Our apartment is the one above the “Moto Chris Rental” sign. We had a thunderstorm last night. The thunder wasn’t too close, but there was a lot of rain along with it. We lost power sometime during the night. It seemed that other buildings around us had power in the morning, but we did not. Had the coffee all set to turn on, but no juice. I emailed the woman we rented from and she was here shortly after. She has 3 apartments in this building and it sounds like there has been no rain since the renovations were complete. She turned the power on, but found water dripping in the breaker box so she wisely turned it off again. She said someone will be around to look at it sometime today.
We decided that today is the day we walk all the way down to the old port along the zigzag path. As we leave our place which is on a hill toward the east side of the island, the water is flowing like a river down one side of the street. We make our way up through the streets of Fira/Thira to they place where the path starts. There are many many stairs and the cobbles are wet and therefore slippery.
We see these 2 guys delivering water, beer and pop to some shops near the entrance to the donkey path. You can see how slick the cobbles are. These guys need to be strong!!
We start down the trail. It is covered with donkey poo. Wet from the rain last night and VERY slippery. The steps are not flat, but at the corners the inside track is even steeper. I stepped onto one step, both of my feet slipped out from under me and I landed on my butt on the trail. Thank goodness it was on an almost poop free spot!! 😉
I am starting to wonder who’s idea this was. Not only do we have to contend with the poo, the slick cobbles and the mystery liquid that congregates in the potholes, but this is a donkey freeway. Much more dangerous than the auto bahn!!. I am serious!
The donkeys go up and down this trail. As they go up loaded with fresh meat from the cruise ships we hear squeals and screams as the donkeys are also slipping on the trail. This little dude doesn’t look very excited about this ride.
At times we have donkeys going both ways past us. We squeeze to one side or the other, but the donkeys often bump us. Stu found a little cave to wait for me (I am much slower since my little fall, the steps are pooier as we go, don’t need to land here).
As on the trail to Oia the other day, I am amazed at the footwear people have as they walk up or down this path. Perhaps it is the rain that makes it so bad, but trust me none of these shoes will EVER be the same!!
We arrive at the bottom and the donkeys are queued up like taxis at the airport.
Lots of people arriving from the cruise ships. We climb up above to find some doors that we could see while we ate lunch. Stu wants to get some shots.
I am done climbing! I inform Stu that I will not be walking back up that trail. I am taking the cable car! He agrees. He is worried I’ll fall and break something so close to the end of our adventure 🙂
I get in line for the cable car and Stu goes to start the climb back up.
My line is long and by the time I walk from the end of the cable cars to the start of the donkey trail, Stu just arriving too. It took us an hour to go down. Dodging donkeys and me being extra cautious. Later the sun had dried most of the trail and the donkey rush hour had abated, so he made it back up in about 30 minutes.
After a cleanup we take the bus to Oia. We are moving there tomorrow and want to see where our place is. As we near Oia the road narrows to one lane. There are many many buses coming out of town so our bus and all other traffic heading into Oia is stopped. We sat on the bus for about 10 minutes and then just got off, as we could walk from there. I am sure that bus did not move for 40 minutes.
Next some lunch with this view!
Found our place and waited for the bus back to Fira. The bus stops and opens the back doors for us. Another couple and us squeeze into the jam packed bus. Didn’t think we would be able to close the doors. 😉
Another incredibly interesting day. Donkeys and all!!