So here's what happened: we headed out for a proper tour of Oia, our charming touristy village on the northern tip of the island. It's hot in Greece, so our first stop was at a shop that sold all kinds of hats for hot tourists. And we bought two. Properly adorned with headgear, we wandered through many little streets, building up an appetite and a desire for some cool beverages. We decided upon a small outdoor restaurant (name already forgotten alas) and sat down next to a couple from Germany. They told us that a German cruise ship was in port today, which explained why we'd been hearing a remarkable amount of tourists speaking German on the streets today. Oia becomes flooded with tourists from cruise ships during the day. It kind of sucks actually, but we, as tourists ourselves, can't complain.
Post lunch we checked out this small and extraordinary book shop. Atlantis Books is a literal hole in the wall shop that is crammed with books in both English and Greek. Pictures of this gem don't do it justice. It was all about the feeling of the place.
Anyways, we were hungry for lunch. I had a modest and tasty risotto. But Alex, as he is inclined to do, ordered a fancy seafood pasta. The jumbo shrimp arrived on the plate, fully intact and literally staring at him. Alex asked the waiter how to eat them and was told to break them apart and then eat the body as one normally does (I can't relate, being a vegetarian). He also instructs Alex to "lick the brains" of the shrimp by putting the head in his mouth. So, the kid does. Apparently brain licking ruins the appetite for those not used to it. The seafood pasta was just not appealing afterwards. Ah well.
Onwards. We met our ride to Amoudi bay mid-afternoon and joined 4 Americans and 2 French-speaking Canadians for our afternoon/evening cruise. I'm not sure I can put down on (virtual) paper how stunning this experience was. We were fed the most amazing dinner, with several salads, pastas and drinks. And we saw the most exquisite sunset on the water, isolated in a cove surrounded by lava rocks, where shortly before we swam in hot springs fueled by the volcanic activity below. Our captain, Mario, sailor of the famed ship Barbarossa, told us tales about the island of Santorini and its inhabitants throughout the centuries. There was an earthquake and tsunami that wiped out much of the island in the 50s. We drank wine and felt the breeze and swam in the sea and made friends. Oh, and we coined a new hashtag #thatwasdelicious to be used when taking pictures of an empty plate of food. I think it may catch on. Bliss.
Know what's not bliss? A kid with insomnia. Upon our arrival home, I fell asleep quite quickly. Alex had no such luck. He was making all kinds of noise and struggling to find rest. After some time, he decided to take a walk through Oia. On his travels he bought ice cream he couldn't pay for (no Euros on hand, just a card -- the proprietor said he could settle his account later), found a journal and purchased it, and then headed back to our cave. Again, the kid couldn't settle in, so off he went in search of food. By this time all of the restaurants were closed, but luckily he happened upon the owner of a very upscale place who offered him some leftovers. That's how I woke up to find Alex heading pasta over our mini oven at 4 AM. Apparently it was quite tasty and our mission today is to go eat legitimately at this restaurant. After all of these shenanigans neither of us slept much, which is why I was surprised to wake up today after 12:00 PM. So much for the best laid plans.
Tune in tomorrow to hear about how our delayed start of a day turns out!
So a stranger tells him to lick a brain and he just does it? Jeez, why can't that work with back exercises? amazed that he is feeling comfortable enough to wander around a foreign city begging food from strangers, I wanna call that a success... but something about that gives me pause. LOL. More pictures please, Sounds like the adventures and misadventures are in fill swing, those are the roots of great stories.
ReplyDelete