So much to catch up on. The next day I woke up late and didn't get an early start to Delos, the ancient holy island off of the coast of Mykonos, but I made the 12.50 boat and had two hours to explore it. It's a fascinating archaelogical dig/relic to the god Apollo. It was destoryed over several centuries and now one can walk amongst the ruins of temples to Poseidon, Apollo, etc. On the way back I started talking to a group of German men who asked me to take a group photo, and noticed several of them were good looking, but didn't think a thing about it. Later that night, I ran into them again in a bar and ended up talking (and heavily flirtying with one of them, a Berliner named Gunther.) Long story short (now that I have to pay for internet minutes) we hooked up and spent two days hanging out together. We were both realistic that this was a holiday fling and made no promises or embarrassing declarations. On our last night together, however, he said "you're only single because you're not trying." Which struck me as possibly true. Danke schon, Gunther!



Today I left Myknos to take the hyperjet ferry (which sails across the ocean) to Paros, then the regular, cruiseliner-like, ferry to Santorini. It was a bit cloudy and I was sitting in the shade on deck so didn't grease myself -- stupid mistake, I'm now red as a lobster. It was a beautiful trip, but nothing prepares one for the sight of the caldera. Santorini, or Thira as the Greeks call it, was once a round island, with a thriving Minoan cuulture. Several thousand years ago, a volcano in the centre of the island erupted, leaving the volcano, and a ring of island around it, like a doughnut. People have settle on this caldera, building houses the flit over the clifftops high above the sea, and despite volcanic eruptions and earthquakes that have destroyed their villages, have stayed.



When the ship approaches Thira, it looks like any other greek isle, but when it turned the corner, one starts to see the magnificent incline of the cliffs and the small white villages set precariously atop. Its an amazing view. The ferry docks and we board a small bus that scale the steep, zigzagging road to the top of the caldera. Stunning. My hotel isn't as grand as the hotel in Mykonos, and the view is rather poor. But two minutes walk from the hotel and one is on a footpath on the caldera and the sunset was amazing. It walked it until dark, then stopped at a sunset cafe, Zafora, to eat lamb stew and drink Santorini wine. Now, with I can feel the extremity of the sunburn, and the ever-present bobbing of the Aegean sea internally, but love it here.



I'm running out of minutes, more soon.