We departed Crete for Santorini aboard the 8:40am ferry, sailing 70 nautical miles through the sunny, brilliantly blue Aegean Sea. After docking, we took the bus to Thira, and continued on to Imerovigli, a quiet village free of cheesy souvenir shops and overpriced restaurants, spectacularly set on the highest point overlooking the famous Santorini caldera. Imerovigli is known as the “balcony to the Aegean.” We were floored by the panoramic views from our apartment’s balcony, and enjoyed our welcome glass of chilled white wine. We took in the Cycladic whitewashed architecture, passing breezy cave-style apartments and churches with light blue domes. The light colors and cave-style design keeps buildings cool in the summer and warm in the winter, while reflecting plenty of natural light. We settled in at 7:30 with local red wine, olives, apricots, walnuts, seeded breadsticks, and cheese to take in the legendary Santorini sunset. Oriented directly west, we had the perfect view. The next day started on the balcony with Greek yogurt topped with honey and walnuts, accompanied by homemade Greek coffee. We enjoyed having a kitchenette and preparing our own breakfasts, beginning our busy days with a leisurely morning. With great views along the entire path, we hiked to and from Oia, about 2 hours each way. The small churches, cobbled walkways, and traces of donkeys evoked all of the charm we expected from Santorini. Returning from a hot, sweaty hike, we took a dip in the hotel’s pool, the perfect way to cool off and get ready for another sunset. Dinner was at Taverna Tasos, where we had dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), smoky baked cheese, coal-grilled chicken souvlaki, and fresh bread. Fun fact: the Greeks translate dolmades to “stuffed wine leaves” – eating the grapes must not be as popular as drinking them. On our last full day, we walked to Thira for delicious gyros and souvlaki at Lucky’s Souvlaki. The gregarious owner insisted that we try the draft Alpha beer, which turned out to be an excellent recommendation. We caught the bus to Akrotiri, where we detoured to get a view of the Red Beach, then returned to the main site: the ruins of the approximately 4,000-year-old port city that traded throughout the Aegean and east Mediterranean. The site was fortunately indoors and temperature controlled, so we cooled down as we walked through the platforms crisscrossing ancient Akrotiri. We returned to our balcony for a very memorable evening, which we will detail in the next blog post.
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September 2018
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