Farewell Santorini, forever!
So... after the trials of the previous day it would have been nice to say we had a calm and peaceful last day on Santorini, but it was not to be.
We checked out of our beautiful apartment early at 10.00am and drove down to the only part of Santorini that we had not yet explored.
It was sometime that morning that I got the first notification that our flight was delayed. I hoped that it would be resolved in time as we were due in Manchester very late and the last train we could catch into the city centre was at 23.40. The delay really put that in jeopardy.
We first visited Vothonas, a village where many of the houses were carved out into the side of the gorge. Will was still struggling with his illness but soldiered on. Next we went to Pyrgos, the highest settlement on the island and as it happened, the home of the fateful toilet from the day before. We wandered up to the castle and churches at the top of the hill to admire the view across the island.
After that we went to Kamari on the coast, which is the biggest resort area on the island, and yet still does not have a public toilet. We were getting tired of friendly taverna owners trying to lure us into their restaurants. At one point Will realised he had lost his coat which had been tied around his waist so we back tracked and luckily found it again hanging on a chair at a road side eatery.
" I ran after you to give it back " said a very glam, tanned woman of a certain age but you'd gone.
Hmmm, how could we have gone that quick I thought? The way Will was walking even a sloth could have overtaken us!
We stopped in a cafe for some lunch, we succumbed to pasta, but Will couldn't manage his. He was utterly miserable but still putting on a brave face.
We drove to Monolithos, a village with seemingly the best beach for children due to its's gentle slope but I was over Santorini at this point and if I lived in Monolithos I would have just kept walking down that gentle sloping beach into the sea.
We went to the airport early, at least it had toilets, but you couldn't put the toilet paper down the bowl, because apparently the sewers can't cope with it, you have to put it in a bin beside the toilet. It was news to me. Heck! I chucked all the toilet paper down the loo yesterday at Pyrgos! I've probably severely damaged the sewerage system in that town!
There had been more flight updates but all not good, in fact the delay had extended even more. It was obvious we were going to miss the train into the city so I went online and booked a taxi from the airport to our hotel. I also messaged the hotel to warn them of our even later arrival.
Our Easyjet flight was delayed for just over an hour but we eventually boarded and all got sat in our seats. Then the Captain spoke to tell us the delay was because of a shortage of air traffic controllers in Manchester the previous day but he then went on to say we now had to wait for a 'slot' to leave and it looked like we would be on the ground for another hour!
I am not a good traveller and like everything to go like clockwork so this was just stressing me out. I now had no way of informing the taxi or hotel that we were delayed for another hour!
After an hour of being cooped up in that large tin, forced to listen to the inane chatter of the cabin crew in the galley just behind us, we finally set off.
Farewell Santorini, we came, we saw and will never go back!
We were due in Manchester at 10.45pm but finally got there at 12.50am. Luckily, I had given the taxi company the flight number so they were able to monitor the flight and our driver was waiting for us.
It was very nice to get into a comfy bed after that long day. Surely our troubles were over?
Nah!
