Two years ago for our fifth wedding anniversary I convinced Daniel to let me plan a trip to Greece and Turkey. To this day that trip is still one of my absolute favorites. We had a wonderful time exploring Crete, Santorini, Istanbul, and Cappadoccia, but Santorini stole our hearts. I don't know exactly what it is about the island - maybe it is the fact that it was really one of the first European trips where we really slowed down and took the time to explore a place, but there is something captivating about this island and I still say with confidence that we love Santorini.
It is absolutely breathtaking - I find pure joy and peace with staring out at the water and the views from all over the island are just amazing. The raw, rugged cliffs, the smaller islands dotting the horizon, the unique outline of the quirky buildings in the town, and the mysterious, mystical blue haze that forms where water meets sky...it's just all so compelling. As we looked out into the hard to describe misty blue haze that blurred the line between the water and the heavens Daniel astutely pointed out "when you look out at the haze you can really understand The Odyssey - sometimes I look out and cannot even see those islands" - and he was right. As I looked into the mysterious blue there was an elusive quality to it - it changed without warning - sometimes you could see islands on the horizon clearly, other times they completely disappeared. I had an entirely new appreciation for the stories of Odysseus and his crew happening upon islands and being surprised to find them or feeling very lost. I imagined piloting a boat without a motor early this morning before the sun really rose and could imagine how eery and confusing it could be.
We flew in Wednesday evening and made record time getting out of the airport - our bags were some of the first off of the conveyer belt. Three flights arrived almost simultaneously, so I grabbed Daniel's passport and driver's license and headed out to start the rental car paperwork. Sure enough a guy had a sign and we quickly got to work setting everything up. By the time Daniel got the bags we were 85% done with paperwork - just in time for Daniel to sign! We had landed at 7:55 and we made it to Oia (our destination) by 8:34! Finally! And as we drove in we got to see some of the stunning sunset - arriving before the sun actually set (it sets at 8:30, so not by much) made it feel like we were there for a greater part of the day, which was really nice given that we had missed an entire day of island time.
Our hotel - Lucky Homes - we had the Private Hideaway Studio with our own balcony - was AMAZING! We had a sitting area, a cute bed that was built into the alcove of the room, and an EPIC balcony! We could open the doors and window of the room and see straight out into the blue - or if you walked out onto the balcony you could see the beautiful cliffs of Oia - blue domed church tops and all! The man who met us, Basil, and helped us get set up was incredibly nice and helpful and made great recommendations. We had to forfeit our deposit, but did not quite have to pay for both of the nights, which was also a positive turn of events - and the rental car only charged us for three days instead of four (but we lost a major discount for renting for four days, so that was a negligible saving), but still - some postivites.
We spent Wednesday night enjoying a dinner at a delicious restaurant that advertises "Mediterranean Food" - I still think it is our favorite restaurant on the island - we had eaten there once last time and actually ate there again last night - and everything is just SO good! They have a rooftop terrace so we were able to sit at the very top and enjoy the view and privacy. We had made it to Santorini!!!
Over the next two days we...enjoyed many a delicious Greek salad and ate and drank our way through Oia (which has some amazing restaurants!). White wine is also a specialty in Santorini - crisp, light, fresh, fruity, absolutely delicious stuff! Daniel didn't even like white wine until our last trip to Santorini, but this won him over! The fun thing we figured out on this trip was that each restaurant in Oia has a different "house" wine from one of the vineyards on the island - so we may not have had time to do a wine tasting drive and go vineyard to vineyard, but we could spend our evenings going restaurant to restaurant ordering the house white and essentially have the same experience! We found a few unbelievably tasty ones! We also had to transfer to our other hotel, Caldera Villas, (Lucky Homes was unavailable the other nights and made an exception to the three night minimum for us). We still stayed in Oia, but we lost the private balcony - but gained a pool and our room was amazing! Our shower actually had seven or eight shower heads! What?!
And then there's red beach - mmmm. I just really love this beach. It's quiet, secluded, so unique, and stunning in a raw, rugged beauty kind of way. The sand really is red - it all comes crumbling down from the cliffs above creating this really unique color that is fantastic against the blue sky and sea when the sun is overhead. The water was quite cold so we couldn't swim for ever and ever, but it was incredibly refreshing.
Most of you know about my scarf and earring obsession - and realize they come from foreign lands - and I must say Oia has some amazing choices - incredibly fun shops and while there are many "repeats" there are also some very distinctive, unique options too. I definitely added to my collection and really enjoyed window shopping and picking them out - I think I have several new favorites!!!
So we swam, we ate, we drank, we enjoyed Santorini and we really enjoyed getting to finally spend time together! I think we both fully agree that we hope to be returning to the Greek isles for the rest of our days - it really is our beloved favorite.
Did the plane cancellation wreck our trip? No...but it definitely hindered our enjoyment and the relaxation element of it - we started our vacation even more stressed and exhausted than usual and are still trying to recover. We also had a "must do" list for Santorini that could easily have been spread out over the three days, but with only two we really had to plan out how to spend our time - which is exactly what we were trying to avoid. But...did we still soak it in and revel in the majestic beauty? Absolutely.
We also checked out the newly enclosed ruins of Akrotiri - which were surprisingly impressive and Pompei-ish.
And now...we woke up at 4 am, flew to Athens and then onto Milan. Hopped a train to the Central Station and then grabbed another train to Venice - should be there soon to meet the Hals!
Top Highlights/Recommendations for Santorini -
Meteor Cafe - a jazz bar/cafe, open late, has awesome house wine from an oak barrel that is really unique and amazing lemon cheesecake (not NY style...but homemade and just amazing)
Mediterranean Food - not sure the name of this, but it says "Mediterranean Food" in block levels over the top of the door - the entrance is brown tiled stairs that are lined with potted red geraniums. It's a two story terrace restaurant that has awesome ambiance and we have loved everything we have tried through three different visits.
Papagallo - Delicious food - the house wine wins in my book - not a blend - 100% Assytiriko grapes and is the lightest, crispect, amazing stuff
Sunsets - has a wonderful panarama view of the tip of the island around Oia - nearly a 360 view - very impressive.
Ah, Santorini - we'll be back!
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1 comment:
Thanks for the update! For a brief moment reading this I could imagine that I was sitting at a cafe looking out at the Mediterranean enjoying a crisp glass of white wine rather than sitting in this horrible cube trying to learn about cross-compilers. :)
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