Naxos+Santorini+Thessaloniki+Athens in one day

---

Today was to be a bit of a hodge-podge of the day, spanning a bit of Naxos, a bit of Santorini and a bit of Thessaloniki. The day started off with a big serving of Greek yoghurt, mana from God. Loaded with suitably over-filled stomachs, we headed outside to the beach only to discover our stomachs were much too big to risk unveiling them for the rest of humanity to see. Plus, it was really really freakishly cold and windy. Sesame did however enjoy jumping about in the sand, much to the disdain of her mother who was freaking out because of the sand that was interweaving itself with Sesame's knitted sweater.

Mid-morning we headed down to the docks to wait for our boat to santorini. Greek ferries are notorious for being late and this ferry was true to its reputation. We did however pass the time chatting to a Greek medical supplies vendor - you know, one of those guys who goes to doctors and gives them free stuff so that they will prescribe their medication. Apparently even little islands with populations of 18,000 can't escape those drug companies. This guy apparently spends his time island hopping islands from doctor to doctor - and when he's done them all, he goes back and starts all over again.

After an uneventful 2h ferry ride, we were back at Santorini. We had a flight leaving in 6 hours, so we decided to rent a car and drive around to waste the hours. Cars are cheap when you get them from the local companies - 20 euros for a tiny car, complete with insurance (although I had to do a bit of haggling to get that price). Our first stop was Fira to visit the Mecca of gyros (greek kebabs) - Obelix - a unassuming gyros shop that makes simply the best gyroses (gyrii?). One day I will write a song about gyros - "Un Ode d'la Gyros". Melenie was rather embarassed because the gyros guy recognized us - this was the fifth gyros she had bought in 2 days.

We then drove down to the south part of Santorini to explore the beaches. Santorini does not have the most beautiful beaches, but it does have some interesting looking ones. Most bazaar is the black-sanded beaches of Perissa and Messa Pigadia (what a name!). Apparently the volcanic rock that makes up Santorini results in black beaches rather than white. Black beach sand is ridiculously hot as I unfortunately found out. The beaches here are set up with rent-an-umbrellas that are owned by the beach-side cafes. One place even had rent-a-4-poster-beds! If you buy a drink the umbrellas are free. We managed to find a beach cafe that wasn't open (tourist season would start in a few weeks) and so we got to sit for free.

We also headed over to red beach - once again the result of the volacanic rocks of Santorini. This was not as nice as the black beaches because the sand was more dusty - whereas the black sand felt clean and nice, this felt like you were rolling around in gritty dirt.

In addition, we decided to try to find some off-the-beaten track beaches to see if we could stumble over some hidden beauties. Alas, no such luck, but we did discover that Santorini is full of tiny little hidden roads - many of them lead to nowhere, which got a tad annoying after the umpteenth time. Overall, compared to Naxos, Santorini's landscape is not as pretty. Of course, the villages of Oia and Fira more than compensate, though these unfortunately are clogged full of camera-toting tour group herds.

After a lazy and long afternoon we headed over to the airport to catch a flight to Thessaloniki via Athens. In true fashion both flights were late so we ended up getting to Thessaloniki after midnight. By the time we got to the hotel it was 1:30am, which was awful as we needed to have an early 7am start the next day! The hotel was another 'Art' Hotel. This must be a common thing in Greece - hotels where each room is decorated differently in rather 'artsy' fashion. This one had a big 4 poster bead and big draped sheets and funky knick-knacks around the room. Very nice, but sadly we were much too tired to appreciate it.

---

Photos

Little Imp contemplates the sand
Hmm ... shall I jump in that sand and risk having mummy get mad?

Forlorn and cold
It was alas too cold to enjoy swimming on the black sanded beach of Perissa

Gorgeous Beaches?
Not really - we are spoiled for choice back home in Australia. But definitely strange beaches - black sand!! A by product of the volcanic composition of Santorini. Really hot to walk on!