Santorini, Mykonos, Athens & Delphi

Hi --
Sorry, we've been slow in making posts.

We'll try to catch up a bit, since tomorrow we leave Greece.

Santorini
We went to the famous Santorini village/town of Ia (sometimes spelled Oia), because it is supposed to be THE place from which to view sunsets. Besides having as many charming restaurants and cafes as Fira, Ia has quite a bit more charm.

To my nieces: This is the town you want to bring any rich boyfriends you acquire to! Shop after shop of adorable stuff, much of it handmade or otherwise unusual and desireable. Choosing is the big problem.

Fira was chock full of high-end jewellers on the main pedestrian street, but the back streets feel sort of congested, claustrophobic.
Ia has lots more charm -- it resembles a white-washed version of the walled streets of Venice (on the edge of a volcanic crater and without the canals, of course.)

Wind: The other interesting thing that happened on our last two days in Santorini was that the heat wave broke and the winds returned. I had been reading before our trip of people finding Santorini unexpectedly windy, making it too cold to want to swim, etc. During our first two days, a wind problem was hard to believe -- and then normalcy (the winds) returned. And you realized why so many chairs, tables and umbrellas were bolted down, and why most restaurants did not bother with airconditioning, but made sure they had two layers of wind protection (lockable windows AND well-anchored wooden shutters)


Mykonos
We stayed at a lovely 2-star hotel with a pool near the town. We hadn't planned on having a car, but it turned out that the evening walk back was uphill and too hard when you're tired, and taxis are really scarce on the island. So we got a car, and had a great visit.

Delos: We visited the important island of Delos, revered as the birthplace of Apollo and his sister. No one is permitted to live there now, but it was a thriving crossroads of ancient trade in the Mediterranean for centuries. The site was great, but what the kids really liked was the 20 minute boat ride out and then back.
The winds we'd had in Santorini were still in evidence here, and the sea had become so choppy that the tour operators declared that the 2-3 hours we were supposed to be spending on the island was being cut to just 1 hour because the last boat back to Mykonos was going to depart at 12:30. Both the trip out and the trip back had 5-10 minute stretches of rollercoaster ride.

Despite the winds, Mykonos still had great beach days for us because a bunch of their beaches are in coves sheltered by high hills. We went to the beaches of Ornos, Platis Yialos, and Elia.
We even discovered a new and wonderfully uncrowded restaurant in town (behind Coo): Bourazza at the Kouneni Gardens (ph:). "Nouvelle Greek" cuisine, very modern furnishings, spacious tables, elegant ivory decor with floral and gingham(!) accents, upholstered seating -- pretty incongruous for Mykonos, or anywhere in Europe! Great food, prices not any worse that the prices at the blah harborfront restaurants, really sweet, attentive and competent service.

Delphi
We took a bus tour to Delphi Wednesday. It was about a 3 hour trip each way -- a long day. We passed through the adorable town of Arachova, which looks like an Italian village, for some reason, peaked terra cotta roofs, stone exteriors, pretty wrought iron balconies. It is a ski resort town in winter.
Delphi was a challenging climb because of both the heat (we had hoped for chillier mountain temperatures, or at least wind!) and because the ancient marble slab pavement stones of the path are really smooth and slippery in a lot of places. But the site and the museum (containing the artifacts excavated from the site) were fascinating.


Athens
We finally got to see the Acropolis today, hallelujah! It was warmer than we had hoped for (hotter than normal -- in mid-90s) But we fortunately took a taxi to the entrance which cut our climb in half, because the residential & business area below the Acropolis is already up a hill. The site is spectacular, and really worth the effort.



So -- tomorrow we take an overnight ferry to our next destination. The kids are excited because these ferries have cabins with beds like cruise ships, (though probably more spartan -- we'll let you know!).
The first town we will visit at our destination is one in which the inhabitants had traditionally lived in homes which were caves carved into the limestone hills.