Sail boat cruise

After eating breakfast at our little hotel buffet, our first full day in Oia was spent walking up and down the main marble walkway and having lunch at our hotel restaurant. We had moussaka, boiled greens, and stuffed tomato and pepper. The food was really good and we ended up eating at the hotel again the second day. 

We took the bus to Fira, the old port, so we could catch our boat for out sunset boat tour. We roamed around Fira a bit before taking the long hot staircase all the way to the port from the town above. There were many donkeys passing us, we could have rode them for 5 euros each, but we felt bad for the donkeys and didn't care to ride one anyway.   

The stairs were cobblestoned and slippery, interspersed with piles of donkey droppings baking in the sun. By the time we reached the bottom I was stuffed up with itchy eyes. Luckily it went away pretty fast. 

Soon, with a crowd, we were shuffled into a large sailboat and off we went to the active volcanic island in the middle of the caldera. We hiked to the top with the group and learned a little about how the islands were formed. We felt the hot steam coming up out of one of the vents. We had a nice panoramic view of the caldera at the top. 

Back on the boat we sailed to another island in the caldera and docked offshore about 100 meters.  We had to climb down a ladder (Ryan jumped!) into the sea and swim to the shore. Good thing we brought our on goggles!  Eventually we made it to the warmer water and swam up close to the rocks where we could touch. We scraped the "therapeutic" mud from the bottom and rubbed it on our bodies. We played around a while taking pictures and such before swimming back across to the boat. 

We sailed on to another area with very clear deep water. Ryan say this one out, but I went in just for a minute or two. We share a fear of "the abyss". The water was clear, but too deep to see the bottom. Sometimes that freaks us out. I climbed back on board just in time to be one of the first in line for our dinner of Greek mezze (appetizers). 

We had grapeleaves, tzatziki, an eggplant dip, mini phyllo dough spinach pies, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and some bread pockets filled with cheese. All served with local white wine. 

After we ate we changed into dry clothes and put our sweaters on as the air cooled down. We floated by Oia to see the town lit up in the sunset while a saxophone player serenaded the group. It was really beautiful. 

Last but not least, just before reaching the port, the guide led several of us in the "Zorba dance". Ryan and I joined in, trying to keep up with the guide but mostly just hopping up and down. It was fun and warmed us up. 

We took the cable car up to the town and caught a bus back to Oia. We got dessert of halva and "spoon sweets" which were pretty much pruned cherries in syrup. Ryan ordered a Greek coffee. We finished up and headed back to our room for bed.