Meet the back of Pedro's head (for some reason I think of my donkey as Mexican-must be the bright colours he was wearing). Pedro assisted me in getting from the port of Thirissa to the top. It's a bloody steep climb and without his help I may not have made it to the top, plus I wanted to ride a donkey at some point.
The reason why I was so tired is that I had just hiked to the top of the volcano in the centre of Santorini and swam to the hot springs from the boat, all after walking into Fira from our hostel (takes about 30 mins in the heat). So my legs had seen a lot of action that day already.
Poor Pedro had to haul my lazy ass (as well as Kristen and Julie) to the top in the midday sun. He was sweating by the end. The reason for the trip to the top was so we could have lunch on the opposite side of the caldera facing Thira (we could see Oia and Fira).
This was the middle of a long day.
It started with an early morning walk to Fira, a cablecar to the old port and a boat excursion. We were on an old traditional wooden sailing ship in order to visit the semi dormant volcano in the middle (and I do love a good volcano) as well as the hot springs (mmm sulfer) and the little island of Thirissa (where everyone knows each other as only 250 people live there).
The volcano was only 127m high. But it felt like scaling a mountain. Nothing grows there. Its barren, hot and no shelter.
The views from the top were worth the sweltering climb. Oh and dont worry, its not THAT active and when (not if) it blows again the people on the island should get a bit of lead in time. Apparantly after Mt Etna its the mist closely monitered volcano in the Med.
Next stop, natural hot springs. We jumped off the side if the boat abd swan towards the shore where the water turned a rusty colour due to the iron and sulfur content. The water was noticeably warm but it in reality I was content floating in the open sea-the water temparature is very pleasant.
We visited Thirissa across the caldera for lunch. In order to get to the top of the cliff without dropping from heat exhaustion is where Pedro assisted. Lunch was beautiful and the view worth a million bucks (hopefully not delivered by Pedro, he looks like he has a mean kick).
We ended our last night in Santorini in a bar in Fira looking across the caldera watching the sunset, glass of Rose wine from Northern Greece in hand. Bliss.
*~*