Santorini Greece, we have arrived!

This morning we left Athens for the Island of Santorini, I have seen Santorini in a few movies, and have always wanted to visit there, but the real reason for the trip is Pat’s birthday, she hit a milestone on Saturday and I wanted to take her someplace relaxing and special. The past few years I have been lucky enough to travel to Europe quit a bit, but never to just relax, in 2012 I raced in the Bike 4 Peaks and spent 3 weeks in Germany, Austria and Lake Como Italy, last year I spent a week in Chamonix skiing, fun trips but different, first of all Pat couldn’t make either trip and they weren’t very relaxing, super fun but not time to chill. We got up at 4:430 am to catch the 7pm flight to the Island, the Athens Gate Hotel had a cab and a bag breakfast waiting for us when we made our way down to the lobby, if your ever in Athens I highly recommend this hotel, its right in the middle of everything and they really take care you, I cant say enough. The cab driver quickly got us to the airport and we went to check, the woman tells me that I hadn’t paid for a bag, ughh I forgot it cost $30 we paid,  checked in and got on the plane. 

View from the center of Fira out to the Aegean Sea

A very blue Aegean Sea

Shore line cliffs of Santorini

The flight from Athens to Santorini is only 35 minuets, up and down like Detroit to Chicago, as we began our descent I could see all the smaller Islands in the area, the sun was shining, both Pat and I were getting excited.  Once on the ground we walk thru the airport, a very small one, pick up our bag which also went very quick and are greeted by our hostess for the week Brigitte and a young man who’s name I forgot but would be driving us to our Villa. Its not a long drive, the airport is on the opposite end of  Santorini from the town we will be staying in called Fira. Once we arrive in Fira, Brigitte shows us where our room is, lots of steps down, Fira is build into the cliffs and many of the villa’s here are actual caves, our’s happens to be a 17th century cave dwelling, she gives us a quick tour and were in disbelief at how beautiful the Villa is.  The villa floor is ocean blue Italian tile,  3 bedrooms, 2 half baths both lined with Italian tile, and our bedroom the main one has the most beautiful hot tub in it. Being a cave this Villa is nice and cool, it has air conditioning but I don’t see us using it. On the outside things get really special as The Blue Angel Villa as its called, has an upper deck with another hot tub, and outdoor bed and sitting chair, and view of the Aegean Sea and the Caldera this is where we will spend most of our time. A caldera is a cauldron like volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, yes we are sitting on an Island formed by a volcano.

The main room of our Villa for the week

Main room looking towards the entrance

Our Deck, hot tub and outdoor bed

Few from the Bed, we love this feature!

We booked our Villa thru an online company called Luxury Retreats,  I highly recommend them as well, the process of booking the room was easy, they asked us many questions and things like groceries were waiting at the villa for us, it was nice be walk in and have everything we needed. Pat and I headed straight up the Villa’s deck and lie in our outdoor bed, it’s a wonderful feature, I’m actually writing this from inside it right now. We are in awe at the view, the water is a wonderful blue, and the other Island add a contrasting beauty, we also see the cliffs on the shoreline and then behinds if the town of Fira, we see it all, and its wonderful. After sitting outside for awhile we head in and make ourselves a greek salad from the groceries we had in the fridge, a light dinner today. We walk around town a bit, pick a few things that we will need  and hurry back to the villa we don’t want to miss the best show on earth, the sun setting over the Aegean sea.  As our first evening sets in we put on our bathing suits and head back up to the deck with a local bottle of wine that was a welcome gift from our hostess, everything is perfect especially the sunset we were about to see! We climb into the tub, relax and enjoy natures show, I love sunsets, Pat and I have had the pleasure of watching many sunset’s one of our most memorable was in the  French countryside from the roof of a 14 century castle also with a bottle of wine, but I think the one we saw tonight was the best ever! The whole sea turned orange and it was so peaceful up on our deck, not a sound and nice cool breeze, yes the Town is Fira is right next to us, but we don’t hear a thing. The sun says good night and we do the same, its been a wonderful first day.

Sunset brings a smile of my face!

Good Night Santorini