2014.08.10 – Ios – Santorinni (Greece)

We apprehended somewhat our day as after our breakfast at the hotel, we would be essentially homeless. Our ferry from Ios to Santorinni was only scheduled to sail after midnight. Initially, Jenny and Victoria were looking forward to all our free time to do some shopping at the many small boutiques they saw the previous day in Chora. Unfortunately, they returned, after 1.5 hours, disappointed by the limited offer. Later, we walked up the hill above Chora where we visited a small church. At the top, the wind was blowing heavily as I almost lost my hat. Back in the village, we moved from one park bench to another while the minutes passed by very slowly. The fact that it was Sunday seemed to make the village even more quiet. We were among the first customers of the restaurant which opened its doors at 7pm. The restaurant was lovely. We headed back to hotel to pick-up our luggage. Although we had planned to walk to the dock, our owner’s son insisted to drive us to the dock. Several people were waiting for the only two SeaJet ferries servicing Santorinni at 9:30pm and 23:30pm. While waiting, we learned that both ferries were late. We finally boarded our ferry at 1am – thankfully the crossing only took 30 mins. Needless to say that we arrived quite late at the Santorinni dock. Upon our arrival, we sought to take a taxi, but we were informed that they were all booked. We turned our hope to a shuttle bus operator which requested 25 euros to drive us to our hotel – Hotel Reina. The winding drive up the caldera from the dock in the middle of the night was awesome. Our hotel was located in Perissa, a small beach town, only 15-20 minutes away. Upon our arrival, we were confronted to a set of locked doors. We noticed a key had been taped to the front door, but we realized that this was not for our room. After knocking repeatedly at the reception door, in the hope of waking up someone from reception, we were thankful to see Jessica show up at the door. It was well past 2am when we managed to shower and catch up with Jessica’s day in Perissa. We were disappointed with the bathroom’s shower facility. A very very long and slow day, but we were glad to have finally met up with Jessica.

2014.08.11 – Santorinni (Greece)

We realized that the hotel seemed to cater mostly to organized tours from the UK. After we all had our filling at the hotel’s breakfast buffet, we headed out to one of the many beach rental areas. We selected the one that Jessica visited yesterday. We had to give up 20 euros for two sunbeds and an umbrella. Our 9 euros in Ios (Manganari beach) seemed now like a bargain! We spent the whole day between our sunbeds and the water. Jenny and I enjoyed some Pina Coladas during our beach time. Back at the hotel, we showered reluctantly knowing that the washroom floor would get flooded as a result. For our evening meal, we chose a restaurant on the main road recommended on TripAdvisor. Later, we strolled along the souvenir shops and the beach road. The restaurants were all packed with people having their evening meal. We wondered where everyone was coming from.

2014.08.12 – Santorinni – Kos (Greece)

Today was yet another day we would struggle with time. Our ferry to Kos was only scheduled to sail after midnight. We had breakfast at the hotel and checked-out at 1:00pm. We walked to the bus stop/terminal passing one last time along the beach road. We waited 20 mins for our bus from Perissa to Fira. At the Fira bus terminal, we opted to carry our luggage onto the Oia bus. The 20 mins. drive to Oia was very pleasant. Upon our arrival in Oia, we dropped off our luggage at an information kiosk for 2 euros per bag. We set out to explore the alleys, streets and staircases of the beautiful town of Oia. We had a light snack at a restaurant at the edge of the water. We reached the restaurant after walking down a long staircase which was used by donkeys to ferry tourists up the stairs. Jenny entertained us with her concerns for fraction (friction), donkey pooh and her cautious encounter with the donkeys. Oia’s alleys were filled with tourist taking pictures and shopping for souvenirs. We had an early supper in Oia at a restaurant we selected from TripAdvisor. The restaurant was not on the tourist strip, but it offered great food with some nice views. We took the bus at 7:30pm back to Fira. In Fira, we found another place to store our luggage while we visited the very busy touristy town. The luggage storage business initially wanted 5 euros per luggage, but we managed to negotiate the same rate as in Oia (ie. 2 euros per bag). We walked the busy alleys along the caldera while envying the rich folks that were able to afford the sea-view restaurants and bars. Jenny was very excited by all the tourist activities and souvenirs shops. She simply wished she had more time for some souvenir shopping. As previously promised to Victoria, we headed to a creperie for some crepe desserts. We ended up waiting a long time for our order as there was some confusing in the kitchen. After our filling of crepe deserts, we retrieved our luggage and headed out to the nearby bus terminal for our 11:30pm bus to the Santorinni dock some 15 minutes drive away. The bus terminal was very crowded this late in the evening. While waiting one hour for our bus, we were all a bit stressed about making it on-board of the bus to the ferry terminal. When we finally boarded the bus, we realized that no one was standing and that everyone had made it on board! At the ferry terminal, we settled for another one hour wait for our 00:50am ferry arrival. At precisely midnight, Jenny, Jessica and Victoria wished me a happy birthday and presented me with some gifts. The Blue Star Ferry (Blue 1) showed up on-time. Given the overnight crossing, we had reserved a cabin for the four of us. After showering in our cabin, everyone was quick to close their eyes for some welcome sleep.

2014.08.13 – Kos (Greece)

The cabin was surprisingly comfortable, unfortunately the crossing was not long enough to enjoy a full night sleep. The ferry staff made sure we did not miss our disembarkation as they called our room four times in a 40 minutes period. Upon our arrival in Kos shortly before 6am, we discovered that the party goers were still in the streets. We stopped at a Everest Cafe for a light breakfast while waiting for the rest of the town to wake up. We walked to the bus station for our commute to Kardamena, another beach town. We waited one hour for the first bus of the day to Kardamena. Upon our arrival in town, we made the short walk to our hotel Nissa Kardemese. Given the early time, we stored our luggage at the hotel and enjoyed the hotel’s pool. We had some early morning cocktails on the pool side. After finally checking into our room, we declared it as our “top” hotel of our trip with its pool, balcony, central garden, friendly staff and nice room/beds and reasonable size washroom. In the afternoon, Jenny, Jessica and I went for some groceries at Carrefour. We spent a lazy afternoon enjoying the water and the sunbeds. After a shower, we stopped for supper at Captain’s Restaurant – a bit pricey but given the waterfront location we expected it. On our way back to the hotel, we spent some time browsing through the souvenir shop windows.

2014.08.14 – Kos (Greece)

After our slow wake-up, we went to a nearby restaurant on the main road for breakfast. Back at the hotel, we later headed to the beach area recommended by the hotel staff. We enjoyed free sunbeds/umbrella with the purchase of some refreshments and snacks at the nearby taverns. After our showers, we went for supper at Adrians on a street corner near the sea front. We had an excellent meal. We did some more souvenir shopping on our way back to the hotel. The ladies chatted again for a few hours well into the night.

2014.08.15 – Kos (Greece)

Today was pretty much a repeat of the previous day – but a slightly different sunbeds/umbrella offering. Although we had planned to have supper at different restaurant we ended up at the same restaurant as yesterday.

2014.08.16 – Kos (Greece)

This morning we had a small breakfast at the hotel pool snack/cafe bar. We checked-out of our hotel by 10:30am and caught the bus back to the town of Kos some 45 mins drive away. We paid particular attention to the road, as we would be back later in the day to escort Jessica to the airport for her return flight to London. Upon our arrival in Kos, we headed to our Hotel Esperides. We opted to visit the Knight’s Castle with Jessica in the afternoon. Back at the hotel, we accompanied Jessica to the bus station where we had a pita wraps as a quick evening meal. The bus to the airport was pretty busy, but we had no problems getting a seat on-board. At the airport, the check-in line-up appeared to extend outside of the building. After inquiring, we realized those folks were all part of a package tour, hence Jessica was able to pass security screening promptly after we bid her farewell. Jenny, Victoria and I took again, for the second time today, the bus back to Kos. We returned to our hotel for a good night sleep.

2014.08.17 – Kos (Greece)

This morning Jenny and I went at the nearby bakery for coffee and picked up pastries for Victoria. We opted to take the bus to visit the hot springs at Therma. Although, we waited one hour for the bus, we made our way to the unique hot spring location where its hot water spills out directly into the sea. After a few hours at the hot springs, we took the 4:00pm bus back to town. After our showers, we headed out for supper at a restaurant close to the sea front. We finished our meal just in time to catch the outdoor cinema at 9pm. We enjoyed viewing the JumpStreet22 with a large size of popcorn.