Risking The Seajet

We've booked all our ferry tickets for our trip to Greece. We decided to take the Seajet 2 (of which we'd read mixed reviews) from Paros to Tinos, mainly because there's only two boats a day (at least in the advertised schedules) and that one is the first boat. The theory is that if the boat you're going for is cancelled, it's better that it's an early boat than the last boat of the day. Reduces your chance of getting stuck.
Anyway, wife had ordered Greek Island Hopping "The Island Hopper's Bible" from Amazon. It came today. I looked up Seajet 2. Their advice: "Do not book tickets in advance for this boat, it's quite prone to cancellation". I think even with this warning in mind I'd still do what we did, I think my own advice of "always book the earlier boat" takes precedence over theirs.

P.S. We've now been and the crossing was great; on time, comfortable and fast, no complaints really. Seajet 2 is now in a nice pink livery!

Seajet 2 at Tinos

A Taste Sensation

While we were in Santorini we tried something that we'd seen before on other Greek islands but had been unable to buy - Strawberry Risotto. The reason we'd been unable to try it previously was that, for all it was on the menu, it was never "strawberry season". Unlike us, who are prepared to import strawberries all year long, the Greek Islands don't seem to. I guess it's just not economical.

The risotto is served as a starter here, though it was big enough to be a main course - lucky we were sharing. It was, as you expect, sweet and creamy, almost like an "Ambrosia rice pudding" with strawberry puree and fresh whole strawberries added. It was very tasty, but hard to eat a lot of, and odd to have as a starter. I imagine it could go down quite well as dessert.

The other tasty looking dish in the picture is wife
the ubiquitous fava, as mentioned previously.

How's Your Fava

There's a dish special to Santorini known as "fava". It's yet another of those dip type of dishes that Greeks concoct as part of a mezze and this one consists basically of boiled and pureed yellow split peas, seasoned and flavoured appropriately. In essence it's Pease Pudding.
We loved it, and had it in three different tavernas, each having its own interpretation of the dish. Needless to say you can buy the Fava in its raw form in many of the touristy shops in Fira, and it's quite a price that you pay. 7 Euro for a smallish bag of yellow split peas! Go into a supermarket and you can get the same bags for about 60c. I wonder how many Americans returned to their cruise ships clutching their bags of Santorinian delicacies, and how many shopkeepers were rubbing their hands together in glee.