Boarding can be a bit of scrum as
everyone rushes to get on board and get the best seats. The Chinese proved to be past
masters at this
It’s a nice modern ferry with lots of
floor to ceiling windows for the views. These people had obviously boarded at
dawn
Breakfast was a cheese, tomato and ham roll, soft and with little flavour, and a coffee, Nescafe, weak
There is a consistency here and you learn quickly what to avoid
Most of the ferries leave early morning or mid afternoon
And they vie for 'parking' with lots
of cruise ships. We saw plenty of them while in the islands
We are 'OFF" on a cloudy, misty
but warm morning
This one was off to another of the
islands
We were told not to take the expensive
'Fast' ferries as they often get in at the same time as the Blue Star Line. And
many of them are twin hulled; the 'ride' is not very comfortable in Lynne's
experience and, often, you are restricted in movement
The Greek flag waving the island
colours
We crossed paths with many, many
freight ships and tankers, it's a busy seaway...
... and Lynne was lucky enough to see
dolphins riding our wake. But they had gone by the time John with camera
ventured on deck
You pass many of the Aegean islands,
some populated, others not
Rising from the sea like an iceberg,
this island was formed by continental shift
We sat in the front lounge (no
smoking) and very comfortable it was
Later, we managed to get window seats which were better and John found a socket to charge his laptop
The queue at the bar for drinks and
snacks
Wind and solar power are everywhere in
Greece
Not habitable, except for a warning
light and birds
We stopped briefly at three other
islands before we got to Santorini. The turnaround of passengers and vehicles
is very fast and efficient
This little fishing boat was nearly swamped by our wake
Seaside villas in the classic white
and blue. The Greeks understand about white being a cooling, reflective colour
We never can understand why people in SA paint their seaside houses dark grey or khaki. Not only unattractive, but hot
Lots of people charter yachts and sail
around the islands for a couple of weeks
Ah, the sun is out and the blue Aegean
is showing its colours
We arrive at Naxos and are interested
to see it, as this will be our stop after Santorini
The classic Naxos gate – the remains
of a temple to Apollo
A home or monastery high in the hills above
Naxos
A classic Greek Island church on Ios, built right on the headland
It is a long way from the houses. Must
have dedicated parishioners
We met some British people who had come to this island (Ios) to get married
Then we rounded a corner and there was
the magnificent caldera of Santorini, and the bay filled with cruise liners
disgorging their passengers into smaller boats as they are too large to dock. The
cliffs are so steep here. All the towns run along the top of the caldera
Queuing to disembark
Our bus was there to collect us to
take us to our hotel, or so we thought
The road up from the new harbour is
very steep, with lots of hairpin bends and you drive in a procession when a ferry has
arrived
Our view of the ferry port from the top of
the vertiginous cliffs
All the good hotels and accommodation
people do transfers to the port. Some are free
There is a consistency here and you learn quickly what to avoid
Most of the ferries leave early morning or mid afternoon
Later, we managed to get window seats which were better and John found a socket to charge his laptop
This little fishing boat was nearly swamped by our wake
We never can understand why people in SA paint their seaside houses dark grey or khaki. Not only unattractive, but hot
We met some British people who had come to this island (Ios) to get married
And we arrive, not in our hotel, but
in a dingy small bed and breakfast place called Blue Sky Hotel owned by the
same people. Nice view of the cement mixers, electric power lines and the wrong
side of the island, and a very long walk indeed from restaurants and shops. They
told us we could not stay the first night in the accommodation we’d booked, as
there had been an "Accident". Unfortunately for them, we spoke to the
other guests and it seems that the accident was a regular occurrence. We also
checked on the net and the other hotel still had rooms available for an
exorbitant and laughable €4000 a night, nothing like the price we had paid. They
would never get that ridiculous rate, the accommodation is just not that good. We
paid €120 for three nights. It is a scam which we heard about all over the
island; they are known for it. They overbook and then you get put in this place
they can't sell. We protested very loudly, reported them to Bookings.com (we
are still waiting a response from them) and discovered lots of previous complaints
about them on the site. We were moved the next morning and were given a free boat
tour to the hot springs and the volcano. We discovered that they tell lies about
lots of things
There was just enough space to sit
down on the balcony
with the 'view' of the construction equipment
Compensation on our long walk to
dinner,
a friendly and well cared for cat
We began the hunt for a restaurant
We found the main 'take away' street
where everyone was queuing for souvlaki, kebabs or Chinese food (at double the
price). But we decided, after such a long two days, that we needed spoiling and
a proper restaurant meal
We found this gem called Ouzeri, above
the streets with its own terrace. We see that it gets 4.5 stars on Trip
Advisor
His Australian wife had started work in the restaurant that evening
and had a lovely smoky note. It was rather tough though. The bean purée is rich and flavoursome, but rather overwhelmed the dish
It needed something green on the plate
The chicken was beautifully moist and the red peppers gave the dish the right degree of piquancy
And you need the water. Sadly the same bottle of water costs 38c in the supermarkets
They did bring us a free dessert - a plate of yoghurt and syrupy cherries to share
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor
& Bacchus 2015
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