So long, Santorini

The clouds are rolling in and we're rolling out. When we got wind (no pun intended) of the coming storm, we gave our notice to our innkeeper that we wouldn't be needing our last two nights. With just a little screaming in Greek over the telephone, the manager on duty told us we were free to go.

We're off to Athens now, waiting at the ferry terminal in Thira. We'll now have a few extra days to see the ancient city. We met a math teacher on our sailing excursion yesterday who was bringing a group of his students through Greece to his family's home in Cyprus. When he heard that we would have 2 days in Athens, he was eager to give us his list of things to see.

After we returned from our trip to the volcano with the math teacher and had a beer at the old port, he arranged for (and paid for) donkeys to take us back up the cliff. We'd taken a cable car on the way down; the donkeys were more fun.

Thira was great. Of course, I wish we had more time, but there's no fighting the weather. The black sands at Kamari and the hike to the red sand beach at Akrotiri and the sail out to the volcano and swimming through the freezing water to the hot springs were all memorable experiences.

What I might miss most, though, is the food: it's healthy, delicious, and cheap. I can hardly think of a better meal than lamb or pork cooked for hours on a spit stuffed into a pita with veggies, french fries, and Tzatziki (a concoction of yogurt, cucumber, and garlic).

It looks like the ferry might be arriving soon. More on Thira later.

Sent via BlackBerry