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Published: September 16th 2009
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Day 490 (14/8/09)
Early start as we packed up our tent and our gear which we had managed to spread throughout the car and made our way to the Heraklion Port. We arrived early to collect our tickets, yet we had no idea just how hard that would be. We dropped the car off, and headed to the ticket office, (unbeknown at the time with the wrong reference number) who directed us to another ticket booth who directed us to the main ticket office at the Old port, 20 minutes later we arrived at the Old port to be told the tickets weren't there they were where we had just came from, back to the original ticket office who redirected us to temporary office near the boat, we arrived there just as the ticket officer was heading off on his motobike to the ferry and told us to met him on the boat!
So we boarded the boat and were promptly laughed at by the ticket inspector when we told him we were meeting a man with our tickets on the boat, (with that Carly crossed her arms and said announced she wasn't getting off, even if it meant the entire
journey in the cargo hold!) but couple minute later the guy from the bike arrived with our tickets and we managed to board and find ourselves a couple seats... exhausted.
Two hours later we arrived in Santorini, stunningly perched on the edge of the caldera. We were wooed by the idea of a bed, aircon and fridge and after haggling the guy down 10euro a night agreed it was a much better option then camping, staying at Villa Pavlina.
We stopped by the supermarket for supplies, enjoyed a couple salad rolls on our balcony and headed out to explore the town. We stumbled across the caldera, formed following a volcanic eruption leaving the island resembling a donut with a bite out of it. The view really is as good as they say. We continued along the cobble stone streets along the caldera past the all the tourist shops selling the same stuff and the hundreds of jewellery shops (and Carly resisted every one!). We mucked about posing for 'glamour shots', Jez inviting a couple middle aged ladies (only to find our they were from Sydney) into his, but they proved to be a wealth of knowledge on the island.
Back
at the hotel for a beer and nibble we returned to the caldera for famous sunset, slightly hindered by the haze. We decided to splurge on dinner for a seaview, dining at Archipelagos unbeknown to us one of Thira's most famous and we were just lucky to get a table. We enjoyed delicious mussels, followed by lamb wrapped in vine leaves and grilled salmon with champanyne sauce followed by citron tart.... mmmm mmm. (By far our best meal in Greece).
Day 491
After breaky on the balcony and a quick stop at the net we headed to Parisisa (the black beach). And black it was. The sand black volcanic material and scorching hot and the ocean refreshingly cool (actually it was bloody cold!). After a couple hours of relaxing, swimming and beach tennis in the water, we headed back to our room. A change and glass of local wine we caught the next bus to Oia for the postcard picture of Santorini. We joined the hoards of tourists at the peak of Oia and waited to the sun to set. After another amazing sunset, we got a tip from a local for dinner at the Roka restaurant hidden down
a couple alleys away from the sea for some local dishes.
Day 492
After a slow morning, listening to the saints lose their first game for the season, some more jobs at the net we made our way to the Red Beach (Aktotari). After the half an hour bus trip we arrived at little more then a port and a couple cafes. Confused we followed the crowds onto a small boat which then took us past the white beach, dropping us off at the Red beach. Which we then discovered we could have easily walked to.. opps.
The beach is an impressive red sand surrounded by a red cliff face, we found a spot on the significantly cooler sand for a couple hours of swimming and relaxing.
We caught our boat and bus back in time for another sunset and the firework display from the Volcano. We picked a good view point and set up the tripod ready for the show. The Volcano festival was kicking off this weekend, the initial fireworks were less than impressive and after a big gap we assumed it was disappointingly all over, we'd all but packed up and left when the sky finally
lit up, with an amazing display of fireworks.
Day 493
Keen not to have the same ferry ticket trouble we had picked up our tickets the night before, and arranged our transfer to the port. We arrived at the port at 11.30am only to discover our ferry was cancelled and the next one wouldn't be leaving until 4pm, with plenty of time to kill, we got out the laptop at the closest wi-fi cafe and settled in planing the next stage of our journey and grabbed a couple of gyros (pork kebabs) for the road.
We finally boarded our ferry for Naxos and to our surprise arrived two hours later and the Maragus Camping bus was there waiting to take us to the campsite. The campsite was located between Agia Anna and Plaka beaches, it was packed but with good facilities and did I mention right on the beach. We found a little spot for our little tent and headed out for dinner, keen for anything but Greek. And much to Jez's delight a Mexican restaurant was less than 5 minutes away. After a delicious meal and margarita we headed back to camp.
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