Greek Islands make you lazy.

Sorry about that, we figured that the photos would keep you from getting fiesty...  So, from Andros we headed to the ever-talked about Mykonos.  We were really skeptical about Mykonos as every cruise ship ever stops there and it has a distinct party reputation, but honestly it was nice.  It is a really pretty little town with cute TINY streets were they use these hilarilous little three wheeled mini-trucks to get stuff around. The windmills (although far sillier looking than dutch) lend more cuteness and there is an area called Little Venice where you can get lost wandering past peoples homes in tiny crooked allys. That said, it was UBER expensive (all the stores were either crap or unbelievable posh crap, definitely targeted towards the older crusing crowd), and we didn't even think about going to bars because non of them open until after 11 and our hotel was a 15 minute walk out of town.

The real reason that we went to Mykonos, other than that it was a convenient stopover was to go to Delos.  Delos is an uninhabited island about an hour off the coast of Mykonos that over centuries was alternately very holy or very commerce oriented (and don't we all know how close those two are). Anyway, it was fun. Again, a great time to play around in ruins that aren't so covered in tourists. We learned some things by hanging out close to english tours, and made friends with some lovely Canadians on their honeymoon. All in all, the ruins were a little too ruined for Mike to get the feeling, but I thought it was fun, and there was a big hill we climbed for amazing views (although it was more windy than I have ever experienced, definitely thought we were going over the edge!). On the way back our ferry also noticed the wind, and more than a few people looked a little green (I myself was just nervous about windows that were previously showing sky sometimes showing all water...) But we made it, so all good I suppose.

From Mykonos we headed to Paros, which was ADORABLE. We stayed in the port town of Parika instead of heading over to the resort-y one. It had lovely beachfront cafes, and a whole old town full of shops and allys and stuff. Very cute. It also had a pirate bar! We went, and they advertised live music starting at 10:30, so we got a drink and hung out. Then came the live music, there was a singer and a keyboard. OK. Then the singer had a terrible smoker's cough. I can hang. Then the keyboard kept switching modes to do SAXAPHONE SOLOS AND A LITTLE YAZZ FLUTE. Can't hang. We were gone after song two.

From Paros we headed to Santorini. Or as the cute chatty man from Louisiana that we met in Budapest called it, "the Sanna-tor-eeny eyes-land". Santorini is LOVELY. First, it has this whole crazy volcano thing. (There is a volcanic island in the middle, and the whole island is really just the ring of a biiig island volcano that exploded a while back, leaving a crescent moon shaped island with some outcroppings). So the ports and everything are down at the bottom of this huuuge caldera (you can drive from the main one, but the old one where the cruise ships and day trips go, is gondola or donkey! more on that later). From the main port we got picked up by a crazy man (who thankfully wasn't from our hotel), but we found him and then waited for 20 minutes while he looked for a mythical other 5 people. No joke, he was wearing a red hat, he had a sign, he circled, he asked everyone who looked lost.  Then we left. Then halfway up the effing mountain, his wife calls and makes him turn around, he starts screaming, "YOU WILL TELL THEM I WAITED FOR THE 1 HOUR IN THE 40 HEAT!" and we were like, chill dude, you're in air condidtioning now. So we go all the way down, where this angry eastern european man woman baby and two older people get in the van looking pissed off. They say something rude. He gets in the door, looks at us and starts screaming, "YOU TELL THEM!" I felt like a child of divorce. Anywho, we did eventually make it, making a 15 minute ride into a little over an hour.  Good thing our hotel was essentially like visiting the adorable relatives you never knew you had (no offence to our actual, nice relatives ;)  Run by a man named Babis, his father (crazy and deaf but so nice) and his wife Maria (cutest lady ever), there was nothing they would not do. Every morning at breakfast he asks everyone what they are doing that day to make their plans better (oh no, do not try to fit both in, you will not enjoy, one this morning, do this this afternoon, then the other tomorrow). I swear, if you told them you were having trouble sleeping, Maria would have come to tuck you in.

So, Santorini, fabulous. Fira, the main town is adorable, and filled with cute little terraced cafes to watch to ocean/sunset/pretty. Our first day we took a bus to Akrotiri (aka the red rock beach) which was a little anticlimactic (it's a bus, to a walk/hike, to a beach that isn't actually a beach, just two rows of chairs you have to pay for) however, there were pretty red rocks, and the water was nice.

Day two we went for the boat tour.  First we headed to the volcano island where we got to climb around on the craters, got a great view of the island and had a crazy guide explain volcanos to us including : "and when the pressure get's too much in the 'hot rock room' it explode! (he throws rocks/dust everywhere) and then water get in the 'hot rock room' and everything go crazy!"

Then we went to an area where a sulphur hot spring comes up from the volcano into a bit of ocean. Coolio. Now, we didn't think it was that warm at the time, but then when we had to swim back through the normal ocean to get back to the boat! It was.

Then we got lunch at the little island facing Santorini (Thrissa) and got to see what the caldera looks like a bit through the glass bottom (fun times). We finished up by crusing up to Oia (at the end of the island where you can see the sunset over the water) and got a great view of it from the boat.  

Day 3: ATV DAY!!  After aforementioned scooter fail (see Pai, Thailand), Mike was a little motor vehicle shy, but I decided it was time to help him get over it (also I really wanted to atv!). So, I'll admit it, I totally forced him to do it. But he loved it, and was great at it, so everyone's a winner really. We scooted on down to a pretty beach on the other side of the island, than to a lovely waterside restaurant, up through the hills and UUUUP hill to the Santo Winery (if you ever end up on Santorini, you must go there, the wine is good and cheap and the view is beyond). Then up to the end of the island to Oia for the suset.

Notes on an Oia sunset: it was really pretty. Buuuut even at the very end of tourist season, there were a kabillion people there.  And there is no where for them to go, so people are just everywhere, blocking up the allys, sitting on people's roofs. It's not peaceful. On top of that there were crazy people standing next to us, this woman was trying to take pictures and her husband was behind her micromanaging in a way that said 'my wife has a $25 a week allowance and I ask for receipts'. It was upsetting.  That aside, we decided that to actually see the cuteness of Oia, we would go back the next day, well before sunset and enjoy. And we did.

Oh, and when we left.... Babis goes, ok, I have to take someone to the airport the same time you must go to the boat, so my uncle is coming to get you.... you got it. Crazy dude. And get this, HE goes, "you again!?" Ha.