Hotel Xenones Filotera Imerovigli

... for me.

Ancient Thira is well worth a visit. Perched impossibly on top of a mountain of pure rock it looks out to a view to forever. It’s not hard to imagine the reasoning behind setting a city up this high, even though it must have made life very challenging for the inhabitants. Wandering around the ancient laneways poking in and out of the ruins of houses thousands of years old made me wonder what life must have been life for the original inhabitants ...

... buildings with stunning caldera backdrops that you will need another memory card. It took us almost an hour to reach the village of Imerovigli, another town perched impossibly on the top of the cliffs. Although there was nothing open in this town except the supermarket, this allowed us to get the water we needed (but not the coffee stop we craved...)

We were told that the walk to Oia is two hours, but the literature (once we read it) said 3 hours. We took more than four ...

We needed to be out the door by 6.30 to make our ferry, the Blue Star Ithaki which was scheduled to depart at 7.25. We got away on time, although arriving at the ferry only half an hour prior to departure meant we didn't get comfortable seats – the Greeks clearly knew to be there early!

The Ithaki is a modern ferry with modern facilities, including its own branch of a fast food store (Goodies). It was interesting to watch the locals sprawl over the ...

... deep. I got to see the entrance into the caldera and the sunrise from the Promenade Deck, as I was taking my morning walk around it. Keith went to the gym and walked on the treadmill. At breakfast, we got to see more of the island as we got deeper into the caldera in preparation for the day. We had decided to take one of the tours. We were picked up by tender, taken to a bus and driven to our first stop, Oia. As beautiful as Fira is, Oia out ...

... some more independence and we can see the island a lot better. As I write this Joey has taken it with the excuse of buying something for dinner but Im sure he is cruising the long way back! We went for a drive around this area and then went to Perissa beach, which is stunning. There is no sand but instead tiny black rocks and the water is so clear and calm. All along the beach is straw umbrellas and lounge chairs (these cost to sit on so we made do with our towels) and people ...

... One thing that really surprises me is that you can see donkeys in the streets! sorry but I'm a big city girl and these kind of things really strike me! At night we have dinner at Cesare restaurant and we share a dish of mezedes (typical greek appetizers: dolmades, feta cheese, zatziki, taramosalata and aubergine paté) and zucchini. Then we spend the night at the terrace of a cocktail bar with a spectacular ...

... ll be able to procreate any further.
Look at the amount of mule waiting for us!!








We decided against riding it down, but we want to take a picture of us riding the mule.











This is how Ai Ling look like at the beginning of the journey, and this is how I look like half way ...