Sept 12

Somehow managed to have a decent night sleep on our cement slab. When the alarm went off at 7:15, my body thought it was the middle of the night and I had a hard time waking up. Got the guys up and we threw our stuff into the shopping bag we bought yesterday to carry our stuff and headed out the door. We were walking to the Crazy Donkey Brewing Company where the bus was picking us up for our excursion. It took us about an hour to get to the port after picking up other passengers. The bus navigated those sharp hairpin turns down to the port. It made you feel a little sick but this guy knew what he was doing. David was laughing and saying he was a Jedi Warrior. 

It was a beautiful day with a gentle breeze and the boat was beautiful. We went through the required Covid paperwork and then got on board. Our first stop was the Nea Kameni volcano for a hike. What a unique islet. It is an active volcano with its oldest rock formation 430 years ago and its newest, a mere 50 years. It was about a two mile hike, not too strenuous. The views of the caldera were breathtaking. The next stop was the warm springs. Everyone that wanted to swim here was invited. The boat dropped anchor. Avi and David jumped off the boat but I took the ladder. The water is supposed to be healing with all the properties from the volcano in the water. It had a reddish color. Avi was feeling really good about himself because he went in the water with no flotation device and swam all the way in. It was a good swim. I was not feeling so brave and I gratefully accepted the floatation noodle they offered those who wanted it. After the swim, back on the boat and our next stop was Thisseria. This is an island that is small and other than the restaurants that have been created due to tourism, it is very primitive. We hiked from the port to the top of the island AND it was a hike. About 500 feet of elevation gain in half a mile and it was hot. We walked around a bit at the top and then sat down at a restaurant with a panoramic view of the caldera for lunch. The food was just incredibly good. Kind of astonishing how good it was. After lunch, back on the boat for the ride back to the port. Just enjoyed the ride and marveled at the beauty of the caldera and the startlingly blue water. At the port, the plan was to get on a bus for Oia where we were going to watch the sunset. They had a hard time figuring out what bus we were supposed to be on but they finally assigned us to one and off we went. Oia is a village that just blows your mind. It is crawling with tourists but hard to describe the uniqueness of this village. The streets are very narrow and it is all built into the side of the mountain on top of the caldera. We found a restaurant that would allow us to view the sunset and settled in for another delicious dinner at tourist prices. Yikes. Cheap Naxos no longer. The sunset did not disappoint. Beautiful. Took lots of pictures here that look like postcards. This is that place you see on postcards and calendars everywhere. After the sunset, we hightailed it back for our bus. All these buses were lined up and we couldn't figure out which one was ours. But we finally found someone. And again, they didn't know what to do with us. Not sure if it was because we bought the excursion late yesterday or what. But they put us on a bus and we headed for home. After we got to Kamari and everyone had been dropped off but us, I told David to go talk to the driver and sure enough, he didn't know what to do with us and didn't have our stop on his route. We gave him 10 euros and he turned around and took us back to the Crazy Donkey. From here, it is about a half mile walk uphill to get to our apartment. But here we finally are. It has been a day to remember. One of my favorites in all my vacationing days. So beautiful and rewarding. Time to go to bed! We don't have a distinct plan tomorrow and hopefully, we will have some down time. 

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