Planes, Trains & Automobiles

On a high speed catamaran to Athens, I have a few spare moments to recount the last few days of Greek island living at its best in the island of Santorini…

With a monstrous 80cc scooter at our disposal, we kicked off Monday morning with a ride across the island to visit the ruins of ancient Thira. On the map, this looks like it might be 30 miles away. In reality, it’s about a 15 minute scooter ride and that includes time for a couple of wrong turns and stops for map consultations. Our ride was all for naught however as the ruins are closed on Mondays (lucky timing).

We turned our ship around and headed instead …

What a difference twelve hours can make! We made our connection in Athens and hopped a thirty minute flight to Santorini. Although the faxed reservation we had made for Hotel Keti were somehow lost in the shuffle, we managed to negotiate a reasonable price from a tout at the airport. A guy who could only mumble sounds and wave his arms drove us to the Hotel Palladion. It’s a stones throw from Thira which is where we wanted to stay so it’s not all bad.

We spent the afternoon wandering about the tiny streets and walkways of Thira. It’s very confusing geographically because to the East you can see the sea and it doesn’t …