Artemis Hotel Perissa

... time to chat with the locals they told us how lucky we were to be visiting at this time of the year, how much nicer it is when it is quiet. As one shopkeeper told us 'Now you can see the real Santorini’

We had one last stroll around the laneways overlooking the caldera, one last meal at the excellent Pelican cafe and one last ice cream from our favourite sweet shop and one last soak in the Jacuzzi.

Ah Santorini, thank you for sharing your beauty with us.

... it was my duty to go in with the girls. But then, Heath was already dressed for it.... and he seemed like a nice guy... (all right, I know he was a complete stranger an hour ago, but hey, we knew him now, and if it meant I didn’t have to go in to the arctic water...).

Maggie was the first brave soul to immerse herself in the water. She waited patiently while Heath and Georgie prevaricated. Heath took the bit between his teeth, counted to 3 and jumped in ...

... had given them.

We set our heading for Ancient Thira. Climbing back up the winding road we parked at top near the entrance. I opened the car door only to have it wrenched from my grasp. The wind at the top felt strong enough to blow us off the side of the mountain. We found the ticket office closed but the gates open so in we went. There was a fellow sitting just inside and when I asked him whether we need to buy a ticket he simply replied 'tickets tomorrow’. Good ...

... the time we made it to Oia. Sadly, Oia was virtually shut down. It was a shame to see what is clearly a beautiful village present itself as a virtual ghost town. We eventually found one place where we could eat and we relaxed with a wine to distract us from the pain our feet were feeling. Unfortunately the famed sunset did not happen due to some low lying cloud. We’ll try again another day...

The next bus back to Fira was nearly an hour away so we called a taxi to take us home.

... on the strip. We had a magnificent view of the caldera on the way there. One we parked at the beach I found a fruit vendor and enjoyed a delectable watermelon!! We walked down along the difficult terrain and I was glad I'd worn sneakers! One we were down on the beach we found a couple loungers and an umbrella, and I went for a lovely dip in the water ...

... there is no escalator to go up again!









This is our simple breakfast for the day. Ice cream in Waffle and coffee. We prefer McDonald's coffee... hehehe.












After breakfast, we went for the mule ride. Mule is actually a cross between donkey and a horse, and it is unlikely that ...

... off at a bakery next to the 'Big supermarket', as it advertises itself all over Perissa and got some Greek style doughnuts. A and C had picked up some baklava from this place the previous day but they had been so large (each one the size of a fist, I kid you not) and so oozy with honey that we had all felt shy of actually attempting to bite into one. The doughnuts were nice, not too sweet and we happily munched on our walk ...

... performing restoration, or excavation. Okkkaaay.... not something that we would classify as interesting. And then Ai Ling asked the lady, "More rocks?" The Lady immediately nod her and in agreement, and we all laugh... hahaha...









It was actually quite windy up there. Even the tree bow down to the wind.






Oia, Cyclades, Greece songwillie

... reaching the hot springs - and that anyone who could not swim or was not fit enough or was too old should not attempt it and should stay on the boat. As more than half of the 50+ passengers on board fitted into these above categories, I am sure they would have appreciated being given this information before departure and before forking over 30 euros. The last vital piece of information that we were not given was that the temperature of the 100m ...

... to do anything but defend humself. By this time everyone in our section of the ship was on their feet watching the live entertainment, about two hundred of us. It was hilarious, Adahl and I couldnt stop laughing and loudly too!. Soon the attention was turning from the main event to us for laughing so loud. The ships first mate was called amongst some other guys in white clothes, broke up the festivities and took the younger guy away, much to the dissapointment of the crowd and ...