Last Day!

Day 8 – Hiking up to Ancient Thera on Santorini; Back to Athens

This morning I got up very early so as to be packed and ready to go by 8.  Our guide took me and the other intrepid hiker in our group to do a pretty strenuous hike on the other side of the island.  It started in a little village called Kamari on the east side of the island and went straight up a mountain to the ruins of Ancient Thira, a city that was buried under the volcano of the 17^th century BCE and then resettled in the 8^th century BCE.  The archeological site is really worth seeing.  It is atop a mountain with amazing views out over the whole island.  The ascent up the mountain, however, is a real heart thumping, leg burning climb!  The hot sun didn’t help either.  We were really sweating as we made the ascent.  About half way up there we came upon(what else??) a little church shaded by trees built right into the side of the mountain, next to a cave.  We stopped there to catch our breath and cool off before completing the climb up to Ancient Thira.  After we toured the archeological site we descended down the other side of the mountain to the village of Perissa famous for its black sand beaches.  We rested there for a bit and had some refreshments before catching the bus back to Fira, the village where we were staying.  Having checked out of our rooms we had to keep ourselves busy until the bus came to take us to the airport.  I got a gelato and then went back to the hotel and sat by the pool in the shade, reading and enjoying a Greek salad for lunch.  My feet needed to cool off after hours in the hiking shoes in the intense heat!

Then we made our way to the airport and flew back to Athens and returned to the same hotel we started in last week.  After a brief break to shower and cool off, we headed out for our final dinner.  Our guide really hit a home run with tonight’s restaurant choice.  The food was outstanding and a couple of the dishes had flavors that you can’t even find in the United States – the ingredients just aren’t available there.  We had another Greek salad (and no two are ever alike!), then an eggplant dish with tomatoes, spices and yogurt with spices, then a dish with cheese (that looks like pita), grilled with vegetables inside and pesto sauce drizzled on top (see photo), then a chicken dish that looks like something your grandmother would have made with Campbell’s Mushroom Soup over chicken, but the sauce was absolutely delicious, with a spice that is sweet and savory at the same time (and some unpronounceable Greek name), cheese, and it is served over a pasta that looks like a Wheatabix biscuit and sort of has that consistency, only its pasta, and it too is a bit sweet.  That was the winner dish of the entrees, although the pork with tomatoes and spices was excellent too.  Then dessert came out with no less than four options – an orange cake with orange drizzle, profiteroles, a brownie like chocolate cake thing (only not as rich or sweet as a brownie) with ice cream and hot fudge, and three scoops of vanilla ice cream with what looked like raspberry or strawberry drizzle, but was something also unpronounceable, a Turkish spice that is really good but not like any flavor we know in the US served over a gooey cake made from the same fruit.  We rolled out of there more full than full!!  Good thing we had a longish walk back to the hotel.

I leave in the morning and should be back in Rochester, all things being equal by 6:30 tomorrow evening.