Hopefully, I can pick things up from the Santorini tour brochure because we did so
much, I am not sure I can remember it all . First we went to the
monastery that wasn't open although the sign said open daily. The
monastery looked nice so we were disappointed. It seemed as if there
was something else. Then we went to the black sand beach - with sand
like poppy seeds - large grains and very hot to the touch of bare feet. 
I was the only one who went for a swim because only I had on a suit.
We had an hour and a half so mostly sat on our beach chairs and tried
not to order food. None of us knew if we could last until lunch so I
had some ice cream, Kara, an ice cream espresso and the two others had
french fries and drinks I think. It was a lovely spot and we had a
beach umbrella and lounge chairs. Sam and Janelle were planning to
return the next day since they liked it so much. This particular beach
had a memorable waiter - he could be the equivalent of Hooter's
waitresses. He had on a tank top and running shorts that showed off his
muscular body. He would pose if he saw he might be in someone's photo.

We
may have stopped somewhere else - oh, yes - panoramic view of the
crater - which was very nice - that was our first stop. Then we stopped
for lunch at a place overlooking the sea again. It was breathtaking.
We had Greek white wine, Greek salad and a choice of 5 specialties -
Kara chose the pastitstio (Baked Greek Lasagna with meat sauce and Bechamel) and I, Greek meatballs. The meal was good. Our guide, Vasilis, had the pastitsio
- he said it was his favorite dish but not the best he had eaten . At
lunch we began to get better acquainted and we had our wine so
conversation was beginning to flow. Then we headed off to the red sand
beach but really it was a red volcanic rock that surrounded the beach
and more mostly black sand. We had to walk around part of the cliff to
get to the beach. We only had time to walk there and back but it was
fun to see a different kind of beach. There were tons of cars,
motorbikes, and ATVs parked by the beach goers.

On the itinerary
we were to drive through some traditional Greek villages but we didn't
get any notice of them. We could have stopped at the pre-historic
archeological site but Vasilis discouraged us a bit and no one was that
into it. Vasilis bought us some lovely white-green grapes - sweet but
not overly sweet. Quite nice. I think at that point we went to to Oia,
at the far end of the crater, where everyone goes to see the sunset.
The place was mobbed. When the four of us got to the wall that was
presumably the spot from which to see the sunset, we turned back. We
ended up looking into the shops, getting lured in. Janelle was looking
for some skin cream and found some. I spotted a Santorini souvenir
pencil bag. Since I forgot my trusty Iguassu Falls one, I needed
something to gather passports, money, etc to put into the safes in the
hotels. This will work. We slowly worked our way back to the square
where Vasilis had left us. We were supposed to meet him at 8 pm .
Funny, we each had a different recollection of what he said when he
dropped us off. We wandered quite a way down the road, but didn't find
him. We turned back and got all the way past where he dropped us off
and didn't find him. I kept thinking of the concrete wall of the
building where he left us. I was just remarking on it and the van that
looked like ours but was bigger and was in front of the wall when
Janelle spotted him. Kara and Sam were farther back and were trying to
call the tour agency and didn't see him yet. But we found them and all
drove back to our hotels. It was a full day and we were tired but Sam
and Janelle would probably go out again that night. Kara and I barely
made it out for a simple dinner at the El Greco taverna. We had more
white wine, another Greek salad and vegetarian pizza. All was good.
The waiter talked us into a fancier salad. We also got bread. It was
our intention to have leftovers for breakfast the next morning for our
ferry ride to Milos.

It took me awhile to pack up and organize,
charge things hopefully. My cell phone had been entirely dead again.
So Kara was long asleep before I packed it in sometime after midnight.