Self-discovery: having a private room, with a private balcony overlooking they sea, may be very awesome in terms of awesomeness, but is not very awesome in terms on getting one's ass out of bed at a reasonable hour. Especially when one has a slight cold.
Once again on Santorini, I slept late. I puttered, I uploaded photos onto Facebook, I had breakfast at noonish. In the early afternoon I decided to get the bus to Oia, a town/village up at the north end of the island that is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on Santorini.
I went up to the main road, sat at the bus stop and waited. And waited. Eventually I decided I must have missed it; that it must have come earlier than expected. I went back to my room, then sat outside again waiting for the bus, giving myself a giant time window should it be early. I waited. And waited. And waited.
And then I went back into Villa Manos and had Poppy order me a car, because this shit was ridiculous.
So that's how I got my rental car on Santorini for 25 hours, and it ranks up there with parasailing in worthwhile extravagances. All in all, my late start, the bus stupidity, and waiting for my car to arrive on Greek Time cut into a very significant portion of my day. But what the hell. I had a car.
I drove north to Oia. I was a little nervous about pealing off into the wild blue Greek yonder with what has to be the World's Least Useful Map, but Poppy assured me it was impossible to get lost on Santorini. And true, I did make it to the northern tip in plenty of time to see the sunset which was what I had come for. I drove all the way down to the teeny-tiny port settlement of Ammoudi, which seemed to be about three houses, two closed restaurants, and one boat. And a souvenir shop, also closed. Santorinians must freaking hate winter.
I got a few good sunset shots, then drove back up into Oia to look around, buy more gifts, and hopefully find somewhere to both eat and pee. Oia made Fira look crowded, but it still was not quite as desolate as Kamari. I walked around for a while; the entire tourist population of this gorgeously beautiful town seemed to consist of me and a group of about five Chinese couples. I found a couple shops that were open, but the one or two open restaurants were either too expensive or just didn't look right. Oia is unquestionably the prettiest town on Santorini though. When I come back, I will get stay here I think.
As I continued exploring it passed on into full dark. I began to worry about dogs, and also about my bladder. I have a feeling that dogs would not even be a tiny problem during high season, when the streets of every Santorini town and village are filled to bursting. Unfortunately I was visiting a very different, deserted Santorini, where I wouldn't see another human even on the streets of town for long minutes at a stretch. My heels were hurting, I was hungry, it was dark, and I was about to have a gigantic embarrassing accident if I didn't find a toilet soon.
The tiny cafe I did find, eventually, did most gloriously have a toilet, but it was nothing special. I decided to just get a small kebab here and go out for my real dinner later in the evening. I headed back to Villa Manos, where once again I engaged in the indefatigable vacation pastime of The Nap.
After I woke up, I decided to take advantage of the one night I actually had a car, and take it into downtown Fira for dinner. I found a pretty amazing wine bar there, and had one of my best meals in Greece -- chicken breast stuffed with spinach and feta. There were grilled veggies on the side, including the famous Santorini white eggplant which I had been told I had to try but hadn't yet.
The next day, I made myself get up early because I was determined to make the most of my rental car before I had to give it back at 5:30 that evening. I wanted to go to Akrotiri, the excavated remains of a Minoan city buried under ash when Nea Kameni blew all the fuck up 3,000 years ago. So I set off, only to almost instantly prove that yes, you can indeed get lost on Santorini. I ended up at the airport, which was rather not where I'd intended, then found myself back at Kamari.
Well, since I was there and all, I decided to try to find Ancient Thera again. I soon found signs, and confirmed that yeah -- Ancient Thera is way the hell up on top of those aforementioned significant cliffs. Major props (not really) to my waitress from the other day for failing to mention this somewhat significant fact.
I drove up and around what felt like fifty hairpin turns, and finally found myself on top of the world and at the site of Ancient Thera. How did those guys ever get up here without the horseless carriage???
I was mostly all alone for my exploring, and that of course was fabulous. The wind up here was intense and the views were incredible. But it seemed like (maybe for the off-season), a lot of the site was roped off that should have been open usually. That was kind of a bummer but I loved that I got to see the things I did.
Back again in the mighty rental, I proceeded to make many U-Turns with accompanying cursing, and eventually found my way over to Akrotiri.
As you can see, the entire site is enclosed within a warehouse-like structure, which no doubt is superb for protecting the priceless ancient ruins but rather made me feel as though I was visiting an archaeological site housed inside a Wal-Mart.
I still had the car for a few more hours, so I followed a sign nearby for a "red beach". Greeks have apparently kind of a liberal idea as to what constitutes a "beach", but at least it was pretty.
The Red Beach had a sign with an arrow to "Dolphin's Restaurant -- Open Year Round!". I checked it out, and down some stairs and around a corner was the most amazing little fish restaurant! It was warm enough to sit outside, so that's what I did. I ordered a Greek Sampler of hummus, eggplant, feta, olives, tomatoes, and cucumbers -- and decided to try the grilled octopus! Octopus is a Greek specialty and I knew I had to have it at least once while on Santorini.
The octopus was all right but honestly didn't really have much flavor, and those sucker thingies were very chewy and hard! I'm happy I got to have octopus in Greece but I don't think it made me into an octopus convert for life.
I drove back to Villa Manos and turned in my car. I felt like I had gotten my money's worth for sure out of that little extravagance! Back home, Poppy came to my door with a delicious plate of pasta, but I was so full from my octopus I had to secretly store the place in my room's mini-fridge until later that night. It was pretty good cold. :)
The next morning, I woke up with a sinking heart. The time had come to finally say goodbye to this beautiful island. The ferry wasn't until 3:30, so I checked out at noon, got a late breakfast at reception, and hung out next to the pool with my journal and kindle until it was time for Poppy's husband to drive me to the port.
The ferry ride itself was uneventful and problem free; I arrived back in Athens just in time to take the last metro of the night! Literally, I was the very last person out of the station; they swung the gate down after me. Back in Athens for two nights, one day. My grand European Tour was drawing finally to a close!
Once again on Santorini, I slept late. I puttered, I uploaded photos onto Facebook, I had breakfast at noonish. In the early afternoon I decided to get the bus to Oia, a town/village up at the north end of the island that is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on Santorini.
I went up to the main road, sat at the bus stop and waited. And waited. Eventually I decided I must have missed it; that it must have come earlier than expected. I went back to my room, then sat outside again waiting for the bus, giving myself a giant time window should it be early. I waited. And waited. And waited.
And then I went back into Villa Manos and had Poppy order me a car, because this shit was ridiculous.
So that's how I got my rental car on Santorini for 25 hours, and it ranks up there with parasailing in worthwhile extravagances. All in all, my late start, the bus stupidity, and waiting for my car to arrive on Greek Time cut into a very significant portion of my day. But what the hell. I had a car.
I drove north to Oia. I was a little nervous about pealing off into the wild blue Greek yonder with what has to be the World's Least Useful Map, but Poppy assured me it was impossible to get lost on Santorini. And true, I did make it to the northern tip in plenty of time to see the sunset which was what I had come for. I drove all the way down to the teeny-tiny port settlement of Ammoudi, which seemed to be about three houses, two closed restaurants, and one boat. And a souvenir shop, also closed. Santorinians must freaking hate winter.
 |
| Ammoudi |
I got a few good sunset shots, then drove back up into Oia to look around, buy more gifts, and hopefully find somewhere to both eat and pee. Oia made Fira look crowded, but it still was not quite as desolate as Kamari. I walked around for a while; the entire tourist population of this gorgeously beautiful town seemed to consist of me and a group of about five Chinese couples. I found a couple shops that were open, but the one or two open restaurants were either too expensive or just didn't look right. Oia is unquestionably the prettiest town on Santorini though. When I come back, I will get stay here I think.
As I continued exploring it passed on into full dark. I began to worry about dogs, and also about my bladder. I have a feeling that dogs would not even be a tiny problem during high season, when the streets of every Santorini town and village are filled to bursting. Unfortunately I was visiting a very different, deserted Santorini, where I wouldn't see another human even on the streets of town for long minutes at a stretch. My heels were hurting, I was hungry, it was dark, and I was about to have a gigantic embarrassing accident if I didn't find a toilet soon.
The tiny cafe I did find, eventually, did most gloriously have a toilet, but it was nothing special. I decided to just get a small kebab here and go out for my real dinner later in the evening. I headed back to Villa Manos, where once again I engaged in the indefatigable vacation pastime of The Nap.
After I woke up, I decided to take advantage of the one night I actually had a car, and take it into downtown Fira for dinner. I found a pretty amazing wine bar there, and had one of my best meals in Greece -- chicken breast stuffed with spinach and feta. There were grilled veggies on the side, including the famous Santorini white eggplant which I had been told I had to try but hadn't yet.
The next day, I made myself get up early because I was determined to make the most of my rental car before I had to give it back at 5:30 that evening. I wanted to go to Akrotiri, the excavated remains of a Minoan city buried under ash when Nea Kameni blew all the fuck up 3,000 years ago. So I set off, only to almost instantly prove that yes, you can indeed get lost on Santorini. I ended up at the airport, which was rather not where I'd intended, then found myself back at Kamari.
Well, since I was there and all, I decided to try to find Ancient Thera again. I soon found signs, and confirmed that yeah -- Ancient Thera is way the hell up on top of those aforementioned significant cliffs. Major props (not really) to my waitress from the other day for failing to mention this somewhat significant fact.
I drove up and around what felt like fifty hairpin turns, and finally found myself on top of the world and at the site of Ancient Thera. How did those guys ever get up here without the horseless carriage???
I was mostly all alone for my exploring, and that of course was fabulous. The wind up here was intense and the views were incredible. But it seemed like (maybe for the off-season), a lot of the site was roped off that should have been open usually. That was kind of a bummer but I loved that I got to see the things I did.
Back again in the mighty rental, I proceeded to make many U-Turns with accompanying cursing, and eventually found my way over to Akrotiri.
As you can see, the entire site is enclosed within a warehouse-like structure, which no doubt is superb for protecting the priceless ancient ruins but rather made me feel as though I was visiting an archaeological site housed inside a Wal-Mart.
I still had the car for a few more hours, so I followed a sign nearby for a "red beach". Greeks have apparently kind of a liberal idea as to what constitutes a "beach", but at least it was pretty.
The Red Beach had a sign with an arrow to "Dolphin's Restaurant -- Open Year Round!". I checked it out, and down some stairs and around a corner was the most amazing little fish restaurant! It was warm enough to sit outside, so that's what I did. I ordered a Greek Sampler of hummus, eggplant, feta, olives, tomatoes, and cucumbers -- and decided to try the grilled octopus! Octopus is a Greek specialty and I knew I had to have it at least once while on Santorini.
 |
| My incredible view |
 |
| Check out this suckers on this guy!! |
I drove back to Villa Manos and turned in my car. I felt like I had gotten my money's worth for sure out of that little extravagance! Back home, Poppy came to my door with a delicious plate of pasta, but I was so full from my octopus I had to secretly store the place in my room's mini-fridge until later that night. It was pretty good cold. :)
The next morning, I woke up with a sinking heart. The time had come to finally say goodbye to this beautiful island. The ferry wasn't until 3:30, so I checked out at noon, got a late breakfast at reception, and hung out next to the pool with my journal and kindle until it was time for Poppy's husband to drive me to the port.
The ferry ride itself was uneventful and problem free; I arrived back in Athens just in time to take the last metro of the night! Literally, I was the very last person out of the station; they swung the gate down after me. Back in Athens for two nights, one day. My grand European Tour was drawing finally to a close!
No comments:
Post a Comment