Day 50: Exploring Santorini!

We had our fingers crossed that the weather would be a bit better today...but it definitely didn't start out that way! We had planned on renting 4-wheelers to cruise around the island with- but since it was raining we decided to rent a car instead. We first needed some fuel- not only for the car but also for ourselves! We stopped by this amazing bakery and picked up some snacks, then headed to Kamari. We went to this amazing art gallery that was IN one of the oldest wineries on the island. The Greek man giving us the tour had such a thick accent I couldn't understand what he was saying half the time, but it was so cool to see all this modern art in these old wine caverns (plus the wine tasting at the end didn't hurt!) We then checked out the beach area of Kamari (FYI the rain had stopped by that point- yay!) I'm not sure if it was the weather or the time of year but pretty much everything was closed! Up next was Ancient Thira...or so we thought. On our way there we discovered that its closed on Mondays- I guess we will just have to do it tomorrow then! Next stop was Thira. We wandered around the town and headed down a looong path to the old port. You have a choice of taking a cable car back up (or in the summer they have donkey rides!) but we decided to walk back up again (had to work off those pastries somehow!)



For dinner we visited an Authentic Greek restaurant. We shared some Calamari to start then I had some yummy lamb in lemon sauce- and then we went all out and got dessert two doors down at a little cafe. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate- it was heavenly!


Afterwards we headed back to the hotel- we both needed to use the internet and figure out our next stops on our journeys. It looks like I might have it all sorted out now- my new plan (I think this is revision 24!) is to stay in Santorini until the weekend (hopefully the weather will get better so I can enjoy some beach time!), then head to Naxos for a few days, and then back to Athens. I have contacted the airline and they said I could cancel my first flight from Mykonos to Athens and just take the Athens to London flight...with no extra charges!

I gotta admit I'm a little bummed about how this last leg of my trip has turned out. The Greek Islands was supposed to be the highlight for me and it seems like nothing has gone according to plan since I got here! Its very frustrating because all the guidebooks say "Don't go to Greece in July or August!" but nowhere does it say that after mid-October everything pretty much shuts down! Basically, September is the only good month to come...kinda regretting not doing this at the beginning of my trip but what can ya do! Live it, learn it! I'll definitely have to come back one day and do it right...spend like a whole month just touring around the islands...in September, of course!



Love, Dianna