Taking the advice of our athenian host George, we used the app Taxi Beat to contact a taxi at 5:00 a.m. to the Athens airport. Taxibeat, like Uber & Lyft, is a rideshare app but it works specifically for local taxis. I “called” a cab and was able to watch him on GPS as he began coming to our location. Within 7 minutes he had arrived prepared to take us to the airport. I’m not sure how many cities use this app, but I will use it again. Our driver was very nice and took us exactly where we needed to go. Aside from overall exhaustion upon arrival, this was the least stressful travel day yet. Thanks George!
We arrived in Santorini after a grueling thirty minute flight and were picked up by our driver Kyriakos. Well, at least we thought he was just our driver. Turns out he manages the AirBNB we were staying it. But, due to our very early arrival of 7:50 a.m. our house was not ready. “No Problem!” he said, “I’ll drop you off in Fira and pick you back up at 1:30.” Fira is the capital city of Santorini, good to see once, nice if you like nightlife, but not worth visiting again. After being turned away from several hotel-guest only restaurants we made our way to the restaurant, Kastr for breakfast with a view. The breakfast was so-so, I got a ham and cheese omelette “The American” and toast, but the freshly squeezed orange juice and the view were marvelous.
After breakfast we walked through the city fascinated by labyrinth of steps and streets leading up and down the mountain side. Not to mention the donkeys, so many donkeys. Yes, I’ve seen a donkey before, but not a Greek donkey! Bethany said many people do not like how the donkey’s are treated on the island. The travel up and down hard concrete steps is difficult for them and their knees, especially with people on top. Very sad. We chose not to do this while at the island.
We walked along the cliff top looking down into a beautiful blue bay filled with ships, including a large cruise ship, ferrying people to Santorini. Soon the streets would be filled with tourists ruining our photos. As we looked at some of the more traditional Greek architecture I found myself feeling hungry. I think this is because much of the concrete and plaster work looks like fondant. You know, that stuff they put on weddings cakes now that looks great but doesn’t taste so good? It’s like the inventor of fondant came to Santorini and had an “Ah, Ha!” moment.
The best part of our trip to Fira happened in The Town Club, a bar with a nice green covered back patio. Though I imagine at night it is a nightclub, during the day it was cool, relaxing and gave us a place to sit. When I travel, I listen to other people’s conversations. Not so much to eavesdrop, but to see if I hear English. I often think I do until I realize it’s actually Spanish, Greek or French. Typically my mistake comes with brand names like “Coke” or “iPad” in this case it was simply “Yeah.” Just as before, I was wrong.
Nick and Myriam were a nice young couple sitting on the bench perpendicular to us chatting and enjoying an espresso. I decided to say “hello” to see if we could make some travel friends. I told Bethany the day before that I wanted to make some friends to experience Santorini with. But, that means putting yourself out there. So, I did. They are a very sweet couple from Switzerland, a village of around one thousand people. I think my high school has two thousand… crazy. We talked for awhile until it was time for us to go and we exchanged contact information so maybe we will see them again? Travel friends? Hopefully…
We met our host at the pre-determined location at 1:30 and headed off to Oia (pronounced: E-Ah).
Oia is the city most often photographed in Santorini. The west end of the city specifically contains the older more traditional style of buildings and homes. But, I use the term “home” lightly as 98% of residents on Santorini are tourists. The rest live their to work and most don’t live in the main cities.
Our lovely new home for the next four days is directly off the main drag of Oia. An ivy covered red door opens to a tiny courtyard with steps up to a small but lovely balcony. Walking through the courtyard you open the door into a beautiful tall rounded family room. Lovely. To our left is a small kitchen and to our right is a small guest bathroom. Overlooking the family room and directly on top of the bedroom is a loft sitting area. Santorini is the one place on this trip we splurged on housing and it was well worth it!
We took a quick power nap and headed out for lunch and a quick walk through Oia before watching our first Santorini sunset.
Our host recommended a restaurant within walking distance of our home so took him up on his offer. The food was great, we love Greek food, and the service was top notch. So far our hosts is 1 for 1 on recommendations. We then walked up and down the packed streets of Oia dodging other tourists standing where they shouldn’t, walking through each others photos and generally annoying us. Though we are also tourists since we have been traveling for so long it somehow feels different. Like… we are on a different level or something… Could I sound more pompous?
We headed to the Lioyerma Pool Bar & Lounge for our first world renowned Santorini Sunset. We would recommend this lounge to anyone wanting to see the sunset. The old church at the Southern point of Oia is more popular, but more popular means more crowded. For the cost of a drink or food you can get a front row seat to a beautiful sunset with a loved one. It is here that we met Will & Jen.
Will & Jen are from Ohio, the state in which I saw fireflies for the first time. They were very nice and we talked through the sunset, sharing stories until the sun had long went down and we were the only four left in the lounge. Enjoying each others company we invited them over to our place for a drink and to give our balcony a test run. We had a great time hanging out and exchanged information so maybe we can meet up again. What’s this? Two possible travel friends in one day? We’re on a roll!
But, now it’s late and we’re renting an ATV tomorrow and it’s supposed to rain so I have to wake up early. Yasu (Goodbye in Greek).
Cheers,
B&B
