Tim & Denise Tiner Travels: 2017 Greece - Day Six

October 19, 2017

Wow...I slept so good last night. I did not wake up until 8:30 AM. I think that is a record. But I was first up! We had a nice lazy morning. We ate some Greek Yoghurt with some grapes, bananas and fruit juice that we bought. We also bought some pita\waffle like things and toasted them. The lady who owns this home had some homemade jam on the table. Denise did not like it. But I did. I think it was made from figs.

After breakfast, we got into our swimming gear and headed out the door to Oia. I think it is the furthest west that you can go in Santorini. And it is the most photographed town on the island. But it was not as crowded as Fira because you have to get an excursion to get to Oia from the cruise ships. So not as many do that and stay in Fira. But the classic picture of 3 church like houses with the blue roofs is found in Oia. We took pictures of that in the evening as we waited for the sun to go down. I'll come back to that.

We arrived to Oia around 11:30 AM. We found a centrally located parking lot in Oia and paid 5 euro for it. We walked around taking in the shops and stuff for a couple of hours and then we found a nice restaurant to eat lunch. Our waiter (no women are waiters here) was a guy from Sparta on the mainland. He was a great guy who enjoyed telling us about things to see if we drove to Sparta from Athens. But the nice thing was that he sang the Greek 'Happy Birthday' song to our travel mate and dear friend, Michelle. She is turning...I won't say...today. I hope the day was special. At one point, Michelle saw one of those places where you put your feet in water with a bunch of fish that are supposed to chew bad stuff away from your feet. For 10 minutes...10 euro. So they did it...her and Denise. It was a amazing. You have to watch the video. They put their feet in and it was like they had blood in the water and these little guys were like hungry sharks. They go to town on your skin. Now...they don't have any teeth...so all is good. But it was fascinating to watch. Denise no longer limps because of it! Miracle!!! :-) Just kidding.

After we were done, it was about 3'ish and we wanted to come back to Oia to see the sun set...a big deal here. But we wanted to try to find a beach. Well, we made a couple of attempts at beaches that we hoped we could easily get to. But, as time went on, I started worrying that we would not have enough time to get cleaned up and get back to Oia. So I just gave up on it and I was driving. Back to the apartment we went. On the way, we stopped to get gas because it was getting low and I did not want to get it later. We pulled in and a guy, sitting on the ground next to the gas hoses, gets up and asks how much we want. The challenge is that we got the car half full and we had to bring it back that way. It was at about a quarter. So we thought about 10 euros would do it. But then Scott asks the guy what he thought. So we meanders over to my window to look at the gas gauge. He says, you will need 20 euros. Scott and I look at each other....and I know we're both thinking he is ripping us off. We both say to him...10 euros only please. So he puts 10 in...and it does not get close...only about half way to being half full. We don't say anything...he hands us the receipt and off we go knowing we are stopping here again later with hopes he has gone home for the night! :-)

We eventually got cleaned up and headed back to Oia. The funny part about this drive over and over is that we are driving through a section of road under construction for a good mile or so in total. Their construction is torn up dirt roads not smoothed out yet. We knew we should not be on them but it was the fastest and safest route between Oia and our BNB. At one point a fellow on the street saw us driving on these dirt roads and really gave us the stink eye for doing that. It was funny.

We got into Oia to watch the sun go down. But we first wanted to go to the picture point where you can get the iconic picture of the 3 churches with blue roof tops. (Blue roof tops are every where...but these 3 have become iconic...not sure why.). We found the spot and there was already a crowd there taking place to see the sun go down. We went through the crowd and found a place that we thought might work. While sitting and waiting there, we saw this 200 year old woman bringing people into a 'private' area and then screaming at them within a few minutes to leave. We wondered what she was doing. She was actually being nice...trying to get as many people into an area where they could get a really good picture. But you could not linger. As the sun was setting, some guys crawled on to roof tops that were a bit more extended out. This old gal saw these guys and, holy smokes, started ripping into them with all that Greek goodness! She was so funny to watch. Scott eventually went up to here, took a selfie with her ( I think Denise did too.) and gave her a big hug. She loved it and welcomed him into her 'presidential' suite that only special invitees got into. She was quite the lady.

Since the earth rotates and the sun was not dropping fast enough, we were not able to see it sink into the sea. We were close but no cigar. Nonetheless, the experience was pretty darn fun.

We next headed to find a nice restaurant looking out over the sea. It was dark, but the lights were so pretty twinkling from the many cave homes on the side of the cliff. The food we acquired was quite good. A bit more pricey. But heck, you are in Oia, in Santorini, with million dollar views. I cannot imagine the cost of such in thing in the USA.

Well, after dinner, we drove the same 'construction' route home. This time it was dark. If someone was yelling at me...I was not going to see it. We did return to the same gas station to get more gas. Fortunately our friend was replaced by someone else. We ended putting another 20 euro...30 total. So the 20 the earlier guy would not have cut it. I think gas here is about $9 per gallon. I'm guessing.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Athens for 3 nights to complete our trip. It has been a ton of fun. Great things to see, great food, with some great friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!!!

Pictures:

Breakfast on the porch outside the family room...