Greece Trip - Part Four

Friday, September 12th

We woke up, went for a quick swim and then headed back to the boat. Rebecca, Zarko, Jim and I decided we hadn’t seen enough of the island and so in true mutinous fashion, we left on our scooters to check out the Kastro (castle) near the main town, Hora.

There was no wind to speak of for our last day of sailing and for this I was glad. The day before we had dented the boom and ripped a line for the main sail on the boat so I was a bit worried about what else we would break if we had to sail another day.

We got to the Santorini islands around 3:00. One of the guys on the boat said that there were hot springs near a small island across from Santorini. Someone decided the best way to get to the supposed hot springs was to use the dingy which was badly in need of some air. After piling 5 people into the tiny dinghy, I was worried whether we’d all make it or if we’d need to throw someone overboard to save ourselves.

When we got to the hot springs, it was a bit disappointing. The springs weren’t very hot but rather lukewarm . The water had a dirty, cloudy, brown look due to a high metallic content. However, it didn’t seem to faze the German tourists nearby who were jumping from a tour boat like it was the Titanic. They couldn’t wait to get into the murky, brown, lukewarm water.

To get to the harbor we had to skirt the end on the island. We were able to witness an amazing sunset while Alek broke out the Bacardi and Cohibas.

Knowing how “painful” the previous dockings had been, I stealthily or maybe not so stealthily disappeared and took a little nap downstairs.

The port was pretty sparse. There was a restaurant, a store and a little beach with a stand and that was it. We had dinner at the port and went to bed for the last time on the boat.

Saturday, September 13th

The rest of the group was staying in Santorini that night so we split up. Jim and I had a flight to Athens later that day so we were anxious to explore Santorini before heading to the airport.

After having some difficulty finding a cab and considering a ride with the group just when we were excited to be on our own for a while, we were able to get a taxi not to Oia as we had hoped but to Fira where we could take another taxi or bus to Oia.

After checking out the bus schedule, we decided a scooter was the best option to see the island and still make our flight. Plus we were able to ditch our backpacks with the scooter guy. It was only 10 Euros for a scooter for the day.

We drove the longer way to Oia which was more scenic and had less traffic. After schlepping around the backpacks in the hot humid air (100 degrees with 100% humidity), the breeze on the scooter felt so good.

The town of Oia is built on the side of the island with steep cliffs down to the sea. The view from just about anywhere in town is beautiful. There are the classically Greek white adobe buildings perched along the cliffs and the very blue water in the background.
The town was a little more upscale than most of the islands we had been on so far but was pretty much the same type of stuff – clothing, jewelry and art.

We looked for lunch. Again Jim suggested eating at the same restaurant he had in the past, and I entertained that idea for about 5 minutes before I vetoed it and found a restaurant with the best breeze but mediocre food.

After lunch, we explored the town a bit more. You can actually rent a donkey to take you down to the sea if you are too lazy to do the walk yourself. We decided against going down to the water. It was far too hot to climb back up, and the prospect of dodging donkey poop wasn’t extremely tempting.

Two hours later, the clouds rolled in and obscured part of the town and water so we decided to head back to Fira. I was happy to get back on the scooter to cool off.

On the way back to Fira, we saw a sign for a winery and stopped to check it out. It was a peaceful little terrace in the middle of nowhere with only 2 other couples. We learned that in Greece, they grow the vines curled up on the ground to catch the dew so that they don’t require any irrigation.

We tried two whites, a red and 2 dessert wines. None of them were good enough to get a bottle but then again, Greece isn’t really known for its wine. It was a fun little stop nonetheless.

Across the way from the vineyard, was Paradise Beach. It was a rocky little beach with black sand so I wouldn’t have named it such, but we were hot and the water was wet so it felt like Paradise at that moment. We didn’t have swimsuits on, but you can always count on German tourists to be there and be naked so we followed suit or sans suit as it were.

Back in Fira, we wondered around the town, remorsefully turned in our scooter (I loved that little thing) and took a taxi to the airport. Our flight was delayed for about 30 minutes so we didn’t get to the hotel in Athens until 10:30.

The hotel was really, really nice- Athens Gate Hotel. The rooms had a great bathroom with a proper shower a view of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

We had dinner at a large restaurant at the base of the Acropolis. It was a quiet spot with amazing views of the illuminated Acropolis. It was a wonderful end to the trip.