We set off for Athens airport, having left our big bags at our hotel. Sara and I managed to cram our week’s worth of clothes into a day bag each, and Mum and Dad shared 1 of their suitcases so that we wouldn’t have to lug all our winter clothes and other useless items to the islands, as we would be returning to our hotel in Athens for one night before sailing to Venice. We caught a busy train to the airport, checked in our bags... and got in the queue for the airport scanners... it was not until we began emptying our pockets that Dad noticed his wallet.... was missing! Argh! 4 days into his holiday and he’d already lost one of his most important possessions... He could not come to terms with the fact that his faithful button on the back of his boardshort-like pants had not secured in his wallet. He was certain he would have felt someone unbutton it if that were the case. He decided it must have fallen out on the train... not been pickpocketed... because of his faithful... button... not wanting to rub salt in his wounds, Sara and I tried not to explain the missing logic in his theory and decided it best to accept that while his fortress-like button would have saved him from being pickpocketed, it was still flimsy enough to undo itself to allow his wallet to jump out at its own free will... yes... that is the logical answer... Ok so Dad is right now seething while reading this so I will move on... We continued through airport security and made our way to our boarding gate. Sara then began the calls to the train’s lost and found department before we all boarded our flight to Santorini.
Santorini
When we arrived in Santorini we caught a bus into town and wandered around asking people for directions to our hotel. Eventually we were able to find it and check in, though at this point I was already grateful to have left my heavy bag back in Athens... after a quick facebook update on the hotel wifi, Mum volunteered to make the card cancellation calls to Australia while Sara, Dad and I set off to explore the island. Santorini is gorgeous! There were so many tourist shops for Sara and I to explore we were in heaven, and Dad found a bar overlooking the water and Caldera and he was in heaven. Dad spent many afternoons people watching from his vantage point, after being given his daily cash allowance from Mum... something he most enjoyed asking for, and justifying, (as anyone who knows my Dad would understand)... Later that afternoon, I took a quod bike on a test drive...I was very good at it, and drove all the way to the end of the road... (approx 100 metres) before turning around to take it back to the shop where Sara was waiting for me... that was enough excitement for me and I decided not to go ahead with hiring one... Dad however hired his bike just down the road not long after and had a great time showing off... his nickname became ‘easy rider’...
The next couple of days were spent exploring the island. Mum and Dad caught buses from one end to the other, Mum went to some museums, Dad enjoyed his favourite view, while Sara and I trawled through the shops, checked out some bars, and generally did... well... nothing. It was marvellous. The 4 of us caught a bus up to Oia one night and watched the most incredible sunset over the water before heading back to our side of the island for dinner. Greece was still delivering on the tasty meals! Sara also hired a quod bike which she rode to the beach, rode a donkey down the hill to the port and caught the cable car back up the hill. It was a splendid, relaxing few days and we were ready for some new scenery so we were headed to Mykonos...
We checked out of our hotel, had the hotel staff drive us down to the port, sat at the port... and waited... and waited... we watched as the seas got rougher and the winds got stronger... Dad and Sara took some sea-sickness pills in preparation... for the return drive back to our hotel... Our boat had indeed been cancelled because of the poor weather conditions... and so our 4 hour round trip landed us back at our hotel for another night. That afternoon Dad, Sara and I took the bus out to one of the beaches we had not had time to visit... it was deserted and unappealing to look at, so after some lunch we returned to the hotel for a nap.
The next day we once again, checked out, got driven down to the port.... and finally boarded our ferry to Mykonos!
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