Monday October 14:
The tour didn't start till 9:45, and the tourguide told me to come a little. I proposed 9:30, to which he answered "no no,  9:40 is fine". We didn't start till 10:05 so didn't matter anyway.

As breakfast wouldn't be served till 8:30, I stayed in bed till late. Wonderfull vacation life :). It was a simple buffet breakfest with the usual stuff, bread, coffee, cornflakes etc.

When the tour did start we first picked up some others in a nearby town and then decended down to the harbor, a must see road tbh but I wouldn't want to drive it.

We got into a nice sailingboat although it never actually used it sails. We went on our way to the harbor to pick up more people, it also included a perilous snake road up the cliffs. But here they had made it convenient of pedestrians by having a cable car.

We went on to the first actual tour stop, new island, suppsedly the youngest island of Greece. Denoting the violent and still active geologically activity under the Santorini archipelago. As always it is interesting to see such activity in progress and the accompanying alien landscapes. Not everyone was wearing suitable footwear so we progressed slowly. The view were nice and its always a site to see craters and "steaming" multicolored rocks. It reminded me of yellowstone park, except no geysers here, and no notable hot springs bar one small beach at another island. We will come to that later.

The guide was very enthusiastic though a bit condescending. He tried to tell his story using rocks, his water bottle (remember) and animating the whole by kicking up rocks and sand. The story was a bit hard to follow so most wondered of the takes pictures every now and then, myself included. Finally we moved on, back down to the little port. He stopped at a slope with big rocks and warned us not to climb them. He showed us why with some lively examples. First by throwing some of the medium sized rocks at the larger ones to show they are so porous they just fall apart. Then he pressed his water bottle against the edge of a larger rock cutting it clean in two, impressive and a good argument.

We rushed back to the boat because we were late, I would suggest a shorter story mate. Next stop was the previously mentioned hotspring, a yellow beach with yellow/orange water. Suppesedely about 27 degrees but after Fraser Island I don't trust guides about water temperature. Fortunately he was right and it was quite nice. Almost every one onboard came to swim except most of the Chinese, due to not being able to swim... bu hao!

Went on to an old little town who'se name I forgot. No perilous snake road up here, but hundreds of agonizing steps up a steep slope. Most of the American tourists stayed in the port but I couldn't help myself. I had myself a decent lunch with an amazing view and a very stubborn and bold stray cat (seriously, the island is filled with them).  I went back down and we went on our way to our last stop Ia.

As I would watch the sunset here I got of with a few others while the rest went back to port. Again, an agonizing number of steep steps upward even more than the previous town. I rewarded myself with a beer and a view and went to explore the little town. I guess the best way to describe it is; amazing. I am not that good with words so I suggest you look at the pictures.

Many people gathered for the sunset and you could see hundreds of people hanging on the balustrades. That was a nice view and tbh more interesting than the sunset. It is supposedly is one of the nicest sunsets in the world and a highlight of the island but I was a bit dissapointed tbh.

After the sunset everyone scurried towards their bus or taxi etc. Mine turned out to be a mini fan with a German couple joining me. The guy sounded like Arnold in his earlier works and the driver could not make out the hotel name throuhg his thick German accent. Likewise the German didn't understand the driver through his thick Greek accent. The guy was seemingly frustated and got wound up, but I found it quite humurous. Especially because they were talking about the same hotel, which was evident in the end because the driver found it at the first go.

By the time I got dropped off it was quite late and after drinking a home made cocktail I retired, tomorrow's a new day.