Santorini Grace Hotel Imerovigli

Our relaxed schedule meant that we had one last day to enjoy what Fira could offer. We visited the museum that houses the finds from Akrotiri – lots of pottery and some interesting wall paintings. A small gold animal figurine was particularly impressive. The museum is modern and well displayed, but as we were the only visitors there we didn't really enjoy the personal security supervision that followed us from exhibit to exhibit like a distrustful overseer.

As we ...

... their trade.

We reached the main path down – a cobbled path that zig-zags its way ever downward. For the first 500 steps or so I thought it was a bit of a lark, but as we got further and further down my legs started to turn to jelly. My knees were shaking and my calf muscles were crying in pain. But we made it with enough time to take a stroll around the old port.

Apart from the four of us there was only one other couple on the trip, and they ...

... 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 ...

There are simple ways of getting to Oia (or Ia as it is also know and how you pronounce it), such as bus, taxi or hire car. But who needs simple? I had read as part of my research about the wonderful walk between Fira and Oia and I thought we'd give it a try. Loading up the backpack with some supplies (but forgetting water of all things) we set off through the town of Fira which seamlessly turns into Firostafani. Along the way there are so many photo opportunities to get pretty pictures of ...

... interesting, it was much easier to fall asleep lying down of course, but the train stopped in so many places and the lights flashing through our window made it hard to really fall alseep. So when we arrived we were slightly rested, grabbed our bags and headed to the Advanced Booking Office to get our tickets for the return trip home. If we only knew then what was going to happen we would have waited. We got our return tickets for Monday on the 9:21 train and headed down to the ...

Santorini, named for the famous Saint Irini in Greece, greeted us with open arms of sunshine and cool breezes amidst rough seas. Tendering caused the little boat to rise and fall with the giant swells and though I didn't take any medicine for seasickness I closed my eyes, rested my head back against my very plush seat and enjoyed pretending I was lounging on a hammock in the sun. It was a beautiful time and soon we ...

We took a day off from being tourists in Santorini, Greece, and enjoyed a perfect, warm, sunny spring day on the bay beneath the steep cliffs of this island. The scenery is spectacular. The villages atop the cliffs are whitewashed, so the tops of the cliffs appear to be snow covered. Whitewashing the homes and the grounds ...

... 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 ...