Santorini

We are winding down our last full day in Santorini, and what a lovely time it has been. I never realized how much of a break we needed until we spent a couple days on a gorgeous island!

After what felt like 3 years of being in a plane, when we finally arrived at the Santorini Princess Hotel on Tuesday we were taken aback by the insane view of the Caldera (the name of the gulf that has a volcano in the middle). I can't upload any of our camera pictures yet, but here are a couple pictures from Matt's phone that doesn't do this view justice:

Sunset View from our Room

Our first day/night we just relaxed, napped, and took in the incredible sunset from our hotel room balcony. On day 2, after feeling MUCH more rested, we rented an ATV for the day (thanks April V!) and explored much of the island. Our first stop was Fira (or Thira, depending on who you ask). This is Santorini's largest city so it is very busy and fun! We found a place to park and walked around for a few hours, stopping at a little gyro/pita stand where I got to have my first real Greek falafel pita! Matt had a chicken gyro which he said was very good. Energized by our lunch, we continued to explore the winding little streets and shops all over Fira, and even spotted some of the donkeys the Greek islands seem to be known for. The ones we saw were used for transporting tourists from the cruise ships up the very steep steps to Fira, but these animals have been used throughout history to transport people and goods all over the island.

After leaving Fira, we stopped at a little Wine Museum we had spotted on the way there, to tour the museum and taste some authentic Greek wine. The museum tour was in an underground cave, and full of very creepy animatronic puppets. We did learn a thing or two about how they make wine here, but the scary robots were much too comical to take seriously. It was like a very old, frightening version of "It's a Small World". Upstairs we tasted 4 wines - 1 white, 1 red, 1 dessert and 1 "Vinsanto" which is a popular dessert wine here that tastes like a port. I personally didn't care much for the wines, but it was fun to do something fun and a little weird. And hey who doesn't like wine in the afternoon?

We showered and rested up for dinner, which was in the neighboring town of Oia (pronounced ee-uh), known for it's amazing sunsets. We scouted out a few restaurants for dinner, explored a bit, and decided to get a spot to watch this famous sunset. Unfortunately it seemed every other person in Oia was also looking forward to the sunset, so the place closest to us with a view was PACKED. To top it off, it was slightly overcast so the sunset didn't live up the hype. We fought the crowds back to the main area for dinner, which was delicious and included another breathtaking ocean view. I convinced Matt to try Moussaka, and he said he was glad he did! I had a vegetarian pasta dish, and then some Baklava, because I feel like I'm running out of time to eat all my favorite greek foods One of the most interesting parts about Oia was the dozens of dogs that just run around all over. They seem domesticated but it was just odd to see them everywhere, sleeping right in the pathways or even playing with each other.

Today was a sun/pool day, so nothing exciting to report, except how tan I got. Tonight we are going to Fira for dinner, and leaving for Mykonos in the morning! I loved Santorini but I can't wait to see another gorgeous island