Greece Part One: Beaches and ...

September 16, 2005
We are in Greece. Athens. And we arrived during a storm. It rained, thundered and lightening…. the whole night. At one point the thunder was so loud, I awoke and heard a car alarm go off. In this slumber-state I imagined how ancient Greeks could have easily interpreted the thunderous clapping as the gods being mad at you. The sky felt very low, like Montana, only closer.

In researching about Greece, I had repeatedly read that a lot of areas are made of marble and to be careful when walking around ruins as they are slippery when wet. When you get older, you think about these things. It’s still raining and I am hoping it will stop so that we can go to the Acropolis this afternoon.

***
Our flight routed through Frankfurt and as we were walking through the terminal to our gate, I noticed there were ‘smoking areas’ for smokers. The funny thing was this ‘area’ was not walled off, or a separate room, it was a just a table, bar height. I looked up thinking perhaps there was a vent that sucks all the smoke away. There was, though tiny. I looked down; perhaps there was another vent in the floor. No. Walking past it, getting closer, confirmed the silliness of it. Smoky, stinky. The whole world smokes and it makes traveling a drag.

A few days before our trip, I got very sick and was on my back for 3 days. This meant that I had to ‘Let Go’ of a lot of things I wanted to get done before I left. I’m still on antibiotics, my ears still hurt and I am still dizzy. It’s a weird feeling, like I have been on a boat. So far it has not interfered or stopped me from doing something.

We walked out last night, to look for a place to eat and we found a great little eatery of fresh and homemade Greek food. Not many choices for vegetarians, but we did order a tasty mushroom pie [pizza], red pepper and walnut dip, and feta cheese baked in tomato sauce.

We saw about 12 stray dogs, just in the time we went to dinner and back. I vaguely remember hearing about the ‘stray dog’ problem of Athens before the Olympics and that the officials here were going to deal with it by rounding up an estimated 15k and killing them. Here’s a story about it. This guy has a good take on it as well. As we were to witness in the coming days, there are a lot of stray dogs. These dogs are not like ‘regular’ dogs. They don’t bark. They just hang out. It’s sad.

I had also read that the taxi drivers were crazy but good. You think you are going to die in a horrible crash, but you don’t. As BRKVW wrote in his blog about our taxi ride from the airport… “It was like a Mr. Toads Wild Ride…We arrived 6 minutes before we left, so I tipped him”

***
It did stop raining, so out we ventured. The Parthenon is really something to see first hand. Standing at the bottom of the hill, looking up towards it, it took my breath away. There were many steal beams and scaffolding as part of a restoration project, which took away from the stunning effect. The postcards for sale around town don’t show the beams. They must have been taken a number of years ago.

We walked around the Plaka, flea markets, Ancient Agora, Monstratiki and Snytgma Square. It was nice walking around and not wanting to buy anything. It is a great feeling to not need anything, it’s like the opposite or stress. Besides, after all the planning for this trip, I feel very efficient and that the clothing, and shoe choices I made were good ones. And it really is true… if you forgot something or need anything, you can just buy it. It was weird to see a Quicksilver shop, Starbucks, and Subways.

Dinner was a plate of hot grilled vegetables and harumi with a balsamic vinaigrette reduction. Tasty.

September 17, 2005
Up early and on a Ferry for 4 hours to Milos. We are in the business class, which was only 2 euros more than economy. This means we get the frontal view off the ship. We have non-smoking seats, but it means nothing, when the right side of the room is smoking. People just don’t get it. Smokers need to be in a hermetically sealed separate area. I haven’t wanted to complain much, but it really sucks. My eyes are constantly burned a bit, the back of my throat feels slightly raw and every breath I breathe smells like smoke. My clothes even have a faint smell of smoke. I’m afraid I won’t be able to smell or taste anything else! This is not just from the Ferry, but also from our room, and Athens in general. It makes me glad I own shares in ViceX.

Before getting to Milos, we stop at two other islands. Both idyllic and perhaps stereotypical ‘Greece’, with white straight walled square houses dotting the cliffside. I wonder if Milos will be like this too.

It is. This!!… this is the Greece I have been waiting for. Island life. Having grown up on an island, they are very familiar to me and I was eager to learn about this one.

We are staying in a ‘fishing village’, Pollonia. I say that with quotes, as apparently, it is no longer a working fishing village, but the name makes the area quaint and attracts tourists, so it has stuck. The people we rented our little car from, ex-pats from the UK, have been here for 30 years! They had many colorful tales of what it was like back then. In their time here they have seen many changes. Their story is stuff books are made of… they came in their 20’s, camped, fell in love with it, and basically stayed and decided to make their life here. At first they had a restaurant that served 300 breakfasts daily. Mainly to other campers, foreigners. Eventually they sold that restaurant to a guy, who one day, years in the future when some local fisherman had caught a dolphin in their nets, puts it in his freezer and then later that evening cooked it up for some guests.

This is an island ignorant of its past, present and future. They must have water shipped in, so they ask that you conserve when showering, etc. They have no regard for the environment. This was horribly noticeable when we went around to the beaches. Some of them Incredibly Gorgeous, but… trash and cigarette butts everywhere. It makes me feel angry that people would do such a thing and also sad, that we as humans, don’t leave a place better than when we arrived. I felt embarrassed for Greece. It’s the same embarrassment I feel in Maui when I see trash. Somehow I thought that at a place of obvious natural beauty, there would be some level of basic respect wherein humans would not litter. Sigh.

September 18, 2005
Time to dive. I’m a little apprehensive about diving today, after my last dive which was in Australia. I keep telling myself ‘I can do it’. We suit up, head out off the coast of Milos in a fast boat with 6 other divers, including our dive master. We head to Polygamos, another island, drop anchor and in we go. I know that this dive is going to be about 100 feet deep. I look down and visibility does not look super. I’m sure it is good, just not spectacular.

Near dive site

We get the okay to descend and I am using the rope to go down. I see everyone has gone down and I am still clearing my ears. It seems my left ear is not cooperating. I push on and get to the bottom and sink like a rock, which makes me nervous. I am already feeling claustrophobic as I can’t seem to take a deep breath and my mask is foggy. I get with the group and we head in a direction that I don’t like…. Open Nothingness. The dive master points in the opposite direction and we turn around. We are heading over what looks like grass, and ugly coral. I don’t like being in the lead, I need to fill my vest with a bit of air to make me go up a bit, this scares me as my fear is that I go straight up… which is a big no-no in diving. My breathing is not improving, I feel like everything is too tight, and I think to myself, I don’t think I can go on for another 40 minutes. One of the other divers stops me and asks if I want to go up. I had to think about it. I didn’t want to just end the dive there, but I just didn’t think I would be able to dive around some more, then ascend up slowly. All I could think about was getting the BC off. I decide to go up. This other diver, Andreas, goes up with me. BRKVW signals to him to stay and that he will go up with me instead, but Andreas insists- hero he shall be. So up we go. I’m relieved as, well, I was having a freak-out. My ear hurt, and BRKVW said I had a bloody nose when I got out and that is not good. A day later and it still has not cleared. It is showing signs of getting better… I can hear more today then yesterday out of that ear, but I am still worried.

September 19, 2005
We went to a few beaches today, into town and then to some more beaches. Some of the places we went to today were really pretty. But snorkeling around… nothing out there. Not as in there is no stuff… there’s old coral, but no fish. Again, Maui No Ka Oi.

East facing.... West facing

There’s a huge shipwreck that we were able to get very close to, so we parked and walked in toward shore.

We found a private cove and BRKVW went exploring.

I sat in the sand, looking at the ‘sand’. It was made up of little rocks, mostly polished. Walking on them is sort of like a painful foot massage… sort of. Milos is very old and rich in all sorts of minerals and stones that have been mined here for thousands of years. And you see it in the sand. All sorts of crystals and pretty stones.

A lot of shops close down around 1-3pm to 5-6pm when they open up again till 10pmish. You really have to time your visit to the bakery accordingly.

As far as the food goes, I have not been terribly impressed. Ok…maybe my thresholds are high. I find the food to be mostly simple and sometimes tasty. Nothing is spicy, and a lot of it is the same. I really like the freshness of it, but that is how we eat anyway. The yogurt I will say is tasty. Glad I can get it at Trader Joes.

BRKVW asked if I would choose Greece over Virgin Gorda and I can’t say that I would. Both have warm climates, both island cultures, but the Caribbean is warmer all around; in culture, climate, food, and architecture. I can see the appeal of Greece, especially if you live in Europe, Greece has fresh fish, ocean, warm winds and is close, cheap, easy. But to this spoiled island girl, it is not enough.

September 20, 2005
Today we went to some southern beaches after hitting the town for fruit, spinach pie, cheese, water and marzipan. We also visited the Mining Museum. It was interesting… and free. It’s the mining companies attempt at good PR for them. Also for good PR, they built a ‘conference center’ to attract… conferences. We don’t know who would want to come here… I guess it is to attract Athenians.

The first beach we hit, wasn’t really a beach, but had a pier where we ate our lunch and took in the scenery. It was a small stretch of land that had an inn, a few houses, a telephone booth and a small lighthouse, called Empourio.

Empourio

We then drove to Firiplaka and Tsigrado. Both beautiful beaches, but Tsigrado was smaller and more secluded, so we went there. Gorgeous. We had to literally climb down quite a bit, but it was worth it. We stowed our things in the shade and went in. It was pretty secluded, only one other couple. BRKVW found a ‘grotto’ so we took our snorkels and went out around the corner to the right. There were some fish, but the coral and growth on it made it look like the place had been abandoned. Weird and eery.

Tsigrado

Visibility was murky and poor, but I don’t think there was anything worth seeing. The sand was soft, very fine, and powdery. It was sunny. We swam and played and laughed and napped in the sun. It was the best beach day I have had in a long time. We didn’t have to be anywhere by a certain time, we can do anything we want. This is what vacations are all about. It was great.

Tomorrow we go to Santorini:)

September 21, 2005
Goodbye Milos, onto Santorini, by Ferry. This will be a long ferry ride, 6 hours. We got business or first class tickets… they were only a few euros more, in exchange, hoping that it would not be crowded with smokers. As we were waiting for the Ferry, we got to see all the other people waiting for the Ferry. Mostly tourists, backpackers, a mix of Europeans and Americans. There were quite a few older[senior] couples, backpacking. I can understand the appeal of it in one’s 20’s, but by your twilight years, one would think that one would want to or could travel in comfort. What I really want to say is that I am glad not to have to carry my roof with me.

I wondered how many of the people getting on the ferry with us, would be in first class. 2 other people. First class on this boat is like a lounge. Lounge seating, a bar, a piano…. But empty, which suits us just fine. So I get out my loaner Mac and continue journaling my adventures. If there’s an opening for ‘introvert travel writer’, I’ll apply. When one steps out of their regular routines and familiar surroundings, one quickly remember their personality.

The smoking situation on this boat is the same as the other ferry we took. Non-smoking is just one side of the room. Sigh, at least there aren’t a lot of other people here. We make two stops then Thira.

I checked my yahoo weather on the slowest internet connection and it showed showers for today, tomorrow, the next day… all right, for the whole week. So this should prove interesting. It just might rain the whole time we are there. We weren’t planning to stay long, leaving by plane back to Athens the day after next. I have reservations at Selene, right at sunset, out on the terrace….well, I don’t have to worry about my hair getting messed up;)

Traveling by Ferry is very nice. I look forward to the day that Hawaii gets something like this, so that one can take their vehicle to other islands. That would be very cool.

Some observations about Milos the island we just left. Not many birds, or flowers. When I think of beautiful island, I imagine waking up to the sound of birds and when I drive around, I think of seeing flowers. Without fish, flowers and birds… I wonder why people come here. I suppose it’s for the swimming, which was very nice.

September 22, 2005
Since we arrived at night, to a beautiful room, 2 floors with a loft, and a private balcony and a queen sized bed…. Getting up in the morning was very exciting!

Oh… the view! The view! The view! I will say it now and probably a few more times… I could sit for hours just looking out at that view. Santorini used to be a volcano and then sunk a little so you have this crescent shape, called a caldera. We are facing west, perfect for sunset, and I see all these villas and hotels built on the cliff side, over looking the caldera. It was so very contenting.

You know when people tell you all about how great a book or movie is and when you go to see it, convinced by your friends; enthusiasm, that you will have the same reaction… but somehow you don’t. I was afraid Santorini was going to be like that, a bit disappointing in the impressive department. It wasn’t.

Perhaps it is because I am an island girl, that my color dose of blue is higher than everyone else’s. Having been in LA too long, I was suffering a deficit of the color blue. I soaked it in.

Since we have been relaxing and beaching it and having recently sat on a ferry for 6 hours, we needed to walk and so walking we did. We walked from the west side of the island, where we stopped at the beach and then back to the east side of the island. About 12 miles total.

Santorini is known not only for its view, and cable car or donkey ride up the cliff to Fira, the town at the top, but also for its jewelry stores. On the way back we walked around a bunch of shops. Again, it’s nice to walk around and not need anything, but at the same time, I am always looking for that something special. There were a few very interesting pieces, but in gold. Most of the jewelry stores looked just like the other. I did get a simple piece of one red sphere of coral, unpolished, as a choker. Different, simple, modern. A cute souvenir.

Santorini has a few 4-5 star restaurants and I had made reservations [online] weeks before at Selenes, so we had dinner there. It was delicious. Selene herself runs the restaurant which has the only cooking school on the island, held on Thursday’s. Her smile and hospitality were charming. The place is open from April through October. It seats about 150 at it’s peak, but we guess it is not always full. While researching places to stay, lots of places advertise the months they are open. It is kind of confusing for us, as we found out in the winter the weather is still quite nice, averaging 13’ Celsius, with just a handful of days of rain. There are 10k residents and in the winter months, that number drops to 5k.

At Selene's at sunset... a perfect way to end the day!

I wish we were staying longer. Because Greece is entering its low season, the frequency of ferries slow down and coordinating the islands we wanted to visit, with the ferry stops, with which hotels had internet [that’s another story] and had vacancies…. It was tricky to say the least and Santorini’s 3 days was really just one full day and 2 travel days.

September 23, 2005
Up early to sit on the balcony and soak in that view as long as possible before we had to leave.

Today would be a day of planes, buses, ferries, and automobiles. A plane to Athens, a bus to the port, then a ferry to Kithinos, another island. In Kithinos, we rent a car to take us to Loutra on the east side of the island.

At first glance, not that much different from Milos, though noticeably less of everything. Compared to Milo’s 5k people, Kythinos has just under 2k. Will these people be more environmentally conscious? Will they have solved their water, trash, energy issues? This I look forward to observing first hand.

We are staying at Porto Klaras, which is suppose to be fairly swank. Well… our room is like a camp bungalow, but the bathroom is the best bathroom we have been in so far. The balcony is not private and the view of the bay is over some roof tops first. Picky huh? The purveyors of the other hotels we have been in have up to now, been fairly friendly. This place, not so friendly. The guy who brought our bags up, gives me the willies. I get a ‘vampire’ vibe from him. Weird I know. Plus the guy checking us in, he has no sense of humor.

Not being hungry, we just walked around the little town, and bay. Someone had spent money here and put in streetlights throughout the harbor. That and a few trees right on the beach with café seating underneath, made this place look very pretty. Perhaps even prettier than Pollonia.

So, while researching places to stay, I went through hundreds of places, looking for those that advertise Internet access. Which to me meant that the hotel offered Internet access so that one could go online and pay for their time, like an internet café, just only in your room. Well, we learned in Milos, that Internet access meant that the hotel offered two telephone ports. Sigh…. Roula, the owner of the first place we stayed at in Milos, was kind enough to let us use their web account, with no charge, as it was cheap for them anyway. We have been using it on Santorini and now Kythinos as well.

September 24, 2005
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September 16, 2005	Greece Part One: Beaches and ... September 16, 2005 We are in Greece. Athens. And we arrived during a storm. It rained, thundered and lightening…. the whole night. At one point the thunder was so loud, I awoke and heard a car alarm go off. In this slumber-state I imagined how ancient Greeks could have easily interpreted the thunderous clapping as the gods being mad at you. The sky felt very low, like Montana, only closer. In researching about Greece, I had repeatedly read that a lot of areas are made of marble and to be careful when walking around ruins as they are slippery when wet. When you get older, you think about these things. It’s still raining and I am hoping it will stop so that we can go to the Acropolis this afternoon. ***** Our flight routed through Frankfurt and as we were walking through the terminal to our gate, I noticed there were ‘smoking areas’ for smokers. The funny thing was this ‘area’ was not walled off, or a separate room, it was a just a table, bar height. I looked up thinking perhaps there was a vent that sucks all the smoke away. There was, though tiny. I looked down; perhaps there was another vent in the floor. No. Walking past it, getting closer, confirmed the silliness of it. Smoky, stinky. The whole world smokes and it makes traveling a drag. A few days before our trip, I got very sick and was on my back for 3 days. This meant that I had to ‘Let Go’ of a lot of things I wanted to get done before I left. I’m still on antibiotics, my ears still hurt and I am still dizzy. It’s a weird feeling, like I have been on a boat. So far it has not interfered or stopped me from doing something. We walked out last night, to look for a place to eat and we found a great little eatery of fresh and homemade Greek food. Not many choices for vegetarians, but we did order a tasty mushroom pie [pizza], red pepper and walnut dip, and feta cheese baked in tomato sauce. We saw about 12 stray dogs, just in the time we went to dinner and back. I vaguely remember hearing about the ‘stray dog’ problem of Athens before the Olympics and that the officials here were going to deal with it by rounding up an estimated 15k and killing them. Here’s a story about it. This guy has a good take on it as well. As we were to witness in the coming days, there are a lot of stray dogs. These dogs are not like ‘regular’ dogs. They don’t bark. They just hang out. It’s sad. I had also read that the taxi drivers were crazy but good. You think you are going to die in a horrible crash, but you don’t. As BRKVW wrote in his blog about our taxi ride from the airport… “It was like a Mr. Toads Wild Ride…We arrived 6 minutes before we left, so I tipped him” *** It did stop raining, so out we ventured. The Parthenon is really something to see first hand. Standing at the bottom of the hill, looking up towards it, it took my breath away. There were many steal beams and scaffolding as part of a restoration project, which took away from the stunning effect. The postcards for sale around town don’t show the beams. They must have been taken a number of years ago. We walked around the Plaka, flea markets, Ancient Agora, Monstratiki and Snytgma Square. It was nice walking around and not wanting to buy anything. It is a great feeling to not need anything, it’s like the opposite or stress. Besides, after all the planning for this trip, I feel very efficient and that the clothing, and shoe choices I made were good ones. And it really is true… if you forgot something or need anything, you can just buy it. It was weird to see a Quicksilver shop, Starbucks, and Subways. Dinner was a plate of hot grilled vegetables and harumi with a balsamic vinaigrette reduction. Tasty. September 17, 2005 Up early and on a Ferry for 4 hours to Milos. We are in the business class, which was only 2 euros more than economy. This means we get the frontal view off the ship. We have non-smoking seats, but it means nothing, when the right side of the room is smoking. People just don’t get it. Smokers need to be in a hermetically sealed separate area. I haven’t wanted to complain much, but it really sucks. My eyes are constantly burned a bit, the back of my throat feels slightly raw and every breath I breathe smells like smoke. My clothes even have a faint smell of smoke. I’m afraid I won’t be able to smell or taste anything else! This is not just from the Ferry, but also from our room, and Athens in general. It makes me glad I own shares in ViceX. Before getting to Milos, we stop at two other islands. Both idyllic and perhaps stereotypical ‘Greece’, with white straight walled square houses dotting the cliffside. I wonder if Milos will be like this too. It is. This!!… this is the Greece I have been waiting for. Island life. Having grown up on an island, they are very familiar to me and I was eager to learn about this one. We are staying in a ‘fishing village’, Pollonia. I say that with quotes, as apparently, it is no longer a working fishing village, but the name makes the area quaint and attracts tourists, so it has stuck. The people we rented our little car from, ex-pats from the UK, have been here for 30 years! They had many colorful tales of what it was like back then. In their time here they have seen many changes. Their story is stuff books are made of… they came in their 20’s, camped, fell in love with it, and basically stayed and decided to make their life here. At first they had a restaurant that served 300 breakfasts daily. Mainly to other campers, foreigners. Eventually they sold that restaurant to a guy, who one day, years in the future when some local fisherman had caught a dolphin in their nets, puts it in his freezer and then later that evening cooked it up for some guests. This is an island ignorant of its past, present and future. They must have water shipped in, so they ask that you conserve when showering, etc. They have no regard for the environment. This was horribly noticeable when we went around to the beaches. Some of them Incredibly Gorgeous, but… trash and cigarette butts everywhere. It makes me feel angry that people would do such a thing and also sad, that we as humans, don’t leave a place better than when we arrived. I felt embarrassed for Greece. It’s the same embarrassment I feel in Maui when I see trash. Somehow I thought that at a place of obvious natural beauty, there would be some level of basic respect wherein humans would not litter. Sigh. September 18, 2005** Time to dive. I’m a little apprehensive about diving today, after my last dive which was in Australia. I keep telling myself ‘I can do it’. We suit up, head out off the coast of Milos in a fast boat with 6 other divers, including our dive master. We head to Polygamos, another island, drop anchor and in we go. I know that this dive is going to be about 100 feet deep. I look down and visibility does not look super. I’m sure it is good, just not spectacular. Near dive site We get the okay to descend and I am using the rope to go down. I see everyone has gone down and I am still clearing my ears. It seems my left ear is not cooperating. I push on and get to the bottom and sink like a rock, which makes me nervous. I am already feeling claustrophobic as I can’t seem to take a deep breath and my mask is foggy. I get with the group and we head in a direction that I don’t like…. Open Nothingness. The dive master points in the opposite direction and we turn around. We are heading over what looks like grass, and ugly coral. I don’t like being in the lead, I need to fill my vest with a bit of air to make me go up a bit, this scares me as my fear is that I go straight up… which is a big no-no in diving. My breathing is not improving, I feel like everything is too tight, and I think to myself, I don’t think I can go on for another 40 minutes. One of the other divers stops me and asks if I want to go up. I had to think about it. I didn’t want to just end the dive there, but I just didn’t think I would be able to dive around some more, then ascend up slowly. All I could think about was getting the BC off. I decide to go up. This other diver, Andreas, goes up with me. BRKVW signals to him to stay and that he will go up with me instead, but Andreas insists- hero he shall be. So up we go. I’m relieved as, well, I was having a freak-out. My ear hurt, and BRKVW said I had a bloody nose when I got out and that is not good. A day later and it still has not cleared. It is showing signs of getting better… I can hear more today then yesterday out of that ear, but I am still worried. September 19, 2005 We went to a few beaches today, into town and then to some more beaches. Some of the places we went to today were really pretty. But snorkeling around… nothing out there. Not as in there is no stuff… there’s old coral, but no fish. Again, Maui No Ka Oi. East facing.... West facing There’s a huge shipwreck that we were able to get very close to, so we parked and walked in toward shore. We found a private cove and BRKVW went exploring. I sat in the sand, looking at the ‘sand’. It was made up of little rocks, mostly polished. Walking on them is sort of like a painful foot massage… sort of. Milos is very old and rich in all sorts of minerals and stones that have been mined here for thousands of years. And you see it in the sand. All sorts of crystals and pretty stones. A lot of shops close down around 1-3pm to 5-6pm when they open up again till 10pmish. You really have to time your visit to the bakery accordingly. As far as the food goes, I have not been terribly impressed. Ok…maybe my thresholds are high. I find the food to be mostly simple and sometimes tasty. Nothing is spicy, and a lot of it is the same. I really like the freshness of it, but that is how we eat anyway. The yogurt I will say is tasty. Glad I can get it at Trader Joes. BRKVW asked if I would choose Greece over Virgin Gorda and I can’t say that I would. Both have warm climates, both island cultures, but the Caribbean is warmer all around; in culture, climate, food, and architecture. I can see the appeal of Greece, especially if you live in Europe, Greece has fresh fish, ocean, warm winds and is close, cheap, easy. But to this spoiled island girl, it is not enough. September 20, 2005 Today we went to some southern beaches after hitting the town for fruit, spinach pie, cheese, water and marzipan. We also visited the Mining Museum. It was interesting… and free. It’s the mining companies attempt at good PR for them. Also for good PR, they built a ‘conference center’ to attract… conferences. We don’t know who would want to come here… I guess it is to attract Athenians. The first beach we hit, wasn’t really a beach, but had a pier where we ate our lunch and took in the scenery. It was a small stretch of land that had an inn, a few houses, a telephone booth and a small lighthouse, called Empourio. Empourio We then drove to Firiplaka and Tsigrado. Both beautiful beaches, but Tsigrado was smaller and more secluded, so we went there. Gorgeous. We had to literally climb down quite a bit, but it was worth it. We stowed our things in the shade and went in. It was pretty secluded, only one other couple. BRKVW found a ‘grotto’ so we took our snorkels and went out around the corner to the right. There were some fish, but the coral and growth on it made it look like the place had been abandoned. Weird and eery. Tsigrado Visibility was murky and poor, but I don’t think there was anything worth seeing. The sand was soft, very fine, and powdery. It was sunny. We swam and played and laughed and napped in the sun. It was the best beach day I have had in a long time. We didn’t have to be anywhere by a certain time, we can do anything we want. This is what vacations are all about. It was great. Tomorrow we go to Santorini:) September 21, 2005 Goodbye Milos, onto Santorini, by Ferry. This will be a long ferry ride, 6 hours. We got business or first class tickets… they were only a few euros more, in exchange, hoping that it would not be crowded with smokers. As we were waiting for the Ferry, we got to see all the other people waiting for the Ferry. Mostly tourists, backpackers, a mix of Europeans and Americans. There were quite a few older[senior] couples, backpacking. I can understand the appeal of it in one’s 20’s, but by your twilight years, one would think that one would want to or could travel in comfort. What I really want to say is that I am glad not to have to carry my roof with me. I wondered how many of the people getting on the ferry with us, would be in first class. 2 other people. First class on this boat is like a lounge. Lounge seating, a bar, a piano…. But empty, which suits us just fine. So I get out my loaner Mac and continue journaling my adventures. If there’s an opening for ‘introvert travel writer’, I’ll apply. When one steps out of their regular routines and familiar surroundings, one quickly remember their personality. The smoking situation on this boat is the same as the other ferry we took. Non-smoking is just one side of the room. Sigh, at least there aren’t a lot of other people here. We make two stops then Thira. I checked my yahoo weather on the slowest internet connection and it showed showers for today, tomorrow, the next day… all right, for the whole week. So this should prove interesting. It just might rain the whole time we are there. We weren’t planning to stay long, leaving by plane back to Athens the day after next. I have reservations at Selene, right at sunset, out on the terrace….well, I don’t have to worry about my hair getting messed up;) Traveling by Ferry is very nice. I look forward to the day that Hawaii gets something like this, so that one can take their vehicle to other islands. That would be very cool. Some observations about Milos the island we just left. Not many birds, or flowers. When I think of beautiful island, I imagine waking up to the sound of birds and when I drive around, I think of seeing flowers. Without fish, flowers and birds… I wonder why people come here. I suppose it’s for the swimming, which was very nice. September 22, 2005 Since we arrived at night, to a beautiful room, 2 floors with a loft, and a private balcony and a queen sized bed…. Getting up in the morning was very exciting! Oh… the view! The view! The view! I will say it now and probably a few more times… I could sit for hours just looking out at that view. Santorini used to be a volcano and then sunk a little so you have this crescent shape, called a caldera. We are facing west, perfect for sunset, and I see all these villas and hotels built on the cliff side, over looking the caldera. It was so very contenting. You know when people tell you all about how great a book or movie is and when you go to see it, convinced by your friends; enthusiasm, that you will have the same reaction… but somehow you don’t. I was afraid Santorini was going to be like that, a bit disappointing in the impressive department. It wasn’t. Perhaps it is because I am an island girl, that my color dose of blue is higher than everyone else’s. Having been in LA too long, I was suffering a deficit of the color blue. I soaked it in. Since we have been relaxing and beaching it and having recently sat on a ferry for 6 hours, we needed to walk and so walking we did. We walked from the west side of the island, where we stopped at the beach and then back to the east side of the island. About 12 miles total. Santorini is known not only for its view, and cable car or donkey ride up the cliff to Fira, the town at the top, but also for its jewelry stores. On the way back we walked around a bunch of shops. Again, it’s nice to walk around and not need anything, but at the same time, I am always looking for that something special. There were a few very interesting pieces, but in gold. Most of the jewelry stores looked just like the other. I did get a simple piece of one red sphere of coral, unpolished, as a choker. Different, simple, modern. A cute souvenir. Santorini has a few 4-5 star restaurants and I had made reservations [online] weeks before at Selenes, so we had dinner there. It was delicious. Selene herself runs the restaurant which has the only cooking school on the island, held on Thursday’s. Her smile and hospitality were charming. The place is open from April through October. It seats about 150 at it’s peak, but we guess it is not always full. While researching places to stay, lots of places advertise the months they are open. It is kind of confusing for us, as we found out in the winter the weather is still quite nice, averaging 13’ Celsius, with just a handful of days of rain. There are 10k residents and in the winter months, that number drops to 5k. At Selene's at sunset... a perfect way to end the day! I wish we were staying longer. Because Greece is entering its low season, the frequency of ferries slow down and coordinating the islands we wanted to visit, with the ferry stops, with which hotels had internet [that’s another story] and had vacancies…. It was tricky to say the least and Santorini’s 3 days was really just one full day and 2 travel days. September 23, 2005 Up early to sit on the balcony and soak in that view as long as possible before we had to leave. Today would be a day of planes, buses, ferries, and automobiles. A plane to Athens, a bus to the port, then a ferry to Kithinos, another island. In Kithinos, we rent a car to take us to Loutra on the east side of the island. At first glance, not that much different from Milos, though noticeably less of everything. Compared to Milo’s 5k people, Kythinos has just under 2k. Will these people be more environmentally conscious? Will they have solved their water, trash, energy issues? This I look forward to observing first hand. We are staying at Porto Klaras, which is suppose to be fairly swank. Well… our room is like a camp bungalow, but the bathroom is the best bathroom we have been in so far. The balcony is not private and the view of the bay is over some roof tops first. Picky huh? The purveyors of the other hotels we have been in have up to now, been fairly friendly. This place, not so friendly. The guy who brought our bags up, gives me the willies. I get a ‘vampire’ vibe from him. Weird I know. Plus the guy checking us in, he has no sense of humor. Not being hungry, we just walked around the little town, and bay. Someone had spent money here and put in streetlights throughout the harbor. That and a few trees right on the beach with café seating underneath, made this place look very pretty. Perhaps even prettier than Pollonia. So, while researching places to stay, I went through hundreds of places, looking for those that advertise Internet access. Which to me meant that the hotel offered Internet access so that one could go online and pay for their time, like an internet café, just only in your room. Well, we learned in Milos, that Internet access meant that the hotel offered two telephone ports. Sigh…. Roula, the owner of the first place we stayed at in Milos, was kind enough to let us use their web account, with no charge, as it was cheap for them anyway. We have been using it on Santorini and now Kythinos as well. September 24, 2005 Check the next post...
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