Day 12: Ferry -> Santorini

Monday, September 24

Not really sure when day 12 started, given our marathon time on the ferry in the Iraklion port.

I do remember when Daniel pointed out the distant shape of Santorini. As it grew closer, I wondered if it could live up to all the build up it had gotten for us on this trip.

Sailing up to land takes an amazingly long time. And, with anything large, it always seems closer because you can't truly appreciate how large it is. So, it wasn't until we were sailing past the southern part of the island that Santorini started living up to all the hype.

The caldera (volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption) is breathtaking, from both below and above. Sailing along, there are spots along the top of the caldera look like they are snow covered, but it's really just the white-washed buildings that make up the cities of Santorini. In the middle of it all is a low black island that is the latest output of the volcano that still lives under the sea.

Athinios, where the ships dock, is just a little way-station that supports the coming and going of tourists. It was a sea of people and transport vessels. We tried to suss out what was going on. Daniel walked farther along while I waited. A bus driver whose bus named the city we wanted to head to, Kamari, walked by, picking up a news paper in the shop I was standing in front of. I asked him about going to Kamari and he offered to drive us for 10 Euros. I got Daniel and we were off without delay.

The drive up the switchbacks gave us great views going up. The driver knew the name of the place we wanted, and dropped us off around the corner. Our hotel made me even happier to be in Santorini. I forgot to take a picture of the room, which had dark wood furniture, but it was charming. An older woman runs it who hardly speaks any English, as we'd discovered in our calls to the hotel trying to adjust our reservation.

I think we took a walk around the main beach drag and probably had some lunch somewhere. We got some big waters and Daniel got some more Gatorade, which he'd been taking since he started feeling sick. I know we slept because we were both very tired from the ferry.

I went to dinner by myself to the Crepe Academy. Had a lemon, sugar, cinnamon crepe. The check came in a little Plexiglas stand with a cylindrical area to hold the cash register receipt. The moon was full and looked amazing over the water. I got a pretty good picture.