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Now, where was I?
Ah yes, we were in Rethymno. Turns out the domatia owner was pretty weird and he walked into A-L's and M-P's room at 10:30 in the morning to ask them if they were leaving that day. He tried to pull the same one on us but I called out as he was fiddling with the key.
We spent the day sort of at the beach, eating and buying olive oil. The bus ride back to Iraklio was uneventful and we caught our ferry at 8 o'clock as planned. G and I stayed on the deck for pretty much the whole journey, but the girls had some interesting adventures in the lounge: never try to take the temporarily unoccupied chairs of a little old lady Israeli tour group!
The owner of our hotel in Thira met us at the port and we drove up the side of the caldera in darkness, it being after midnight and all. The hotel is wonderful, brand new and clean, with comfy beds (we have 3 per room, what a deal!) and a private balcony for those of us on the second floor.
Since we'd arrived so late, the first thing I did upon waking this morning was check out the view. From our balcony, we see a little street lined with traditional white-washed houses and beyond that, blue sky. Lovely! The city of Thira is mostly like that too, but we're only just starting to explore it.
Today we visited Ancient Thira, abandoned centuries ago after a particularly nasty earthquake. It's on the very top of a mountain and I have to admire the spirit of a people who would build their lives on that piece of sun-scorched rock, so far above the sea. There's quite a lot of stuff to see, mostly ruined walls and the occasional toppled column, and it took us about an hour. We were lazy and took a mini-bus up from the village of Kamari (I'm not the only one with the urge to call it Kalamari!) and back down because the 5km hike would have meant not enough time to visit the site before it closed.
After that we headed down to Kamari Beach, a black sand beach on the eastern side of the island. The sand looks like asphalt when you see it from far away, and it feels like that under bare feet, too! Once you near the water, however, it's large pebbles and very hard to walk on. It's even harder to try and keep your balance while trying not to get wet all at once; the water is cold but wonderful once you're in, clear turquoise.
I suppose we'll head out so eat soon, then tomorrow we're taking a glass-bottomed boat tour around the caldera.
Ah yes, we were in Rethymno. Turns out the domatia owner was pretty weird and he walked into A-L's and M-P's room at 10:30 in the morning to ask them if they were leaving that day. He tried to pull the same one on us but I called out as he was fiddling with the key.
We spent the day sort of at the beach, eating and buying olive oil. The bus ride back to Iraklio was uneventful and we caught our ferry at 8 o'clock as planned. G and I stayed on the deck for pretty much the whole journey, but the girls had some interesting adventures in the lounge: never try to take the temporarily unoccupied chairs of a little old lady Israeli tour group!
The owner of our hotel in Thira met us at the port and we drove up the side of the caldera in darkness, it being after midnight and all. The hotel is wonderful, brand new and clean, with comfy beds (we have 3 per room, what a deal!) and a private balcony for those of us on the second floor.
Since we'd arrived so late, the first thing I did upon waking this morning was check out the view. From our balcony, we see a little street lined with traditional white-washed houses and beyond that, blue sky. Lovely! The city of Thira is mostly like that too, but we're only just starting to explore it.
Today we visited Ancient Thira, abandoned centuries ago after a particularly nasty earthquake. It's on the very top of a mountain and I have to admire the spirit of a people who would build their lives on that piece of sun-scorched rock, so far above the sea. There's quite a lot of stuff to see, mostly ruined walls and the occasional toppled column, and it took us about an hour. We were lazy and took a mini-bus up from the village of Kamari (I'm not the only one with the urge to call it Kalamari!) and back down because the 5km hike would have meant not enough time to visit the site before it closed.
After that we headed down to Kamari Beach, a black sand beach on the eastern side of the island. The sand looks like asphalt when you see it from far away, and it feels like that under bare feet, too! Once you near the water, however, it's large pebbles and very hard to walk on. It's even harder to try and keep your balance while trying not to get wet all at once; the water is cold but wonderful once you're in, clear turquoise.
I suppose we'll head out so eat soon, then tomorrow we're taking a glass-bottomed boat tour around the caldera.
