Oia, Santorini
Just move along folks, there is nothing to see here. We’re on vacation so there is no news from
the big town of Oia, Santorini, Greece.
We got a huge night’s sleep last night.
Mary has been coughing for the last two months and John has joined the
club. It is all about having nothing to
do for a few days so the bodies say, “this is a good time to break down.” A great night’s sleep has both of us feeling
pretty good this morning but with the help of drugs.
John goes out at 7:30 for pastries at the local bakery and
finds out that they open at 9:00. Wow,
this place really is laid back. We have
a couple apples and some crunchy pieces of cardboard disguised as food for
breakfast. Mary gets the coffee maker
sort of working and we do get a pot in about a half hour. We have picked bathrooms (or one of us has)
and the next adventures are the showers in our tiny bathrooms with no shower
curtains. But first we need to turn on the boiler to heat the water and that takes about 10 - 15 minutes. Each new spot to stay has its
own challenges and this is no different.
So far Santorini seems to be a blend of first world Gucci and third
world “Borat.”
Our mission today is to explore our domain in detail, or at
least more detail then the cursory review last night. Blended in with that is our need to find some
groceries for breakfasts in our villa and some drinking water. No you can’t drink the tap water here. We cover a lot of the same steps from last
night and check out 4 different grocery “Super Markets.” These are all the size of a small 7-11 back
home so we opt for the one furthest from the center of town with the thought
being that it would be the most likely to cater to locals and therefore not rip
off tourists. It is also the farthest to
carry bottled water. We buy it anyway
along with some yogurt, fruit and cereal and we’re set for a couple breakfasts.
We run that back to our home on the hill, and then begin the
search for lunch. Mary is set on gyros
for lunch today and we discover it is like corned beef and cabbage in
Ireland. Finally we get to the main road
away from the touristy streets and they have gyros and special gyros. We ask what the difference is and the waiter
says, “They’re the same.” OK, we order
one of each trying to be funny. The
gyros aren’t what we normally have at home.
They have sliced roast lamb as well as the tzatziki, tomatoes, feta and
onions with quartered pitas. Works for
us and we wash it down with a Mythos beer.
We do a bit more exploring of the city proper before taking
our afternoon break with a promise to move again for the sunset. We take up positions on lounge chairs on our
balcony and read books while peeking at the bright blue waves and ships in the
caldera below. It is very pleasant but
these little cave houses are so close together that people are walking within a
few feet of us whenever they walk past on the upward or downward path. When in Oia…
At about 4:30 we head for the point of the island a few
“blocks” away for the big time sunset.
Unfortunately there is a low cloud bank on the western horizon blocking
the great green flash sort of view so we go for another little walk before
heading back to continue our vacation.
We have a welcome bottle of wine in our fridge and decide we can risk
getting up and down the steps after a happy hour so we pop the top and move to
our balcony as the evening turns into night.
It is a perfect evening as the lights all around the caldera start to
come on and we watch a big cruise ship sail right below us in its way north. We’re sure they’re having fun on the ship but
we don’t envy them from our little piece of heaven.
Nap, eat, nap eat.
That’s our routine for a few days so dinner is next up. Mary now has her heart set on a spinach
pie. We march the full length of the
pedestrian walkway looking at every menu and then back again. Eventually we opt for the same place we ate
last night, Skala (Sigma-kappa-alpha-lambda-alpha on the other side of the
sign). They have the plastic down on the
water side windows but not on the sides which makes it a little more inviting
than before. We split a Greek salad (not
as good as Bites) and John has the meat mousaka and Mary finds a cheese and
spinach pie on the menu. Unfortunately
when it arrives it is only a cheese pie in a puff pastry sort of crust. Not perfect but with the serviceable house
wine it is all fine for us tonight.
One more arm-in-arm stroll around town and then off to
bed. We have to protect our health.
What did we learn today?
Local stores are hard to buy from but have great prices; tourist stores
are easy to buy from but have high prices.
Hmmmmm.
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