Bittersweet....

Well, the past two days have been full of adventures. Brandon and I got a car for two days, to better see and explore the island. Santorini is a really beautiful place, especially because it's essentially a desert. I think that's something important to remember when looking at the landscape, because sometimes it can look rather brown.

The same as in Crete, I wish Brandon and I could stay longer. But I guess good things give away to more good things, and we are really looking forward to going to Naxos.

Currently we are at the port, waiting for our ferry to arrive. We have a few hours before it will get here, and it will take two hours to get to Naxos. Thankfully, it's a big ferry, so no sea sickness, and it's a good thing because not only is it cheaper, but it's another windy, choppy day out on the sea. It's the first day that there are breaking waves beyond the shore line.

Anyway, two days ago Brandon and I decided to explore the towns of Santorini. The entire island only takes about 40 minutes to drive across, and that's with traffic. We saw the black beach, walked around little towns, and went to the wine museum, which was a lot of fun, and very informative. We almost did a wine tour, but that was 80 euros a person. And we already had the car, so why waste a day on the bus?

This was how we started out our day. Brandon made omelets! They were absolutely delicious. They had egg, pepper, onion, olives, and feta; some gouda cheese and tomato on top. Yum!

We first drove down to Amoundi Bay in Oia. You can see on the right the stairs that you can walk down, or take a donkey. There are a lot of hills and donkeys here! You can also see it's a tiny port, and some cute cafes to take a break at. We only walked around a little, and went on our way.

The water is so crystal clear!

We stopped in Pirgos, which was an adorable, windy little town on a hill. If you look closely enough, you can see three cats taking naps here at this little shop.

The tourist shops were a little different and a little less than some of the other places we have been. You can see the winding street here, and this is how all the streets were. Brandon and I wandered around them for a good half a hour.

Here's a door we came across in Pirgos. The entire town had a charm to it. It also had a lot of churches/monasteries.

Here is one the churches we came across. I really wish we knew more of the history about some of the places we have been to and seen. It was a cloudy day, but the bells on this tower is still quite pretty.

We don't know what this was, but it looks to be some type of castle. Only parts of it looked to be in use, as in a church, but other parts were demolished to the point Brandon and I wouldn't wander farther in for fear of the integrity of the structure.

One of the churches that seemed attached to the "castle".

Back on the road, we drove up the highest point on Santorini. Close to the top of the hill there was this little shrine/church. There are Monks that live in the bigger church closer to the stop that I think keep the candles burning here, but the bigger church was closed to tourists for the day. A lot of Greece seems closed on Monday's, or at least closes early.

You can sort of see Brandon here, so you see how small this room was.

Here are the bells of the big church at the top of the mountain. I thought I might as well get something from it.

Look how high we are! It's not the biggest mountain in the world, but it's big for Santorini! You can see Oia! (And Pirgos, and Fira, and all the others....)

We kept driving down to Kamari to see some black beaches. There are other black beaches in Perissa, south of the mountain, but they weren't very nice at this time of the year... The sand it rather gravely, but I think I'm just spoiled because of Michigan's nice sand.

We got a gyro platter to split! Yum!

I have a lot of pictures from the Wine Museum, but because it's underground, the lighting makes the photos turn out like this. I thought I would post a few, though.

An old bottler! The entire contraption was pretty big. Bet David is glad technology has advanced a little! Although this does look like it would be easy to use.

Look at this barrel! I wonder how many Brandon's it could fit inside? Probably quite a few!

We did some wine tasting at the end of our museum tour, which was included in the price of our pass. We tried one white, one red, and two dessert. I didn't like the white or the red, but I liked both dessert wines. The best I've ever had!

That fairly covers what we did on Monday, and yesterday we decided to got to the Archaeological Museum (always our favorite stops), and the site of Akrotiri. We were going to go to the site of ancient Thira, but it was closed by the time we got there. Oh and we also went and tried to go to the red beach, and we saw the black beaches of Perissa.

This gold figure was pretty cool, I think. It's hollow, and made from a cast. The horns and legs were soldered on after the head and body were made.

Here is a fresco of some monkeys. I guess a lot of the fresco's at Akrotiri were of women, plants, or animals, and they didn't feature men very often. One interesting tid bit, all the monkey's except one are painted in profile.

Drinking cups anyone? These would definitely add some charm to our cupboard.

This is the top of a flower vase! It looks like they took their flower arrangements pretty seriously.

A portable oven is not a new idea! How cool is this?

 Cast iron pan? Well, it's actually bronze, but it is a baking dish.

They called this a sauce boat. I call it a gravy boat! It's so funny to see so many things I thought were more modern inventions!

Here we are at the site of Akrotiri, which was actually kinda nice, because it's indoors! They have what looks like a moveable building popped over top of the entire excavation site. And they keep it cool, and the humidity down. Wouldn't you love to be an archaeologist here?

Some pots still left in one of the rooms. Aren't they pretty? You can also see an empty space on the right where one of the pots was able to be removed.

Some places we walked looked like ash and dirt, but other times you can see that there is probably buildings underneath that haven't been excavated yet. You can see how deep they go in this picture.

A lot of the stones didn't look like they had been polished for the buildings, but some might have been palaces or buildings for higher up officials.

Here's our meal on our way to the red beach! I have a fish fillet sandwich, Brandon has a cheeseburger and a beer, and we split a feta pastry. Not exactly the most healthy food but it was sooo good!

Here's our meal on our way to the red beach! I have a fish fillet sandwich, Brandon has a cheeseburger and a beer, and we split a feta pastry. Not exactly the most healthy food but it was sooo good!

You have to take a little hike in order to get to the red beach. It's not very big, and it was pretty busy that day. It wasn't even that warm because of how windy it was. We stopped by, took a picture, and left. I wouldn't have been able to get our of my sweater for this beach.

We finished up our day by walking back town to Oia. We watched the sunset, took and took pictures.

Oia, as the sun is setting to the right.

Oia, as the sun is setting to the right.

A shot of the street. It's such a quaint place. I'd love to go back!

A shot of the street. It's such a quaint place. I'd love to go back!

The sunset itself wasn't too special, but the sky was so pretty afterwards.

The sunset itself wasn't too special, but the sky was so pretty afterwards.

The donkey's are going back into the country for the night! It's was a hard days work for them, they deserve a rest.

The donkey's are going back into the country for the night! It's was a hard days work for them, they deserve a rest.

We found a really great bookstore, calls Books in Atlantis (I think). It seems to be run to American/British students. Well, about our age, I think. Brandon was able to find a book for 5 euros, which is nice, because they seemed to almost be struggling, and we wanted to help their cause. And because Brandon found a book, we decided I could get dessert. It doesn't make nearly as much sense when I type it out as it did in my head last night!

We found a really great bookstore, calls Books in Atlantis (I think). It seems to be run to American/British students. Well, about our age, I think. Brandon was able to find a book for 5 euros, which is nice, because they seemed to almost be struggling, and we wanted to help their cause. And because Brandon found a book, we decided I could get dessert. It doesn't make nearly as much sense when I type it out as it did in my head last night!

Our last view of Oia! It's really pretty with all the lights, and you can see all the cities in their crescent shape along the caldera.

Our last view of Oia! It's really pretty with all the lights, and you can see all the cities in their crescent shape along the caldera.

We get to leave on our ferry soon, and I look forward to it. I just also wanted to say quickly that if anyone wants to come to Sanorini, Maria's Place was absolutely fantastic! The hospitality and prices I think are very good, and it's in a good location. So keep that in mind when you're planning your own trip to Santorini!

Until again!