On our second day there (Sat.), we did a full-day boat cruise which took us to the volcano, hot springs, and nearby island of Thirassia, and dropped us off at the town of Oia to see the famous sunset.
Walking up the volcano almost killed us because it was sooo hot. The hot springs were strange. We all jumped off the boat into the water and swam towards the hot spring. As you get closer to it, the water turns a yellowy-green color, gets warmer, and smells funny. The mud on the bottom is supposed to be really good for your skin. The water along the edges of the hot spring was bright green, almost fluorescent! It looked like we were swimming in toxin waste! It was nice, lol.
Next, we stopped at the little island of Thirassia and had a nice lunch right on the water near the port. I love fried octupus! Especially off the grill with a ton of lemon juice.
At the port of Oia, we took mules up the steep windy path to the top because it was soooo hot and I didn’t want to walk. It was fun but I felt bad for the mules having to walk up in the heat everyday. There were no reins though, so they just did their own thing and took breaks when they needed them. They knew exactly where to go and when to stop.
We stayed in Oia for the sunset and saw it from the best vantage point – the castle. It was nice but I think it would be way better with a few clouds to pick up more colors. After the sunset finished (people actually gave applause!) we headed to where we thought we’d catch the tour bus back to our hotel, but we ended up missing it! Instead, we had to take a normal bus that was packed with people and we had to stand the whole way in a crowd, not fun.
The next day, we rented a little scooter. It took a few tries to find a place to rent to us because they were either out of bikes or they didn’t want to rent to people for only 1-day. Finally we found a place and got an old, crappy scooter. The breaks barely worked, the back lights were busted out – no turn signals, and it kinda leaned to one side when it was driven. It was fun though, it had character! Everyone passed us because it was just soooo slow.
We took the scooter around the island and checked out a few beaches on the east coast and decided to stay at Perissa. We had a yummy lunch and had a frappe at a cafe/bar/pool place. You go there to order a drink and/or snack and just lounge by the pool; really nice. We stayed there instead of going to the beach (it’s what the Greeks do, instead of going to the tourist loaded beaches).
What else did we do? We looked around the main town of Fira many times and we couldn’t believe all the jewelry stores!! Most of the shops sold jewelry and we wondered how they all stayed in business with so much competition! We also found this pizza joint that sold huge pieces of pizza for 2euro, so we went there a few times for some greasy good eats. In the last photo, you can see the marked off area where the cruise ship sank and few months ago; it's right near the new port where most of the ferries dock.
Tony and I just got back from Syros and Mykonos yesterday but that’s a different trip and story, I’ll post tomorrow. Let’s just say, Tony came back with a patch on his eye, "AAARRRR!"
M
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