A move day, instead of travel. Up we got and had a lovely breakfast at Agaze. J. had pancakes and scrambled eggs; I had the omelette with yogurt & fruit. It was my first time having real Greek yogurt and I have to say that what they produce in the US is NOTHING like what I had. It’s like Devon Cream it’s so thick and rich. I could eat it every day.

Back to our place and the inevitable negotiation of the time between the check out (noon) and check in (3pm). Fortuitously, our new host (Fay) was willing to meet us nearby and take our luggage to our new place for us. Problem solved!

While waiting for her, the wind was blowing so hard that J. was being pushed over. My (very expensive) sunglasses were snatched off my face and into the busy road. I watched as they skipped amongst the traffic to the other side and then down a street. Quickly — but safely — I followed, expecting to see a crunched pile. No! They were totally ok, blown up against a line of parked cars over to one side. Not even a scratch. Believe me, I offered up a heartfelt thank you to the local deity.

Then we headed (by bus) into Fira to swap our ferry tickets.

The line was about 20 deep, but moved quickly. Clearly the agency had called everyone in to help out and all station/desks were peopled. We chatted with several people around us, everyone sharing information about what we did, and didn’t know. When the time came, swapping our tickets was easy. And it turns out that our ferry, one of the big Blue Star type was the most likely to make it out. So we went ahead, hoped for the best, and re-booked for the next day.

Did you know that Thera is the same as Fira?

A note here: Google in Greece is drunk. It must be drinking the raki. We asked it for the Archeological Museum and it led us up and into the ‘shopping’ area (nothing but souvenir shops selling variations of the same things, jewelry stores — nice, but no — and restaurants) and then up almost to the cable car . . . to a sleepy little museum. A little bemused we wandered in, paid our 2eu and then discovered that it was literally two rooms and an exhibition of one man’s excavation. *sigh*

Back down to where we started and this time Google led us to the backside of a very closed looking building. Several of us tourists started walking around and finally found the entrance, which Google had led us right by.

The Thera Prehistoric Museum is great. Not very big, I hope it can be expanded as the uncover more of Akrotiri. Because the pieces they do have are lovely.

Where on earth did they find blue monkeys?

Also, I saw more Amazons and griffins on pottery. I think that’s evidence they existed. Right?

By then it was late afternoon and we took the bus back to Pyrgos. Right off the square was Kounani and we popped in for lunch. Zucchini croquettes and a shred meat platter with fried potatoes, tzatziki, pita bread, and grilled vegetables made for a delicious end to our out-of-room day. Off to our new place, I hopped into the pool and then right back out again — it was COLD! Still windy, too.

So we settled in for a night of reading, listening to music, and hanging out.

Have I mentioned that we haven’t watched TV once since arriving here? Even if our place had a unit, we haven’t been interested in consuming media. Just not worth it.

(9/14)

I wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to stay at our place and rest up (read, write, try to nap). It was quite windy, and a little overcast, but pleasant to sit on our deck and just enjoy being.

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

J. took the bus to Akrotiri, a fairly inexpensive (1.8eu) and easy matter of taking a bus into Fira, and then down to Akrotiri. The bus was air conditioned and he had a comfy seat, it was quite pleasant.

Akrotiri, he tells me, is magnificent and amazing. It’s an active site, so they’ve covered it to preserve the future findings. Apparently they’ve only uncovered 3%, so this is a site well worth visiting in the future. They need money to continue, and in the meantime they are doing a superlative job of making finds available at the Prehistoric Museum in Fira.

Just as he was leaving, about 2pm, he received a text message informing us that our ferry was cancelled due to the high winds!!!!

He headed to the Blue Star Ferry office to find out what to do about re-booking, and I commenced contacting our car and hotel in Naxos to change our reservation, and then our current place to see about staying another night. No problem in Naxos, not our fault, they’d make the change. Our host said they’d look, but when several hours passed with no reply, I made the decision to try and book a new place.

And found a GEM. Called White Orchid (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/22189221), this villa is actually best for a family or two couples. Its huge and airy and has an infinity pool. It was about $100 more than our current place, and just five minutes away. Tippity-tippity and I reserved it. Good thing, too, as our current place was not available for us (as we were told several hours later).

Neither of us freaked out — what can you do about weather?

J. spent a lot of time at the ferry office, and ultimately couldn’t make any changes because he didn’t have the physical tickets. That was a bummer, but he was philosophical about it and just came home.

A quick shower and change and out we went for dinner. Didn’t go far, back to Rosemary Restaurant. Again we had the androgynous Iris as our server and were kept company by the black cat.

We started with the green salad (so good!) and an appetizer of small cheese balls made of four different local cheeses over a thick pesto sauce. Delicious. For my main I had steamed mussels in white wine and onion and J. had a tagliatelle with grilled vegetables in a light cream sauce. My wine was an 2010 vintage — Chateau Porto Carras — a red blend. Superb.

(9/13)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

We were so grateful our place was so close to the port, it meant we could sleep until 6 and not rush for our 8am ferry departure. Having booked our tickets in advance, we walked right up to the kiosk and got our tickets in just a few minutes, even better we got our tickets to Naxos as well.

Greek ferries are kind of amazing. Huge, practical, and very comfortable. We were on SeaJets’ Caldera Vista which, I gotta say, hauls ass across the water. It was impressive. We’d paid extra for ‘club class’ and I’m not sure it was worth it because our seats were the WORST. Everyone else had forward facing seats, our faced one another. So we were knee to knee for 2+ hours. That said, I found the MAD music tv channel fascinating as I read my book and munched my fresh croissant.

Debarking in Santorini, we made our way past the crush of tour bus goers and found our taxi driver (arranged through our accommodation). He was picking up several other couples, so we waited a bit, and then were taken about 30 mins up into the hills.

We stayed at Luna Suites (http://lunasantorinisuites.com/), booked through Airbnb. We were met on the road by Fortis and walked up . . . up . . and further up into the hills above the village of Pyrgos. Our place is lovely, with traditional architecture, sun beds, an outdoor jacuzzi, and neatly laid out kitchen.

After a quick change, we popped down to the village for a breakfast at Agaze (agazesantorini.com). We shared an omelet and enjoyed the local orange juice. Perfect! If thsi seems rushed, it was. We had a 2pm pickup for our Sunset Boat Tour with Spirodakos Sailing Cruises (santorini-yachts.com) arranged by our accommodation.

The cruise was lovely. We were ‘upgraded’ to a motor launch because the winds were a bit uncooperative, I guess. We didn’t love that — it was pretty rough getting into and out of the harbors. But the first swim spot was special: sapphire blue water and a ton of fish to snokel with. We skipped the hot springs, and the third swim spot was too cold (not the company’s fault of course!). They fed us a huge meal of fried fish, sauteed chicken, grilled shrimp, bread, pasta, and the inevitable greek salad. There were nectarines for dessert. During the tour we were given bits of info about the island and what we were seeing. The downsides were that we were one boat of MANY and there was always a sense of being rushed. Our first driver (pickup and drop off is included) was a self-indulgent, rude, boor and I was glad to hear he’d be moving on to a new company. Our second driver was so silent we thought he was driving past our location and had to call out for him to stop — turns out he was just going a little further to be able to turn around. The price was 170eu ea, and I’m not completely sure it was worth it.

We were tired after the trip, but also hungry. So we trekked back up to our room, changed and refreshed, then went along the top of the hill to Rosemary Restaurant (http://www.rosemarysantorini.gr/en/). This is a small and elegant restaurant we were thrilled to discover. J. tried the local specialty of Tomato Balls (a kind of a fritter which J did not enjoy, but not the kitchen’s fault) and then we both shared the lettuce salad with avocado and a pomegranate balsamic vinaigrette. (YUM.) My main was a fish burek — a phyllo wrapped concoction of fish, carrots, pine nuts, and raisins; J. had grilled meatballs (keftedes) with rice and grilled veg. Our dishes were sublimely wonderful. We were given watermelon as a ‘dessert’ and happily meandered back to our place to read for a bit and enjoy the night air.

(9/12)