Day 20 - Ah, Beautiful Santorini. We believe that this is one of the most naturally beautiful places in the world.Left picture: The city of Fira on the island of Santorini - hugging the top edge of the caldera of the volcano. Stunning!
Right picture: Picture of the Mediterranean and the cone of the new volcano rising out of the Mediterranean. The cone is getting bigger.
I was up about 7 and went for coffee. Finished packing and then checked the flight status. Tim's plane arrived 45 minutes early so I went over to the terminal to meet him. Even though he was in business class, his bag was one of the last to come out! Go figure. He said the service on US Airways was awful and no amenities like eye shades, ear plugs, etc.
Today I'll be in Flight 14 of 18 and travel only 141 miles from Athens to the beautiful island of Santorini. Tim checked in for our flight to Santorini and got rid of his big bag. We then returned to the hotel and he showered and changed clothes and napped. We returned to the terminal for a light lunch, and then I checked in for our flight to Santorini. My bag was overweight by 7 kg so I had to pay a nominal fee for the overage. We got through security and waited for our flight to Santorini.
I thought we would be on a puddle jumper like we were last time we went to Santorini but this was a big plane and it was packed. Lots of Italians talking animatedly!
Beautiful flight out over the Mediterranean with views of lots of islands. Such a beautiful place. Everyone should experience this. How lucky I feel to be able to do this.
The Santorini airport hadn't changed at all - same little terminal. We retrieved our bags and took a taxi into Fira. Our hotel is located right across from the large Greek Orthodox Church in Fira at the top edge of the caldera overlooking the Mediterranean. Stunning views. Anna who did my booking was there and gave us the scoop on things and a map.
We first went over to the main square to pick up our boat tickets from Volcano Travel for our trip on Wednesday from Santorini to Mykonos. We then enjoyed a gelato - Yum! We stopped at the grocery store and got some water and wine (Santorini white wine no less for $10).
We dropped things off at the hotel and then headed out to explore the city of Fira again with all of its shops, bars, and restaurants. We found a place for dinner - Koukoumavlos - and had the receptionist make a reservation for us for 9 pm - after sunset. We took a long walk all along the rim of the caldera - stunning views. A great walk.
We headed back to the hotel for a short nap and then had martinis with the Chopin Vodka that I had bought in Poland followed by our "fizzy" bottle of complementary white Santorini wine that the hotel gave us. We sat on our balcony and watched the sunset. Spectacular. The sunset was stunning and the sky turned many different colors as the sun set. We enjoyed the quiet of our balcony having drinks and watching the beautiful views.
We freshed up and then went to Koukoumavlos just done the street for dinner. Excellent meal and wine - a white Santorini Reserve (better than what the hotel gave us!). Good service, good ambience, good evening.
We then went to Tropical, one of "our" bars, and had a nightcap and sat on the balcony overlooking the sea. No matter where you are in this city, the views are stunning. Highly recommend this.
By this time it was after midnight and we headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest. Relaxing - relaxing - relaxing.
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