scooter

Santorini, Greece
2 July 2009

We had an entire morning to explore the others parts of Paros before we had to leave for Santorini. We headed to the north part of the island, into what looked like a fishing village.

We walked around for a bit before we booked it back to our hotel to checkout and catch our ferry.

18.0 mm || 1/2500 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Naousa, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

70.0 mm || 1/3200 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Naousa, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

70.0 mm || 1/1250 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Paros, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

The plan for getting to the ferry and returning the bike was thus, load up all of our stuff (two large backpacks, two day packs, one camera bag, one bag of food) and both of us onto one 50cc scooter and make our way to the ferry. I would drop Charlie and all the stuff off at the ferry terminal, go return the bike, and then walk back to the ferry on foot. As executed, the plan went really well, and looking something like this:

18.0 mm || 1/2500 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Paros, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

18.0 mm || 1/3200 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Paros, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

27.0 mm || 1/2500 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Paros, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

One of the interesting things about riding on the ferry is that while you’re given a ticket for a particular class, no one seems to actually enforce it. This was probably a good thing because knowing where we could sit was no easy task. Our tickets said “Deck,” just like they did for the trip to Paros when we actually sat on the deck, outside, for the entire trip. I was pretty miserable and was determined not to have a repeat, damn the consequences. I found some seats inside in an area marked “Economy” and decided to stake our claim. No one cared or questioned our being there, and so it was: an air conditioned seat for the ride to Santorini. Hooray!

Santorini is much like Paros, except it’s built on a the reminants of a volcano. However, the middle part has sunk back into the ocean, creating a crescent shaped island with a small mountain island in the middle.

18.0 mm || 1/2500 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

And just like Paros, we were inundated with people at the dock with signs for hostels, hotels, and camping sites. This time though, we were a bit more prepared, having done more through research. After consulting with several people, we settled on Youth Hostel Anna, a hostel recommended in the Lonely Plant guidebook. Bonus points were awarding by being placed in a room with all girls¹.

A couple of girls from Vancouver, BC, who were staying in our dorm recommended a place to grab lunch and rent a quad-ATV. I went over to check out the wheels while Charlie grabbed something to eat.

Then it was off to explore the island of Santorini. We made our way toward the northern part of the island, going to the archeology museum and exploring the various tourist spots.

18.0 mm || 1/3200 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

70.0 mm || 1/1000 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

18.0 mm || 1/4000 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

18.0 mm || 1/8000 || f/4.5 || ISO1600 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

18.0 mm || 1/8000 || f/4.5 || ISO1600 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

And yes, those are donkey and mules you see. There’s an entire line of them, ready to take you up and down the mountain for a fee so you don’t have to stand in the looooong line for the gondola.

On Charlie’s insistence, we stuck around for the sunset, which also afforded me a change to teach him all I know about two source lighting (in this case, the sun and the flash).

18.0 mm || 1/100 || f/13.0 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

18.0 mm || 1/200 || f/8.0 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

70.0 mm || 1/60 || f/8.0 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Thira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

18.0 mm || 0.6 || f/3.5 || ISO200 || NIKON D70
Fira, South Aegean, Ελλάδα

Then it was a night ride back to the hostel in the cool ocean breeze. For dinner, we had moussaka, a sort of lasagne-type dish with eggplant instead of meat. It’s actually rather good.

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1. No, nothing scandalous happened, thanks for asking. ↩