We were definitely up at the crack of dawn this morning - 7 am - but somehow we didn't get out until 10ish . We got to breakfast and seemed to linger over all the wonderful choices. This was the best breakfast buffet ever - lots of Greek specialties - cheese pies, eggplant with tomato, some kind of watermelon pie, other pastries. Greek yogurt that you could mix homemade preserves or honey into. There was a whole table of fresh fruit options. Plus cereal - skip that. Then Kara was quite entertained by the juicer. A guest here at the hotel - she said later that she is 81 years old - showed Kara how to put in the oranges and have them squeezed for fresh orange juice. Then she told us how we could order eggs, ham, sausages etc. She was quite chatty - then she asked Kara for help with trying to contact some acquaintance whose cell phone gave instructions to leave an smg. She didn't know how to do that. Kara said something to her that was slang - I can't remember what and the woman asked where Kara was from. When Kara told her NY, the woman responded in disbelief because she had been from NYC before she left to live in Paris when she was 32 years old . When Kara told her that she was from Albany, the woman nodded in understanding.

Anyway, we went back to our room stuffed to the gills. I had decided to take my daypack so I had to rearrange all my stuff....and find some stuff...so that seemed to absorb a lot of time. We got out and headed for the tourist info for tips on how to get to Klima. The tourist info office was closed so we went back to the bus depot which is next door to our hotel. Actually, no, I think we checked when the buses left and knew we had time to spare since we had just missed the 9:30 am bus. We headed up to the church above us on the slope and checked it out. I can't remember it now but we walked around, took photos and then worked our way back down. Everything is up and down even though Milos was supposedly threatened with flattening because of all the mining.

So we got on the 10:30 am bus and, before we knew it, we were in Plaka and de-bussed . It was hard to tell where we were but there were a few signs pointing up the hill to the archeological site or the cultural center - maybe the folk art museum. We headed up a street and then maybe some steps, trying to follow the signs. I was looking for tourist info or maybe a central square but nothing appeared. In fact, there didn't seem to be much except regular houses, even though they were pretty, all glaringly white, some with blue and some olive green shutters. Then we saw some signs for the Castro - which I guess was a citadel or fortress- and we followed those signs. We passed a pretty church...and continued up. Finally we were on the peak with great vies in all directions. We knew there were two beaches not far from Plaka so when we saw one with turquoise water, we decided to head for it. We looked and saw some roads but they led away from the beach before going to it so we decided to follow some paths we could see and hope for the best. Bushwhacking in a foreign country is always an adventure .

We followed a rock path through some fields and it wound around until we got to a stone road that we followed down to the beach. It was a nice beach with a couple of umbrellas and big sandbag lounges. The water was clear and Kara went in. I waded but it was too cold for me to go in. We ate our packed lunch but realized we forgot the leftover salad from yesterday. We had cheese sandwiches and our leftover grapes....or at least some of those. (It was nice of Vasilis - our tour guide yesterday-- to give us the leftover grapes. He seemed to like Kara...or Cora...as he called her.) We had met a young couple who came the same way we did. They had gotten lost trying to find a beach earlier. They walked much faster than I.

Kara and i had disagreed on how to get back but since I couldn't figure out a better way to get back to the bus stop, we returned the way we had come. It was hard since it was all uphill but not so bad as I had anticipated . It was only when we got to the cross on the stones that I thought we were closer and we weren't but it still wasn't too bad. We got back to Plaka and walked around to see some of the pretty areas with the brilliant white walls and bougainvillea and big jars. We found a church and by then we were off the path to the bus depot. Kara looked at the map and felt that Plaka was not that big so that we weren't that far away. We walked downhill on steps for quite awhile, then I asked a boy for the bus stop and he pointed the way. We found it fairly easily and then had to wait a bit for the bus.

Oh, I forgot we stopped at a cafe and had espressos with ice cream. We went through the restaurant to the outdoor tables and no one came out. I went to order and had to come back for the menu to convey what we wanted. One of the ladies then brought us out the two coffees. They were very good as well as the cookie included. We became hooked on espresso ice creams. The couple next to us tried to order but a man had to come out and take their order because he said the lady did not understand them. They were from the US too.

The bus back was uneventful except that we were on the bus for 3 seconds when it stopped for Tripiti. We had originally wanted to get there and to Klima somehow on this bus trip. But we had to adjust our plans when we spent our afternoon getting to the beach and back. Maybe we can get to Klima tomorrow or the morning after.

Now we are back at the hotel. It is too early for dinner so we are showering and I am blogging. Kara skyped with John so she is happy that they got to see one another. All for now.