Santorini

Million dollar views ahead.

A 

place 

you never want to leave

once you arrive.

Embarking upon Santorini Island.

Ok, I am on my last and final "chapter" of pictures from Greece. I honestly couldn't come up with a title for this post like this one or this one because seriously no title could do Santorini justice, it's a title all on it's own.

 I seriously was so exhausted and my body was screaming, I didn't think I'd be able to get out of bed that morning. This was the morning where I looked at my husband and said: "I think I'm done with our trip, I can't go any further." But the body always seems to find a way to endure, and to push forward. And that's what I did.
 I just couldn't believe I was going to be in Santorini, I mean . .who goes there?!
That's what I was trying to focus on, beauty, always beauty.

 This was the view. That is me standing on our patio of  our hotel room, can you even believe it?!

Santorini is like no place I have ever seen in my life. I consider myself very privileged to have traveled as much as I have through the years. The most beautiful place I've seen so far is Switzerland. But Santorini was on such a different level. It's really hard to put into words. I don't think I need to.

 This was our Hotel.  There were a total of 12 suites. There was a total of one occupancy. Yep, us.

Santorini is built on a volcanic cliff. You'll see the original "piece" that erupted 3,700 years ago. Isn't that mind blowing? There hasn't been any volcanic activity in years, but over the last 100 years there has been, so they are watching it closely.

(those two little tables you see with the chairs, that's where we had breakfast each morning)

My husbands kicks; relaxing and having some greek beer.

Our Anniversary dinner location. I could not take my eyes off of this view! Wild horses couldn't have dragged me. And, I bought that vase that was on the table!

While in Santorini, we mainly relaxed, chilled, relaxed some more, shopped, ate, contemplated, relaxed, chilled and ate some more, and then shopped again. Oh ya, we did a lot of walking and laughing too.

When we arrived this little cutie patutie was waiting for us to greet us with kisses, the hotel manager asked "Are you afraid of dogs?" My husband was like, "Ah, nooooooo"....She really made me miss my little guy, but helped ease my longing for him. Her name was Neopi.

I wasn't going to include these pics of me, but they are shots my husband captured of how happy I felt. I had changed clothes, and taken a few sips of the wine that was waiting for us on our patio, and I was feeling full of such peace, joy, happiness, gratefulness, and relaxation. He captured that here in these pictures.

Does this even need a caption? Ok, probs not but I'll give it one. I kid you not this was our paito and this was our view. (and it was our 10 year Wedding Anniversary)

nuff said.

View to the right of our patio.

This is at the top of the cliff (our hotel was down maybe about a 5 min walk from the top). Look at those donkeys!

Since Santorini is built into a volcanic cliff, everything, including hotels is on cliff side, so you have to walk up step after step after step. And since brick is a newer thing, it wasn't invented until the late 1800's, there is rocks and pebbles and lava rock everywhere. Very difficult to walk on. See if you can follow this. 

We planned ahead of time and asked them for a Hotel that was closest to the bottom (nearest to the Sea) because of my disability. 

When we arrived, our Hotel was closest to the top.

Meaning, at the top of the cliff (the city) there is even terrain, it's sort of flat up there,

but not totally. Anyway, that is where the main town is with the shops and restaurants. 

So they got it backwards, but it ended up being just fine because we didn't even go to the Sea. 

We would have had to take Donkey's down, and that wouldn't have worked for me. Plus, it 

wasn't warm enough for the Sea; sure it was sunny and 60's but not warm enough for Sea fun.

Yes, that is a toilet that poor donkey has to carry. The people have no other way to transfer stuff, so the donkeys do a ton of the work!

The "hub" volcano that erupted 3,700 years ago.

We stopped in the late morning at a cafe (I am talking with the owner) that was the first to open as a cafe in 1976, and It was the best Cappuccino I have ever had to date. I had to ask the guy how he made the froth so amazing. He said to me:"I don't think you Americans want to know what I do to make it so good." I said, "Try me, I was in the coffee business for 6 years." He proceeded to tell me that he mixes the milk with a hand held mixer til it starts to peak, then he puts it in the microwave for 30 seconds! 

What?!

Froth to the last drop. Beautiful.

In front of our Hotel (we still had to walk down about 50 steps to actually get there)

One of the walks down to our Hotel.

The sunset is "the million dollar view". Celebrities come to Santorini

People were lined up with their Nikon's along the sidewalk with tripods and everything just to get a shot. The people told us that when it's busy season, it is shoulder to shoulder on the streets, and people line up for a shot of the view/sunset, and have to wait a while.

Each night we were there, the sun would start to set and then would go behind this cloud:( 

oh well, it was still captivating:)

Door. So many doors. 

I captured these bird pictures one night, and I was so proud! I just love em!

Our hotel manager had nothing better to do one of the days, as he put it, so he took us on a tour of the whole Island! The island is 28 square miles, and it part of the Cyclades Islands, and in the circle of the Archipelago.

This is a Black beach that we went to. Unbelievable. And Pumice (the light colored stuff on the beach) that we buy in the store, is ash from the volcano, and it was laying there, just laying all over the beach! I took a zip lock home with me!

He also took us a to a town name Oia. Which supposedly has the best views on the island, but I actually preferred where we stayed, Fira, to Oia. But I was so happy we went, it was an incredibly, sweet little town. So different than Fira, but it was completely, almost, closed down for the season. People have to leave this town because of the winds, it becomes unlivable from about Nov-Feb.

 View at/from Oia

That's me with our hotel manager as he is answering one of my millions of questions. Lucky guy. LOL (those that know me well, go ahead LOL)

Yes, I had trouble understanding this kind of beauty.

 This guy with the lovely underbite was following us the whole time.

Back in Fira, I got use to "our" steps.

I have to back track a little. When we had breakfast in the morning, it was such a gift to be able to see that view, but we also had animals around us at any given moment, which was quite lovely I thought. (this was the morning of our tour of the Island)

 The last morning we had coffee at a little whole in the wall, to give a townsman some business. While we were there we learned that the next day was the Athens Marathon! We were running into people from Texas, DC, and the Midwest. We had no idea.

Look at that Crema! There wasn't one Cappuccino served without beautiful Crema. Kudos Greece.

 Me saying goodbye by myself.

Naopi had followed us all the way up from the Hotel as we waited for our transfer, the hotel manager said she had never done that before. She waited until our transportation arrived.

sniff sniff

This trip would have to qualify as a "trip of a lifetime". Even though I've been to Europe before and that is a gift in and of itself, all traveling is.

But Greece is on a whole different level. It is Middle Eastern, it is European, it is desert, it is tropical. It is adventurous, it is unpredictable. It is welcoming, it is unique. It is an eye sore. It is historical, biblical,

and extremely beautiful, especially Santorini.

My least favorite things about Santorini:

-nothing

My favorite things about Santorini:

-everything

Thanks for following along on my journey to Greece, it means a lot to me!