Here's what we saw when we arrived:
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| The view from the lobby of El Greco Resort. |
Chuck loves archaeology so we planned to go to a museum there. We walked a very long way in the heat, and stopped at a little kiosk along the road to get juice. After a long walk, and after asking several people for directions, we finally found the museum.
So Santorini is though to be the lost Atlantis. There are artifacts that date to 7,000 + years ago in that museum. All very interesting, but we had just come from Athens, and I was really hot and tired. So I looked, but wasn't quite as excited as Chuck was.
Some of the people who were on the island were renting four wheelers, or motorcycles or mopeds. We walked. The driving was crazy.
The local food was so good, and we enjoyed lunch at a restaurant not far from our hotel called, Ladokalla. The seating was outside on the sidewalk, as it was in Athens. The seating is not really divided, so you sit next to people everywhere you go.
The sea really is that blue, the sky really is that blue, the buildings really are that white, and they do paint a lot of things blue.
There are quite a few highlights of this trip.
One is that I went to a spa to get a fish pedicure. We loved the local grocery store, and a little store that was kind of like a general store. There were art supplies, books, packaging tape, some Greek flags, and just about anything you could imagine in that store. We shopped there two days in a row and got some stickers and then packed our box there to be mailed home. They had bubble wrap.
Here are some journal entries from our time in Santorini: (This one is kinda long)
July 3, Wednesday
We left our hotel at 7 a.m. after a pretty hearty breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We flew to Santorini today. Our driver arrived at 6:45 a.m., just as we were going to the dining room. We and the hotelier communicated that the time on our sheet for pickup was 7 a.m. and we wanted to eat breakfast before our flight. He left us to have our meal.
It was free, and pretty tasty.
Both mornings we arrived early for breakfast and asked if we could eat anyway while the other foods were being prepared. our schedules are wonky, and we both have been waking up super early, and wanting an afternoon nap. Heat? or time difference? Not sure.
This morning I had a dark round bread sort of like an English Muffin, but super crusty and hard, topped with diced tomatoes and crumbled feta cheese. I spooned on some black eyed peas because they were there, but they were served cold, and didn't taste the best. I waited for the eggs to be delivered to the hot plate area, and spooned a good portion onto my plate. I was really hungry.
The scrambled eggs are prepared very wet, but good. I hollowed out a wonderful croissant to stuff with the eggs and a piece of Canadian bacon in case I had to eat on the run. By this time it was 7 a.m.
Off we went to the airport just after we had both cleaned our plates. Upon arrival we were helped by several people there who instructed us on how to get our boarding passes for our flight to Santorini.
Lovely people in Greece. Really great. One of the airport employees who helped us insisted that we should see the sunset in Santorini. The best in the world, he said.
We have met some interesting people on this trip. Today, as we waited for our flight to Santorini, we met an older couple whose only son was working for American Express at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and the only reason he was not at work that day (in one of the towers) was due to laryngitis. The mother described that day, and how it took all day to get in touch with him, and when he called he couldn't speak and she was not sure what was happening.
That couple was from Detroit, but were both born and raised in Greece. They were coming to Santorini for their son's wedding. He and his fiancé both live in Manhattan, but the girl wanted to get married here.
Our arrival in Santorini was amazing. As soon as we stepped off the plane we knew it was going to be a beautiful trip. But it was the bus ride from the airport to our hotel, El Greco Hotel, that showed the beauty of this island.
I wasn't sure what to expect for hotel accommodations. Our experience in Athens was fine, and the room was larger than I expected. Water pressure was good, the room was adequate and comfortable.
Our stay here in Santorini is amazing. We are at a resort hotel. Our room includes a seating area, which is very nice. The doors and windows are shuttered, but different from US windows. They are like side-by-side doors, and each one opens. The knobs are horizontal, brass, and the door is the same. The shutters cover the glass on the windows and doors. We opened the windows last night to allow the cool breeze to fill our room. It is stifling hot here.
We've encountered a lot of English speaking people from all over the world. We sat beside a couple at Ladokalla ( a restaurant near the hotel) who were from Philadelphia, I believe. I really can't remember. They were here for their daughter's wedding. Her husband is an archaeologist and is working on the site near here where they have found the ruins dating older than any found before. Manoans I believe. Chuck would know because he is so very much into it.
Their son-in-law does research on obsidian, they said.
Today is July 4, and I didn't even realize it. I thought it was July 5 until this afternoon. We walked into town this morning after a breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The food is not that good, and I prefer the local spot called Ladokalla. We had our lunch there yesterday and it was excellent. I am living on tomatoes and feta cheese. The Greek salads are so good here.
We were on a mission to visit the Archaeology Museum today. It took longer than we anticipated, and we had to navigate very narrow streets and a lot of traffic.
Many people here are renting cars, which means the drivers are from all countries and follow their own rules, if they have any. Santorini is much more hectic and impatient than Athens for that reason.
In Athens the traffic is heavy, but flows easily. The streets are just as narrow, but the drivers are skilled, and seem to anticipate the next person's move. Although most of the cars have many scrapes and dents down the sides.
Our walk this morning was long and arduous. The streets and sidewalks are rocks in cement, and they jut up so that walking can be treacherous. If you snag the toe of your shoe on one it can make you trip.
Along our walk we stopped at a little kiosk for a drink. The streets are what we would call allyways in the US, and everywhere along our route there were kiosks selling all sorts of things. I wanted a local drink, their version of a sprite or coke, or whatever. We got a drink called "Life," that was a strange combination of apple and peach juice. I was up to try it, but it was not a good combination.
The walkways are twists and turns of rock steps, and the width is barely enough for several people to walk through. There is constant stop and go, and stepping aside and such to make room. But everyone is patient and kind, and goes with the flow here.
After walking a long while and climbing a couple of hills, we finally realized we had gone too far and needed to turn back. And as we did we encountered yet another amazing view from atop a hillside.
We also were able to visit the local church of Saint John the Baptist. It was beautiful. I wanted to take pictures, but didn't.
We asked a few people about the museum and finally did find it. It was unmarked, so we could have looked all day if we had not asked around.
For Chuck it was a great thing. For me it just seemed like the same stuff we've been looking at since we arrived in Greece. I understand the significance, and that these finds are even older than the ones found in the 1800s, but they just all look the same to me. They are cool, and interesting, but it was a stretch for me today. I was so hot, and my back was killing me, and I needed to sit down.
On our walk back we sat down at a cafe. The cafes here and in Athens spill out into the sidewalk and storefronts. Two cafes side-by-side can seem as one because there is no separation between the chars and tables of the two.
So we sat down because I was dying, and as I looked at the menu I just didn't want anything at all. Nor did Chuck. So we got up and kept on moving. We came to a gelato stand and he ordered a cone, but I didn't want anything. I felt almost sick.
Along the walk we stopped in shade a couple of times and it helped me a lot.
We came to the local grocery store where we have bought a few items for a lot less than the tourist stands, and we went in to get some olive oil and water. We are shipping a box back home so we don't have to carry it to Venice.
When we got into the store, called Carrefore, I suggested that we just get some lunch meat, cheese, bread, etc. and make our lunch here.
July 5
Chuck is gone to the Hellenic Post to send a package home so we don't have to cary it. We traveled super light for this trip, and only have backpack and carry on bag. It has worked out so well, I much prefer traveling this way if possible. I think if we had gone to one destination and were staying for two weeks it would make more sense to bring a suitcase.
In our box we put a package of Greek green olives, olive oil that we bought at the local super market, souvenirs we have picked up along the way, as well as the gifts I've bought for the kids and some friends.
It is very early. Only maybe 7:30 a.m. Our free breakfast begins at 8 a.m., and we leave for the airport at 9:30.
In the beginning I was growing weary from all of the transfers, pick ups, scheduling and such. I was starting to wish I had chosen one place for us for the two weeks. But I believe it is working out just fine.
Upon our arrival here at the El Greco hotel in Santorni (Fira) Chuck booked us an evening cruise to see the sunset. We had been told by an airport employee in Athens that we must see the sunset in Santorini. He was so right. I'm so glad we did it.
It started out a little rough. We thought we had missed our bus by about 20 seconds. We were to be across the street in front of our hotel by 6:10 p.m. and the bus was to arrive at 6:15 promptly. We walked out at 6:10 and a bus was pulling out of the hotel drive and wouldn't stop for us. It turned into the next hotel drive and we thought it was coming back for us, but it kept going.
We sat and waited, thinking it would come back. Then we thought maybe it wasn't our bus after all. We sat and waited a few more minutes and a large tour bus pulled up for us. That was our bus.
But when we got onto the bus I handed the ticket to the tour guide and before I could get my ticket stub the bus lurched forward and we were off, and it threw me backward and I slammed my leg into the arm of a seat. It lurched again just as I was getting my footing.
I was irritated the whole ride, and then the ride down to the water was very treacherous. The steep cliffs have a road that winds down to the bottom to the sea. Hairpin turns I believe they are called. And if you make a mistake you could plunge to the bottom.
The boat ride was great, and they served a really tasty Greek dinner aboard the ship. It was not fancy. There were no tables, so we were sitting with our plates in our laps, but they were real plates.
The sunset was amazing. I have never seen anything like it. I've seen some nice sunsets at home, over the water, but here it was just breathtaking. The sun was so huge, and no clouds in the sky, and it was like an orange glowing ball sinking into the water. We were able to watch as the last little sliver of it disappeared.
We took lots of pictures, but I'm afraid they aren't going to do it justice. And really, I am fine with that. We will remember it anyway, and we will always have that as a special memory of our honeymoon trip.
Our voyage back to the dock was lovely, but I was so very tired and fell asleep resting my head on Chuck's back as he sat in front of me on the bench. We sat in the front, on the right side, which I don't know the official name for because I don't remember it. It was lovely to feel the spray of sea once in a while as the waves crested on the side of the boat.
The Mediterranean Sea, or Aegean Sea, is so blue, and so gorgeous. I think I could live here for a while. A bohemian lifestyle of a reporter or corespondent or such. Not anything serious that would require a lot of rat race kind of daily life.
I hate to say goodbye to Santorini. This island is gorgeous. There are a lot of things to see here, but there is also so much beauty just sitting and lounging in a chair. We've enjoyed doing that each day. The first two days we slept a lot. The heat is impressive in the afternoons, and we didn't really want to move a lot. We aren't used to this kind of heat, so we wear out quickly. The walk to the museum did me in.
We slept out in the chairs the first day, and yesterday we lounged in chaise lounges by the pool, under a shade umbrella.
That is hard to come by. People here stake their claim to a chair and umbrella and won't move all day, or if they do, they leave their towels there for hours while they go off to do something else and no one can use their space.
Hoggish, really.
So we haven't had a good spot the whole time we've been here. The first day we had to sit in the covered area in the chairs that are at a large table. It was still fine. We slept, and it was nice to be in the shade. In the shade it is completely comfortable.
This is definitely at the top of my list of places to come back to. I would love to make this a yearly journey for our anniversary, even if just for a few days.
The people here are so friendly.
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