SANTORINI

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Day 74

Today I was u pearly to catch the ferry to Santoroini and was due to meet the girls on the ferry. We later found out though that we had managed to catch two different ferries which meant that I had arrived several hours later than the others. This was fine except that it was pouring rain and none of the hotels actually have proper address. So when I finally made it to the town where the hotel was I then spent the next ½ hour having to look for it!! Once I made it there we then headed down into down for dinner and the like and it turned into a rather peaceful night.

Day 75

Today dawn windy and showery not the best but we head out anyway. Our trip for the day was to walk up the mountain to Ancient Thira. The walk up the will wasn’t too bad it was the wind that was blowing a gale at the top that had as worried!! Well we ploughed on and strolled through the ruins of the ancient city. Why someone would bother building a city on top of mountain I will never know! After we fought the wind down from the mountain top we spent the afternoon checking out our surroundings and shopping in the markets of Kamari.
That night we went to a local restaurant for dinner and decided on a few drinks back at the hotel before we would head out for the night. Well when we arrived back at the hotel we decided tea instead was what we wanted and a quest for boiling water and cups was set up. Going out was soon forgotten as we settled in for tea and snacks.

Day 76

Today Lauren had as off to the Red Beach for the day and as it was a bright and sunny it was perfect beach weather. Once the bus had dropped us off we then had a scramble around the cliff edge to reach the beach. I was slightly disappointed as I was expecting bright red sand when we however got a mixture of black and red pebbles instead. The cliffs though were the exciting bit as they themselves were a rich red colour.
We spent the day there leaving at around three with none of us brave enough to risk the cold waters of the Mediterranean Sea! When we arrived back in Fira we booked our volcano tour for the next and consequently missed our bus back out to Kamari. But no worries we decided to catch an early dinner between buses, finally making it back to Kamri around 7.
That night we did have our few drinks at the hotel before heading down to the local bar to check out the night life. Which turned out to be rather disappointing as nobody was out at all. Tourist season had not yet started. Well we decided to make our own party and before long us and the bartenders were in fits of laughter! We even managed to score a few free shots along the way.

Day 77

We were up early today to be out at the Old Port of Fira by 11am for our tour of the Volcano and Hot Springs. There are three ways to get down to the Old Port, cable car, donkey or walking. We decided to walk and consequently got cornered several times by a number of donkeys. It was not a fun experience!
Our first stop on the tour was the volcano and an hour long time to explore it. From the ground in places we saw steam rising and felt the heat coming up through the ground. After this we moved onto the Hot Springs were we had a 50m swim through the icy waters to actually reach the warmer water. This was then a disappointment as the water was only a few degrees warmer than the surrounding waters. Not as hot as we imagined it to be. On our return to the Old Port we opted for the cable car up rather than taking a donkey up the steep path. It was definitely a lot more friendly than the walk down.
From here we decided to move onto Oia to watch one of the many famous sunsets. We arrived there mid afternoon and spent our time in a cliff side restaurant having a late lunch, enjoying the sunshine and a fantastic view over the ocean. As sunset neared we moved to find a prime viewing spot to enjoy the sunset from. We found on and settled in for the wait. And I can tell you it was definitely worth it. The sunset was beautiful and as it set an old sailing ship sailed past. It was perfect! Once it was complete we had a mad dash back to the bus stop so that we wouldn’t be stranded there for the next hour or so waiting for the next one. Lucky we did because many were left behind to wait!

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