September 15th: Santorini
| Woke up to dogs barking. *yawn* 7:30 AM - Got to get up anyway. Got dressed and ready to go! Need breakfast so we went to a café in the square. I had 'pancake' with syrup and chopped walnuts with tea. Interesting. It's a cross between crepe and pancake. Nonetheless, it's food in the belly. Walked down to old port. Lots of switchbacks and mule poo (and at times pee) on the steps. Got to keep my mouth closed everytime the wind blows. Yucky! |
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| View of the switchbacks from the top. Do you see the donkey station? |
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| He he ... saw this sign on our way to the switchbacks |
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| Donkeys waiting for their fares |
| There's our boat - Calypso. Sailed off at 10:45 AM. First stop was the volcano. Hiked up to see the various "craters". There's one supposedly still active I think. We could see the sulphur and steam coming out. Very interesting. Ok ... got to make it back to the boat before she sails off without us. |
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| View of the Caldera from our boat |
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| People walking along one of the pathways |
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| Me along one of the pathways |
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| See the yellow/green stuff? That's the sulphur |
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| View from the Caldera |
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| View of our boat, Calypso walking back |
| Next stop ... the hot springs. Hot my foot! At best it was warm and from far, it looks icky and muddy but in we went anyway. We had to jump into the cold water and swim to the springs. Unique experience. *boat horn* That's the signal to go back. |
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| View of the hot springs from the boat |
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| Folks swimming back to the boat. It was cold!!! |
| On the next island to stop, we had lunch. After lunch, we walked up to see the traditional Greek town. *pant* *pant* Alright, we got 20 more mins. Got to get down these switchbacks and get on the boat. |
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| View of Thirassia from our boat |
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| Old house at Thirassia |
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| It's amazing how white the walls are |
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| View of the Thirassia port from town |
| Went past Oia and then sailed back to Fira old port. |
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| Crab on Calypso |
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| Me on Calypso |
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| View of Oia port from our boat |
| I'm so not walking up those switchbacks. We're getting donkeys (really mules). Carolien and Ian took the cable car up. We got on the mules and oh man ... talk about auto-pilot. As soon as you hop on them, they take off all the way to the top. My mule even "ran" a few times. When they get to the top, they know to "park". Self-parking!! Very funny. Got off the mule and had to navigate around some mule traffic. Quite scary and funny at the same time. |
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| Me on the donkey |
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| Donkey traffic! |
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| "Herder" with his donkeys |
| Went to the bus station and caught a bus to Kamari beach. Not really a beach as it's mostly pebbles. Too cold so I got halfway in and ran out. :p Hung out a little then took the bus back to Fira to watch the sunset. Different view from Oia. At some pork gyro and baklava and this mousse & cake covered with chocolate and nuts. Never had that before. Quite tasty actually. The four of us went to a bar and got a drink to chill. My amaretto sour tasted a little different. Oh well. Walked around town some more and now back in our room. Time for me to shower. Have a full day in Santorini tomorrow and we take the overnight ferry back to Athens. |
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| Fira town in the afternoon |
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| Sunset at Fira |
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| Group picture at a local bar |
