Porto Fira Suites

... 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.

... and we headed out to dinner. We decided on the Pelican – simply the coolest place with the best food I have eaten in Greece. If you are in Fira, make sure you go there. We had an Ouzo tasting plate (delicious taste treats plus a glass of ouzo), mussels and a fantastic Greek salad. We even found some room for dessert. We strolled home through the cool night air, looking at lights twinkling in other towns and on boats silently moving about on the water far below.

... we headed to Pyrgos and from here up to the highest point on Santorini – the Monastery of Prophet Ilias. the view from here appears to go forever. My main observation after our strenuous day of walking the day before was that climbing mountains is easier in a car.

Continuing our exploration we went back down the mountain then around a bit to Kamari Beach where we promptly headed back up the same mountain we had just come down from, but this time on the other ...

... 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.

... br>
We got back and stupidly decided to forgo the cable car & donkey ride up the 584 stairs that climb back upto the top of Santorini. We had to have a rest half way and decided that we shouldnt have been such tightarses and paid the 4 euros each for the cablecar back up. At one stage I thought I was going to get taken out by a herd of Donkeys coming back down the hill and the smell of fresh Donkey **** & **** was putting ...

... to catch a 3 pm flight to Chania, Crete. It's the largest of the areas I'll be exploring and will entail more rental car adventures if I'm to get any sort of glimpse of it in the next week. Heather, a friend of my friend Vidya's, arrived with another friend in Chania today and we're going to try to meet up somewhere in the Old Harbor for dinner tomorrow. On the hotel terrace, with a glass of wine and the lights of the island stretched out like diamonds agains the velvet night.

... Moussaka, squids!
















After lunch, we finally get to see the hotel room. Hotel Keti is the best hotel throughout our honeymoon! Best value for money and best view from the room!
You musn't miss the fantastic view of the hotel which I've captured in video!







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... between the two???) and quoting Shrek donkey-isms. You finally reach the port, get on a boat straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean (kind-of), and they take you to one of the islands where you can hike up loose volcanic gravel paths to seee a couple of different craters, but especially this main one, created only about what, 67 years ago? um, that's really not that long ago. For a volcano, it's pretty darn recent. greaaatttttt..... but it was cool ...

... me and Leah. August 22 - Went to "red beach" today and hung out there for a good amount of time. It was beautiful and warm, and we had a blast. Met a few people and messed around in the water....pretty much nothing makes me happier. What a great island....a "must see" when you're in Greece! Also went over to the volcano today...walked around that and got some great shots. Very cool to be on an active volcano!!

... sent them on their way. We walked slowly back to our hotel through the tourist area where all the shops and other restaurants are located. 11 May 2001: We got up around 8:30am. After our showers and breakfast, we headed out to the grocery store to buy our lunch for the boat ride to Piraeus. It was a 5 hour ride and after hearing about the expensive food on board, we wanted to have a picnic on board. We bought a fresh loaf of sesame ...