A Dream Come True!!

We have spent the last three days lazily wandering around Santorini, and it is amazing. We arrived at the port late on Wednesday night, and were met by the hotel owner. I have to say, even from the start, I was thrilled! Our hotel room had HOT running water (the lack of which in Antalya has begun to wear on me), and a balcony with a small sea view! We slept in very late and went downstairs to the bar/lobby for coffee, which made Katelyn very happy. The tea here is the same as in Turkey. Then we began a walking tour of Santorini, which is actually very small. We found one of the approximately three open places to eat, and I enjoyed fabulous pancakes with bananas! I am definitely on vacation.

Everyone (well, mostly the guide book and the guy at the hotel) told us that sunset was famous in the small village about 15 minutes north of Fira, where we are staying. We took the bus there, and were met with another ghost town. Literally, a very stange place. We saw more dogs than people. And actually, the dogs were really fun. At one point there were 6 stray dogs leading us through the small, twisting alleyways that made up the streets of Oia. Two in particular stayed with us for a while, and acted just like they were our guard dogs. When we stopped to watch the sunset, they immediately sat down too. The sunset was beautiful, though very cold. All of Santorini is incredibly windy, I think due to the fact that there is nothing to block the wind that blows off the water in all directions. At one point a tourist family of three walked by us (we were happy to see people!) and the dogs got up and barked protectively. I think the family thought they were our dogs!

My favorite place to eat here is techinically in another town (Katerados) but its only a five minute taxi ride from the hotel. They have the absolute best Tzatziki I have ever had, hands down. Incredibly thick and garlicky, served with thick crusty rolls. As good as the tzatziki that we get at Porteau Cove is, this is ten times better. (We have been back there twice now, and may have to find dinner there again tonight, because its pretty much the only good dinner place thats open.)

We haven't really done much, other than wander around the city, and visit a couple museums. And we took a cable car ride down to the old port of Fira, which is not accessible by car. It's strange traveling in the off-season, because so much is closed. We had to very persistently wander past three exit-only signs to find the ticket seller who told us we had just missed the 3:00 run of the cable car. (We were a little miffed, seeing as it was only 3:02 and there was nobody else in sight...) On our of our adventures to a black sand beach at the other end of the island we made friends with a Brazilian guy named Chiago who coincidentally is staying at our same hotel here, is traveling to Athens on Sunday on the same ferry, and is staying at the same hostel in Athens too. We've spent the last day and a half with him, and its fun to have a third person in our group.

Anyway, all this is to say that I am absolutely loving Santorini. We found a little bookstore that was miraculously open and sold books in English! There I saw a couple books and several cards by the photographer that started my whole dream to come to the Greek Islands. Years ago I bought a boxed set of cards in Canada by the photographer George Meis (look him up!). If you've ever been in any of my rooms since high school, you may remember the framed set that are always on my wall. It is absolutely surreal to think that after dreaming about coming here for so long, I am actually here, and it is just as beautiful and wonderful as I imagined. It is a huge gift, and I am enjoying every moment of it.

P.S. I'm not using my computer, so I have no photos to post yet, but believe me, I have taken plenty!! When I get home and can upload them to my computer, I will post straight pictures, because they are absolutely worth seeing!