Santorini-Rhodes

(Lesley) On our last day in Santorini we managed a swim, some walks and a drive around the island.

It was at Red Beach that we swam. The beach was sheltered from the wind by high red cliffs so it got quite hot. The beach itself was made up of red and black stones from the old volcano eruption. There were white stones too, which were so light and airy that they floated. It was fun swimming alongside these white stones that bobbed in the water. After we dried off we relaxed on the beach for a bit then carried on our tour of Santorini.

The drive to Oia was quite pretty with good views of the sea on both sides of the island. We met a volunteer at the bookstore who told us all about her job there. She lives and volunteers in the bookstore. There were two beds among the books. Apparently there is another such bookstore somewhere in the UK. What a way to travel. I can think of a few people who would happily volunteer in a bookstore in exchange for rent. Sam, Mhari, Marco, Emma, Angus and Meagan come to mind and will probably sign up for that type of job in a few short years time. Perhaps there are other such bookstores around the world. John wants to find a bike store that has the same deal. I want to live in a silver jewellery store.

Oia is suppose to have a marvellous sunset view but as the clouds were low and stormy we didn't bother to stick around for it. We headed to Fira for a lamb gyro and then fetched our bags from the hotel. We were allowed to keep our rental car until the ferry left at 1:05 am thanks to our lovely Georgian car rental man.

The ferry port was dead an hour before the ferry arrived. I read in the car by street light and John and Sam and Mhari had a hoot playing around the abandoned port with the stray animals. I think their favourite dog got a lot of peanuts and bread sticks. As there really was no one about they set themselves up at a street side cafe. John even pulled out and drank the tin of beer he had bought for the ferry journey. The port did eventually came back to life but really only 30 minutes before the expected arrival of the boat (which was a good 20 minutes late).

Once on the boat, we easily found places to bed down (comfy chairs and carpeted floor). We all slept well for at least 6 hours (some of us for 8). In Rhodes, we anticipated a few touts and accommodation brokerages at the port. There were just two touts and they were bringing people to the same place. We went along on a promise of a clean room for 4 with cooking facilities for 40 Euros (the upper limit of our budget). Well, we were brought to a pension that rivalled some of our best in India. Clean-not!; Internet-not working; kitchen-sort of (but take your risks with the mould in the fridge); bathroom under repair; spiders everywhere; I could go on... but, I will stop so you don't get the heebie geebies.

We were tired and gave the fellow a nights rent, had a shower and set out to find new digs. We were pretty sure we would not get our first nights deposit back and in all fairness to him he had offered us a free drink on arrival (3 tea, 1 beer). We managed to find much better accommodations not far away for 45 Euros a night (5 over our upper limit). We returned with all kinds of schemes and scenarios to get our deposit back and were pleasantly surprised that our simple explanation of our sons allergies to the paint fumes from the renos and the mould was ample. We left the fellow with 10 Euros to cover the drinks and my hot shower and went merrily on our way. Needless to say we were very relieved and happy not to have had to battle it out and get angry and threaten to ruin the place with bad reviews etc. However, he really needs to do a lot to that pension if he want to get travellers to pay more than 5 Euros for a dorm bed.

So we are in Rhodes, hoping to met up with John's brother and sister in law, but we don't know where they are staying.

Thanks to John's family back home and their great detective work, Peter got in touch with us and we have seen him and Angie. We have another outing planned for tomorrow. It was great to see them looking so relaxed, rested and tanned.

Photos: Red Beach and Cliffs; Sam-the Strong Lad!; Floating Rock; Sam's spa treatment; Oia not the best day for a sunset view; Mhari on a Santorini beach; More floaty rocks!; Rhodes! The seahorse fountain in the old town-very near our pension; A nifty courtyard in Rhodes Old Town.