the Dow is one millimeter thick it can be cut out then comes the filling a mix of sheep's cheese egg flour and sugar we put the finger into the filling and then we fold we hold on with the left hand and twirl with the right until the dough platelet is pointing up a guru la dama skeino is the lady of the house and a real artist if you're good you can make 70 folds per cake they make around 300 militina for the family for friends and to give out on the street you like FS you know yeah yeah the first tray is ready the women are happy but not lefteris nigga they should have a bit more color are they baked through at the bottom for me they'd be perfect if they were a shade darker see here they need a bit more well if the women are happy we'll leave it lefteris has to get changed quickly as he's needed on the marketplace they're about to erect the Lazarus cross the priest blesses the hole that was dug especially for the cross and then everyone has to give a hand step Velma chalo chalo Tabata ballast Roboto lefteris has the key position on the balcony here is the point that decides if the cross will stand straight or not it goes up little by little after 15 minutes it's done the cross is fast and tight with ropes going in all directions the head of the village can have a sigh of relief now I'm happy until just before I'm always worried my heart is thumping because it's all a bit risky but when the bells start ringing and the cross is standing then it's all good up in the mountain village of pyrgos elias and his team have distributed nearly all the flares only a few places are missing no wall roof or Terrace is left out flares everywhere I Nicholas II Leah's father lefteris is the oldest flare distributor so funny thing upon me cousins from across I was part of this for the first time when I was 14 that's a long time ago we do it for Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for all of us on Good Friday Doka they used to spend months gathering cans from the rubbish these days the island Authority gives them the tins there isn't much time they have to be ready by nightfall the karma got over spotted the other boys over capacity we do this for all the people on the island it's a special day for the Greeks Good Friday and Easter our most important church and family holiday yes twelve thousand flares have been distributed down at the beach they're already celebrating Yanni's fantasies has been invited to friends to a family party together with his goatskin bagpipes he doesn't have to play long before people start dancing unisys wife our ghee is there and gives the beat you should give them a definite music is art it's part of the Greeks life music dance and wine it's in our blood and of course Bharata sysm this all has a big meaning in Greek history you Nina put in the bottle you my old farmer you finish the DMUs santorini island of love and an island to get married Chinese couples in particular have discovered Santorini as the dream destination for the romantic ceremony every year more and more couples come to get married in a very unchaining in white and with a bouquet Chen Lee has been dreaming of this for years her boyfriend she hang ho was an agreement get married only here on Santorini both are from Shanghai both studied engineering I like the colors of Santorini and the sea is so pure I longed for that his shoes were so long I will remember a wedding in such a place for the rest of my life they made a lightning trip through Europe beforehand Paris Barcelona Rome Athens in one week and now the highlight wise blue to say Peru this white this blue the sea and this light it is so lovely so beautiful you can see well this expanse you feel so light here here the wedding packet that Chen Li and che hang out have booked costs 700 euros with Hotel registra cake dinner photos and video they need the latter for family and friends who have stayed at home marry you today today I love she hang out one Chen Li speak their wedding vows you forever forever I give you this sign agree is a sign of our love of all my love as a symbol of the vows of divorce we have made we have made here in this day from this moment you are all United by three weeks the wedding night is not very long at five the next morning their plane returns to Shanghai late evening up in Peru goes the flares are ready Ilyas and his boys are excited he sends them off to the church to light them yeah then I like something many are here for the first time now perfect timing is required they are trying to like 12,000 flares more or less simultaneously whatever de leus tests the brand new gas burner Alysha miss your mother I've divided people into groups that will start from here I've mixed experienced people with newbies so nothing goes wrong they will all wait for the signal and then everything will be lit and the whole village will light up and be visible over the whole island first it has to get dark in peel goes and then an incident a false start we now know this said if I got eggs come on someone's jumped the gun are you sure numerous regional governor will notice you guard I mean I have asthma clear gum more daughter this was not the plan availability kinetic movies on it we're using the new gas burners the first time this year and one of the newbies must have gotten nervous and wanted to test one vomit shifty course but we solved the problem and extinguished the flares immediately orchid anything I'm not angry just a bit stressed Lou finally the time has come for every helper to light 200 flares very quickly take on the picture the exact when everything is lit I'm happy I want the people to enjoy this this is a good day for Santorini for all of us come on wrong

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Keywords: Santorini, archipelago, powder, keg, volcano, crater, rim, Oia, abyss, breath-taking, cliffs, Imerovigli, Firostefani, mules, church dome, blue paint, tourist magnet, travel, countries, island, sunset, sexy, water, ocean, sea, beach, bikini, Free High-Quality Documentaries

Id: m0CU0cik0JU

Length: 43min 34sec (2614 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 08 2017