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Amber's Journal - Day 5: Today started with a nice relaxing little sail in the caldera to go see an active volcano! We had the option today of hopping in for a swim...but the Aegean is almost as cold as home! We decided to be sissies and just relax on our lovely boat. The squeals of "EEEE it's cold!" amused us for quite some time! Since we'd spent time in the water already we didn't feel like another dip. Our hike up the dormant volcano at Santorini was indeed as moonscape like as the descriptions claimed--at last my hiking boots bit into some good honest, marble free terrain as they carried me up rocky blasted slopes, down gravelly terrain, and over lots and lots of blasted volcanic rock. It's stunning and magnificent, but not a forgiving landscape. Vegetation is rare and vents still seep a bit of sulfur and steam. From here you can appreciate that you're really in the caldera of a vast, half sunken volcano and that the islands around here once formed an even larger ring shaped island that was blown half to hell by one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. The possibility of this area being the lost "continent" of Atlantis feels downright and utterly plausible. We swung by the island of Plaka for another great lunch of grilled swordfish and another short hike. Our day ended with touring the picture-postcard town of Oia which you have to get to by...wait for it....RIDING A MULE UP A STAIRCASE! It's Mr. Toads' Greek Wild Ride! You don't have working reins so you can't control the animal at all--he knows where to go, but EEEEE! It's fun, crazy, scary as all hell and totally mind-blowing that the donkeys and mules are walking up a flight of steps up a steep path! I could barely look down....and was WAY too scared to even try to take any pictures! To quote George Takai "OH MY!" Oia is worth seeing--it's so pretty it's almost like a movie set with the little cement domed houses, the bright colors, and the glittering sea WAY damn below. Greece is a bad place occasionally if you fear heights and were dumb enough to leave your walking stick (bought specifically to HELP balance on high places) home. We also in this hotel had a two story hotel room--the bed was in a tiny loft on the second floor. One side of our room overlooked a vineyard and one side overlooked the water and the road that was under construction. Our driver solved the problem of the road being under construction by the simple means of driving on the sidewalk--which soothingly overlooks a nice sheer drop to the water. Greek drivers--they're amazing! |
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