Santorini exploration via ATV...whoohoo!

Yes, we rented an ATV at a whopping 20 euros for 24 hours. We first visited an underground winery, the only one of its kind in all of Greece - I don't have the details with me (but can provide places, names, addresses, etc if you need them) but believe it ran 8 meters wide by 800 m in length. We did the audio/visual tour with three wine tastings. Santorini has vast amounts of vineyards due to the high volcanic content in the soil. It is rototilled 3 times a year to maximize the nutrients and the grapes are harvested in August...delicious!!! We then trucked on down to the black sand beaches whose heat radiated through our shoes...you could see the heat vapors at a distance, much like you see off the desert sands...my firsthand experience of a black sand beach.

Then it was up to the highest point of the island, the monestary and military installation, an interesting blend. The views were spectacular and we were surrounded in meadows of colorful wildflowers, butterflies, birds and Greek architecture was scattered throughout the countryside.

We then started heading back to Fira, but stopped and had a Greek lunch in a panoramic restaurant, with sweeping views of the towns and neighboring islands we had visited over these past three days. Bob brought me back to the hotel so I could catch a siesta (I've not gotten the Greek word for that yet), and he carried on with the ATV back to Oia. When he returned we had a homemade Greek dinner at a nearby restaurant in Fira where the owner is also the chef - the food was spectacular and when we met him personally, strongly urged that he publish a cookbook. We are going back there for lunch today before our 5:00 high speed ferry sailing back to Athens, which takes about five hours. I'm glad the seats are like those of a spacious aircraft, with preassigned seating...I feel another siesta coming on...Our flight departs on Monday morning and we will return home late that night.

It's been a pleasure to share some of our adventure with you via blog. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. We'll have plenty of photos and stories to share for those who are interested.

Our very best wishes to call and to all mothers, have a very happy Mother's day!

With our love, Sylvie and Bob

Oia, Santorini

Oia, Santorini

Who's the wise crack??

Hey, here's proof of bob on a donkey making a smart-ass of himself...ha!

Photos

Santorini...picture book beautiful!!

We had a full day excursion in Santorini yesterday, May 8th. After breakfast at our 20-room B&B, we got on the Calypso, a glass bottom boat. Our 1st stop was the volcanic island of Nea Kameni. We learned how volcanoes are formed and why they erupt - we climbed to the top of this volcanic island, which already had about 18 craters on it! We then climbed back down and next cruised to the tiny island of Palea Kameni and had a 20-min swim in some volcanic hotsprings, the water temp went from 60 f to about 72 as we got close to its shore. As I peered up the canyon, some mountain goats were climbing along the rocky sheer face, staring down at us as if to say what the...??

We swam back to the boat and next ventured to the island of Thirassia. Very rugged and extremely rural - we took our guide's advice and had lunch at the top of the island, away from the touristy food shacks at the sea front. Two choices here - walk up the zig-zag path to the top or take a donkey. Thank god we chose the donkey since the walk back down in itself was exhausting. The donkeys were well trained and it was a hoot! As I held on for dear life, I blindingly held the camera over my shoulder and clicked away, managing to catch a few of Bob en route. At the top was a delicious locally owned restaurant, very rustic but the food and homemade wine was amazing. It took the guide three days to convince the owner to make his wine available as there isn't much of this particular grape and the wine is scarce, it was offered at two euros which smelled a bit of brandy but completely different in flavor, a real treat!

We quickly ventured to the other side of this narrow island where we got some fantastic pics of Greek windows, doors and landscape - most of this rural community had been abandoned 100s of years ago, there were plenty of fixer-uppers although none appeared to be for sale. We could see farming communities far in the distance. We had the option of cruising next to the town of Oia (pron. Ee-ah) and getting off the boat here, and climbing up 250 steep stone zig-zag steps to the town. Of the appr. 40 people on the boat only four of us chose to do this, Bob and I and two young ladies from New York. We'd been told that the sunset in the town of Oia was the world's most spectacular, where the sun kisses the sea, and every bit of this is true! After a very long climb up the hill, we caught our wind back with sitting in the cool shade cast by one of the town's beautiful cathedrals.

We then strolled through some of the beautiful shops, took photos and found a restaurant overlooking the caldera and brightly sit Agean waters and towns of the islands. The buildings at the top of the islands from a distance are so bright it appears as though there's fresh fallen snow. We had baclava and ice cream, water, coffee and locally made Santorini wine - the grape grown on this Mediterrainean island is so unique - it appears like a liquor on the sides of the glass but is extremely full bodied in flavor. We leisuring sat at what appeared to be the top of a castle and enjoyed the most beautiful sunset we've ever seen.

I could write an entire book but suffice it to say, everyone needs to visit Greece - it's unlike anything I've ever seen.

Hope to see you again soon,

Love Sylvie and Bob

Our journey to Santorini

6th of May
We enjoyed our 3rd evening very much. After having an enormous Greek plate at Opa in the main town, we took a taxi back to our hotel which was just a quick 10-min ride through some twisty, uphill, narrow roads at a cost of 6 euros (about $8 US). The island of Mykonos evidently has the best public bus transport which runs appr. every hour, there is a published bus schedule. Tickets are purchased in advanced at a mini mart close to every bus stop for 1.40 euros. If you are walking on any of the roadways, you must listen for oncoming traffic and quickly get out of the way. Sometimes the roads are so narrow you’ve got to climb into a doorway or whatever you can find so you don’t get run over!
We did our travel blog, got a bit of rest, and got showered. Many European hotel rooms don’t have a bath, just a shower. Everything tends to be quite small and one can easily see how nearly everything is supersized in North America. For instance, the shower stall was about 2’ x 2’ with a very clingy shower curtain. I was amused because you’re constantly removing the clingy curtain from your body, not unlike a pant leg sticks when you’ve forgotten the fabric softener – at the same time you’re trying to get the shampoo out of your eyes with one hand while holding the curtain at a distance, while the bottles, razor, etc. are falling out of the really small cubby, and hoping they don’t land on your foot. Of course the water ends up all over the tiled bathroom floor and you hope to God you don’t trip and chip a tooth on the WC or sink that are squeezed into your teeny bathroom space. The bed pillows are about the size of a cereal box and about the thickness of a paperback…lol!
We loved the location of our hotel off the beaten path and the beauty and tranquility of the hotel was superb. We loved sitting on the softly lit outdoor veranda in the evenings – it had a ceiling but no walls where you could order Greek food and drinks from the bar. They always gave you a shot of Mystique with the check – this was a special liquor made from the drippings of a particular tree leaf with a tasty, unique flavor. Bob found Mystique-flavored candies.
Several people mentioned to us that a half-day excursion to the uninhabited island of Delos was worthwhile as there are quite a few ruins to see, something to look forward to the next time we visit.
The ferries in Greece can be very confusing. There is the old port and the new port which is still under major construction. There are numerous ferry companies and a lot of different sailings headed to the various islands. One has to take great care in acquiring a ferry ticket ahead of time either from your travel agency or at the ticketing booth at the port. It is recommended you arrive a good hour prior to your scheduled departure. Sometimes strikes or bad weather can disrupt ferry service. It turned out a high speed (50 mph!) ferry did not run on the day we were scheduled to sail from Athens to Mykonos so we were provided tickets on the Blue Line slower ferry instead. We arrived at our destination so were happy with the arrangement.
Today’s sailing is on the Hellenic Seaways ferry service on a ship called the Flying Cat 4, at an impressive 50 mph. It’s also a good idea to travel with snacks and drinks although these are available on the ferry. The seating on this vessel is also very plush, like an airline, but with ample leg room and overhead bins for luggage. Preassigned seating is also printed on your ferry ticket, business class is available.

See you in Santorini…with love, Sylvie and Bob

Additional photos of Mykonos

Three perfect days in Mykonos, Greece!

Yia sou! This is hello in Greek, now I know where the saying comes from, it's all Greek to me, cause when you look at everything written in Greek it's completely foreign! Our hotel, the Kamari, is 200 meters from Platys Yialos, the most scenic beach in all of Mykonos and where the locals go when they want to go to the beach. We ate at restaurant atlantida, a beachfront restaurant where the food was amazing!! You could then stroll to their loungers on the beach and have yourself a massage! Days two and three we spent in the main town of Mykonos. We strolled around the old port, Little Venice, and the windmills. Spent a bit of time shopping, I had to buy a bag for my bags in the end...lol. Today we visited the Archeological Museum where we saw countless original artifacts dating back to 8th century BC!  Very little security, some of it you could even touch! Bob found me a large pink pelican on the beach who posed beautifully for our pictures.

One of the local jewelers sent us to Opa Taverna for authentic Greek food where the locals eat, the Greek Plate had a little bit of everything, including wine leaves, which are called domatas in CA. I'm on the hunt for the cookbook used there, the owner showed it to me but it was in Greek! We were amused while in Opa that the other two couples there were from southern California and Vancouver, BC (small world!).

Some of you may have heard on the news about mayhem in Athens, it's a one-day strike to protest austerity measures. The strike did not extend into the Greek islands where things continued as usual. Very friendly, very laid back, indeed a wonderful place to holiday!

Day One-Sunset in Athens Sunday night

Hi ya! We flew into Athens and arrived at 6:30 pm local time on Lufthansa. It was an 8.5 hr flight from Chicago to Athens and we were impressed with the airline and its service. Two hot meals were served with complementary bar beverages. I had to drink wine for us both (Bob doesn't drink alcohol), it was a really good German Reisling and later on an Italian cab...mmmm mmmm!

We were greeted by Tour Greece with the name 'Wheatley' on a placard and they drove us to our hotel in Athens, about a 30-min drive from the airport. We got a superb synopsys of this amazing city and country. Greece comprises a total population of about 10,000,000 - 5,000,000 of which live in Athens. There are 4000 Greek islands, only 400 are populated. The secondary language is English and everyone we've met including shop owners, restaurant personnel, etc. all speak Engl;ish...yeah!!

We threw our stuff into our hotel room, splashed some water on our travel-weary faces and then a fresh wave of excitement/energy hit us as we realized we had about 1.5 hours of daylight left and we were only a quick walk up the road to the Acropolis and other ruins. We quickly walked up some busy downtown city blocks to some narrowing, cobblestone type narrow roads and residential alleyways. It got more and more narrow but the Acropolis loomed larger than life on the hilltop overlooking Athens. As we made our way up to its base, there were multiple ruins all around us, everywhere we looked we'd see such ancient and well preserved historical sites. We watched the sun set in a cloudless, golden red sky from a sweeping view in the hills we'd climbed over the city of Athens, looking on to the Parthenon and many other archeological sites, with the Acropolis immediately behind us.

We slowly meandered back down the hill and found a great outdoor Greek restaurant where we chose Greek salads and the local appertif alcohol, Ouzo, which takes a lot like Pernod, served on ice. The owner also treated us to a taste of Mascato, I'm unsure of the spelling, which he said was good for your stomach, it was very good, it reminded me of mom's homemade dandlion wine she used to make years ago. Not overly sweet and a wonderful way to conclude a delicious Greek dinner. I even tasted the olives, Stacie, but just can't acquire a taste for those, Bob gladly ate them :-) We'd highly recommend this restaurant in the Plaka district not far from the acropolis, called Ydpia, their website is http://www.ydria.gr/

The busy tourist season has not yet started so we're on a slower speed ferry (still impressively pretty fast, probably a bit faster than the BC ferries) right now sailing to the island of Mykonos. The Mediterranean (per Bob the scholar means 'center of the world') is amazingly calm and beautiful, the water is extremely blue. We'll arrive to the island of Mykonos at about 12:30 pm (we are 10 hours ahead of Pacific time). We're told there will be a general strike on Wednesday but fortunately we're not traveling on Wed so shouldn't hit any snags.

Signing off for now, see you in Mykonos.

With love,
Sylvie and Bob

Successful departure!

Hello, greetings from the first leg of our journey to Greece, the windy city of Chicago, Illinois! Rather than sprinting with a very short, impossible 40-minute connection in Chicago for our connection to Munich,and then on to Athens, Greece, we opted for an earlier flight to Chicago. We now have about a 5-hour wait for our next flight.......hmmm...I wonder how much I can blog between now and then, lol! Just kidding, I'll spare everyone, because I think I am going to have fun with this. I've never blogged before, but seeing as this trip to Greece is an incredible dream come true for me, I took up Stacie's challenge when she texted me today and had sent me the link for setting up my blog. It's easy and really only did take 5 minutes, thanks, Stacie!! I now have one other mission, and that's to find Chicago-style deep dish pizza in this huge airport! We are limited to terminal 1 so as not to have to go thru screening again, Ryan, I'll send you a text complete with photo of said pizza when my mission is accomplished. Otherwise, we'll just have to have a trip to Chicago and do some true pizza test tasting, all through the city, wouldn't that be grand??

For those of you not familiar with our Greek itinerary, we shall be emarking on a Greek Island Hopper package with one night in Athens, three nights in Mykonos, three nights in Santorini, and back to Athens for a night. We shall be travelling between islands via high speed hydrofoil ferries. From what I've read, they are more spacious and more comfortable than flying between the islands. Getting any details on ferry departure times has been impossible - we are evidently to be greeted at the airport as part of our travel package by an unknown individual with the sign 'Tour Greece', who will drive us to our Athens hotel and give us the details on the ferry crossings. That is of course if the ferries are not on strike, something Greece is famous for now and again, as are the ruins, museums, etc. The advice I've gotten is if you get somewhere and it's open, you'd better go today, because it may not be open tomorrow. We're going to go with the flow (guess I'd better not say that with the recent Iceland volcanic eruption!), but I've decided that it's not going to erupt again, at least not for another 200 years or so.

Welcome to my first blog, please feel free to leave any comments or feedback.

Wish we could bring you all with us!

Love, Sylvie and Bob