Santorini Sunsets.....and more

landing in Athens

From Istanbul we took a short flight to Athens and then another quick flight to the island of Santorini, which is part of the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea.

We picked up our tiny rental car and navigated to our B&B in Imerovigli.  Note that navigating in Greece can be a tad tricky because maps are not of great quality and might suggest that you drive on a pedestrian area, like super narrow path complete with stairs.  We circled a few time until we finally found a parking spot.

Irida Santorini was amazing!  If you travel to the lovely island, please consider staying there!  We stayed in a caldera view loft room with the most beautiful view from our private veranda.  After checking in and getting settled into our home for the next few days, we began the hunt for dinner.

entrance to Irida

sea bass

From our veranda, we spied The Blue Note just down the crater from our B&B.  So we took off in search of it through the winding pedestrian paths.  In no time we found it and got set up with a table.  I think this was my favorite sunset of the trip, maybe because we did not seek it out.  S ordered the sea bass for dinner and it came out swimmingly delicious.

tada!  Amazing sunset!

The following morning we slept in for the first time the whole trip, so I woke up feeling refreshed.  Since we were well rested, we decided to hike to Skaros Rock to see the caldera/Santorini from a different perspective.  The last bit of the hike is a scramble up the rock where you basically rock climb without ropes or a harness after which you are rewarded with a great view!  

After soaking in the surroundings, we headed back down to track down some lunch.  We ended up at Poseidon Greek Tavern on Imerovigli's main square.  Next, we gathered up items to take on the sunset boat cruise with Barbarossa Sailing.  They picked us up near our b&b.  There were a total of four couples on the tour - one from India, another Sydney, and the last from Tennessee (the husband was from Texas and went to UT!).  We boarded the boat at Amoudi on the north end of the island.  Our captain totally looked like a pirate!  Views of the towns perched on the crater lip from the boat were spectacular as we sailed around the crater's sapphire blue waters.

At one point when we were near Nea Kameni, we were able to get out and swim in the hot springs.  To get to those springs, we had to swim about 50 yards through chilly water.  On the way back to the boat, I felt like an Olympic swimmer because I swam so fast trying to get out of the cold water as fast as possible.

hot springs are in the inlet

 

The cook prepared a delicious feast and kept the wine glasses filled with crisp Santorini white wine.

After eating, the captain steered the boat to a secluded part of the crater to watch the sun set below the horizon.  Such a lovely site and sunset.  The temperature dropped quickly after the sun went down so we headed back to land to wrap up our fun boat tour.

model of the site

The following day I arranged for a tour guide to take us around the island for about 6 hours.  Akrotiri ruins were at the top of my list and Dimitria was a fantastic guide!!  We spent a good amount of time walking around the complex with her teaching us about the history.  Excavations recently resumed after being curtailed during the recession.

We stopped for a quick view of the island from Pyrgos on our way to Domaine Sigalas winery.  In addition to pretty good wines, the food was very delicious.  Here we learned that Santorini grape vines are weaved into a nest/basket looking shape so that the grapes are protected from the extreme sun and wind on the island.  The grapes take up a huge portion of the island's land cover and all Santorni wines are made with grapes from the island (no outside grapes).

wine tasting for one....

Our day with Dimitria ended in Oia where we walked all around the picturesque town learning about the history.  S had a plan up his sleeve so rather than being taken back to our b&b after the tour, we stayed in Oia.  He let me have my fill of shopping, which doesn't take all that long because I am a fast shopper.

the amazing Dimitria!

painting that I got framed

The first part of the surprise was dinner at Kastro Oia Restaurant where we watched a ton of tourists set up camp all around the restaurant to view the highly anticipated sunset from Oia.  I cannot imagine what this places looks like in peak season!  People were everywhere searching for a good perch!  After eating, I thought we were going to hang out at the restaurant, nope!  S lead me down one of the winding paths to Caldera Massages Studio!  He is so sweet and arranged a sunset couples massage!  We toasted the day with champagne as the sun set and then had a massage.

one of the many cats in Greece

For our last full day on the island, we retrieved our car from the coveted parking spot to explore on our own.  First stop was at Señor Zorba to settle a craving for Mexican food.  The view from the patio was fantastic and the food was better than expected considering we were in Greece!  After some "enchiladas" and a burrito, we drove out to the Akrotiri Lighthouse on the southern tip of the island.

Driving back, we paused to see some of the grape vine baskets in person and then stopped in Santo Wines Winery.

This was the other winery Dimitria mentioned, but said that the wine was not nearly as good.  It's a wine cooperative from many growers on the island.  Honestly, the wine was not good, but the views were fantastic!  Just make sure you try to stop in when the place is not overrun with cruise ship tourists.  Our waiter tried to make a barrier around us because people kept coming near us to snap selfies with the caldera and interrupt the tasting.

After the tasting, we headed back to the b&b to relax a bit and enjoy the view.  Then we walked to the town south of us for dinner reservations at Santorini Pirouni.  Here we enjoyed our last Santorini sunset and discovered that I really like moussaka.

reading with a view

The following morning we sadly had to pack up and catch a flight to Athens.  We really enjoyed our laid back time on this beautiful island.  Next up, we check out Delphi and the Peloponnese Peninsula.