Day 2: Santorini: Exploring the Old Port, Another Winery, Black-Sand (Pebble?) Beach, and Sunset from the Airport

It's always awkward on the day that you check out of a place. You no longer have your room as a base, and as such you have to pack up your belongings and check out before noon, even if your flight isn't until 20h20 in the evening, as it was in my case. You wonder if you'll have time to make it out to do one sightseeing thing before it's time to check out: that's when I hit on the idea to check out the old port.

There are two port areas in Santorini, one modern port which I presume was built on the same level or with much better access to the roads above. The Old Port, on the other hand, was built long before the ropeway (lifts) existed, meaning that the treacherous roads up from the port to downtown Fira were only navigable by ... donkeys, or some kind of animal similar.

That means that from the touristy narrow paths that make up the shopping area or "bazaar" area in Santorini down to the Old Port is a several-hundred feet drop: that's enough to make your head swim if you simply look down. True enough, you can see the cruise ships arriving to drop off their passengers at the Old Port below. Along the way you can see the donkeys ferrying hardy passengers up and down the corridor.

Fortunately for those who dislike the smell of donkeys and the precariousness of the rides, there now is a ropeway that ferries you up from the Port to the shopping area: no doubt Uncle G and his tour group was fortunate enough to use this to come up and between the ferry area.

After walking through the shops and buying nothing (except for a baseball cap to stop my nose from getting sunburnt), I headed out to Santo Wines, which is run by a agricultural cooperative and which sells its white wines and the vinsanto, the sweet dessert wines, to tourists who make their way up to the winery. It's set on a beautiful location, overlooking the ocean, and very high up, so the wind's extremely strong. Evidently this is a mandatory stop for the tour buses: two consecutive groups of Americans came in while I was there and took group photos; the Chinese tourists who were there, looking glamorous as ever, insisted on the single shots with the city of Fira in the distance.

In the afternoon, with nothing else to do, I opted to see what the fuss was about the Greek beaches, where people sit under umbrellas and sun themselves for who knows how many hours. The beach I visited, Kamari, was a 1/2 hour ride from Fira (1,20 EUR buses rule!) and it was just like any other beach area, including the one in Nice. Except there was no sand, simply dark-colored pebbles which looked like they might've been dumped onto the beach rather than naturally deposited there by a volcanic eruption. So, yes, the beach itself is darkly colored, but it must be difficult to lie on the rocks in the middle of the day, with the rocks heated by the midday sun. (Any of those who remember the hot onsen sand baths in Japan, well, this is much worse: think Sauna rocks.)

The shops facing the beach catered in all ways to the tourists assembled there and (let this be a lesson!) even featured their own fare share of, shall we say, merchandise whose trademarks were of, uh, dubious origin. Even A's favorite brand, with a certain monkey character, was duly represented ...

After returning to Fira I had hoped to see the history museum there but as it was a Monday it was closed. Nearby, though, there was a fantastic Byzantine church with wonderful Byzantine murals on the walls.

A quick meal of "portion-sized" pork gyros kept me full for the rest of the evening (300g of pork, cabbage, tzatziki yogurt, and tomatoes).

I took my flight to Athens at 20h20 from the airport (the Guest House owner was kind enough to drop me off at the airport early), and I checked in without a hitch (just evading the tour group after me). Right about the hour of sunset -- fantastic, though not quite as beautiful as from Ia.

Arriving in Athens at 21h20, I missed the metro to the city center and opted to take the bus, X95, which costs 3,20 EUR and speeds down the Athens expressways at (I swear) 120 miles per hour. We arrived in the city center 45 minutes later (not bad! no traffic!) and then using what I knew from my guidebooks I found my way over to the hotel with a combination of metro and walking. Arriving at night, and passing the National Archaeological Museum guarded by machine-gun toting policeman, was intimidating, but once I was in the hotel I forgot everything and soaked in a wonderful long bathtub ....