Friday, September 28, 2007

Recalling Santorini - Part II (Houses and Temples)

Oia (northmost point of the island) is wonderful in terms of landscape and sunset (Above pic was taken by my colleague). It is considered to be one of the renowned picturesque places of the world. I have posted some pis here.

The small houses, carved into the rock, the mansions with their stairways and
their neoclassical architecture, with white and ochra as their dominant colors,
the walls decorated with small stones, the roads paved with flagstones, and the
flowers, form a harmonious total of the impressive picture of the Oia village.

The houses in Santorini are typical in architectures as it is not made up of concretes and cements; kind of mud is used for cementing the walls. The reason being a dormant volcano is situated close to the island, which can erupt anytime. I was reading in one of the books that tells..

“Excavations have shown that the island was inhabited in prehistoric times, during the cyclic period (3200 – 2000BC) …. The island reached its apogee during the ensuing period (2000-1550BC), which was cut short by the eruptions of the volcano in 1500BC.”

I have posted some pictures of traditional orthodox Temples in this post. The picture below of a temple, is taken in front of a film studio. Santorini is famous for film shooting and “Chalte Chalte” one of the famous bollywhood movies was shot here. So Greece is now quite interesting place for Indians :-)

The fascinating view of the houses in the cliff hypnotized me in first glance.

18 comments:

Cuckoo said...

The houses are so very different from what we see normally. I specially liked the last picture very much. :-)

Anonymous said...

wooow aweeesome!!!
the first pic is breathtaking!!
the houses look great tooo.
i think u should work for bollywood, make movies plzzzz :)

Rowdy said...

Beautiful place. And excellent photos too

Amrita said...

If I ever reach a place like thius I 'd never go back. Really beautiful. Your wife is a great photographer.

duopastorale said...

The colours are lovely here. You have some great pictures!

My Unfinished Life said...

greece is one of my favourtie spots......i never miss a travel show of greece...do wish to travel there one day....your photoblog is really nice..do mean to check upon it form time to time...

anits said...

nice shots! n the houses are very different ah?! what are working as since you are visiting so many places?
have a nice day!

Pijush said...

@Cuckoo,

Thank You :-) I like special characteristics of these houses, structures, colors, semi-circular roofs and elements.

@Niki-chan,

“I think u should work for bollywood, make movies plzzzz :)” LOLz…
Thanks you very much. I am honored, but still I feel I am not even a good photographer :-(

@Rowdy,
Thanks man, the place was really interesting.

@Amrita,
Thank you from me and my wife. “Your wife is a great photographer” . She is delighted.

@Mike,
Welcome to my blog and Thanks for such a warm comment. Keep coming.

@Shooting star
Thanks. I am glad that you found my blog interesting. Keep coming and you will always find some of the looks I captures through the lenses.

@Anits,
“what are working as since you are visiting so many places?”. – My weekends are for these trips only and I am lucky that I have a job which takes me to different part of the World.:-) Thanks for the comment.

Ananda Niyogi said...

Pijush, here goes -

First photo: Awesome, simply awesome - composition & color is fantastic. The idea & execution of a silleutte against the sunset is superb. Best photo ever in your blog IMHO.

Second photo: Looks a bit out of focus to me also a tad oversaturated with a blue hue.

Third photo: Again a bit oversaturated and unnatural colors. A bit of crop would have been great - I would have left out the railing/blue gate on the left

Fourth photo: Horizon is tilted and I think the flowers look out of focus. Aperture, perhaps?

Fifth photo: Great, great photo - though looks a touch oversaturated again. Also I would have cropped out the bottom part, especially the parapet on the lower left hand corner.

Anonymous said...

I think Pijush, WoW or Awesome would be very simple words to describe the composition of the pics. I just cannot find the exact words to describes these pics....maybe I will say, SPEECHLESS COMPOSITIONS!

Lakshmi said...

The last picture is definitely mesmerising ..houses have always been my fascination and I believe that every house speaks about the city and the people ...

Anonymous said...

oh yes!! compared to other travel blog, your photos look soo perfect!!
some blogs are really like family photo snap :D

Pijush said...

@Ananda,
Thanks for the honest feedback. Glad to know in general you liked the shots.
First one: Anwesha is delighted. She is happy to know this is the best one in this blog :-)
Second one: Don’t agree that it is bit out of focus. Probably the glowing sun-drenched walls taken the softness. This is my best pic in this lot.

Third one: Agree with cropping. Santorini is famous for unnatural colors., so no surprise for me :-)

Fourth one: I agree its bit tilted, but not with the focus. I wanted to capture it in that way keeping a sharp focuses on the temple as well as keeping a blared perspective of flowers.

Fifth one: thanks :-) nice feedback.

@Kalyan,
Thanks very much, your appreciation made me speechless.

@Backpakker,
“I believe that every house speaks about the city and the people” Nice comment, Thanks and Take care.

@Niki-chan,
“compared to other travel blog, your photos look soo perfect!!” - Goba-chan is delighted and bows down again. Take care.

Anonymous said...

Dude, the 'houses on cliffs' reminds me of the game Pharaoh and Cleopatra:) Nice post.

indicaspecies said...

Superb pictures Pijush. Made me recall my trip in the late 90s to the islands of Greece. Thank you for sharing these.

Sigma said...

Nice pictures. The first and the last are especially lovely. The silhoutte in the first one looks wonderful against the sunset. And the structure of the houses and the layout of the city is very interesting indeed.

Pijush said...

@Priyank,
Thnaks Mate, Nice comparison.

@Celine,
Thanks very much. I will also cherish these memories after few days.

@Sigma,
Thanks Always, I wait for your comments.
“The silhoutte in the first one” - Let me share the moment, I was capturing with my DSLR and my lazy wife is reluctant to come out of the car and took the pic with her normal digital camera stilling there :-)

Anonymous said...

love this silhouette of gobachan in the pic :)