Day 14 - Nothing but Good Vibes in Santorini

We love this island. I have to admit,it's much different than we imagined, and somehow it has a lot to do with this hotel. When we first arrived, the cab was there to pick us up, and thus began the long journey to the other side of the island. The road was scary, winding up cliffs that were 1000 feet up. I looked this up on Wikipedia. What's really crazy is that road is small, barely big enough for two cars, and there are these massive tour buses that go up and down. Santorini is a big stop for cruises, so they all come ashore and pile into these buses, which then tour the island. They can barely make the turns.

To add to the fun, our cab driver was nuts. He was flying, passing cars like it was nothing. I kept thinking to myself, slow down, we're not in any rush. When he couldn't pass people, he would get right up on their behind. It was a little nerve wrecking, but we made it to the hotel in one piece.

We'd also heard that Santorini was the big, commercial, touristy island, and that did not appeal to us. We weren't that keen on being on a shopping island where cruise passengers come, take over the town, and then leave it shambles. On the drive over, sure enough, there were stores everywhere, selling all sorts of hip fashions and state of the art electronics. It was like driving through an island shopping mall, complete with hip and fashionable people, like reading a celebrity magazine. The traffic was a little crazy, with mopeds, cars, and ATVs all over the place. The cab driver didn't blink an eye, though we were all fascinated.

The hotel just blew us away, as I mentioned, and we spent the next hour or so just investigating it and checking out all the cool rooms and touches. They even left us a bottle of local wine and a plate full of strawberries, and though I'm not a drinker, R and I had a glass of wine, which intrigued our kids to no end because they never see us drink. Also, we've been having a hard time finding fresh fruit on the islands. Also, as I said, this island is a popular destination for honeymooners, and our room seemed to geared towards that, though the owner loved the kids, and there were two small beds for them to sleep in. I guess when couples come, they arrange the place differently.

We swam in the small pool, then got dressed and did what everyone in Santorini does, which is walk to the end of the cliff and take a picture of the sunset. It was quite a crowd out, there must have been 50 people with their cameras ready. The sunset was nice, no doubt, if not a little crazy. Afterward, it was dark, so we stopped at the store to get some cheese and then to the bakery for bread and maybe some sweets. We had a nice little feast on terrace, which included this amazing walnut pie, a local tradition. It was so good. Then we put our suits back on and jumped into the jacuzzi right on our balcony. How cool is that? The water was scalding hot, but felt good in the cold night air.

The warm water put me to sleep, which was good, because we had a busy day planned ahead. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to RIC for the pics.