Solo traveling- Ikaria

Day 8:
Rachael heads out in the morning to take her 1st class flight back to YYZ. My ferry to Ikaria wasn't until 12 so I got a chance to sleep in! I got onto the ferry and enjoyed the journey the ride out to this remote island. Upon arrival, I took a taxi to the hotel. I showered quickly and went into the village for dinner. There's apparently only one place open when it's not peak season. I had a really nice dinner with some of the locals. Ikaria is an extremely quiet island and a place where you're supposed to disconnect from tv, internet etc. So, off to bed I went so that I could get up early and go to their famous beaches.

Day 9:
Breakfast was included and had some really yummy honey, apparently a big thing on the island. I then went off to the beach. It was a beautiful white sand beach with crystal clear turquoise and blue water. I enjoyed a really nice day on the beach with the ipod and a few random pics with me and the sea! I then walked back into town for a late lunch. I went back to "the restauraunt" and had fresh shrimp and a nice pitcher of local wine. All meals in Greece come from with fresh baked bread which I thoroughly enjoyed during each meal. After a two hour lunch, I went back to the hotel to shower up and relax while reading outside. After a while I decided that it was time to start planning the rest of the trip. I took people's advise and tried not to overplan so I did a bit of research on the hotel computer and decided that my next stop on Thursday was going to be Samos. Luckily the islands aren't too far away, so it should be an easy commute.

Day 10:
Very similar to day 9---sun, walk around, food, relax, bed.

Day 11:
I woke up to a disappointing cloudy day. It began to rain and really did not stop all day. Unfortunately, I was running very low on Euros and the nearest ATM was 20 min away. Seriously!!! Given how few places take credit, this started to become an issue. Anyhow, I spent the day inside reading and playing around online. Around 3:30, I went down to the port for some food before the boat ride. I had another really nice long lunch with some great pork and Ikarian wine. This version had a really interesting smell to it and was really strong! The locals said they basically only make enough for the island so don't export it. Probably for the best. Anyhow, I still needed to get a ticket for the boat but the office was closed when I first went by so decided, they must allow you to buy a ticket on the boat, right? Ummm..NO! The boat was going to leave in about 5 min and they said I had to get back to the ticket office and purchase a ticket. Some random port guy made me jump onto the back of his motor bike and he drove me to the office. The interesting part was the fact that I was in a skirt. I looked absolutely ridiculous for that plus the fact I was a bit too short to just throw my leg over. Yup, looked as insane as it sounds. Fast forward and I get onto the boat to soon realize I am gushing blood from the back of my leg so ended up in the infirmary. Let's just say that I was REALLY glad once that boat ride was over and I could shower and just jump into bed.