We walked from the hotel, through to the town and then along the cliff side, gazing out at the great views in front of us. Every step you wanted to take more and more photos (even though it was really all the same shot).
We reached the cable car station and boarded the carriages. They were small, only fitting six people or seven at a squeeze. Stella had to jump in ours because they´d run out of room in the other carriages. The ride down wasn´t bad. It was quite steep but not that fast. I don´t really know why people bother screaming on these things.
At the bottom we got out and went into the old port area. Once the whole group had gathered we got onto a boat that would take us around the Caldera. It´s name was the Alkyon. It was a motorboat but large and wooden, with sales. I don´t think it would have been used as a sailboat for a long time though, was just a remnant from its life. The water was choppy and we got spray over the sides, getting us a bit wet as we went.
Our first stop was over to the middle island of the Caldera. This was the main volcano island. We pulled into a cove and up to the small docks they had there. We left our stuff with Niki at the entrance and headed up with a guide to the top of the volcano. It was a decent length of a hike but not too steep. The problem was the loose, gravely and rocky surface which we kept slipping on.
We reached the top. It was windy. Like, very windy. The view was pretty impressive from there because you just about had a 360 view of all the surrounding islands of Santorini. We got some pics in but hair was blowing everywhere.
From there we started walking over to the major crater, King George II. We could see vents peaking out through the rock. They were coloured green and you could see clearly the sulfur spewing out of them. That was much more impressive than the crater itself which wasn´t really all that amazing.
We headed back to the boat to find that we had been parked in by another two or three boats, kind of like what I saw happening at Luxor. We waited for those boats to leave and then we made our way out. We sailed over to a secluded bay where there were hot springs.
We pulled alongside another tourist boat and then most of us jumped into the water. There was a staircase too but given the option, this was much more fun. The water was warm. We swam over to the hot spring which was just a little alcove closer to the island. The temperature there was so nice and toasty. The place also had, and was famous for, the mud there. It was coloured with the reds and greens of iron and sulfur minerals. The mud was pretty cool but to be honest, it had nothing on the Dead Sea mud that we had in Israel. The stuff was also kind of gross and stuck to everything, hard to get off even when swimming back through the water to the boat.
On the boat we dried off. Luckily, we took the towels from the hotel, because the mud stuff made them completely dirty. Between that and the salt from the water I felt a bit gross.
We docked next at Thirasia (meaning little Thira). This was our stop for lunch. We had food at a place called Captain Johns, with Greek salad and tatziki and bread to start. The mains was a local delicacy of the island, the name evading me, consisting of pasta, calamari and tomato sauce. Was pretty good.
We stayed for a bit and then made our way back towards Thira. The water was a bit worse, or we were just heading perpendicular to the wind, and the spray got worse too. We were getting a bit wet and then all of a sudden a massive amount of water came over and drenched me completely. It was pretty funny. I was laughing with a foreign couple who were sitting near, and who also got soaked.
We arrived back at the old port and disembarked. In order to get back up the hill we would take donkeys up the 580 or so steps to the town. The donkeys turned out more to be mules than the funny little things I caught glimpses of in other places. That was okay, they were still donkeys to me.
The ride up was interesting. First, there was the Greek donkey guy who was helping us get on, shouting something in Greek to me over and over again, and me not understanding a word of it. I finally figured that he wanted me to put my foot in the stirrup. I was about the tenth person to get on a donkey but my ride seemed to be determined to be the first up. He was on speed or something, occasionally making with quick bursts of speed, zig-zagging along the path. He so had racing in his blood (mule racing anyone?).
We eventually got up to the top. It was all a bit chaotic, with parked donkeys and some heading back down. Again, there was a guy saying something to me in Greek and me not understanding it, but I finally figured it out and was able to dismount, minding all the crap on the floor.
In town Emma bought a couple donkey marionettes and I bought myself a shot glass for Santorini. We walked back through to the hotel, getting partially lost on the way but eventually finding our way back.
At the hotel we jumped pretty much straight into the pool. I was hoping to get some of the muck off myself by swimming in the nicer water. I don´t think it helped all too much but the water was nice anyway. I had a shower, trying again to purge myself of all the yuck and muck from the day. I think I was still covered in salt and things afterwards.
We spent a couple hours writing blogs, listening to music and eating snacks. Basically, just recovering from the day. From there we went up to the breakfast area where people were gathered and having some drinks. We were going to head off to our farewell dinner that night so some drinks were naturally in order. Dinner was by a bus ride across part of the island, to a place called No Name.
The food wasn´t too bad but the wine wasn´t that great. Greek dancing done by a few of us. It was kind of like doing the horrah (Jewish dancing) but with zorba music in the background. Em and I were two of the first people to jump up and get involved. Most people didn't even bother. Their loss if they don't want to have fun.
After dinner some people went out to clubs but the rest of us just rode the bus back to the hotel and got some sleep.
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