Day 15 - Full Day of Santorini

We spent our first and only full day in Santorini just soaking in the sun. The weather has been unseasonably cool and it has contributed to an overall slow season on these islands. You hear it from everyone, though especially in the big touristy areas that really rely on a continuous flow of new people from all around. Factor in the bad economic conditions in Europe, especially Greece, and there's a bit of a dark cloud on the whole affair. It's on everyone's mind. I don' think it's sever on the smaller islands because they tend to draw a more loyal cliental, whereas the bigger more commercial islands must rely on the whims of less regular group of people.

Whatever be the case, the weather was not bothering us, though it did make it harder to swim when it was cool and breezy with not much in the way of sun. That all changed on our one day in Santorini, where it was about 80 degrees with a light breeze and no clouds. Just beautiful. I woke up early and had my instant coffee, which is about as good as it gets for me right now. Otherwise, it means a trip over to the bakery for a cup and croissant, which sets you back enough Euros to discourage the likes of me from doing it every day. Besides, I rather like the instant Nescafe espresso. It sure beats the coffee at the hotel in Sifnos.

I spent most of the morning just sitting on the deck, drinking my coffee and writing on my laptop. It's nice spending time out there, the view is fabulous, and just right for staring out into the sea, at least in the AM. At some point, everyone else started to stir, and it was time to think about getting some chow. We headed back into town, picked up bread, yogurt, and some fruit, and went back to our room and ate on the deck.

I ended up returning to the room late because I ran into this whole rigmarole trying to find stamps for A's postcards. I always encourage the kids to send their cards, if they want to send them, as early as possible, because the longer you put it off, the harder it is to find the stamps and the post office. We pretty much had one more day, I figured if it came down to it, we could send the cards at the airport, but it's a hassle finding the post office boxes. Better to get it done in the big city. A had her cards and they were written and addressed, we just needed stamps. The first problem was that our one day was Sunday, and everything government-wise was closed.

I met an American couple (there are tons of Americans on this island) who told me that they got stamps at the souvenir shops where they sell cards. Great. I went to several of them, and they all shot me down in flames. Something was up, and I realized that they won't sell you stamps unless you buy the cards from them. One woman said right to my face, and I even offered to buy a couple of cards if she sold me 5 stamps, and she said NO! I couldn't believe it, the bloody capitalists. I will say this, I'll never buy a souvenir off of her. I must have gone to about 10 shops before one guy was nice enough to take care of me. I was grateful. Of course, I made a big blunder and had the keys, so R and the kids were waiting for me at the room, unable to really start eating because they couldn't get in. It's always dad's fault. A even gave me a hard time, and I had to remind her that I took so long because I was getting her stamps. Oh well, parenting is such thankless work, but we knew the risks when we signed on.

We had a really nice breakfast, and by then it was getting hot, which of course meant time to hit the pool. The pool is small, but a really good size for the kids, and if there's one thing they love pretty much more than anything except ice cream and TV, it's swimming in the pool. Who cares that we're in Greece? Let's go swimming. The weather was perfect for a swim, and we really had fun, though being the whiner that I am, the water sure was cold. We also met a really nice couple (also American, but young and hip) from Texas who were world travelers. They had just been to Thailand and Cambodia, and were in Greece en route to, of all places, Istanbul. We talked at length about traveling, and it was nice. Plus, they were nice to the kids, which is always a plus for me. You could sense, and they even alluded to it, that kids were going to be a part of the near future.

After the pool, we dressed and hit the town. Since we were so high up, there are no beaches per se that were nearby. The only way to get to the water is take the bus or cab down to the shore, or take a long walk down this incredible stairway. Of course, we opted for the stairs. It's about 250 steps, and we decided to go for it, though our timing wasn't so good. We should have opted for the early AM, or evening. We made it down okay, but going up was a bit of a chore. The kids were troopers, but were looking forward to recovering on the deck, looking at the sea.

Since it was Sunday, it meant church, and they take church seriously in Greece. In fact, we learned that on Sifnos, they have 365 churches, one for every day of the year. It's neat to see the priests walking around and the congregation leaving the church with all the ladies departing in their Sunday best, usually all in black. It must get hot.

We had lunch/supper at a restaurant recommended by the hotel owner, Sima, and it was nice, though now that we're Greek salad officianados, we thought this one was mediocre. The hotel owner said this place was where more of the locals ate, and it was good, but being the cynical guy that I am, I sometimes wonder if they are somehow in cahoots. We did, however, get good vibes because the owner came out and chatted with us, and he loved the kids. He said something in Greek, and they brought us out this plate of ice cream. Yet another example of how being with kids opens up certain doors that would be closed if you were just adults. We also experienced this in Italy.

We headed back to the hotel for, you guessed it, another swim, though as the sun set, it was getting cool. We swam for a short bit, but going against our hardened New England sensibilities, finally decided it was too cold and jumped into the jacuzzi. Life was good. As we basked in the beautiful sunset and warmth of the hot tub, in the back of our minds, we knew we had to deal with our travel plans for the final leg of our trip. This meant arranging a cab to the airport, then confirming our flights and our hotel for the final night in Istanbul. There was another dark cloud over this planning because we had a 6:30 AM flight the next day, and weren't sure if we would wake up, or if there would even be a cab there waiting for us. We were having a hard time contacting the owner of the hotel, we don't have a Euro cell phone (more on this later), and we ended up emailing her and hoping she'd respond. Also, we couldn't contact the hotel because, once again, we didn't have a cell phone, and they weren't responding to our emails. What to do? Time was running out.

Then again, what's traveling without a little anxiety and drama? Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to RIC for the pics.