Bye Bye Santorini... Bye Bye Greece..

We had a fantastic trip.. flew out of Santorini back up to Athens.. stayed one night by the airport.. .. then flew home.. no pictures of this. One last tip also.. avoid the cabs in Athens.. our one and only experience was a cab from the airport to our hotel and it was an extremely bad experience, Athens cabbies are sleazy thieves and will try to ream you, there is a meter, which seems to add up a little too quickly..

We really had a great time.. fantastic food.. gorgeous scenery... some history.. more fantastic food.. you get the idea..

Black sand is just better..

Though I heard it's a bit tough on the feet when it's real hot..

Lunch spot had a beach lounge....

After lunch we picked some lounge chairs and hung at the beach for a few hours.. this was just hours before our flight back to Athens... last day on Santorini..

Breakfast on a cliff.. then Lunch on a black sand beach.

Food and wine while your toes are wiggling around in black sand.. really nice.. this was in a small town called Agios Georgios..

Red Sand Beach..

So.. as if black sand beaches everywhere were not enough... they also have a red sand beach... .

Cliffs at Imerovigli..

Let's all build our houses on the edge of a cliff... at the lip of an active volcano.. weee.. seems so sane..

Sunset from Imeriovigli..

Volcanic Island..

So.. at the center of the caldera.. is a small island that has been created over the last few hundreds of years by volcanic eruptions... see this whole place is not just a Volcano.. it's an active Volcano.. with occasions of gas and small eruptions and earthquakes going way back... you can take a boat to this Island and walk around the spots of the last eruptions.. there are even a few spots where hot gas comes out of holes in the ground.. In the distance in the second photo you can see the town of Oia where we stayed.

More Donkey photography..

So.. to get down the cliff to the old port.. you can either take a cable car, walk, or take a donkey. We did all three at some point or another.. just a warning.. the walk is on the same path that the donkeys take.. it is a bit smelly and I dubbed it the "Donkey Poo Highway" ... we only walked it once and decided not to walk it again..

Lots o rain

So... after pouring rain all night.. the worst seen in ten years according to the locals.. our first cave flooded.. doht... so the really nice people that ran the place moved us to the best cave.. woo hoo... we even had our own boulder.. and a bigger terrace for breakfast..

Oia.. with storm about to roll in..

View from our terrace..

Even donkeys enjoy the view..

Mmm.. more beer..

House of Horrors.. or Wine Museum.. you decide..

1st day was pretty rainy.. so we went to the indoor "Wine Museum", there are a few vineyards on Santorini and one had an underground museum/tourist trap that was quite unique.. we actually had a blast.. the exhibits are in caves underground, where homemade animatronic greek wine makers show you how it's done....

Tiny roads.. and tour buses ..

Create interesting traffic problems..

Our cave in Oia

We stayed at a place where the rooms are essentially caves dug into the cliffs.. really nice caves..

No photo for this one.. Scooter VS Car.. Car wins..

So driving around Santorini in our little car.. first day there.. slightly wet out.. we rolled up on an accident just moments after it happened. Couple on a scooter vs a car.. car won.. scooter was in lots of little pieces.. a woman sat in the middle of the road looking very shell shocked, her face covered in blood, her companion lay on the ground next to her in a weirdly contorted position .. not moving at all..

I know scooters are cute and fun.. but if you visit Greece, especially the Islands where scooter rentals are so popular, rent a cheap little car instead.. none of us wants our vacations to end with what I witnessed. The locals drive hard and aggresive.. and really don't want to be slowed down by anyone, the cabbies are even worse, even being in the safety of a car can get nerve-racking sometimes.

I rented a little Peugeot for about 30 euros a day on Santorini.

Finishing off..

So.. due to spotty/expensive internet access during the last few days of our trip I stopped posting. Now back in NYC.. thought I would just post a few more things today to finish the trip off right..

So I left off on our first night on Santorini.. sunset in Oia.. we spent four days on the Island.. three nights in the small town of Oia and one night in another small town named Imeriolvigli. It is really hard to put into words how spectacular this place is.. Oia sits on cliffs almost a thousand feet above the water, you look out over the caldera of the volcano (essentially this whole island is simply the top of a volcano sticking out of the water, in the center everything is on the cliffs of the caldera, on the outer edges the volcanic rock has been ground down by the ocean into black sand beaches).

First breakfast... on our terrace.. a bit windy but still worth sitting outside..

More of Oia..

Oia, Santorini..

Dr. Suess would have loved this place...

Ferry to Santorini.. otherwise known as the vomit rocket...

So.. we had the joy of doing the ferry run from Mykonos to Santorini during high winds from the south which led to 8-10 foot waves by my guess.. and we stayed at speed.. I swear the entire ferry went airborne a few times.. joy.. crew running around with empty vomit bags.. full vomit bags... woo hoo.. my own lovely girlfriend almost lost it, so I went for a bag for her and trying to get down the aisle, I myself went airborne to the horror of all the tourists seated near me.. luckily I landed back in the aisle... weeee! ... luckily we had passed on lunch before boarding.. :-)

Mykonos.. for Mathew..

sorry dude... could not find any naked ones.. but I think this one might have been dead..

Mykonos at dusk..

Had to join in.. ...

Local Pelicans assaulted by crazed tourists...

it was a snapshot orgy..

Mykonos..back street..

A back alley on Mykonos..

Welcome to Mykonos, now have a drink.

!!!!!

FERRY OF THE GODS leaves a big wake...

Really hard to relate how fast the ride is.. when you stare down at the water you get dizzy...

The Greek Isles...at high speed..

Hello... FERRY OF THE GODS ...

Carries over a thousand people.. about a hundred vehicles.. and must have a horsepower rating in the billions..

Goodbye Athens...

Twilight symphony in front of the museum...

"Arg.... bees!"

So we walked to the Museum..

Rough translation of the poster below:

WORKERS OF THE CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY! STRIKE ON MAY 15TH!! WE NEED MORE MONEY AND BETTER HEALTH CARE! No trains today.. very few buses.. everybody who could read Greek knew about this ...

Sunset last night...

Sunset from bar on the roof of the hotel..

Breakfast..

Greek coffee and a croissant.. for locals it's Greek coffee and a cigarette..

The cinema last night..

Rooftop cinema.. "The Painted Veil".. perfect temperature.. a light breeze.. off to the left (out of frame) the Acropolis lit up in all it's glory just a quarter mile away.. fully stocked bar ... a few Stella's ... a great movie date.. .... fabulous.... and to top it off, an intermission so everyone can re-fill at the bar.. ..