Thursday, July 22, 2021

What a start to the day

First, I couldn't fall asleep because I was worried that I might oversleep... so I tossed and turned. Around 2 o'clock, I started to calm down and get tired. But then it started in the hostel. The partygoers came back and thought they could continue having fun in the hallways. Around 3 o'clock, it got so intense that I had to go out and ask them what's going on. Then it was quiet. For about 30 minutes...! I was wide awake. So I tossed and turned. At 4 o'clock, my roommate came home and at 5:30 I had to get up. = Didn't sleep a minute this night! Bingo.

At 5:50, the bus was supposed to pick me up in front of the hostel. At 6:05, I thought I would wait another 5 minutes and then call. But the minibus just turned the corner. So everything was okay. Then it took only 1 hour to Rethimno, where there was already a long line forming in front of the check-in counter. According to Greek tradition, people were assigned. Which didn't please some tourists. Smile. For me, this was nothing new and I could handle it easily. Then through the ticket check, then through the Covid check, and then on board. There, it continued with another ticket check and then the temperature check. Well, that was a piece of cake! Smile

Inside the catamaran, it felt like 15 degrees cold. Everyone covered themselves or, like me, didn't have anything to put on, so they froze during the 2.5-hour crossing. I spent the time listening to music and playing Mahjong. The sea was very calm and the journey was correspondingly pleasant.

As soon as the large entrance gates opened, we were greeted by a heat wave. Phew. What a difference in temperature!! It almost made me dizzy. But immediately, a refrigerator in the form of a bus was announced. I was assigned bus no. 14 with the English tour guide. Well, never mind, I understand a little bit of English. But there were also French people. And they didn't understand anything at all. And especially not why they were not assigned to the French bus. Because they only found out about this possibility at the end of the trip and were accordingly angry. But hey, since our bus microphone didn't work properly and the poor guy had to wear a mask that made his pronunciation even more unclear, all the information was just indecipherable mumbling. So the French didn't really miss much.

The trip to Oia (Ia, as the Greeks say) felt so familiar to me. It felt like I had just been here on vacation and not almost 3 years ago. Some things have grown, but I could still recognize a surprising number of things.

Arriving in beautiful Oia, the tour guide tried to coordinate the restless group. Not very professional, he tried to find out who wanted to do option A (drive to Fira and stay there for about 3.5 hours), option B (drive to Fira with a 1-hour stop and then a swimming stop in the bay with black sand), or option C (drive to the port and then the tour to the volcano with a swimming stop). It was chaos with people who spoke little to no English and those who understood the language but still didn't understand what they had to do. Since I also had a special request, I was near the tour guide and right in the middle of it. Translating and helping to explain. What else! Daniela is Daniela after all! Smile
I informed the tour guide that I didn't want to do any of the 3 options, but instead, stay in Oia and join the group again in Fira. At first, he was surprised. But when I told him that I know Santorini well and I know where the public bus runs, it was okay for him. And just like that, I had 4 full hours in the most beautiful place on Santorini, all by myself, as the only one from our bus. Yippee!

And I enjoyed every minute of it. A breathtakingly stunning place. It makes my heart and soul happy.

I estimate that 90% of all the shops are still the same as they were back then. But there have been a few new buildings where upscale boutiques or bars/hotels have moved in. Everything is moving towards growth here too. The numerous souvenir shops are so geared towards mass tourism. Most things are made in Asia. Actually a shame. But for the watchful eye, there are still a few great shops with handmade, unique Greek products. I explored those. I can remember two very well because I browsed or even made purchases there back then. The shop with the handmade fairy dolls (incredibly lovingly made) and the shop with the special jewelry and ceramic works (the bead ring is still one of my favorite pieces and the ceramic picture is hanging in my apartment).

This time, I found a very special and hidden crafts shop. 'Steps to Art'. They make pictures and jewelry from old watches and sand from Santorini. The artist is super nice and was delighted that I was so interested in his work.

Since it was very windy today, it was extremely hot and wearing the mask became even more troublesome. I have to say that all the shops abide by it and even speak up if you're not wearing a mask. And many tourists wear masks. Some even outside.

The hours passed quickly and at 3:30 pm, I grabbed one of the last seats on the bus to Fira. I arrived on time, found my bus no. 14 again. Everything was fine, almost... 20 meters in front of the bus, I had to cross a street. And there was a raised pavement. Although I was wearing low shoes, I still sprained my right foot. Ouch! ((And I immediately remembered that the same thing happened to me a few times back then. There are always these gutters in the ground and raised pavements here!)). On the boat, I held my toes against the cold support of the front row seat. That way, the pain subsided. (In Chania, I will go to the pharmacy in the neighborhood to get a cooling salve.)

The return trip was the opposite of the outbound trip. It was super hot! The air conditioning was turned off. A tourist complained, and I could hear that the reason was that the rear doors to the small outside deck were open and therefore the air conditioning couldn't run at the same time. Bingo. People became restless and the children were whining. I was sweating. Unpleasant! After about half of the journey, it suddenly became cool and the passengers applauded!

Arrival in Rethimno at 8 pm. Just in time for the sunset. Then the drive back to the hostel. With obstacles. Just before the hostel, the bus driver had to stop and block the entire traffic. He got stuck between the incorrectly parked cars in the roundabout itself and the poorly parked motorcycles in front of the taverna. So 4 men lifted and moved the motorcycles. Then we could continue luckily.

The pharmacy was already closed and the supermarket was also closed. So no salve and no food. I was already hungry on the catamaran! And my foot hurt. And I was so incredibly tired... Ugh! At least there were sandwiches in the hostel. Yippee!!!! The 2 toasted ham sandwiches cost 4.50 euros together. Just as much as 1 mini-frappé in Oia!

Now shower and then sleep!