MY BIG FAT GREEK VACATION

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This weekend we set off for Greece for a 5 day vacation. Vacation—not trip, there’s a difference. In my opinion a vacation takes place somewhere sunny and where there’s not a plethora of monuments, museums and other historically or physically ancient things to see! True, we did start out in Athens where we took in the grandeur of the acropolis. At night it sits lit up atop the hill with all the city lights twinkling far below. Aside from our ½ day in Athens, the rest of the vacation was utterly relaxing and restful.

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We, and by we I mean the group of 14 of us traveling together, which ended up being a great deal of fun and a good mix of friends. Well, we arrived in Athens in the afternoon and after checking into our hostel set out to see the city. The sun was already beginning to creep down and the sky was filled with the most beautiful colors and unique cloud formations. Flying into Greece I was surprised to see how un-tropical and more desert-like the landscape was, to my pleasant surprise there was a little humidity in the air – a sure fire sign of a “vacation” climate. Moving toward the acropolis we climbed the hill up form the hustle and bustle of the central market and took in one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. That night we enjoyed a huge greek meal of pitas, gyros, “greek salad”—not just “salad” as I had romanticized it would be called, I mean I figured the “greek” part would just be a given.

the whole group!
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Early the next morning we headed to the port where we boarded a huge boat that would take us to Santorini. It was about a 7 hour ferry ride – a little long, but made pleasant by the company of friends and view of the islands, especially as we neared our home for the next few days. By boat the first thing you see as you approach the island are the high cliffs of Oia. High above the deep blue waters rise a cluster of rounded white houses and hotels with bright blue roofs and doors. The cliffs in themselves are an impressive site, rising at least 300 feet out of the aqua waters. As we disembarked the ferry a man met us and took us to our hotel in our own little mini-bus. In the center of Oia, which literraly consists of a grocery mart, a bank-o-mat, gyro shop and hotel/tour info. Center our bags were loaded onto the back of a donkey that would transport them down the 100 something steps to our hotel. We arrived just in time to see an amazing sunset and get settled into our villas. We were the only people staying at the hotel, and basically in Oia, as tourist season didn’t officially open for another week. We had 4 villas that slept everywhere from 2 – 6 people, ample room for all of us. They had little kitchens, bathrooms and were nicely decorated in blue and white. They are actually old cave houses, with the rounded roofs and doorways. The view was amazing, and we had a nice area with lounge chairs and table and chairs to gather at night. The first night we all made dinner together and stayed at our place. The next morning we woke up and set off for Fira, the main town on the island of Santorini. The weather was a little crummier this day, but not too bad. We rented 3 cars and all piled in to explore the island. We made our first stop at a winery and did some wine tasting, and souvenir shopping. Getting hungry we decided to stop at a little restaurant off to the side of the road, it ended up being delicious, like our first night in Athens it was a traditional greek meal with more food than you can imagine, and at not too hefty a price…we were like this. From there we headed out to one of the black sand beaches, dipped our toes in the ocean and played a game of football on the beach. We winded our way a long the roads to the opposite tip of the island from where we were staying and checked out an old light house.

athens
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That night we all cooked dinner together again, played cars and enjoyed each other’s company in the privacy of our own little sanctuary. The sky was beautiful this night, you could see thousands of stars and every constellation. A few of us decided to enjoy it and sleep outside, it was a little chilly but waking up to the peacefulness of the caldera and early morning sunlight was worth every second of it.

The next day everyone but me decided to do a kind of pirate ship boat thing to an nearby island made up of volcanic rock and another island with a hot spring, unfortunately I was told that it was more like a mucky brown “warm spring”. I was still getting my land legs from 8 hours on the first boat and didn’t feel up to the boat thing. Instead I decided to make my way from Oia to Fira, where I could meet the rest of the group after their boat ride, there is a train that runs all the way along the cliffs high above the sea and past abandoned churches, it was about a 10 km. hike/walk and some of the most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen. I definitely had a nice time of exploring and being up so high feeling the wind in my face and the serenity of being all alone. That afternoon we sun bathed and relaxed. We didn’t go out that night, but again stayed in together and all cooked – for our final night. All in all it was a fabulous trip with breathtaking scenery over the cliffs, out towards sparkling blue water and a fun time spent with good friends.

our big fat greek dinner
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Tonight I am off to Southern France for the weekend …