Santorini

We took off for Santorini on a beautiful clear day and didn't even need the Dramamine we took for the ferry ride. There is nothing quite like coming into the port in Santorini, since you are motoring into a caldera formed by one of the largest volcanoes in history. All you see around you are a few small, burnt and uninhabited islands in the centre, then these huge cliffs, with a sugaring of houses at the top. When we go off the ship, we realized that climbing up to the top of the cliff in order to get to the main town of Fira wasn't an option. We looked for the elusive city bus which was supposed to take us into town, but couldn't find it and were told the next one would be coming when the next ferry arrivedabout 4 hours later. We were then bombarded by people from the surrounding hotels, anxious to get us to stay there and promising great views far outside of the main cities. We finally found a taxi and our nice taxi driver let us know of a good place to say in Fira, and dropped us off at the Hotel Flora, where the prices were reasonable (since it didn't actually overlook the western coast, but we had a nice view of the eastern coast from our balcony) and the rooms were big and clean. We dropped off our stuff and headed to the main street. Since the shops, restaurants, and hotels are built along the cliff, the entrances off of the main street are often just doors looking out to the sea with steps leading downward. Leo led us on a death march along the main street, which we found actually connected separate towns...we saw three of them by the end of our hike. We hiked through Fira, then Firostefani, and then Imerovigli. The views were incredible and we marveled at how low the walls were which overlooked the cliffs that descended into the ocean (in the US there would probably be much higher walls, someone guarding them, and signs everywhere telling you to stand back and be safe). As walked...and walked...and walked, we passed by swanky hotels, pretty people sitting at pool bars, churches, rundown house, and finally we came upon this sad donkey, which appeared to live in a cave. Feeling much like the tired donkey, we headed back in the direction of Fira with the hopes of finding a cute little bar we had passed at some point in our walk. Luckily for Leo and John, I have a much better sense of direction than they do, so we were actually able to find the place. We had a drink outside overlooking the water, then headed inside to talk to Mario, the bartender, who gave us some free drinks, taught us about Santorini wines, told us all about the island and printed out a map for us of the places we should see and where were should eat. He also gave us an itinerary for Athens, which we would hit later on in the trip, since he is from there. After two bottles of wine, a few rounds of cards, and an interesting conversation with an American staying at the attached upscale hotel about politics, we headed to one of the restaurants Mario suggested and had yet another amazing meal.