Good people, Day 28
Great sleep. We get an early call from our Melbourne office. Seems the pesky insurance issue needs to be addressed. I try and call from our room, but to no avail. I’ll tend to it after breakfast. Fingers crossed on the toast front. A bit cool in the morning shade on our little balcony. On with the white gowns. Breakfast arrives. Oh no! Toast but only on one side. We were assured this was all going to be addressed, but alas, no. After breakfast I head to concierge to get them to dial our Australian number. Success. All sorted. Don’t worry about the cost of the 10 min call say the people in concierge. Nice gesture.
Back to our room and its time to check some emails and do a bit of research on Santorini. Apparently, there is a site not too far from here, called Akrotiri, where there is literally a lost civilisation underground. It is currently a live “dig” excavation wise and some people, including our Art Historian friend in the Rome airport, have indicated that this civilisation (the remains of which were discovered in 1866) could be the lost city of Atlantis. At the very least it is described as the Pompei of Greece. A lot of artefacts at this site, including coloured frescoes, have retained their bright colours because they have been preserved in lava. At any rate, the civilisation disappeared really quickly. Must check this out.
We catch the shuttle into Fira. First item on the agenda is lunch. We head to a place we were at yesterday and sit outside and eat and people gaze. The whole ATV/ quad bike thing is fascinating. We are literally sitting next to an ATV rental spot. Can’t get over the size of these young greek guys. Massive. Someone’s not happy. Next we head for our daily after lunch coffee stop. Our waitress says she loves the island but can’t stand the people. Interesting.
Lets go retail. Sue is on the lookout for a gold chain. We head into a shop and strike an interesting character. After an Australian/ Greek discount of significant proportions (?) we walk out with a chain and an attached understated pendant etched with the Greek symbol of the key to eternal life. I like it and so does Sue. We drift on to another shop to look for a ring, but baulk at 6900 euro. Up the hill at the top of town to checkout the cable car. Wow what a view. We notice that the donkeys are still being used to make this same journey up and down the hill here. Technology doesn’t win out, but its pretty hot on the cliffs for these donkeys. Back to the hotel bus shuttle point. Time for a swim at our hotel. Drinks by the pool. Kickback. Aren’t we kicked back already? Clean up and change for dinner.
Catch the shuttle back to Fira. Nothing happening. A staff member from our resort notices our plight. He offers to ride his motorbike down the road to where our shuttle is now and check out the scene. He rides back indicating that the driver of the shuttle will do a special trip for us. Wouldn’t think this would happen in Australia. On to the shuttle, back into Fira. As we get off the shuttle, Bobby the driver says check out a restaurant called Naoussa run by his mate Kostas. We head straight to Naoussa and have a great meal. Another coffee at another spot. On to the shuttle and Day 2 here fini. Bobby is happy that we headed to his mate’s restaurant. No kickbacks we are assured. A lot of trust here on the island. The people all help each other. This is particularly important with Greece having a debt situation of 130 percent of GDP. Quite a division here in Greece between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
bustling Fira
donkey work
effortless great
view
gazlington 