May 16 - Naxos to Santorini

Yet another beautiful day in Naxos! No clouds again, and at least 30C (86F) for the sixth straight day, although it drops off noticeably at night.

View from our room every morning in Naxos

Poor Jane had another restless night, but her sunburn may have run it's course. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention from yesterday that Jane bought a shirt that defines her new attitude to a "T"! (get it?)

It goes like this ... Then elpiso tipote, The fovame tipote, Ime leftheros.

Which can be translated to ... I want/(hope) for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free.

I believe that this quote shall soon be striking fear into the hearts of everyone at "Company X" - I can hardly wait. We'll get a plaque for her office - in Greek of course, – as a friendly reminder.

Anyhoo, back to the task at hand.

We did a bit of souvenier shopping, had breakfast in the port area and basically took it easy while we waited for our departure time to arrive. We spent our last one and a half hours at the Hotel Grotta where Jane read up on Santorini and I wrote a few words in the hotel guestbook.

Ios Ferry stop along the way to Santorini

After having our picture taken with Dimitrius and Nikki (such nice people!), it was off to the ferry. The "Express Olympia" was a polluting, foul-smelling ferry, but at least it didn't sink. We headed off for Santorini, via Ios.

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A couple of hours later, belching a thick plume of smoke into the pristine sky, our ferry arrived at Santorini. This had to be one of the best views of the entire trip. The port is located in the middle of the caldera, and the sheer cliff walls surrounding it certainly were top quality eye-candy.

First glimpses - sailing in to the caldera of Santorini

It made you pause and consider the enormity of the volcanic eruption which devastated the entire region thousands of years ago. Apparantly it created a tsunami over 200 metres in height (over 60 stories!), and the tremors could be felt as far away as Sweden.

No skeletal remains, either human or animal (except for 1 pig), have been found at the site of Akrotiri, signifying that the locals had advance warning and fled the island. My bet is the tsunami got them regardless!

The entrance to the harbour was an incredible sight, and perched along the cliff tops were houses, churches, and of course, magnificent hotels.

Buildings perched on the edge of the cliffs

To our right, maybe 50 yards away, was the volcanic island that had been created by the eruption. Not what I would call a welcoming place, it was completely black with jagged outcrops of rock covering the entire surface.

Once on shore, we located one of the things that Jane had looked forward to seeing for months. It was a sign saying "Walker - Lava Oias" being held in the air by a local taxi driver.

While everyone else scrambled for transportation, we relaxed and enjoyed the breath-taking view. The ride up the cliff face was breath-taking for reasons other than the view, but I suppose that our driver knew the roads well enough to ensure our safety. Yeah - whatever!

We were dropped off at our hotel, and were nearly killed walking down the stairway(?) to the reception area.

We navigated the path to our cave house, one of only six, and were greeted by the most magnificent view overlooking the caldera. After a short introduction to our room by our hostess (including which switches to flip for hot water for showering, and for power to the kitchenette), we took a short walk into town.

Home for the next week

"Into town" isn't really an accurate description though, as Oia is actually shaped in a long line running along the top of the cliff. While on this short excursion, we saw many small markets, restaurants, handicrafts and jewellery stores. We bought some bread, cheese, pastries and beer and returned to the cave house for a quick and easy meal. When we returned, our hostess Pipitsa brought us a bottle of local wine and was eager to offer us tomatoes, eggs, carrots, or anything else we might need.

Tonight will be an early night so that we can have an easy day tomorrow. I'm starting to really like this place.

Oh yeah, almost forgot... we called home and found out that the Leafs are now up 3 games to 2 against Pittsburgh. Going home might be a little less painful - but painful nonetheless .

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May 17 - Santorini 'Hello Rock'

It really is a bit of a culture shock between Naxos and Santorini - which is much more populated with, and geared towards, tourists. It's a pretty easy adjustment though. Our 'house' is really lovely. Last night I felt like a bear, sleeping in the cave, and it was so dark that you couldn't see a THING.

The views are really dramatic, and every hotel and taverna seems to have one. I wish we were filthy rich because I can already see that the stores all sell unique and beautiful merchandise. The jewellery is by far the nicest I have seen.

Well, I'm off to have my shower now (the fovame tipote - I fear nothing) and then it's off to the nice bakery we've found for a breakfast of fresh croissants. It's a BEAUTIFUL day, so we'll hang on the veranda for a few hours admiring the view.

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Well, it was more like 8 hours on the veranda. We met our neighbours for the week - Liz and Eoin. They are a couple of years younger than us, and we get along quite well. They're from Michigan so we can relate on all sorts of things.

We also met Marcus, who came by with a brochure offering a variety of massage treatments. Marcus certainly has a unique perspective, and we offered up a beer which he readily accepted. Actually, we had just returned from cleaning out the second market of it's tall Heineken's, so we were enjoying our day.

Liz polished off the local wine over the course of the day, and it was happily refilled. Marcus told us that our neighbour below us (with the pool) was none other then the German billionaire owner of Siemens, and that he only spent about a week here each year. A few beers later, Jane was taking my picure as I lay naked by his pool. What the hell - why not?

Marcus had left to build a barbeque at his place (just below Siemens') and offered us some speakers for our portable CD player. Jane and Liz went down to get them, and apparantly he has quite the place.

He also suggested we have dinner at Skala, where his friend and neighbour was a waiter. His name was Yrgos, and oddly he knew who we were right away. Not much privacy when you're dancing and singing on Santorini balconies!

Santorini at Night

The four of us had a nice dinner, and decided to make sure that we booked a tour tomorrow to see the island by bus. It would likely include Akrotiri, Ancient Thira, and of course some wine tasting. Eoin mentioned renting a car, so we'll have to hitch a ride into Thira with him. We're running low on cash, and there are no ATM's in Oia.

cats of Santorini

All in all, the first day of our last leg was a lot of fun. Jane quickly made friends with a kitty, and we fed him milk (ours) and liverwurst (Eoin's - to his dismay).

Too cloudy for a spectacular sunset, but later on the stars looked amazing. From our veranda, Thira looks eerily similar to Lisa Simpson's science experiment!

I wonder just what's in store for us tomorrow - with this crowd it could be anything. Until then ... to the batcave.

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May 18 - Fira & Santorini Mou

Woke up, got out of bed ...can't recall the rest of the lyrics, but I had a couple of coffees (filter!) and let Jane sleep in. It looks to be another 90 degree day in Santorini - how many in a row is that now?

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 Fira

Once 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 vacation

Marcus 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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May 19 - Balcony with a caldera view

Woke up to find that Jane's ankle was quite swollen, and that her knee was a mess. So much for the tan, hon.

Most of our tans had seriously began to peel off already, anyhow.

We spent the morning just taking it easy. Jane had planned on running a marathon, but had to give it a miss.

I feel so bad for her, it's been such a perfect holiday for both of us until now, and I can see that she's in quite a bit of pain. We put an icy towel around her ankle to bring down the swelling, and cleaned out her knee with supplies that Pipitsa had provided.

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Jane spent most of the afternoon napping, and hopefully the rest will have helped her. It's now almost midnight, my how time flies.

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The rest of the afternoon was pretty mellow. Eoin and Liz went into town for dinner and a sunset, but the clouds persisted. When they returned, they brought Jane some square bandages. They've invited us to dinner in Thira tomorrow, where they are meeting friends.

While they were here, we partied some more, and out of the blue Marcus arrived. We learned a lot more about him tonight and I must say that there are many things about this guy that I like. Where do I start?...

... A whole lot of stuff I can't tell you...
...which is too bad, it's very funny...
oh well...

Marcus shares his time between Santorini and New York or Boston. He rents his place year round, at a monthly rent equivalent to one night for a tourist. That means he only has to give a few massages a month to cover his expenses. He's been averaging a couple a day since we arrived, so Marcus must be doing alright.

He owns one pair of socks - bright blue - but generally only wears one at a time. No-one has actually asked him why. He is apparantly on one of the Oia sunset postcards. He also considers himself a bit of a playboy, and rightly so.


I could go on and on about him, our own Zorba the Greek - he's from another time and place. But in the end he's just another chapter in the story that is our Magical Journey.

Although completely different from all of the people and things that we've experienced thus far, he will soon be merged into memories we carry of this wonderful trip, and surprisingly he will not stand out too much.

I'll be back tomorrow.

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May 20 - Greece Holiday Recap

Got up about 9:00 and dashed off to the market.

Cosimo (my new buddy from Toronto - he used to work at the same company as I do now) was happy to talk about anything and everything, as usual.

Liz and Eoin rented a car and hit the beaches. Eoin has promised to fill me in on the Leaf score (Game 6) as soon as they return. Jane, who is much better today, just requested Jon and Vangelis (good choice, babe).

It was the perfect song for the mood - "I'll Find My Way Home". We had. We made bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch and since then it's been a case of 'soak in the view'.

While doing that, Jane met a knew dog friend. She was a lovely dog and we gave her a bunch of milk, a ham and cheese pastry, some Pringles, half a loaf of bread, water, and the deed to our house. Then, puppy crashed out on our patio with us for the rest of the afternoon.

Our new puppy friend

At this point, after eighteen days in Greece, I think that it's time for some of our casual statements and observations about this country. In no particular order:

1. The views are great no matter where you are
2. They have great potato chip flavours here (Oregano and Paprika!)
3. Santorini Mou, I love you
4. They don't hate tourists - even if they think you're American
5. I wish we were rich and didn't have to work
6. They have fries with everything
7. Chocolate ice cream is really good here
8. Bounty Ice Cream Bars!
9. The mainland has shrines on every corner of the road
10. Lemon Fanta
11. Almost everyone speaks English
12. We came to Santorini and didn't see a sunset... and didn't care!
13. Athens is as bad as everyone says, but the Plaka is great
14. Just sitting on the patio watching the swallows fly around is effective time management
15. Living in caves makes for better sleeping
16. The driving in Athens is horrendous
17. If the Greeks were able to invent plumbing so long ago, why haven't they improved it?
18. Don't even mention the showers
19. Bouzoukia music isn't bad
20. Our place in Oia is amazing
21. We prefer filter coffee
22. We might make Nafpaktos our second choice of place to live
23. The cave houses of Santorini win
24. Guys with loudspeakers should be pelted
25. Jane did a fantastic job setting up our vacation
26. Antique stores with AMAZING stuff
27. Writing postcards at Erato

In full relax mode in Santorini

I just found out the Leafs won Game 6 in overtime - woohoo! Your turn Jane, I'm going for some Heinekens.

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Well Rob, you've certainly done an amazing job with the Journal and I'm glad you've enjoyed the vacation as much as I have, hasn't it been wonderful?

Greece certainly is magical, isn't it? I've loved everything I've seen of Greece since my first glimpse out of the plane (er, excuse me John), and we've certainly met some wonderful people every day of our trip.

I just want to stay right here

I don't think I'm ready for a wrap-up, I want to savour every moment still.

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Okay, I'll take over for a bit. For our last night on Santorini, we're planning for a candle-light dinner on the patio. Jane doesn't care if we eat ice cream for dinner, but I bought some breads, cheeses, meats, and of course, beer. It should be lovely. I'm not ready to leave. I don't want to leave. I want to live here.

Well, at least we have the Plaka district tomorrow, but this is worlds away from that.

We miss our guys at home, so at least we have them to look forward to. It's been very easy to totally forget about the things that seemed important at home - our jobs, the Leafs, timetables, plans, whatever. We haven't watched any TV, we've only seen a few newspapers, and the CD's we brought with us only came out while in Santorini. For all we know, the Kosovo problem is over or World War III may have already commenced - who cares? This is the life.

We've decided to pose a question to ourselves and that is...which leg of the trip was your favourite? And the answers are:

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Any 'favourites' on this trip are difficult because it has all been so great. Santorini is so dramatic and beautiful and it feels like we've done more of a 'locals' thing since we had no inclination - and later no way - to leave our balcony. Santorini Mou was a wonderful experience, especially the back room with Marcus playing.

I'll have to pause for a bit now, because speak of the devil and he's just strolled through the front door.


.. A while later...

Naxos was great - I'll never forget the hospitality of Dimitrius and Nikki and the friendly atmosphere of the Hotel Grotta. Sunsets turned out to be the nicest there and it was such a quiet pace. Getting lost on the mountain was a laugh and 'baring it all' on the beach was an experience (and a pleasant one!). But, if I have to chose a 'favourite', it's the Mainland Tour. I loved seeing all the wonderful archaeological sites and we met great people (not that that part didn't continue). Perhaps because everything we experienced was for the first time in Greece - the hospitality, the gifts, the magic, the people - it was just so special.

I particularly enjoyed;

1. Walking about and getting lost in the Plaka
2. The wildflowers and the scent of the Peloponnese
3. Mycenae and seeing the Lion's Gate
4. The serenity and magic of Olympia
5. The exhilirating drive up the mountains of Parnassos
   
6. The clouds coming in at Arachova
7. All our friends - Tony and Colleen, Marie, George and Sonia (my other-side-of-the-world 'sister')
8. A brief glimpse at Nafpaktos
9. Writing postcards in the courtyard at Erato
10. The first beach ... and rushing through our lunch to get to it
11. Our tour guide Effie, and the bus-driver Tassos
12. The "second-class" tourists - all OUR friends- getting bumped up to "first-class"
13. My Shirley Valentine moment at dinner with the offensive tourists
    
14. The magnificence of Epidaurus and the hilarious story that later ensued
15. Watching the moon over Olympia
16. Replacing my Nana's butterfly broach
17. Our photo on the starting line at Olympia
18. Delphi
19. Rob enjoying Delphi and continually hunting for undiscovered treasures
    
20. No other tourists at the Temple of Athena
21. Tony wandering off to paint
22. And, although it almost made me sick at the time, I know I will enjoy my beautiful new coat for many years to come, to remind me of all this and the much more that I haven't written. Of course, there's still tomorrow...

And you, hon?

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He said: Well, it was going to be the same one that you picked, and for all those reasons and many others that you failed to mention.

1. Everything that we saw was extraordinary - from ruins to hotel room views.
2. Everybody (maybe not everybody), we became very good friends with- and I'm positive that we'll keep in touch with many of them.
3. It was a great night when all seven of us found the little Antique shop in Delphi while on a hunt for Metaxa.
4. Also, the fact that our original four day tour effectively tripled in duration, just without Effie, Tassos, and the bus.
5. The beautiful mountains and the invigorating climbs.
6. We had lots of laughs on top of it all.
7. It was also great to see that Jane was completely stress-free and was clearly absorbed by Greek culture. She has become quite good at speaking the language, and was able to give me all kinds of background info, such as archaeological facts or historic tidbits.
   

Right, enough reminiscing, as it turned out Eion and Liz returned from dinner at about midnight and came in for a nightcap. We stayed up for a while, but it's a travel day tomorrow, so we crashed out early.

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May 21 - Santorini & Mama's

Up bright and early. I brought a bag full of butter, bread, and other basic staples down to Marcus.

He was quick to ask about going to Mama's for breakfast. We had already decided that we didn't have time to go, so we told him as much.

Marcus and 'Mama'

We made our way through our errands earlier than we had expected and ended up at Mamas, and guess who showed up? We hoped that Marcus didn't think we were trying to ditch him. He was right again, this was another great place.

Great food, and "Mama" made sure that we ate every bite...making us feel right at home. Afterwards, it was off to Santorini airport for our flight to Athens.

So long Santorini

After saying our good-byes, we were soon on our way. It was only a 40 minute flight, so we were back at our hotel in the Plaka 2 hours after take-off.

Mucho souvenier shopping was completed, then off to see Terrys and perhaps have an alcoholic beverage. Terrys seemed pleased to see us again. We returned again that night for dinner, but didn't stay late.

Souvenir shopping in Athens

Back at the hotel we asked for a 5 a.m. wake-up call - yeuch, back to normal tomorrow.

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