12/4 - 14/4: Monasteries, Wind, Colds & Travel Arrangements

We're about to enter a new phase for our travels - living out of hotel rooms and suitcases rather than from houses. The day after tomorrow (it currently being about 2pm Saturday afternoon) we expect to catch the ferry to Athens and spend the next 4 days there (assuming we can sort out the accommodation...its looking scarce and pricey). Then up to Florina - the home village area of Maria's parents for 2 days (and a day's travel each way). Then onto France. I expect that its going to be much more difficult maintaining the blog from now on - in terms of frequency of posts, amount said, and images (this last perhaps? most difficult).

The end of our time here on Santorini has come quickly and its been a wonderful time for us - no doubt an absolutely unique location that must be not only seen, but experienced.

I'll try and quickly summarise the last few days (I'm waiting for Marika to return to the office and expect her any minute).

On Thursday (12th) we said goodbye to George and Stavros (though he should be back tonight) who were going on the ferry to Athens. The winds were very strong and there was concern that the ferries would not run. Marika spent the day running around sorting out delayed arrivals and departures. George called after arriving in Athens and said virtually everyone on the ferry had thrown up - the seas were that rough (and the ferry had to stop several times in open water because it was vibrating/rocking too much). Lets hope we don't have that rather unique experience when we leave.

After lunch Maria and I (we left the kids to rest and watch cartoons) decided to take a walk up the "mountain" (I think about 600m in height) behind Pyrgos (our local village) to the Profiti Ilias Monastery on top. Its a very beautiful walk with red poppies and other wildflowers in bloom, plus a lot of exposure to give a great view across parts of the island. However the wind was phenomenal along certain sections; making for hard going. However our spirits were continually lightened by the fact that we were accompanied by one of the local dogs (looks like a slightly smaller version of a dingo) all the way up and back. As I recall Grant once again played soccer with the lads from the village (with Stavros away some of the other boys came and fetched Grant).

Friday (13th) was extremely quiet, with Grant's cold having spread to both Zoe and I. I particularly seemed to possess very little energy. As such we spent virtually the whole day at home. Grant went off to play soccer (in this case it ended up being Playstation 2 games, not soccer) before lunch; while Zoe, Maria, and I toured around Pyrgos village (its on a hillside with lots of climbing, descending, and one or two encircling narrow whitewashed streets) looking at the architecture and trying to ascertain the outlines of the fortress that the town used to be. We subsequently learnt (talking to Marika that night) that the walls had been incorporated into the houses. Once again Grant went off for soccer, and in the evening Maria and I did some online travel arrangements (just as we have done earlier today).