October 29, 2015

We’re Going on Vacation

It’s a 4:50 wake-up this morning but that’s OK because you know how it is when you’re going on vacation.  We’ve been working pretty hard for the last 7 weeks and we have scheduled ourselves 5 days to sit on a Greek island to read books and go for walks with no museums or ancient ruins.  After this it is a two week busy sprint to the finish of Europe 2015.

We’re packed and ready to go by 6:00 and the front desk guy calls a cab for us.  We arrive at the ferry port at about 6:35 for our 7:25 departure.  After a couple false moves on the ferry we find some comfy chairs by a window with an electric outlet to keep everything charged and off we go.

The ferry is an 8-decker which we’re sure is really busy in the summer but not so much now.  Breakfast is a couple muffins and coffee but we can hardly wait until lunch when Goody’s Burger Bar opens.  It’s a pretty day to be on the water for our 8-hour cruise.  There is a pretty heavy chop on the water but the big ship seems to handle it very well.  We looked at scheduling a flight—they’re cheap—but for the hassle of doing the whole airport and baggage check routine this is a relaxing alternative and a pretty day on the water.

We have three stops with the first, Paros, about four hours out.  These are the Greek islands that everyone talks about and we get a peek at Naxos and Los after Paros.  It is all pretty spectacular.  Once we leave Paros the other islands are all within view although there is an hour sailing time between each.  Mary hits Goody’s for lunch and grabs a couple combo meals that surprisingly (in a good way) come with a Heineken.  We take turns reading, fiddling around on the computer and walking the decks.  Is that a nice start to a vacation or what?

We arrive at our destination, Santorini, at 3:20 and are met by our driver (yes, our driver) for the 20 minute drive to Oia and our little cave home.  There we are met by Tim the porter who grabs both suitcases, one in his hand and one on his shoulder, to lead us up a long stone path through the village and then multiple flights down old stone steps to our front door.  We’re puffing and Tim isn’t.  These homes are dug out of the hillside with one side open to the water and the other three sides tucked into the hillside.  We have a two story with the entry on level one and another bedroom, bath and patio upstairs.  Tim gives us the quick intro and calls Fanis our real host who will come over for the real intro.

Santorini is the curved top of a volcano that wraps around a caldera making for unbelievable views.  That coupled with the white and blue villages around the rim makes this the poster child for Greek islands.  Fanis gives us the local spiel when he shows up about where to eat, shop and play and we give him a little list of things we think are missing.  No problem.  We swap text numbers and we’re on our own.

Our first order of business is to explore Oia.  We struggle up the stone steps to the main pedestrian walkway that runs along the top of the cliff on the water side.  There are shops and restaurants lining both sides of the walkway that probably extends about a mile along the rim.  We are somewhere in the middle and we make note of the shops on both sides of our stairway to make sure we can find it again.

First impression is that these shops are really upscale and are designed for the parade of elephants (cruise ship buses) that show up each day to disgorge their passengers for a couple hours of “Greece.”  Our traveler snobbiness is showing again.  It is unbelievably beautiful, however, and as we are here near sunset we are getting great light effects.

After enough walking for now we get back to the villa so Mary can continue the laundry she started earlier and John can fiddle with some camera shots.  There will be no new pictures for the next few days, we could take three and repeat on and on because they will be the same views that inspire thousands of paintings.

There is no happy hour for us tonight since we don’t know how to get up the steps in the dark.  We are old and don’t need to be breaking a hip.  We have a couple restaurant recommendations from Fanis and settle on Skala that hangs over the side of the cliff on the water side.  It is a little chilly and breezy tonight so the plastic coverings are pulled down around the outside of the patio.  That doesn’t help the view but it is still pleasant to be outside. 

We share a fava bean puree (local specialty) and then John has a lamb shank baked in parchment with tomatoes and peppers and Mary has a fresh cod baked with the same veggies.  Both are very good.  The 10-euro bottle of house wine is serviceable for the price.  The service is reasonable for Greece and you can tell that they are accustomed to dealing with tourists. 

There is a problem on our walk back.  All the shops are closed and boarded up for the night and we walk right past our stairway down.  We probably are 5-minutes beyond our turnoff before we realize that we have gone way too far.  We do an about-face and finally recognize a clue in the now unfamiliar landscape that leads to the right stairs.  Mary, of course, has a flashlight that improves the dim lighting so we can find our way back down without further issues.

There is a full moon shining on the water.  We try to take a picture of the moon over the lighted hillside but of course phone cameras aren’t designed to do that.  We’ll just have to remember it.  We try to read for 2 minutes before falling asleep.  A good first day of vacation.

What did we learn today?  If we have the time, slow travel can be better than fast travel.