Strange Encounters

Last night after I got done at the internet cafe, I went over to the same place as the night before to get some dessert. Those same two guys from Madison were there! Haha, crazy. I talked to them some more. They were really nice and we ended up talking until 11. I was really tired so I went back and fell asleep immediately. My roommate was already asleep. I woke up at 7:45 again and ate breakfast. My plan was to take a bus to Akrotiri and I thought it left Fira at 9:05 so I showed up at 8:50. Turns out the bus leaves Akrotiri at 9:05 and Fira at 8:45. The next bus wasn't for 2 hours. Ugh. I walked over to the Prehistoric Thira Museum instead. As I happened to go in at the same time as a cruise ship tour. I hung out with their group while the guide talked through the museum. He was SOOO good. I hope the people knew how good their guide was. He was younger and Greek but he was funny and incredibly smart. I was so glad they were when I went to the museum. The museum basically shows a bunch of stuff from the archaeological site of Akrotiri on the southern part of the island. It is still closed so I can't go see it. The roof collapsed in 2005 and hasn't been open since. That sucks. The museum was good though. The highlight was frescoes from the site.

I went inside a few churches in Fira after that. Very pretty. Lots of paintings and stuff. There were two cruise ships docked today. Fira was PACKED. I could barely walk in the streets. I hated them a little bit. The line for the cable car back down to the water was about a mile long because the people were too lazy to walk down. Oh well. It was cloudy in the morning for the first time since Istanbul. I went back to my room and rested a little. I got some crackers and fruit and stuff for lunch and brought them with me. I walked from Fira to Imerovigli, a town a couple km north of Fira. From there I walked down to Skaros. That's a rock outcrop that juts out from Imerovigli. There is a church on it. The only noise there was the wind. It was awesome. Kind of tiring going down to it and then back up after all the walking I did yesterday (I forgot to say but I think I walked over 12 miles yesterday and that's with all the uphill I did). I ate lunch down at the church. Awesome. I walked back up to the town and then along the rim to Oia. Great vistas and lots of cool and rocks and random churches. Every single person except 3 that I passed or were going the other direction on the trail spoke French. Kos had a lot of Germans, while Mykonos and Santorini have a lot of Americans and a lot of French. Yesterday, while I was walking up to Ancient Thira, I passed by a couple from Germany. I saw them again last night at the sunset. Guess what? I saw them AGAIN (!!) on the way to Oia. What a freaking coincedence.

Oia (ee-yah) is at the northern tip of the island. Very pretty. I liked Fira better though. Oia had windmills though which were really sweet in the afternoon sun. I thought about waiting in Oia for the sunset but I was tired and it was only 5 so I would have had to wait about 3 hours. No thanks. I took the bus back to Fira. I forgot to mention this yesterday too, at Ancient Thira I ran into those two New Zealand girls I met while waiting for the ferry. I mention this now because as I was getting on the bus I saw the guy I met while waiting for the ferry walk by. He saw me and we waved at each other. Santorini is small enough where stuff like this happens I guess. On the bus ride, I talked to a woman from Northern California. She told me about Crete which was nice since I am going there tomorrow. I went to Lucky's for dinner again. I am a creature of habit. It was just as delicious. Then I went and watched the sunset and the Canadian woman and St. Louis guy were there again as well. We talked some more and then I came here.

That's why I titled the post the way I did. I saw a whole bunch of people randomly. I love that sort of thing. I am going to miss Santorini when I leave tomorrow afternoon. I am looking forward to Crete though. Hope everyone had a good Wednesday!

I haven't added pictures because the computers here won't let me download them. Maybe if I get some free internet in Crete I will be able to add them. We'll see. I have so many good pictures. I can't wait to share them.

Au revoir!