Ioa, on the side of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea 
Finally, after all the traveling we've done while in the UK, we went on the trip I'd long waited for. I got to visit Santorini, Greece!!!! I had seen beautiful photos for years and it was my #1 must see while we were here even if we never got to see anywhere else. Well, as we have been ever so fortunate to see many places, I was very happy and grateful to have the opportunity to visit Santorini. It was gorgeous. Looks exactly like the postcards. I woke up very early in the morning to see our boat arrive in the port by 6:30am. Although using the word "port" very loosely as the boat just floats out in the water for the day running the motors to keep it in place while little water taxis ferry the people back and forth to the dock. The towns are located high atop the mountain, so the first thought is of how we would be getting up the mountain. The story goes that "there are 3 ways to get up...walk, ride a donkey, or ride the gondola." All of which are slow and take tons of time, especially when there are 8,000 to 10,000 other people from all the other cruise boats trying to get up the same path at the same time. Lucky for us, there is a 4th way... buy an excursion and take a boat and then a bus to the opposite end of the island to the most beautiful place of all, Ioa (pronounced EE-YA). The excursion route was the perfect answer and I got to take all the photos I wanted of the beautiful blue domed town. I bet more photos have been made of that village than can be counted. I was a little frustrated that we didn't spend more time in Ioa - I could have stayed all day, filling my memory card with more and more scenic shots, but the tour guides rush you out after about an hour so they can fit the next group into the tiny town. We made our way back to Fira and took a local bus to a nearby beach, Kamari, so that we could spend the day on a black sand beach. Ummm, black sand beaches are cool, but our tender feet could hardly walk across the sand/rocks. We were such a sight tip toeing and wobbling over the sharp rocks to our chairs and umbrella. I ALMOST went and bought some of those silly looking swim shoes just so we could move around on the beach, but since we were only there for the day, we suffered through it. I ordered a Greek salad at the lunch place on the beach - a must while I was in Greece (although I really have to say the Greek salad at the State Fair of Texas food pavilion is my favorite Greek Salad :-) The kids played out in the Mediterranean Sea and we soaked up the sun.
Kamari beach
Our bus ride back to Fira was so funny. The bus driver and a passenger got into a yelling match over the fact that the passenger wouldn't move towards the back to let more people on. He wanted to stand by his companion who was sitting. The driver stopped the bus in the middle of the road and made his way through all the standing people just to go yell in the guys face. We don't speak Greek, but we made out the word "taxi" and got the gist that the bus driver "was not his taxi driver and if he wanted to stand by his friend he should get off and get a taxi." Our kids, who were separated from us were sitting directly between the shouting driver and the passenger. I think they were scared to death having never witnessed the Greek way of yelling at each other. Their eyes were larger than life taking it all in. The driver won and the passenger moved towards the back - each wanting the last word. It was pretty entertaining.
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