On to Athens…
So I’m back for another installment. I find that if I try and make the effort, this blogging thing really isn’t all that hard. Altho, right now … not too good. The room is hot as anything, and has this kinda wet, musty smell. But whatever … the Internet is pretty fast, so I can just do my thang and be on my way.
The sunsets in Santorini are everything people say they are, and then some. On my last day in Santorini, I woke up at like 7AM, and roamed the streets till after dark. Since it was Sunday, the streets were empty, and I felt like I was in an old ghost town, replete with sounds of creaky signposts blowing in the wind. Every so often, I would be greeted by the melodious sounds of the millions of churches in the town of Oia. It was a great time to get some pictures, and I hope the results are worth the time I put into them.
Of course, it wasn’t all so calm and easy … how can it be? So I’m walking along the streets, all by myself, with a cookie in one hand and the camera in the other. A few dogs see the cookie in my hand and decide that it is time they had breakfast. Being absent minded as I am, I’m walking along, oblivious to the building growls behind me. I turn back to frame a shot and 5 dogs are staring me straight down. I’m trying to keep myself from running, because they say that dogs can sense fear. I start walking a little faster than usual and one dog apparently took offense to that and decides to charge, and before I know it, I feel a wet tongue on my left hand. Of course, the cookie is smothered … but the damn dog thinks I’m fooling it and have something better stored elsewhere … so he comes in front of me and starts sniffing at my pockets … the other 4 have slowly crept up behind me and are growling their approval for the pack leader.
Now … imagine this scene … stranded street, quiet wind, me standing in my shorts, toting a camera in one and waving the other arm around in panic (I’m not sure who I am expecting to see it, but it’s psychologically soothing), and 5 dogs intent on having breakfast at any cost … at the present time: mine! Finally after an eternity, this groggy old man looks out the window and calls for someone … his dog, it turns out. One of the 4 behind me decides he’ll have better luck with his master and decides to go for it. Eventually the others got the same idea and took off.
The whole episode must have lasted only like 15 minutes, but I swear I felt like I had been standing there since yesterday!
So, after all this, and after walking all over the town, I decided to head down the mountain to the Bay of Armeni for my volcano ferry. Ok, I’ll admit that I’m not in the BEST of shape, but I’m fairly decent and can walk with the best of em … but boy was I winded when I got down … they say there are over 500+ steps, each about 6ft wide … winding down along the mountain.
I say this in every blog about every country … I swear the people in the olden days knew we would turn out to be fat slobs, and that’s why they made all their monuments up in the sky. It still surprises me how things were done back then, especially at the scale that they’ve been done in.
I met some really nice folks on the ferry ride, and that made the trip a lot more enjoyable. The entire island of Santorini has a fascinating story, but I won’t bore everyone with it … google it 
After having a nice lunch on the island of Thissira, we got back and were looking at the steps back up with sheer contempt … but couldn’t be helped, so all of us started the trek upwards.
The trip down was rough, but there aren’t words for my final state when I got up finally. Jane was cracking up at me (she took the easy way, and rode a donkey up) … I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower, but the showerhead was still following me around. I could feel myself stinking 
Had a coool honey walnet ice cream, and after extended goodbyes with Rena, and many promises to return, she dropped me off at the taxi station, and off it was for the ferry.
The sunset on the port was beautiful, and of course I ended up taking a gazillion shots. You decide how they turned out
The ferry ride was calm and steady this time around, but the passengers next to me weren’t. Man, they were making out like freakin monkeys and kept bumping into me followed by a very insincere “sorry”, giggles, and carry on. It was actually kinda amusing, but still … I was trying to sleep!
We got back into Athens around 1 and then it was onto Mission: Find Hotel. For some wierd ass reason, there were no young taxi drivers around, and the old 18th century ones didn’t speak English. So I’m pointing in my guide book, repeating the names of areas over and over again and finally after 45 mins the guy gets me to a cheap hotel right close to downtown, no harm no foul.
But hold on … wait a minute … the AC in the room didn’t work. It was HOT and humid and I’m like aww hell naw … It’s 2 AM! Couldn’t do anything, so I opened the windows, got down to my birthday suit and went off to see Old Mr. Chou.
Much to my embarrassment, the next morning I found out that my window opens up about 15 feet from another balcony in the hotel next door, and a couple were sitting there enjoying their coffee, well … enjoying as much as they could after what they probably saw!
I’m running off into the next day, so until next time … efharisto!