Views from the balcony Thanks for the speakers Marcus, I love coffee with Brian Ferry. I must have smoked way too much yesterday, because all I can taste is ashtray. Marcus would be pleased as he had preached against tobacco all night.
We began our day by relaxing on the patio. Our plan was to go into Fira and find an ATM. Liz and Eoin joined us on our bus trip into town. Once in Fira, we quickly became solvent again. We also picked up a USA Today, and Jane was thrilled to see the racing results (who wouldn't be when their drivers finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th in the race?).
We walked around Thira and checked out the shops. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just thrilled to have stayed in Oia - far less tourists. We had a nice lunch at a small taverna, and then grabbed a taxi back.
View of the Kameni Islands and cruise ship from FiraOnce back, we popped into the market (run by a guy from Toronto - small world) and picked up a dozen tall Heinekens and some munchies. We had made plans with Marcus to go out to dinner to Santorini Mou.
According to Marcus, you got some live local music and people joined in the jam session. With that in mind, we prepared by spending the afternoon drinking all of the beers and lying in the sun. Unfortunately, Jane and I had both began peeling but we toughed it out.
Once the sun was no longer available on our patios, the four of us used the cool white rooftop below us - Siemens' again! - until it was time to get ready for dinner. Jane looked hot in her sexy burgundy dress, I must say.
The relaxing part of the vacationMarcus was tardy, so Eoin and I went out to get more beer. When we returned, Marcus had arrived and he had with him an old three-stringed instrument from Russia. He played it throughout our walk to the restaurant (uphill the whole way, coming back should be easier) and it seemed as if we were there in no time at all.
We sat down and almost immediately two musicians began playing. They were very good together, and you could plainly see that they were having fun.
We ordered some appetizers - greek salad, tzatziki, skordalia, fava, and lots of bread - and Marcus would occasionally sit with the two musicians, or boggle our minds with some of his philosophies.
Santorini Mou (in the day time)
We ordered our main dishes about an hour later, and they came individually over a span of about half an hour. There was no rush at this place.
The host showed us a guestbook which people had signed, and in it was a picture of Jennifer Anniston. There was plenty of red wine, so we just sat back and enjoyed the show.
The 'band' (one guy was the owner of the taverna) was right into it now, and it was very entertaining. Oddly enough, the couple beside us were enjoying it too.
I say oddly, because they were German punk-rockers, and fully decked out. He had a bright pink mohican, at least 20 earrings, and 4 or 5 nose rings. He didn't fit in with the rest of the crowd, but nobody cared, it was that kind of place.
Later on, after the band officially ended their gig, I followed Marcus into another room. He was soon strumming out notes and was joined by the second band member. I quickly rounded up the rest of our table and for the next hour and a bit we watched an excellent private performance.
The band guy was really impressive, and Marcus was surprisingly good as well. While we watched them, Eoin was sketching "band guy", and that turned out to be amazing as well. When "band guy" finally called it quits, Eoin presented him with the picture he had drawn. "Band guy" was quite pleased and must have shown it to the owner, as he burst into our room to shake hands with us all. "Band guy" tried to explain in broken English that he wanted Eoin to draw more hair.
The Owner came back with our first taste of raki - complimentary - and promised Eoin that his sketch would have a place of honour in the guest book.
For the last hour (I don't know what time it was - quite late, quite looped), Marcus played a classical guitar and sang tunes we all sort-of-knew the words to. Finally it was time to go, but nobody really wanted to, because it had been so much fun.
While we were eating, for example, a cat was sleeping on a customer's lap, a couple of other cats hung around us, and a big gorgeous dog kept climbing over me to get to the lamb chop bones (which the waiter had instructed me to eat with my hands - much better that way!).While in the other room, which had fabulous accoustics by the way, two much smaller and extremely friendly dogs sat on my lap - and wouldn't budge for ages.
Anyway, home we went. The stairs that had failed to kill us when we first arrived, almost killed Jane tonight. There are no lights and it was a very un-even walk. As she stepped down from one step to the next, she planted her foot on a rounded rock that was part of the stairs, causing her ankle to give out and her to take a nasty tumble. The end result was a badly sprained ankle and a nasty gash just below her knee - poor girl. After such a great evening, what a way to end it.
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