2017 Greece - Day Six - Oia, Oia, Oia....

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...

Some pictures in Oia...this is the main church in a little square in Oia.

Plush life for some....crazy where they can put swimming pools.

Such a pretty place...but still mules go up and down.  But this time...did not see poop!

Nice map of the Greek isles....

Fish feeding...happy customers.

The 200 year old Greek woman who managed who got good shots of the three blue domes in Oia.  She was either really happy or screaming...pretty funny!

The sun sets on Oia for us....

Nice place to eat our evening meal....

Great friends...

2017 Greece - Day Five - Santorini by storm.

October 18, 2017

As you saw, I was writing yesterday's blog at the Athens airport.  So I will pick up from there.

At 4:30 AM, went to the Sky Express checkin counter.  It was a good thing as they gave us First Class seats.  No...just kidding.  They did give us row 2, A - D.  But this was a prop plane and the idea of first class for this plane was not happening.  As the gate agent checked us in, she gave us a free pass to a lounge area where we could get a free breakfast.  It was really nice as we waited an hour for our flight to depart.  The flight left promptly on time and from wheels up to touch down, it was about 50 minutes.  We were in Santorini at 8 AM.

We immediately rented a nice rental car.  It is a Jeep and accommodates us all nicely.  We then managed our way to our BNB, which feels like it is at the end of the airports runway.  It is really close.  But, it is really nice and big.  We are really going to enjoy it.

Denise and Michelle took a nap until about 10 AM'ish.  Scott and I laid around after showering waiting to go out to see the sites. At around noon, we went and bought some groceries at a little market.  As I drove, I wondered what the heck I was thinking...they drive crazy here.  I could not find a parking place so I let them out and drove around and around.  At one point, I met a very large bus coming down a narrow lane head on.  The driver yelled something at me.  But I kept going and eventually maneuvered around it.

After getting the groceries back to our apartment, we headed out to Fira, the capital of Santorini.  It is the port town where cruise ships dock and tender thousands of people to Fira.  But Fira is mile up the mountain...or so it feels.  There is a switch back trail that goes up the mountain.  There is also a tram that takes people up for 6 euros.  So after walking up into the main area, we went over to the tram to see if we wanted to take it down.  We decided to walk it down and then take the tram up.

The trail down should be called the 'Donkey Poop' trail.  Since mules will take people down and up this path, it is full of their waste.  It smelt horrible and in some places it was very slippery.  Scott and I agreed we would NEVER do this again and NEVER take a mule down or up it.  Anyway, we made it down with out breaking an ankle like my favorite boy, Gordon Hayward.  Sad news about him.  Upon get getting down and wandering around, we decided to see what the tram cost.  At that point, we decided to go buy a ticket for the Tram ride back up.  However, the line was SOOO long that it was going to be hours before we saw a tram car.  Together, we made the majority decision to ride the mules up....well there was one 'no' vote but it was overridden. I won't tell who voted no.  Off we went to get a mule.  A guy coming down the trail said he had mules and would have them take us up for 20 euro for all 4 of us.  He took our money and told us to go up the trail a bit and wait for him.  After a few minutes, we started thinking that this guy pocketed our 20 euro and we'd never see him again.  But he eventually showed back up.  We all boarded those poor mules and off we went.  These mules were all over the trail.  They were not connected and their leader stayed behind at the bottom.  But these mules knew exactly what to do.  They would walk a ways, stop and rest, and then go again.  It was amazing.  It was more amazing that our 'no' vote got on and ended up thanking her mule profusely when the mule ride was over.

To close the night off, after touring around the island looking at many of the villages, we ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant that overlooks the valley out to the sea.  It had high Trip Advisor review marks and it did not disappoint.  It was so good and fairly reasonable.  And the view across the valley down to the sea was awesome.  It was called Metaxi Mas.

Well...I'm tired and going to bed.  

Pictures;

More to come...Pictures:

Size of luggage is key on these airlines.  But we are passing so far.

Zonked out!  Good little sleepers they are...  :-)

On our way to Santorini!!!

The outside of our BNB.  It is really nice with lots of interesting plants all around it.

The front room...

Walking down a Fira street....

Happy shoppers....

Finally, Greek Gyros!

Scott had mule gyro....yuk!

City of Fira.....

The caldera.....the body of water formed by a volcano.

Lots of these little churches everywhere...

A true mule girl!

This is a picture of a picture.  They snapped pictures along the trail up.  You can see the sheerness of the cliffs.  And it was pretty scary when that mule took you right to the edge.  And, there was no human leader.  He just said go at the bottom and the mules would start walking.  They would go a while then just stop to rest...then go again.

Thanking her pony!

Nice pick looking back at Fira....

2017 Italy - Day Four - Pompeii and travel to Greece.

October 17, 2017.

Thinking about yesterday...it was just amazing that we rented a boat and spent the bulk of the day in the ocean seeing the island of Capri and the Amalfi coast.  Just amazing.

After getting back tour apartment, we showered and then went down to the small plaza and ate at one of the restaurants in Atrani.  The food was ok.  Probably cheapest eatery we've been to.  The waiter was an interesting fellow.  But I'll leave it at that.

We then returned and lined up our stuff for our big, very long travel day.  We all retired around 11 PM.  However, I laid awake until 4 AM.  I got up many times.  I read the Desert News.  I went online to respond to emails.  I just could not sleep.  It was the worst insomnia ever.  And it came at the worst time as we were going to be up from 6 AM on Tuesday until 10 PM on Wednesday due to the flights we would be taking.

At 7 AM, we left our apartment to catch a bus to Salerno.  We went down to the square and before we knew it, the bus was there and fortunately there were seats.  After a few stops the bus was full of Jr. High aged kids going into Salerno for school...which is over 1 hour ride on the most dangerously windy and narrow road.  I've never, EVER, seen bus drivers do what they do on this road.  The bus is constantly stopping and inching by cars and other busses.  And I'm not kidding, there is only a couple of inches between them when passing by very slowly.  It was only 22 Km from Atrani to Salerno...but it take 1 hour and 10 minutes to do the drive.

At Salerno, we caught a train to Pompeii.  Scott had us all download the Rick Steve's audio tour of Pompeii.  So upon arriving at the Pompeii train station, we had to find where we could leave our bags.  A lady flagged us over and said she would watch them in her diner for 2.5 euros per bag.  So we left our large bags, but kept our smaller ones.  We should of left those too.  The walk to the ruins was about a 15 minute walk.  And upon arriving to the ticket booth, there were a ton of students there trying to get ticketed to get in.  It took a bit to get our tickets.  Once in, we noticed that Rick Steve's, was not starting at the point where we were at.  So we had to figure it out.  That is when the journey began.  We eventually found the starting point.  But we walked and walked, in a circle initially, but finally found the starting point.  The audio tour was awesome and helped explain a small portion of Pompeii.  It is quite large.  Much to see.  We spent about 3 hours walking around seeing stuff...and those hand bags...wow...they became really, really heavy.  One funny note...the most heavily visited site was the Brothel.  It was actually an interesting place and you can only imagine what went on there.  But the frescos on the wall could be considered a bit pornographic.  They said it was their advertisements.  Crazy times it was back then.

After leaving the ruins, we did the 15 minute walk back to the train station.  We retrieved our bags, went into the station and grabbed some train tickets to Naples (Napoli).  We wanted to go to Naples Centrale.  But after a few minutes we noticed that Centrale was not on our list of stops.  So we realized we were not on the right line...or so we thought.  Well, I asked Scott to speak with a guy behind us.  It turns out that one of our stops was combined with Centrale....so we were ok.  The fellow was a Radiologist and very nice.  He escorted us in the train station and made sure that we were ok.

It was now about 3 PM and Scott wanted to try to get to a pizza place that he had been referred to.  But getting there was not going to be easy.  We spoke with the cabbies and they wanted 20 euros to go to the pizza place and another 20 to go to the airport.  We all agreed that was a little steep for pizza...so we just headed to the airport.  The ride there was with a young taxi driver who idolized Johnny Depp, who played John Dillinger.  He just kept saying 'American Gangster'...and then drove like a lunatic through crazy traffic.

We arrived at the airport way to early.  So we just kind of relaxed and watched people.    Our first flight to Rome went very well.  The 2nd flight to Athens, started well, getting us all on board.  Then they shut the plane down and it turned into a sauna!  Holy smokes it was warm for about an hour.  At the end, one Greek jumped up all sweaty and went down to give the crew a thing or two.  Just as he started talking, the pilot came on and said they had been cleared to leave.  Whew...it was warm.  I was even fanning myself with Denise's Mexican fan she had!

It is now 2:30 AM Wednesday morning.  We are all huddled around a little table at a bar just waiting for our gate agents to show up so we can check in to our flight to Santorini.  Can you believe it...we're going to find Mama Mia's home!

More to come...Pictures:

On the train to Pompeii....

A relic Roman supporting some nice 'white' shades.....this is the 'forum'...the main entrance area into Pompeii.

Looking down one of the many streets in Pompeii....

This is the McDonald's of the day...they called these places 'snack shops' and apparently they had things available for consumption in these pots.  These stations were through out the town of Pompeii.  It actually was a city of 20k people.

Some bones of folks that have been unearthed....

The bakers and their brick oven bakery....

One of the many rooms that Rick Steve's took us into.  If you want to know what it is...download the audio and listen to it yourselves!  :-)

Two guys enjoying the audio tour....

A nice view of a Roman street in Pompeii...

Some artifacts that had been unearthed.  They have many, many rooms of such things.

On the floor of the largest Colliseum there....

Upon arriving at the airport, we were concerned about the size of our bags for EU travel.  Denise was thrilled that her bag met Aliitalia Airlines standards!

I was pretty pleased that I had no one next to me on my flight to Athens.  What you don't see is that 2 more bus loads of people showed up and filled the plane.  I had a mother and her daughter next to me.

Me watching movies on the flight.  No just kidding.  This is pillow thing that Ashley bought us for trying to sleep on the plane.  I was so tired that this could have been a big rock.

It is 3 AM and we're still smiling as we wait to catch our plane to the island of Santorini!