Suites of the Gods Santorini

... 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.

We have a rule in our family that on your birthday you get the day off. This year Jess had other ideas. I didn't have to do any jobs, but boy did I get a workout...

The day started with birthday treats – some wonderful presents that Jess and the girls had managed to conjure up from the limited shopping opportunities that Santorini provides at this time of year. As usual I was spoilt by some very thoughtful gifts.

After the pre3sent opening I went ...

... We were headed for the ancient ruins of Thira. We couldn't get in because it closes at 2.30pm each day and we were half an hour past that time. It looked worthy of another visit so we decided to come back the next day.

We drove back down the mountain then along the beachfront at Kamari, noting the numerous trendy bars (all closed) and cafes (all closed bar 3 or 4). We continued along the waterfront for as long as we could until the road diverted us back inland. It ...

... 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 ...

... a cappuccino overlooking the sea and the cruise ships below and then headed onto Kamari beach. The beach has black sandand the little village is a very cool. There are restaurants and bars all along the water. We stopped and had a bite to eat- Steve had gyros (pita bread with lamb and tzatziki) and I had chicken souvlaki. Then I went for a quick swim. It was lovely. The bottom is smooth lava that is hard and slippery.
We drove from there to Oia, taking the ...

... were probably willing to dodge us since most were
couples who smelt of a nice summer day which contrasts the opposite of
salt water, donkey **** and B.O. we emitted.



We spent the time window shopping and finding a place to see the
sunset. Finally, we grabbed some beers and hopped a fence and sat on
the roof of a hotel, the natural thing to do when travelling, find the
most dangerous and secluded area that five men can get together without
Santorini, Cyclades, Greece kciarnie

I'm sure most people have lovely memories of their visit to Santorini but this island can make me depressed for days. It was the last place Judith & I were together on our European vacation, & years later the place I found out my roommate had relocated all my belongings to outside our house in Austin ...

... a cool little two seat Smart Car at the port and zoomed up the steep road that zigged and zagged up the mountain to the town of Fira. Trying to find our B&B was a challenge. Hao wipped out his trusty iPhone and used the GPS to locate the general area, but we still needed to make several calls for directions and through trial and error finnaly got there. Fira is the "Capital" of the island, but the most picturesque town ...

... road that wound down to Red Beach. When we parked our ATV we were pretty confused. To our left was some massive red rocks and what looked like an older church, but we could not for the life of us find the red beach! We saw a path that went up a hill and some people were heading that way, but we figured that maybe it was just called Red Beach because of the red cliff and slightly disappointed started the ATV again and headed off to Faros Lighthouse before the sun went ...

... it. Heheheh...











So many mules, of course there will be so many sh*t too!!! We have to make sure we don't step on any of them!













Finally we are there. Eh? It is the same place where we took our boat ride yesterday!






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Thira, South Aegean, Greece songwillie