Arrived on the big blue ferry from Naxos and as the boat rounded the village of Oia we entered the caldera, the site of the largest pyroclastic event in known history. The view was stunning. Disembark, catch a private bus to our new digs, the El Greco in the village of Fira. What a cute place. Across the street is the unobstructed view of the caldera.
We all lounge around the pool, one of four in the place, and then head out to dinner. Hummm, another taverna you say. OK, I'm in. Dionysos in Atlantis Restaurant. This one in Fira is not on the main path and not on the caldera so the food had to be good or it wouldn't survive. It was not to disappoint. Every meal starts with the Greek salad but this one had a few twists. Strong goat feta, very strong. Capers and caper leaves. Both of us thought this was an interesting treat and can't understand why this is not popular in the USA. Tomato fritters, tzadziki, Dark bread, tapinade, big mushrooms stuffed with feta and some other tangy cheese, eggplant baked with minced lamb and tomatoes and a veg pizza. The pizza was not very good but I have extreme standards.
The meal ended with Kataifi, a shredded phyllo desert stuffed with walnuts and soaked in a sugar syrup, served with ice cream. It was OK but nowhere near the stuff from Paro.
Walked back and fell fast asleep.
10
Day xxx, maybe day 6 or seven, I don't even care at this point, our last hike day started with breakfast. Again, no big deal. Greeks don't do breakfast well. The hike was from Fira to Oia. We walked for 5 hours and did 6.57 miles according to Sebastian's gps. Stunning views off teh edge of teh cliff. The trail was super and it was my best hike day. I wasn't fast but I made it in style. The group was fantastic.
In Oia our guides brought us to another hit place. I had been disappointed by the lack of Gyro/Souvlaki but this was to end. A small side street place run by young guys, they served us up pita with tzadziki, fries the we dipped in same, and pork and chicken gyro. Here they call it souvlaki. I was brought up thinking that souvlaki meant it was chunks on a skewer and while true, it's also true that souvlaki can be a gyro. Fries inside with meat, sauce, onions. Meet the mayor of flavor town in Oia. A couple of cold Mythos to wash it down and all the pain in my knee and ankle, gone.
Kathy and I walked around snapping off some tourist pics,
and then back to the hotel via a short bus ride. I was the last one out of the bus and when I stood up, I smacked my head on on the rack so hard I saw stars. Some pool time and ice on my knee and head and onto the last island dinner. Tania our lead guide said that this was our view-sunset dinner. It was not as good as the night before but still very good and saw we watched the sun drop into the ocean we sipped on great house wine and feasted away. The place was on the upper floor of a building on the edge, called Ampelos Wine Bar. Ampelos means vines on vineyard. This was a fancy place with real table cloths and napkins, real wine glasses.
The salad had lettuce, fancy lettuce. The first course was a pepper stuffed with feta that was creamed. Then a roasted eggplant dish that was cubes with other veg and testy fed into it's shell. Fava bean dip and some tasty whole grain bread followed by a delicious chicken with a cinnamon sauce with mushrooms, served with rice and stuffed green and red peppers filled with rice. Everything was very nice here but the star was the stunning view. I brought the rest of the cinnamon raki because the bottle had a crack and was leaking. We made 16 small glasses out of it. The restaurant also served up a VinSanto, a sweet dried raisin wine for our final island toasts. Yamas. Our guides treated us to an ice-cream on the way back. Kathy had double bitter chocolate. And I had Kataifi in vanilla. Both good but Kathy's was better. Real bitter chocolate flavor.
We both hit the sheets dead and slept till 8am.
11
Then coffee. Our sites are low for the quality of coffee here on the islands. Back in Athens we will have a way to boil water and then some Peets Press.
I am in love with some of the breakfast picks. Dolmathes, rusks with goat feta, capers and caper leaves topped with tomatoes. Very different. The yogurt is so thick here that we can hardly get it off the spoon. I mixed it with strawberry jam and muesli and almost needed two spoons to eat it.
Bought my Komboloi, Greek worry beads. The girl that sold them goes to Missouri State University and is studying to be a lawyer. €10 for hematite beads. The owner of Ouzeri, our lunch spot said they are for counting the bad times. Kathy said they are for the good times.
We had a great last lunch. Again off the main street but not far and next to the view dinner spot, was To Ouzeri. This is an Ouzo drinking taverna. Manouri cheese crusted in sesame seeds and fried crisp, then covered with cherries in a syrup,
grilled sausages, a whole wheat nut bread with pumpkin seeds, white and black sesame, walnuts, and almonds to start. I had grilled sardines and Kathy and most others had a whole small fish they call Dorado but was probably Breem. Then yogurt with preserved quince and a shot of vinsanto.
We are now in a plane headed to Athens four our farewell dinner. This has been a good hiking group. Our guides were fabulous. I loved every minute, even when I hated the hiking, I still loved it.
After a short flight back to Athens we walk to the "Last Supper".
The last dinner was in the Plaka upstairs with an Acropolis view, Elaia. The waiter was full Greek and had an English accent. He commented to me about speaking Greek after I ordered a beer and ouzo. "Paragallo, ena ouzo, ena Mythos". He asked where the Greek side was from. When I said Pontos, he said, " Welcome home, brother". Nice.
Dinner was Tyropita, Spanakopita, eggplant fritters, salad, keftedes shaped like sausages and grilled accompanied with fried potatoes, and moussaka. Solis, and simple. Not the fanciest but solid. Desert was an orange cake. Very nice ending.
The shocker was walking back. As we came down to street level, Kathy and I hear "Hey Kathy" from the corner of the next restaurant. We spin around, I see Tom and Kathleen Ferenz. What a coincidence. We made a short intro to the group and then sat and drank wine and chatted with the cousins.
Great ending to trip part two and fun start to part three. Yamas!
posted from the road, somewhere on the journey.
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