Back in Montreal
Jul. 11th, 2013 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaI've been back since Sunday night of the week before, but work has of course exploded and I was recovering besides. XD; I don't think I've ever taken a vacation during which I was outside so much. If I wasn't hiking around archaeological sites, I was swimming or traipsing up and down endless flights of stairs while carrying a heavy backpack. It was two weeks of cross-training. I suppose I didn't start off very fit: I've lost 3-4lbs of fat but gained 10lbs of muscle.
For instance, at the end of the two weeks I had a day in Santorini when I decided to walk down the 500 or so steps from Fira to the dock below; the paid options being donkey and cable car. As the sheer caldera side faces west I figured I'd do this early in the morning since it would still be shaded from the sun (this rapidly becomes one's #1 concern in Greece in the summer). This turned out to be not very clever because at 8AM the 150 or so donkeys are brought to the top of the stairs and parked there waiting for tourists, so if you opt to walk it is 20 minutes of weaving your way around donkey butts, over a ground covering of donkey excrement, trying not to get pooed on by accident. "Well, this is an experience," said the Australian couple who did this with me.
Then I took a excursion package to the volcano while I was down at the dock, which meant I took the cable car up to go see a museum and walked back down the stairs again at 1PM. (It wasn't any less covered with poo, it turns out; only that the Greek sun had magically dried the poo to mulched straw.) Upon which they took us out by boat and we swam about 100 metres to some iron-rich hot springs, which was really cool for about five minutes before you realize HOW IS ISLAND FORMED and that you are literally bathing in Mother Gaia's uterine emissions, good job it looks and feels just like the End of Evangelion. No, seriously, it was very cool, just also freaky because I'm overly imaginative and do not like smelling like old blood for the entire day. XD;
Then we went and actually climbed the volcano, which has great potential as a location shoot for a Frodo and Sam in Mordor cosplay. So, yanno, you question your life choices for the 45 minutes it takes to get to the top, but the photos are great. XD
For instance, at the end of the two weeks I had a day in Santorini when I decided to walk down the 500 or so steps from Fira to the dock below; the paid options being donkey and cable car. As the sheer caldera side faces west I figured I'd do this early in the morning since it would still be shaded from the sun (this rapidly becomes one's #1 concern in Greece in the summer). This turned out to be not very clever because at 8AM the 150 or so donkeys are brought to the top of the stairs and parked there waiting for tourists, so if you opt to walk it is 20 minutes of weaving your way around donkey butts, over a ground covering of donkey excrement, trying not to get pooed on by accident. "Well, this is an experience," said the Australian couple who did this with me.
Then I took a excursion package to the volcano while I was down at the dock, which meant I took the cable car up to go see a museum and walked back down the stairs again at 1PM. (It wasn't any less covered with poo, it turns out; only that the Greek sun had magically dried the poo to mulched straw.) Upon which they took us out by boat and we swam about 100 metres to some iron-rich hot springs, which was really cool for about five minutes before you realize HOW IS ISLAND FORMED and that you are literally bathing in Mother Gaia's uterine emissions, good job it looks and feels just like the End of Evangelion. No, seriously, it was very cool, just also freaky because I'm overly imaginative and do not like smelling like old blood for the entire day. XD;
Then we went and actually climbed the volcano, which has great potential as a location shoot for a Frodo and Sam in Mordor cosplay. So, yanno, you question your life choices for the 45 minutes it takes to get to the top, but the photos are great. XD
