After each big wave the passengers on the boat were shouting: "Well done captain, may the Seven Children bless you". The captain was a young man, smiling awkwardly, holding strongly the boat's wheel. This strong shake didn't last more than ten minutes, the calmness returned while the boat got into the arc of the volcano’s caldera.

Only by boat

Every year on August 4th in Santorini, the pilgrims of Saint Seven Children's chapel have to pass this small test.

The access to the chapel which is small as a miniature and nailed on caldera's root, is conducted with a boat from Oias Amoudi's port.

There is no other way for someone to get there, not even on foot, even if he is the best climber in the world.

Into the slot of the dark threatening rock and under the unbearable heat, violinists and lutists are ceaselessly playing and singing island songs, 24 hours a day, while the pilgrims are dancing in front of them at the tiny beach.

When the dancers have no space to dance, some of them get into the water up to their knees and keep on dancing.

The song and the continuous dance drive the pilgrims in a state of ecstasy, just like a voodoo ritual in a moonscape.

Bread and tomato croquettes

Hundreds of meters above the chapel, at the top of the rock, the luxurious and exaggerating hotels reign.

In the centre of the caldera some enormous cruise-ships offering to the passengers some luxurious but standardized vacations.

On the other hand, in the feast of the Seven Children, which is internationally unknown, music and endless dancing are offered in memory of the seven children sacrificed for their faith.

The people also offer to the visitors wine, bread and tomato croquettes, the relish of which is equal to the grace of the Seven Children.

Don't ask for the recipe of the tomato croquettes, unless you take some seed and volcanic soil from Santorini you will be able make it.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com