Town of Fira and the Old Port
Seawall at the Old PortCurtis hopped an evening ferry form Heraklion, Crete to Santorini Island. He rushed on board in the dark with all the other travelers. The ferry wasn’t crowded and Curtis bumped into Tomo who he met back in Bulgaria. Fortunately he was the same happy guy. Unfortunately since then he was pickpocketed in Skopje, Macedonia and mugged in Greece. In Patra, Greece he was accosted by one guy who put a choke hold on him while anther tried to get his I-Pod out of his front pocket. Tomo said they fought for about 2 minutes and then the muggers ran off.
Curtis was conveniently met at the ferry in Santorini (it was midnight) and whisked to his hotel (San Giorgio Villa). Next day Curtis walked from Fira town down to the old port. There happened to be a festival that day and there was a free boat ride over to the chapel on Kameni Island.
Map of Santorini (it's really five islands)
Santorini is an eight mile diameter caldera of a huge volcano. It’s like Crater Lake only inundated by the Mediterranean. Kameni Island is a lava dome at the center of the caldera. It was fresh and clear. A fine walk to the sulphur fumarole on the island. The locals were visiting a chapel and then eating festival food in plastic bowls and drinking lots of white wine.
Santorini was dead. End of the season. Most places were closed except when the odd cruise ship would arrive, and then things were buzzing for a few hours until they left. I wanted to go to Sunset Café but it was closed at sunset.
Sunset from Fira on Santorini
One day I walked to Oia. There was a stiff rude wind and a lot of dust during the 2.5 hour walk along the caldera rim. I caught a bus back.
Oia town in the distance
Ancient door on the donkey path to the Old Port
Another day I went to the town of Kamari where they have a famous black pebble beach. The water was effervescent and the sky blue. One other woman was on the beach and there were two bars open. I think it’s shoulder to shoulder here during the season.
Black pebble beach at Kamari
I walked over a big hill to an old ruined city (ancient Thera) and down the other side to the town of Perissa. I met an old priest and he showed me the church. I walked along the beach then picked out a wonderful surf side restaurant for dinner.
I caught the midnight ferry to Pireaus (Athens). People were drinking beer and carrying on at the port. I rushed on the boat like everyone else. I shared a table in a lounge with a guy. I had a Cappuccino, then laid down on the floor and slept till 6 am.
Midnight ferry departing Santorini for Pireaus
In Athens I hopped on the metro and got to the Fix metro stop in Athens then walked 20 minutes to the hotel (Athens Ledra Marriott).The hotel was on a eight lane busy street. There were a lot of tagging and empty store fronts. I checked out Athens.
View from the hotel roof top pool & cigar bar
The Acropolis
I liked the ruins called Athenian Agora. There is a rebuilt classic building with a museum and the cool Temple of Hephaestus. I had a nice lunch at a café along a busy sunny row looking across the Athenian Agora to the Acropolis.
Temple of Zeus
Temple of HephaestusFor fun I took the fast ferry to Aegina Island. I walked to the Monastery and nearby old abandoned monastic complex. I caught the local bus to town and had a fine dinner on the water.
Waterfront at Aegina Island
Athens
Grave of the Unknown in Athens
Student protest at the Parliament Building in Athens
Wind farm on approach to Amsterdam
Is this me?