Nea Kameni, Palea Kameni, and a schooner cruise

Thursday was mostly taken up with a volcano hike and boat trip.  We started in Santorini's new port, Athinios, where we boarded a schooner called Afroditi and headed toward Nea Kameni, the newer of the two volcanic islands in the middle of the Santorini caldera.  For 2 euros, I hiked up and down the island, which was pretty barren (not surprisingly) with a bizarre mix of black, red, tan, and sulfur-yellow colored rocks and a few scrubby plants.  Also very hot, with a few sulfur-y gas vents within the rim of the main crater of the volcano.  I was't with a tour guide, but I eavesdropped on a nearby group and learned how, by digging a shallow hole in the gravely surface along the hiking path, you can feel the heat/hot gases produced by the volcano.  There were several shallow holes created all around the crater rim, and everyone was sticking there hands, then pulling them out quickly due to the heat.  I tried it and it was definitely hot.  And smelly.

I remember when we hiked the glacier in NZ, our guide pointed off to the distance on one side of the moraine and explained that we should avoid that area, because a sulfur vent had recently been disturbed and exposed, and it wasn't safe to get too close.  Wonder why nobody seemed concerned about a similar set up on the volcano?  Maybe less concentrated gases?

View of Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni from above Athinios port

Boarding the Afroditi

Coastline of Santorini

Stopping at Nea Kameni

View of the main crater (click to see larger)

Rocks and shrubs

Another view of the main crater.  Probably not obvious in the photo, but gases are
coming up around those yellow-green rocks to the left.

Cairns and Fira in the background

Colorful rocks

Anwyay, the volcano was not beautiful, but it was very interesting, especially considering its history.

Next stop for our ship was Paleo Kameni (the older volcanic island, adjacent to Nea Kameni), where we were able to jump into the water and swim to the hot springs.  Hot springs were kind of more like warm springs and they were also pretty smelly, but it was cool to see.  The water was orange-yellow.

I'm somewhere in there, making my way toward the hot springs.

Hard to tell from the pic how orange the water was as you got further back

Back on board, heading to Thirassia

Mom, Oia in the background.

 We moved on to Thirassia for dinner, and then toward Oia to once again enjoy the sunset.  It was interesting to see Oia from below, including all the people huddled near the western tip of the town trying to capture the sunset.  To be honest, while it was beautiful, it didn't seem all that amazing to me.  I guess I am spoiled with those Boston sunsets :)  (Actually, Plain City, Ohio offers a pretty nice sunset.)  It was very scenic though, with several boats, the sunset, and Oia up on top of the cliffs.

Heading toward Oia

Bottom of the cliffs

Cute boat

Looking up at Oia from the water

More Oia

Port of Amoudi in Oia

Another shot of Amoudi -- nice red cliffs!

Looking northwest

Sun is setting

See the sun rays?

Tiny island off of Oia...wonder who lives there?

Sunset

Sunset -- I think my phone sometimes takes better pics than my camera

Catamaran

Looking northwest

Today we spent a few hours traveling from Santorini to Mykonos.  More exploring planned for tomorrow...

Church -- Agios Nectarios (back in Kamari, near our hotel)

Aegean cat on the beach :)

Fira and Oia

Today I was super excited to go visit the archeological site of ancient Akrotiri, sometimes called the "Minoan Pompeii".  Then I learned over breakfast that there is a strike going on in Greece, meaning that all government-run operations were shut down, including Akrotiri.  Supposedly, this strike will last through tomorrow, too.  So, no chance to go before we leave Santorini.  Not happy.

Instead, we rented a little car and ventured out to explore the island.  We drove first to Fira town with a plan to book a trip to the volcano.  Fira is the port town, where all the cruises dock, so it was packed with tourists and souvenir shops.  Driving into and around Fira was crazy, partly because we didn’t really have any directions about where to go or park, but mostly because the streets were narrow and windy and packing with huge buses, tiny motorcycles, and oblivious pedestrians, and the car didn’t exactly drive smoothly.  BUT, we got in and out without any problems and reserved a trip for tomorrow, including the volcano and view of the island at sunset.  Should be romantic J

Our little yellow Chevrolet

View of the volcano from Fira

Looking over Fira town

Then we drove up and around the top of the island toward Oia.  Very pretty town with white houses stacked in clusters all along the cliff walls, looking out over the rest of the caldera.  We wandered around and saw lots of dogs (sleepy), cats (annoyed), blue-domed churches, tourists, and souvenir shops.  Had a tasty dinner and watched hordes of people flock to the farthest tip of the town to view the sunset over the water.  Guess what’s common in Greece?  Peach juice and Morello cherry juice.  Awesome.

Lots of pics of Oia!  Tomorrow, I will be double-checking about Akrotiri, just in case the strike miraculously ends.  Either way, I will be hiking the volcano.

Looking west over Oia

View of the colorful buildings

Sort-of sunset

Oia at night

Looking southeast over Oia, tiny lights on the right in the distance are probably Imerovigli

UPDATE: I asked someone else about the strike, wondering about the chances it would be done by tomorrow.  He had no idea what I was talking about.  Then, when I explained, he said these strikes happen all the time in Athens, but never impact commerce in Santorini.... I hope this is true so we can go tomorrow, but also, if it is true, why did our travel rep tell us otherwise?  I am sure they know.

Is it possibly some sort of strategy to keep me away from ancient ruins?!  If it is...I will look like this grumpy cat we saw in Oia:

I watched a woman smush her face up close to this clearly-unhappy cat to get a photo.  It swatted her in the face.  She still posed with it for a pic.  This is the aftermath.  (I like him!)

Made it to Greece

So, Greece is 7 hours ahead of Boston time.  I think I have been mostly awake since...8am Monday morning.  Definitely very tired.  But, it's nearly time for bed here, so I should get in sync pretty quick.

We got into Santorini at around 2pm Greece time and fairly quickly found our hotel, the beach, and lots of delicious feta.  The island is really cool.  It's a caldera formed when the volcano in the center of the island (which is still active) erupted around 1600 BC, called the Minoan Eruption.  Phyllis Forsyth says it was "one of the most violent volcanic eruptions ever since human beings have been on this planet!"  Apparently, it was quite the event and even trickled its way into Greek mythology.  (Hear Leonard Nimoy narrate part of the history here.)  Anyway, the result is really interesting -- I'm hoping to get pics tomorrow or Thursday.

In the meantime, here are pics from today:

View outside our room (Ancient Thira sits at the top of the hill in the distance)

View from inside our room...kinda pretty

Kamara black sand beach, Anafi in the distance. 

Nevermind about the whole gluten-free thing...

This one goes out to Trevor, who appreciates the artistry of photographing your dinner :)

Feta, wrapped in phyllo, fried, drizzled with honey and sesame seeds.  There are no words to explain how delicious this is.  As good as sopapillas, Aubrey.

View from the balcony

Pie day :)

I finished off the week with a pie-making class at Sur La Table with my mom on Saturday morning.  It was fun and I learned a few new tricks.  We made a cherry-nectarine lattice-top pie, a key lime pie, and "perfect" pie crust.  Everything tasted great :)

See how pretty?

Artfully-placed limes...

This pie used dried cherries (meh)

Here's mom -- very excited about pie (of course)

Happy 4th of July!

A busy day here today!  Started off with brunch with Rachel, and then Lindsay joined us for some prep tasks for Rachel's wedding in October.  Rachel wanted to make some pearl necklaces for the bridesmaids (me and Lindsay) and we also needed to make her birdcage veil.  Success on both counts.  Veil turned out to be super easy.  We went back to Rachel's to see her dress, which was recently finished and turned out perfectly.  Also made a brief trip to Graeter's for some mocha chip ice cream.  Some more wedding planning stuff on the books for tomorrow...

We also got to see some more family in town to visit.  Aunt Kari and cousins Hannah and Eli came to town and got to advise on the wedding prep and visit a bit with baby Max.

Really cool detail on the  back

It comes with built-in wings!

After dinner and some visiting, we headed back to Dublin for the fireworks, which were NOT cancelled, thanks to a brief break in the rain.  We met Brian & Co. at the high school, where they had a tent set up and were listening to this year's musical guest, Chicago.

Waiting for dark

Both of the twins were happy to share their umbrellas

Met up with Christina and Caroline

Brian got the girls some light sabers (of course)

Picnic day

Saw The Heat last night with Aubrey.  Hilarious.  The plan for today was facials with Aubrey and a picnic with the girls.

Aubrey and I went to a local day spa, which was awesome.  Wish I had time for a massage, but I found out the awesome masseuse moved to San Francisco, anyway.  Sad.  Then I headed home to get ready for a picnic.

I grabbed the girls and we headed to the Dublin farmers' market, where they sampled everything (homemade chocolate granola, apple cider, summer honey, fall honey, gluten-free/dairy-free/peanut-free/vegan ice cream, cheese, homemade hot dogs, and jams).  We settled on some blueberries, peaches, and a mini raspberry pie.  They also insisted that we buy some honey for Grampy.  I think farmers' markets may be the best thing about summer.  I can't wait to get to the one in Brookline.  (Mmmm, heirloom tomatoes.....)

Then we headed to a local park to eat our fruit and pie (plus some mac & cheese).  Had a good time running around, finding bugs, and playing on the playground.

After the picnic, I met up with Muriel, and we went to the Powell Village Winery and finished off the evening with some ice cream from Jeni's (pistachio and banana honey).  Caught most of Red, White, and BOOM! on TV.  Live fireworks here in Dublin tomorrow, if the weather holds out.

Kiddie Cars and El Vaquero!

Last night we had a cookout with the whole family and a few family friends.  Afterwards, the girls were surprised with the arrival of a belated birthday gift (which had to be picked up from the store): a child-sized motorized Jeep.  I was impressed by their driving skills (especially Macy) and their mad cackling (especially Sadie).  I'll try and post a video, which is actually fairly long, but cute!

A local Mexican favorite, El Vaquero, was the destination tonight.  Macy had requested the novel experience of walking to the restaurant, which is actually pretty close to my brother's house.  Still, it was quite a jaunt (in the heat) for two four-year-olds (and some adults), and we were all very proud of ourselves.  After dinner, the girls "fed" tortilla chips to the ducks out back and got some lessons on skipping stones.  KC did more than his share of the work on the walk home, acting as entertainment and vehicle.  The nieces LOVE Uncle KC.

On the walk home, Macy told me that she was very close to skipping stones.  "I almost got it!"

Clearly, my skills are not up to par.  I did not obey commands like "carry me on your head!" or "RUN!!!!"