The next day was Thursday and I began the day with a picture of Andreas
and then of Tom as he gave his talk.
Once the talks were done, we went on an excursion beginning with a group gathering for lunch at Raki in Megalochori, one of the traditional villages
where Benedict
Marty
Antonio and Tim blocking one another
Tim
Antonio and Suzanne
Cody
Cary
Paige
Tom
Szymon
and I
were enjoying the bougainvillea
as the bread
came accompanied by various dishes some vegetarian
and some involving animals
with Greek salad
chicken
and tomato balls noticeable
along with elegant skewers of souvlaki
before the waiter took some photos of the group
and after I admired the flowers (which we would also see in Turkey)
Suzanne took this picture of me
I took this one of Tim
the Funkhousers looked one way
I recorded the statue
and the flowers
before Tim took this photo of Suzanne and me
and after one more picture of the town
and one of a local windmill
some of us headed north to Oia (pronounced Ia) where we admired the first glimpse of the sea from the end of the island
and noted the path to the top
as we enjoyed the views from the area where we parked
as Suzanne emerged
and we began our walk along the shore
loving the blue green waters
and the hill with the path up
on which donkeys could be hired (but more about that later)
and on we walked
until we saw a crab in the water
and in the background was the town of Oia atop the hill
and a windmill
with the restaurants below
as we walked on along the path with people occasionally stopping to pose but mostly we were enjoying the water and the cliffs off shore and above
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as I recorded caustics
and Paige climbed on a rock
as we eased forward
and Suzanne took this photo of me
and the walking continued until we reached the end (at least for us)
before Suzanne posed
as the Funkhousers gathered
and people climbed the nearby cliff
from this boat
and then one of them jumped (others jumped but not while the camera was ready to record their jumps)
after which Tom took these photos of Suzanne and me
and I recorded the Funkhouser family spread out on the rocks
and observed Tom
taking a photo something like this
before he headed to the edge of the point where we had gathered
and we all observed the boat with the houses of Fira in the background
before the children climbed high on the cliffs
causing Antonio to climb
to where Paige was and help guide her climb down
as we recorded scenery
and then her climb
as we noted the decaying rocks along the pathway
and the accompanying wild flowers
and the views back along the cove
and of the city above
as I attempted to take a photo for the Funkhouser holiday card
and some local views
before we began our walk up the steps to the town of Oia
stopping for the occasional view
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and then marching on
observing the greenery growing along the way
and walking on
with scenery below
and above
as we felt that we were making progress because the bottom was far away
but our legs were tiring
and so we still needed the scenery
to inspire our walk
until the steps were numbered as we neared the top
and we felt that we might make it
and so enjoyed a last view (from this vantage point)
as the town spread out before us
and the next town was down the sea from us
in startling views
as we reached the fortification with good views of the town
where a social event was beginning with various foods
but we admired the sailboat
and the caldera
as Suzanne posed
and we admired the (not so) distant islands
and the marvelous scenery on the island where we were
along with another blue rooftop
keeping an eye out for the setting sun
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behind these unidentified people
as I took an obligatory phone booth picture
and recorded the church with its bells
and the beautiful purple flowers
before we headed to this appropriately named place
and watched the sun set
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as Suzanne
Szymon and Antonio
kept watching the sun as I experimented with photos
and the windmill reappeared
in context
as the sun kept on its path
and we got these nuts
from our Polish waiter
and took a break from the sunset
for some self portraits
as the sun continued its downward path
over the white houses
and after a few (well maybe not so few) more pictures of the sunset
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we went off in search of the Funkhousers
and having found them settled in for dinner
which notably included grape leaves
saganacki
and tomato balls which made this plate for me
along with sea food enjoyed by some of the others (perhaps it was octopus).
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and then of Tom as he gave his talk.
Once the talks were done, we went on an excursion beginning with a group gathering for lunch at Raki in Megalochori, one of the traditional villages
where Benedict
Marty
Antonio and Tim blocking one another
Tim
Antonio and Suzanne
Cody
Cary
Paige
Tom
Szymon
and I
were enjoying the bougainvillea
as the bread
came accompanied by various dishes some vegetarian
and some involving animals
with Greek salad
chicken
and tomato balls noticeable
along with elegant skewers of souvlaki
before the waiter took some photos of the group
and after I admired the flowers (which we would also see in Turkey)
Suzanne took this picture of me
I took this one of Tim
the Funkhousers looked one way
I recorded the statue
and the flowers
before Tim took this photo of Suzanne and me
and after one more picture of the town
and one of a local windmill
some of us headed north to Oia (pronounced Ia) where we admired the first glimpse of the sea from the end of the island
and noted the path to the top
as we enjoyed the views from the area where we parked
