This morning started with a shock when a nice employee knocked on the door to our cabin, softly speaking Greek… at ten to four this morning. I have never seen Chris get out of bed that fast ever before – we had thought that we missed the arrival to Santorini.
After we had frantically got our belongings together and running to the door descending about 5 decks down, we found out that as a service to cabin customers, the ferry ensures we are ready to disembark about 20 minutes before the ferry was due to arrive in port. This was both a relief and a bit of an embarrassment for us – but hey, at least we didn’t miss our stop and end up halfway back to Piraeus.
Our hotel is amazing! We are looked after by an Aussie named Barbara and she had arranged a connection from our ferry – she even knew that the ferry was running an hour late. We were greeted with juice and were invited to check in 12 hours earlier. This meant we could shower and nap before actually starting our first stay on Santorini.
When we woke for the second time today, we were greeted by a Greek-style breakfast in our room with yogurt, a selection of meats and olives, boiled eggs, pastries and cereal. After an amazing breakfast we showered and planned what we wanted to do for the day. We agreed we will do a little exploring of the local area of Fira first, then we will decide what we wanted to do during the remaining four days on the island.
The first thing we noticed about Fira was the fact that there were hardly any actual roads. Instead there are winding, ancient pathways that feel like you’re in a maze. It’s both beautiful and surreal, but it does make walking or bike riding essential.
We got to a market place and we were ushered into a wine cellar where we tasted some local Santorini wines and Ouzo. We were eventually convinced to purchase some very delicious Santorini coffee ouzo. If we don’t drink it before we go, it may end up a very valuable gift (wink).
The day got hotter and we decided to return to our room to discuss our Santorini plans with Barbara, whom had offered to help us make bookings for tours and activities.
Then we decided to go back up the mountain and explore more of the view of the Caldera. And did we just. The view is incredible and romantic. After quite a hike up an impossible number of stairs we found a restaurant where we enjoyed some cocktails and a selection of Greek appetizers. This is when Chris and I tried stuffed grape-vine leafs for the first time. We were informed by a number of tourist blogs that it is a Santorini delicacy and indeed, they are yummy. The taste is hard to describe because it is its own thing, but the leaf is soft and aromatic and the stuffing is a creamy, starchy substance flavoured with herbs and garlic. Νόστιμο!
After lunch we set out once again, searching for nothing in particular other than great photo opportunities. We then decided that it was too warm in the sun and revisited a coffee and gelato place where I had bought a filtered coffee on our exploration this morning. This time, we wanted some ice cream. I was so impressed when I discovered that this particular gelato place stocked a flavour called “All Black” which was a dark chocolate sorbet! Finally, an ice cream that my body can agree with. We enjoyed our gelato and agreed we needed to buy some water.
Santorini’s water supply is through desalination which means that while the tap water is suitable for drinking, it doesn’t taste very good at all. We set off again, this time walking what felt like from Athens to Marathon to find a supermarket. While purchasing water, we also took the opportunity to buy some affordable Santorini wines.
On our way back, roughly 2pm, we decided it was warm enough to jump in the pool. This was the mistake of the day – it was quite cold! It would have been fine had I wanted to swim more but it wasn’t warm enough just to laze around in. We got out and defrosted in the sun for a little while before turning in to shower and rest.
We have been married for a whole week and to celebrate we are going to crack open some wine and find a good spot to see the sunset. The sun sets at about 8pm here so we have plenty of time…
Chris and Chantal 