25th - 26th October - Ceret to Santorini

Our children had given us accommodation in Santorini as our 60th birthday presents, and so we had booked our visit there for October, coming back via Tuscany. It was an early start for us on Friday 25th. Up at 6am, we were on the road to Spain by 6:45am, and by taking the motorway arrived at Barcelona airport soon after 9am. We dropped the car at the parking building we'd booked and were immediately shuttled to the airport terminal 10 minutes away. There were a number of armed soldiers around, no doubt hoping to avert any hint of renewed Catalan protest action. With a heavy emphasis on baggage scrutiny, we got through pretty quickly and had plenty of time to sit down and enjoy a Spanish coffee and pastry before heading off for boarding. 

We were travelling on Aegean Air. John coped with the miserable legroom OK, and we even got a small meal for lunch, which we didn't expect. All in all the 3.5 hr flight went well, and we had great views flying into Athens airport. 

Over the Peloponnese Peninsula

We were in transit for less than 2 hours and then back in the air on an even smaller plane for the 30-minute flight to Santorini. Since it was getting late when we arrived, and the bus into Thera (the main town) only went hourly, we'd organised a shuttle from the hotel to pick us up. It was ready and waiting, and very flash it was too. Our children had booked the accommodation for us - the place which Bella and her husband had stayed in four years earlier when they were here for a wedding, and it was a step up on something John and I would have chosen. Bonus! It was our 60th birthday present from them. John and I were also looking on it as a wonderful place to celebrate our upcoming 40th wedding anniversary, which is just a few months away. We were in Santorini 11 years before. We fell in love with it then, and always hoped we might get back to it somehow and sometime.

We were escorted to the hotel by its receptionist, as Imerovigli is a rabbit warren of pedestrian alleyways, and we were soon into our lovely room, complete with private courtyard and seating. We immediately sat down outside and admired the stupendous view over the crater and buildings along its ridgeline. 

There are some lovely sights

With a fairly stiff seabreeze it was too cold to sit there for long, so we found the nearest minimarket, collected some water (the tap water is non-drinkable), a few cold beers and a bottle of wine. We put up our feet, shared a beer, then doubled back for dinner to a lovely little taverna we'd spotted nearby. 

Just got the sunset on arrival

At 7pm, it was still pretty early to eat in Greece, but we were starving, and just as well. The meal was  colossal in size, absolutely delicious and ticked any boxes we might have had for reminiscing about Greek food. We shared an antipasto platter (of perhaps 10 Greek foods, every one of them mouth-watering), and then chose plates of fried calamari and lamb meatballs for mains. I really felt I had to try a Greek coffee after that. It came with a huge dose of coffee grounds and perhaps two teaspoons of sugar, and certainly delivered quite a punch. We waddled home and collapsed on the bed.

Appetisers - so Greek

We awoke to a beautiful day, and no wind. Breakfast was served on the top terrace, and we enjoyed the panoramic view, but again the cooling wind was getting up a little. We had an hour wandering around the nearby alleyways, enjoyed a morning coffee back at last night's taverna, then slipped back to our accommodation to watch the All Blacks vs England in the Rugby World Cup semi-final. The ABs were odds on favourite, but the English had been touted as up to pulling off a surprise win. And win they did, with the ABs putting on a disappointingly dismal performance. No doubt it was all due to the huge pressure applied by the English, who thoroughly deserved to win. After settling for a light lunch of bread and feta cheese, we quickly headed back out into the sun and sea air.

It was a 2km walk into Thera itself, and all the way is lined with accommodation places, and also quite a few shops. Once in Thera itself, there really weren't too many people vying for space in the narrow alleyways. The tourist season is clearly very much past its peak, and some places have shut up shop entirely for the season. It means that there are sales on in the shops, but John and I really weren't looking to buy anything. We'd bought a fridge magnet for Santorini 12 years ago, so there wasn't even that to look out for! Also, our bag limit was 8kg on the budget airlines, so we didn't have a lot of leeway. I did manage, however, to pick up some nice necklaces and earrings made from volcanic lava. I'd bought some when I was in Turkey many years ago, and have worn them frequently since.

While in Thera we checked out the Prehistoric Museum, which was well rated. It was good, though small, but had some wonderful relocated wall paintings from a town on Santorini in 1700BC. Life in Santorini was at its peak then, though it had been around since about 5000BC. However, the eruption in 1700BC was the last big one, and that wiped out everything. It was very interesting to read about the early life here, as we well remember learning about early Greek civilisation on our earlier visit to Crete, Knossos and other parts of Greece. It was then time for an ice-cream, as we were flagging a little, followed by the walk back home to put our feet up a little before zooming around the corner to take some photos of the sunset.

Theran wall painting - 1700BC!

Back to the same place for dinner. Why not, because we couldn't fault it and it was very reasonably priced. Because of the big helpings, this time we chose a lot less, and John splashed out on an ouzo. The place is obviously a family concern, with father doing the supervising and the two sons as waiters. It's very casual and friendly. We don't really know if we should be tipping or not, but given the number of Americans we've heard around town (you can't miss them) we thought we should give some as a tip. Many of the tourists we've noticed seem to be French or Spanish.

Karen at our Nefeli Homes rooms

It is so nice being back here. The serried ranks of buildings clinging to the hillside and ridgeline are just amazing, and the essentially white and blue colour scheme glues them all together. It adds up to a simply stunning sight. There have been a few cruise ships in the caldera, but they would be nothing to the number that visit each day during the summer season. 

Virtually every little hotel has a range of stepped units, complete with terraces with seating, sunloungers, sun umbrellas and tiny (some not so) plunge pools. Dotted amongst them are a number of small churches, with their beautiful iconic blue domes. Santorini is so focussed on tourism, the vast proportion of the population must be employed in the industry. Surprising, one of the iconic blue cupolas near us was disintegrating to the extent that we could see through it from side to side. Considering it is one of the standard photos used worldwide to advertise Greece, it seems very strange that it could be allowed to get to that state.