Mykonos to Santorini

I set the alarm for 9.30 I think, and went up to breakfast. I chatted to Fran for a while.

I really wanted to get the bus back into town to see the museums and then go back via Paradise Beach, but I didn’t have enough time, so took some photos, had a walk up the beach and then took my place beside the pool. I sunbaked, then we ordered baklava for ‘lunch’. I couldn’t bring myself to eat a proper lunch, but wish I could have. I was really dreading the boat trip to Santorini because the wind was very strong and the boat had assigned seating and no deck.

We got the hotel shuttle to the port and wandered for a few minutes before sitting uncomfortably on my bag to wait for the boat. It was due to leave at 2.45, but was delayed until about 3.45. There were some gypsies waiting next to us and they sent a child playing random notes on a piano accordion up the aisles to collect money.

The boat arrived and our bags went on the back deck again. I had kept my camera and passport with me in case the boat capsized (John had scared me with tales of previous voyages). We found our seats – right at the front with a big wall and a TV in front. I think everyone had taken John’s Dramamine, and I had taken one of my tablets, but I turned myself firmly in the direction of the window and my eyes on the horizon. The trip was quite rough, and splashes kept obscuring my view out the window. John came and checked on us to make sure we were feeling OK. We stopped at Paros and Ios and arrived at Santorini at about 6.45. From the water, the cliffs looked very dark with light rock up the top. Once the water on the window cleared, I realised the lightness was actually houses.

 We got on two minibuses and made the precarious zig-zag up the cliff face. John pointed out and described the two volcanoes on the way, and described the caldera, and any other features of interest. We got to Hotel Margarita and were taken to our rooms before meeting for the walking tour at about 8.15. It was the first (and only) night that felt remotely cool, and most people donned jeans. We walked around the coast way from Firastefani to Thira and the view absolutely floored me. What a stunning place. I stupidly didn’t take my camera so never got any night shots of Thira. It was interesting to see that many of the buildings were varying shades of beige instead of white and blue. We walked through the shops and John pointed out the features.

We were going to have dinner at John’s favourite Italian restaurant so we followed him there but it was full. Instead we went to a good Greek taverna. John ordered starters for the table and we ordered our own mains. The red wine was foul but the food was excellent. There was discussion about when the boat left to go back to Piraeus – John said it was 10am, but our itinerary said it was in the afternoon. This was a problem because of the boat from Mykonos having been late and this fact leaving us only one day to spend in Santorini. John was concerned, and suggested the possibility of taking the 10pm boat instead of the 10am boat. This would have got us back to Athens around 7am which didn’t suit everyone. We asked about the possibility of some taking the morning boat and the rest taking the night boat. John said he’d ring the office. As a consolation, he offered to find out about driving us around the island in the hotel minibus. I was pretty enthusiastic about that considering how long we’d have to wait to fit in with buses and how much time would be wasted as a result. It was heartbreaking to think that having discovered this beautiful place we couldn’t see it properly.

After dinner, we girls had a shopping expedition. I bought nothing except my third and final bracelet of the island set – a black leather one. We headed back and to bed by midnight.