Sunbathing in Santorini

I am back from the island of Santorini where I've been the past two days. Santorini is the island that is most often photographed with the whitewashed buildings and blue doors and churchs. They have about 2 internet cafes there and they charge exorbitant rates, along with everything else on the island being overpriced. The island itself isn't all that attractive. It's scrubby and brown and, in the Greek tradition, has lots of unfinished buildings scattered around. But the views. The views are to die for. The majority of the hotels/villas are near the highest point on the island so looking out from the balcony is breathtaking. The sunset, billed as the best in the world, is also great, but I hate to say nothing compares (from my travels) with the sunset you get from layers of pollution on the skyline of Redondo Beach/LA. But that's not the Greek Islands either. My "villa" and I only use that word because that's what they called it, was perched at the top along with a thousand or so others, crammed so closely together that if you walked up the wrong staircase, you were on someone else's balcony. I found this place on the internet and emailed a reservation. They didn't get back to me very fast so I had to have Herc call for me and see if they got my email. I had requested the A#1 super duper room and they told him they only had a suite (this is a step down?) and it was less money. Something aint right there. But I took it. Turns out I got the honeymoon suite. I think they called it that because angels were painted on the walls. The guy made a special point of showing me all the angels. That's the only thing I can figure out because the bed WAS A BOX SPRING. I couldn't believe it. I guess they don't have mattresses here. Only different grades of box springs. This was a grade higher than the one I have been sleeping on for 2 1/2 weeks, but not much higher. Anyways, I don't want to complain about the room because it really was pretty nice and it had a private balcony with a fabulous view. But I will complain about the 79 steps that I had to climb to get out of the maze of villas. 79. I counted them every time I went up to distract myself from the wheezing and severe shortness of breath I experienced each time. The day I got there the guy at the reception desk told me to follow a route that was downhill from where I was staying and in just about 10 minutes, I would be in town. That is assuming I took the correct steps, which I mostly did not. Once I passed the landmark he told me to aim for, there was no obvious route, so I started climbing steps. Apparently there is one way to get to the main part of town and the other ways end up on someone's balcony. So I huffed and puffed my way in and out, up and down, every set of stairs I came to and 45 minutes later, I was on the main street in town. Heart rate 210. Respiratory rate 60. I'm not going THAT way again. Too bad I stayed out after dark and didn't know another way home or drop bread crumbs. Because, in the dark, you can't even SEE the damn stairs, much less figure out where they go. Also, in the dark, every villa looks exactly the same. And there are no visible signs identifying each villa. So it took me about an hour to weave my way back and another 20 min to find where I was staying. I swear, I'm definitely not going that way again. That's how I found the 79 steps.

I sampled the wine there. Their specialties are a slightly sweet red dessert wine that was excellent and white wine, which was also excellent. (Perhaps this is why it took me so long to figure out how to get home.)

In the morning, I had breakfast delivered to my room and I ate on my balcony overlooking the Aegean Sea and several other islands. You can't really beat that for breakfast with a view. I had decided I was not walking anywhere else the next day so I bit the bullet and rented a car. They only have small cars and motos and I didn't want a moto. When I say small car, I mean you can reach into the backseat into a bag of groceries and barely rotate your shoulder. So I headed out in my manual transmission, teeny tiny clown car for a beach recommended to my by one of the Greeks I work with. He said "you should go there, everyone is nuuude" and he stretched out the word nude. So, of course I had to go there. It took me a few tries to find the place (as no maps are given out at the rental place). They did tell me the area I was looking for wasn't as crowded as some of the other tourist areas. A definite bonus. I parked the car and walked down to the beach area. It was one of the black beaches, which is black from the volcanic ash, and very rocky. I saw umbrellas in the distance, which was the only sign of activity. Well, I think "not as crowded" would be an understatement. There were 4 people there, not counting the guy renting umbrellas. And they weren't nude. The girls were topless, but they weren't nude. Topless? I want my money back. You can get topless at the pool. Anyways, I rented an umbrella and joined the topless throngs, took my top off, and laid there waiting for the sun to tan my shockingly white chi chis. But I got too nervous and ended up covering them with a bunch of suncscreen. The water was blue green and beautiful and I tried to swim but it was a crippling walk to get even ankle deep because it was all very large rocks. So I went back to my sunbathing. I kept looking at the umbrella rental guy wondering what he did all day long. He basically stared at the floor. I never saw him look up, never saw him checking out the topless girls, no book, no TV, nothing. Just staring at the floor. Not even a dog to keep him company. I stayed a few hours then drove around some more before heading back to the villa. After changing (to a nicer t-shirt) I went to eat at a fabulous restaurant called Vanilia, with great food, great wine and of course a fabulous view.

I flew back to Athens today and tomorrow I work at 7:30. So now I have to get back to the day shift routine. Sunday is my last shift and my last day here.