Red Rock

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We woke fairly early today, and with breakie looking like it would be a bit of a wait, we decided to take a quick walk around the other side of our hotel. The island is fairly big, with over 12 000 residents in the summer months, and a third less during the colder season. We walked past old churches, other hotels and of course the amazing view.

A few donkey trains were headed the other way, so after stepping aside, it was back to the hotel for our breakie. For five Euro, it was a pretty good spread - fresh bread and coffee, plus Greek yoghurt and cheese - YUM. Plus, we had the added bonus of looking out onto the Caldera.

After breakie, it was time to hit one of the many beaches, and Iz thought it best to visit the most renowned first - the Red Beach. It gets its name from the red rock that surrounds a small beach, on which all the pebbles are a hue of red - very strange. We took a cheap bus there, and walked ten minutes, up some cliffs and around a corner, and then we were there.

Unfortunately, the water was FREEZING! As Aussies, we are so used to bathwater at this time of year - but over here, it is pretty cold. As we dipped our toes in, we both decided pretty quickly just to sit and admire the view for an hour, rather than get our gear off and head in - wussy, I know!

We made the walk back to a small beachside café, and had a quick drink, before catching the bus back. It was then time to relax, and we did manage to have a swim in our pool - although the water was not much warmer than that at Red Beach. It was lovely sitting in the sun (with plenty of sunscreen on) watching the cruise ships idle in. The view is definitely what you pay for here.

With that in mind, we set out for some calamari at a restaurant that would give us a good view of the sunset. We found one that wasn’t too dear, and watched another sunset over the Caldera. Our calamari arrived shortly after, not looking anything like what we had expected. On my plate, was a grilled squid, still in squid form. I did try and eat as much as I could, but it wasn’t very delectable - in fact it was pretty gross.

Iz managed to get through a bit more of his stuffed calamari - which appeared the same, but instead of having a hollow inside like mine, his had cheese and tomato thrown in. Thank god for the Tsatziki and the bread!

We walked back to the apartment, trying not to tread in donkey shit on the way, which is a little hard when it is fairly dark, and the lane ways are usually covered in it. We did manage to arrive back without any doodoo on our shoes, and were quickly in bed, with a baileys and a good book. Doing nothing really does tire you out! Good night!

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Photos

Morning Walk
Past an old church with a stray cat...there are so many - churches and cats!

Collecting Vine Leaves
Yep, those scrawny plants are grape vines!