Lava and Volcano

  Santorini, Greece
Sunday, May 20, 2007

We woke up cold and stiff - the night had been chilly and we had not been provided blankets under the mistaken impression that it was summer. It was still grey and overcast so goodbye to lounging by the beach or poolside. Minni and I concocted a tamarind rice breakfast and we tested the taps for a potential shower. No luck - it was still cold water. Regardless, we decided that the adults could not stand to be bath-less any longer and took what my husband calls a 'hooker's bath' - key areas and hair only - it was freezing but we felt better. It was Brother-in-law C's birthday so we headed out for lunch to a restaurant recommended by Fodor's for its food.

The advantage of staying at Perissa is that the beach is really close and easy to access, unlike many of the other beaches in Santorini, and there are hordes of restaurants all looking out at the sea. Lava, like most restaurants in Perissa, faces the beach. The decor is nice and relaxed - white walls, touches of pale blue

Lava

. After much waiting and waving at various people at the restaurant in the hope that they were the staff (they weren't), we were finally shown to a table by the sulky waitress. Apparently the indoor part had been booked for a wedding, but we were happy to sit in a 'porch' type area, where we could feel the balmy breeze and look out to the sea.

the view from Lava

It took a while for the menu to materialize and some of the things we particularly wanted to eat were off the menu. The owner curtly informed us that whatever had been pre-ordered by the wedding was basically what was available that day, so we ordered their specialties which were fortunately available - baked, stuffed onions, stuffed peppers, tsatziki, gyros and a house wine by the carafe. The food took a while to arrive. The restaurant did have great food - baked stuffed onions and peppers, excellent Tsatziki and a nice, light house wine, but the service was disinterested and frankly boorish. The waitress rarely responded to our waves/ calls and whenever she came to the table, her manner was quite rude, so that kind of ruined the delight of the food.

We couldn't celebrate a birthday sans cake so headed to a 'crepes and desserts restaurant on the beach. A( my husband) ordered a crepe with crushed biscuits, chocolate and ice cream, I got a chocolate souffle and M (my sister) and C ordered a walnut cake and a chocolate cake. The dessert servings were enormous and beautifully plated.

Desserts

The souffle was one of the best I've ever had. A's crepe was just too huge though, and despite a manful attempt, he couldn't get through more than half of it. We also got a picture of A and C looking like mafiosos who had kidnapped littler a - take a look!

the view from Lava

We adopted the greek tradition of siestas back at our hotel and snoozed away the afternoon. That evening we realized that time was awasting on our all too brief vacation while we were not getting much done by way of sight seeing and decided to rent a car. We considered hiring a driver as well, but gave up when we found it would cost us around 250 euros a day for him. Car rentals are cheap (35 euros a day, unlimited mileage) and we got a nice Renault with ample boot space (critical with 2 infants and their strollers, backpacks full of their formula, water, food, toys, diapers, wetwipes, spare jackets in case of more rain, bibs, snacks for them and us, water and 2 guidebooks) for the next morning.

In the evening, we decided to eat out at a restaurant recommended by Nikitas. We told him about Lava, and he agreed that their service sucked, though the food was good. "Go to Volcano", he said. "Everyone who stay here, when I ask them where did you like it, they say volcano. My wife and I - we go there when we go out." So we headed out to Volcano. It was a long walk down the beach, in the opposite direction to Lava, and again looked out to sea. On the way we passed a collection of swings, slides, hammocks, little beach huts and small beds, with filmy, bright coloured canopies made out of muslin which looked incredibly romantic, and made us decide that we had to spend a day by the beach, regardless of the weather. Little A, my son, wanted to play on the swings and had a merru time for half an hour. Volcano was not very rushed and we got a great table towards the back of the restaurant which was much appreciated as, by this time of evening, a really stiff breeze was blowing and we were chilled.

Tsatsiki had to be ordered. We also ordered cheese pies, stuffed peppers, stuffed aubergines and the guys ordered souvlaki. the house wine was excellent, and those cheese pies...mmm. If I had to go back to greece for only one thing it'd be the cheese pies from Volcano. We tried them at other restaurants later on but they were always too heavy or too think or not crisp enough or something. These were awesome bite sized morsels of flaky, crumbly pastry and meltingly cheesy inners.

Nicely stuffed, we walked back to Ira Studios.We planned on having some of theSantorini white wine we had bought on day one, after all the kids were asleep, and drink it out on our balcony. Nikitas had turned up with wool blankets for everyone, so we were sure we were going to be comfortable this night. A and I huddled down waiting for M and C to put R to bed and come by for the wine...That poor wine breathed and breathed while we drifted off to sleep.