Made it to Santorini!

The flight to London was smooth, the flight to Santorini bumpy, but we arrived right on time at 4:15 p.m. The one little passport control cubicle was empty when we arrived, but thankfully we were the only flight arriving. By 5:15 we were through passport control and were driving out of the airport in our rental car. Joe had not brought the car GPS, though he thought he had, but in an uncharacteristic stroke of tech skills I was able to download google maps for Santorini and mainland Greece. And, even more amazing, it worked offline as it was supposed to!

The touristy side of the island rings the volcanic crater, called the Caldera. We are about a two minute hike up to get to the Caldera side, but our hotel is on the other side of that high ridge, which means a sea view but no Caldera view. But the real benefit is that it is much quieter. Truth be told, though, it was one of only two hotels on the island that has an elliptical — and this one has a sea view!

The island is very small, so by 6, Joe was taking a nap and I was on the elliptical. I also had time for a short walk along the Caldera, it was just gorgeous. We ventured out for dinner in the car around 8, but were gobsmacked by the crowds in Fira. I thought this wasn’t high season!!! We just kept driving till we found a place to park the car. It was in front of a supermarket, with not a restaurant in sight, so we just bought some food and wine (choice in red wine was one labeled “dry red wine” and the other “sweet red wine.” It is not up to my wine cellar friends’ standards.)

But we are now on the terrace of our room, overlooking the pool, eating very yummy sheep cheese and salami on pita while sipping “dry red wine.”

Tomorrow Ancient Thira and some island exploration. I will not be spending a lot of time shopping in Thira, of that you can be sure.Read more