Santorini

If you ever travel to Greece and can only visit 1 island, Santorini is the one I would recommend. Black sand beaches, volcanoes, amazing sunsets, great local wines, and breathtaking cliff vistas. I only had 2.5 days there. Not enough. Oh well, that just means I'll have to go back ;) The first night on the island I went to the Santorini Festival, a buffet dinner with traditional dancing and wine testing. After dinner, and before the dancing, I decided to check out the museum that was open to guests for the night. I was the only one down there and all the lights were on motion sensors, only turning on as I reached certain points, which gave the museum hallway a dark feeling. As I approached a scene ofmanikinss I also became aware, suddenly, that they also were set to move on motion sensors. As the fake heads turned to look at me, I couldn't help but think I was in some sort of wax museum movie come to life. When I got out the dancing had begun, and I missed a bit of the traditional dancing. But I made it in time to see the belly dancing and get pulled on the dance floor to participate in the group circle dance. After the music was over we were all heading back to our seats when I got pulled back on the dance floor. Just the 4 professionals (if you can call them that) and myself. We danced in a side by side line with arms on each others shoulders. One guy would lead and say something in Greek and the others would join in leaving me to either mimic what they were doing quickly or start tripping over my feet. It was a fun challenge trying to follow their foot work, although it wasn't really all that complicated. A very fun evening.

Next day I took a boat excursion that included a hike up a dormant volcano, swim in hot springs, lunch at an island village considered to be the least developed village in Greece, rock diving and a sunset dinner on the north end of the island. The entire day was filled with amazing vistas.



On the second day I decided to head up the hill to an ancient city that was built 2500 years ago. There are no postcards and very little information about the city, but I could see the trail and I asked the hotel owners about it. The confirmed that I could get to it with the trail and so I took a water bottle and ran up the hill. When I reached the site I was amazed. It was the best set of remains of an ancient village that I have seen in Greece. You could really picture the village with all the little houses and central squares. It was really cool, but unfortunately I did not have my camera with me. You'll have to take my word for it.


I stayed at Stelio's Place, a very nice little hotel just 100 meters from the ocean. The owner, Stelio, picks everyone up from the ferry or airport and also gives everyone rides back to the ferries and airport when they leave. His wife does all the breakfast cooking which was wonderful. I highly recommend it. www.steliosplace.com