Spectacular Views in Santorini

Night time views from Santorini
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Sunday 10^th June – Naxos – Santorini

A sad day for Leigh and Jo as we said goodbye to Mel and Jas over breakfast in our favourite cafe with free wireless (supposedly). We will miss them both lots as it has been very entertaining and realised today was the first day of a long trip home, just the two of us, until we meet up with everyone in Vegas. Jumped onboard the boat to Santorini and had some lovely lunch with fresh rolls. Arrived in Santorini in what was the most hectic of all the Greek Island ports, hoards of people and buses in a very small landing surrounded by massive cliffs. We eventually located the free transfer bus to our hotel with a crazy Greek man. For the ones we understand what we mean, maybe Wol in 10 years time. We made a steep climb in a type of school bus, going zig-zag up a cliff road, hundreds of metres above the port holding on for dare life (Mum don't worry). After arriving at the hotel we decided to hire a quad bike and explore the island of Santorini. We begun by going down to Kamari beach which is a beautiful black volcanic beach with clear seas. We then headed up to the town (Fira), questioning why we had made such a journey for only a day... then it hit us... after parking the quad bike and exploring the alley ways we came across the most stunning view we have ever seen. Amazingly spark city perched ontop of jagged rock faced cliffs overlooking sparkling sea waters and islands for miles. From a distance you would think it is a snow capped mountain. After exploring and taking a number of photos on self timer, we hooned down to the beach for a bite to eat. We then climbed the old fira road on our quad bikes, probably not recommended as it is very steep and an uneven surface. We got to the top for more spectacular views over the city.

White washed buildings
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Monday 11^th June Santorini – Mykonos – Samos

Early rise for what ended up the start of a very long day! Jo ran down to the beach and Leigh followed lazily on the quad bike and refreshed with a nice morning dip, in the beautiful warm sea. We then got transferred by our crazy Greek bus driver to the port via the rest of the island. Waiting in queue for our boat we heard the strongest kiwi accents and ended up talking to this older couple from the Coromandel. Caught the fast ferry back to Mykonos where we were greeted by hundreds of hoteliers trying to sell us a room. We finally negotiated a good deal for 20 Euros for the day including a lovely swimming pool overlooking one of the beaches in Mykonos. Went for another sea swim in somewhat cooler water. Then had a homemade special dinner of salami, bread, tomatoes and tzakziki – yum. Jumped on board the overnight boat leaving Mykonos at 11pm for Samos and found a nice patch on the floor to sleep.