Saturday, May 5 Santorini

Saturday, May 5

Nothing scheduled till this afternoon's sail on the caldera, so Beth slept in as Greg went for an early walk and had a leisurely breakfast, chatting with Emmie and others.   Greg reports shopkeepers sweeping walkways, cleaning windows and getting ready for the day.  And these fishermen selling their catch.

We go exploring, looking for a photo op we'd read about which is near the next village, Firostefani, the highest part of Santorini.  Plenty of photo ops on this pleasant, sunny morning.

 This is one of the few Catholic churches we have come across.

Greg tries one of the local brews - yellow donkey.  There are donkeys that take people from the cruise ship up to town (or a tram) and donkeys are theme for many things.

We eventually find this beautiful spot,  and have a photo snapped by some other visitors.

This is a view looking back into Fira.  A cruise ship or two have arrived and the number of tourists swells.

 We grab a gelato and sorbet

for lunch and head back to the hotel to catch our bus to Katharos Beach where we will board a catamaran for our dinner sailing.

 We pass through Oia and reach a steep, narrow road down to the port. To our surprise, the bus driver whips around and begins backing down the long road.  No guardrails, but there are cars parked all along the road (most with the side mirrors folded in)....no problem.  At the bottom of the road is a small congested area where we get out and we see that the driver could not have turned around here.

This is where we wait for our catamaran.  The village above on the cliffs is Oia.  We'll get a closer look at it tomorrow.

 The water is incredibly clear and blue.

 After some time, our catamaran and crew arrive and we board. We cruise the caldera and go to a small cove where some of our group go for a swim.  We opt out, though we do hang out, literally, in the sun for a bit.  Probably about half of our group are still employed, so the average age is a bit lower than many groups we've heard of....

Brian, Maria, Allie & Beth

 We cruise by the famous red beach where a few people sunbathe under the crumbling red cliffs (they've closed it officially),

and past the lighthouse high above. Baros, one of the crew, says they have wonderful concerts there under the stars.

We enjoy the beautiful water, a light breeze and warm sun.  For a moment it seems we could do this forever...










I spoke with Baros,one of the crew, who tells me they work 6 days a week, 14 hours a day from April through November.  Then he returns to his family home near Kalambaka.  He has a brother who also works this boat, and another brother who works in Athens.  He says he has been trying for 3 years to get a job with one of the big shipping companies, but no luck.  His English is fairly good,  which is why he is the one who makes announcements on board.  He has a few questions about Texas and says he likes being able to meet people from all over the world.

The crew grills souvlaki (chicken or pork on skewers) and serves dinner with salad and veggies as we watch the sun set in a somewhat hazy sky. (South winds bring the haze, we're told.  In June and July the winds shift to north winds and things are clearer (but hotter too).

We grab our jackets as we head back to port.

We have the same bus driver, whom Greg nicknames Mario, and he drives (forward this time!) aggressively back to Fira.  We arrive back at the hotel around 9:30 and do a little computer work.  We have had excellent wi-fi at all of our hotels thus far.