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DAY 36
Time flys
when you are having fun. Here we are again leaving a perfectly good bed etc..
at 6am on holidays.
The ferry
leaves at 7.25am and arrives at Santorini at approx 3.30pm.
After
paying 2 euros for a giant sized doughnut from a man selling bread quite close
to
Of course
we chose what we thought was the most comfortable outside spot with shelter,
and maybe a breeze as well.
Unfortunately
when the sun came out and the weather warmed up a couple of hours in, our spot
turned into a SAUNA. And of course by this stage all other spots were taken.
My GOD!!! 8
hours on a ferry is a really long time, I even got the cards out for Tony and I
to play UNO.
We stopped
at 3 other islands on the way (see photos) Paros, Naxos
and Ious, to pick up and drop off passengers.
We have no
accom booked and are hoping that people will race up to us when we get off the
boat offering us all sorts of special deals.
What
absolute chaos when you get off the boat! The port area is quite some way from
the main town etc. (ie. Not really accessible by foot with loads of luggage)
Yes, there
are lots of accom places at the port but they are all putting their own cut
(quite a large one) on top of the hotel prices.
We were
then approached by a guy who had family
run hotel. He asked us what we wanted to pay, offered us a balcony, air con,
transport, breakfast, and introduced us to his mother and brother. What more
could we want?? He bundled us and our luggage into his van along with some
other ‘lost tourists’.
It turned
out that we were quite a way out of town, our balcony looked out on to the
owner’s back garden, oh! And breakfast was a hard boiled egg, some cordial and
bread. However, as the photos show it was lovely and the owner was terrific. We
hired a scooter for 12 euros per day and off we went (minus helmets for change)
to explore.
Riding
along the beach next to our hotel there were several restaurants, but some were
closed and others near deserted except for staff. High season is still a few
weeks away.
We found a really
nice place for dinner and the greek waiter spoke better german t han English
(that’s another story). The food was good and he gave us a 2nd
carafe of red wine for free!!
DAY 37
This is my
kind of holiday. Get up when you are ready, take your time getting ready, a
relaxing breakfast, and then plan the day (or what’s left of it, as Tony would
say!)
We spent
most of the day (as per photos) exploring Fira, which is the capital of
Santorini.
There are
lots of winding stone paths with shops and (more wealthy than us) tourists
looking and shopping (see photos)
We did a
big walk down large, wide stone steps to the old port. The major issue or
difficulty here is dodging the donkey droppings which are plentiful!
Unfortunately (unlike Petra)
there is nobody running around with a shovel etc. This situation made it more
dangerous than usual for accident prone Bernadette and I nearly slipped a few
times (see photos)
We took the
cable car back up to the top and continued our wandering.
I forgot to
mention lunch. We had sword fish which was expensive and quite dry. The
restaurants at the top of Fira are expensive and not always good quality.
People only go there for the view which is amazing (as per photos)
DAY 38
Another
beautiful day in paradise! How is everyone back in Australia? Or even more
specifically in cold old Melbourne or even England??
Back to my
holiday! We headed off to Oia today, it was a magnificent ride and we took photos
along the way (see latest photos). I have out done myself in Santorini (152 in 2
days).
Oia is more
and then even more blue and white with more shops and more restaurants. What
more could a woman want?? Hopefully you will all see from the photos how
absolutely beautiful this place really is.
I don’t
think I would ever get tired of the views. Again, though prices are aimed at
more well off tourists than us. They have a huge amount of cruise ships
stopping at Santorini every day.
Back to Perissa Beach where all the restaurants are
along the beach front with the black sand.
Still, a
lot of these restaurants are deserted until summer. There are restaurant owners
etc. painting, repairing and generally getting ready for the summer influx. I
hope for their sakes it all happens this year.
We had
really good bbq whole red snapper and a carafe of local red wine. We have noted
a trick that all the restaurants seem to use here in relation to bread. They
put the bread in a basket on your table and you eat it presuming it is
complimentary with your meal. Then when the bill comes, you have actually been
charged for it. Very sneaky!! So it is an ‘opt out’ situation rather than an
‘opt in’.
DAY 39
Our last
day in Santorini! Breakfast on the balcony and then off to Kamali Beach
with lots more of that unbelievable black sand.
The black
sand is more course than your usual yellow sand but just as hot and difficult
to walk on.
Kamali is
very much your resort town with lots of hotels looking over the water and
restaurants. There are lots of umbrellas and deck chairs on the sand which people
can order food and drinks from (at a price of course)
There are
also some bathers laying on the beach topless (don’t get excited). Why is it
that the people who go topless are the ones who should most definitely keep
their tops on????
We will be
catching our fast ferry to Crete this afternoon
and arriving at 7.35pm. Yet again we are hoping for good accommodation to come
to us when we arrive at the port.
