On the busses

Getting up early to watch the splendour of the sunrise over the Mediterranean from our balcony window was – well somewhat disappointing due to the amount of cloud and sea mist around. It was nice though to be able to jump back into bed and grab a few more hours sleep. The ringing of the church bells was more of a lullaby than an alarm clock. After a slow start we had a big brunch of eggs & bacon etc. on our way to the local bus stop. This time we headed to Perissa. A very scenic drive through the various towns on the island revealed spectacular views of the caldera, old windmills and the boundless vineyards. White concrete buildings with dome roofs go without saying...

The beach was on the other side of the cliff from yesterday, so more black sand and clear, warm water and beautiful people lolling around on deck chairs, soaking up the warm sun – they have an ozone layer here- so it’s quite pleasant. We didn’t hang around the town this time – it was back on the buses (2 of) to get to the other end of the island and the town of Ia.
This is where all the postcard photos of Santorini are taken. Not wanting to be different we made sure we took lots as well. The towns we went to today are far nicer than the main drag of Thira – quieter and cheaper, however we are somewhat worried when we see the thousands of scooters and ATV’s that are sitting idle all over the island, awaiting the peak of the tourist season. They’d need a really good, big and effective hospital to cater for all the injuries that will occur when all these are out on the dangerous, narrow, twisting, crowded roads.

Curiously, the streets are lined with gum trees. Whilst we don’t paint the bottom of them white in Aus – it is a bit surreal to see them here. Perhaps there is some sort of exchange program going on that were not informed about. Send us a person – we’ll send a tree in return...

Yet more local fare was consumed in the private spaces of our balcony - we then headed out to a local restaurant to for dinner and afterwards back to the rooms where there was a surprise birthday cake (backpacking Santorini style) before we all collapsed, apart from the Blogger of course). Tomorrow we have the next big foray (incl. another trip into the Pit).