marksabout

As planned, I took off on a solo beach mission to Santorini. I had booked accommodation cheaply on Lastminute.com and thought I could commence a period of economising (word of Greek origin, not of Greek practice). Note to self: Cheap accommodation = car necessary. Well not quite a car, I hired an ATV for two days to do a bit of a beach-crawl. The quote was 35 euro, so I arranged a pick up and was driven speedily on the back of a moped with no helmet (though I was later told that if I didn’t wear one, the fine would be 300 euro). The driver must of sensed my nerves as he said “have no Fira.*” Well not quite. If I’m honest, he ACTUALLY said “don’t scared” before speedily undertaking a queue of traffic and ducking just in time to miss a low eucalypt branch. I was looking at the cars which my knees were close to grazing and missed the ducking cue to be promptly smacked in the face by gum leaves. Smells like home!

Oh yeah. 35 euro became 55 after I was asked if I wanted insurance.
Um, ok.
And do I want fuel?
Do I need it?
Yes.
Then I want fuel…

According to Stavros, fuel was cheaper if I bought it from him (10E), I complied, only to fill up today for (5E). I’m sure he siphons off the remaining petrol – as all bikes/cars seems to be hired empty (?) – and then marks up the collected by 100 percent to sell to an unquestioning Aussie such as moi.

Best self portrait I could get on the ATV...

A guy saw me reading the Guardian on the beach today and wanted to practice his English. His teacher told him that Guardian readers are worth talking to… Ha! Anyway, anyway, anyway. His name was Konstantinos. I said ‘Ah, Con’ to his dismay: ‘But ‘Con’ is a bad word in English.’ I said that not when it was a name. He asked me to explain how it was bad in any event. I told him the story about Stavros and his fuel.

Vlichada Beach Santorini

But don’t get me wrong, this didn’t mar (spelling?) my adventures in the slightest, just gave me some material to write with. Seem to be better when sarcastic. I mean I’d love to gush about the awesome volcano crater I climbed. They say it’s dormant, but the steam chimneys to me say otherwise. I’d also like to rave about the AMAZING way our captain organised for a tall-ship to be just between the two Islands at sunset, but that’s all I can say about it…

Have no Fira!

*Fira is the capital of Santorini