Snow Capped Island

After breakfast we had a bit of time to kill before our evening ferry so we walked down into the port village to have a bit of a walk around. Sue, Granddad, Tim and I shared a great lunch together at a little harbor side restaurant that had what many of us thought were the best gyros yet. Gyros are the way to go in Greece as they are amazing and cost usually 2-3 Euros, can’t beat that. We just have to hope we can find something similar in all our other destinations.

After lunch Sue and Granddad walked back up to the hotel to have relax a bit and Tim and I headed to Yialos Beach where we enjoyed free lounges (such luxuries!) while Tim read the paper and I listened to music. After a while we headed back up to the hotel and I went for a quick dip while Tim watched the soccer up in the reception area.

We almost had a big hiccup as the Flying Cat 4 was cancelled due to mechanical reasons and the next boat to Santorini wasn’t until midday the following day, but by the grace of God the Greeks actually re-routed a boat (which Steve says NEVER happens) and we actually got off 15 minutes earlier (which was still 15-30 minutes late).

Just a short 30 minute ferry ride later we arrived in spectacular Santorini with its cliff top buildings which look like snow on the top of a mountain. We arrived in the new port which meant we had transportation up to the top. Before the new port all visitors to Santorini had to take donkeys or cable cars to the top, and on Granddad’s first trip to the island it was only donkeys! The cruise ships still arrive at the old port so its passengers still utilize the donkeys are cable cars.
We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed into town for a meal at another restaurant with a beautiful rooftop terrace. Here I enjoyed my second helping of Mousakka, not as good as the first, but still delicious and some more local wine. The owner was kind enough to carry his own personal TV up to the terrace for our group to watch the Aussies play Germany in the World Cup. As it turns out it may not have been worth his while, but we certainly appreciated the effort.

Off to Ios

Our ferry wasn’t to leave Mykonos until mid afternoon so after breakfast Tim and I caught a bus to the beach just up the road, Stefanos. While, not quite as nice as Platy Gialos in my opinion, it was a nice beach and plenty of space to lay down our towels, we were going to pay 10 Euros for a lounge again. After an hour or so at the beach we decided it would be best to head back to the hotel, we had forgotten our sun cream, and didn’t want to fry. We walked back instead of taking the bus, it wasn’t a long walk, but there wasn’t much of a footpath, so it was a bit dodgy. Back at the hotel we just lounged around the pool and had a swim before heading to the port to catch our ferry to Ios.

We arrived in Ios and dropped our bags at the hotel before meeting back up to take the bus up to town. Ios’s township was adorable as well. It had much more of a community feeling than Ios, children could be seen playing in the Plaza, etc. However, up in the town it had the same charming narrow streets, white washed buildings, and blue shutters that could be found in Mykonos. Steve led us to another of his favorite restaurants that had a beautiful outdoor terrace. Steve recommended the lamb in the oven, and of course everyone ordered it, unfortunately, or as it turned out fortunately, they only had three servings left. So some of us obligingly agreed to have chicken in the oven instead, we of course ended up being the lucky once, as when the lamb came out it was hard as rock and was more bone than anything else. I was one of the lucky ones who had chicken, and I must say my meal was delicious, but poor Steve, all those with lamb could do was complain about how awful it was, and I must say it was beginning to be a bit of a down, until they brought out the EZ towels. For those of you that don’t know what an EZ Towel is, it is apparently a product of New Zealand, and our fellow tour member Robin Worthington, just so happened to be a representative for the product back home. She was so excited that they had EZ Towels in Greece that she practically gave us a full on infomercial telling us of all of its amazing uses, much like Bubba and his shrimp in Forest Gump. Anyway it provided for a good laugh (both for us and for our fellow diners on the terrace), saved the meal, and turned into a long running inside joke for the remainder of our tour.

After Dinner we headed to a pub to watch the USA vs. England game. I headed back to the hotel with Sue and Granddad a bit earlier than the rest to try and get a bit of work done. Sunday we would have almost a full day in Ios before leaving early evening for our final Greek island destination, Santorini.