Kamari Beach

A day at the beach in Kamari, by the ruins of Thera. 6 euro for 2 beach chairs with an umbrella. The water is beutiful and a fine tempature for swimming, about 75 F. A lot of seaside restaurants to eat at.

A Trip To Oia

A bus trip to Oia, a beautiful village that is a must on any trip to Santorini. This village was destroyed by an earthquake in the 50's and was left for decades, abandoned, until a number of years ago when it was revived. Here beautiful white wash walls are a back drop to the blue highlights of the churches, sea and sky. This island is not for those who have trouble walking or in a wheelchair. due to lots of steps and hills. Most of the crowd here seems quite young. I think that at a certain age, the elderly realize they can no longer handle the stairs and walking up hill and move on o the flatter lands. Plan on about 1/2 a day here. Bring lots of water. The scene from Summer Lovers, the movie, where the lovers were jumping off the cliff into the sea is filmed here. A steep climb down to the ocean though from this village. Too much sun left me napping in the afternoon and in the evening took a lovely walk through town to the far and of Fira to watch the sunset. I must have taken 100 photos on the way.

Thera and the ruins (Kamari)

Thera by bus via Kamari, is an easy trip. In 17 BC a huge volcanic eruption destroyed the city of Akrotiri, leaving ruins in the upper hills. 1.70 euro by bus per person, leaves from Fira, and takes about 20 min. You are dropped off about 1 block from the beach. Guide books will tell you it is possible to go up to ancient Thira by foot in about 1 hour, however, it is a very steep uphill climb, and once at the top, another 1/2 hour uphill to the ruins. We picked up a bus at an agency, which ran every hour or so for 5 euro each way. A bargin after seeing the steep grade to reach the top. Santorini is a desert like island and I could not imagine a climb in the heat of the mid-day sun with jet lag to boot. Allow at least 2 hours to fully enjoy the ruins. Back down in Thira, we took a walk along the black sand beaches. Populated by boutique motels, each one quite unique, and inviting. A variety of restaurants lines the beach along with sundry shops. Beach chairs with umbrellas rent for 6 euros. Back to the room to sit on the balcony on the caldera and watch the sun set, cruise ships sitting in the harbour and the classical music begins to play at a nearby bar. I am sitting with my wine and cheese, feet up, shirt off, taking in the last of the cool September evening sun.
Dinner at the Shpinx restaurant was excellent. Fresh pasta and steak overlooking the caldera, located in Fira near the church.

album 09\15\2010 Greece (169 photos), by Andrew Wright

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Our Hotel Santorini

Hotel Keti, 90 euros a night. The most spectacular million $ view. A room that is cut right out of the caldera, with a balcony looking right out over the sea. This is THE hotel to stay in Santorini. The view in the distance is the volcano that blew Santorini's harbour out in 300 BC. Hundreds of feet up the cliff our room opens right out onto the balcony overlooking the sea. To the right, the town of Fira, white wash buildings, blue doors, blue seas. A view to die for! Lunch at a tourist trap restaurant was forgettable and dinner was nice at Ellis. 36 euros with a tip. I had fresh catch of the day and dessert was free because they were a little slow with the service due to a large crowd. We picked up some breakfast items at a local grocery store, 5 min walking since breakfast is 6 euros each and figured we could do better ourselves.
The best part of the hotel was the sunset from our balcony. I ran out to the store and brought a bottle of wine, some cheese and watched the sunset, while classical music played from the restaurant nearby.

Athens, Santorini

Continental from Miami to Newark to Montreal to Athens. Continental was nice and gave me an exit row for which they usually charge a fee now! Flying coach is not so nice, however, the extra leg room made it OK. The Continental flight from Newark to Montreal was delayed, however, so was the Montreal-Athens leg, so we were OK. Air Canada 767 mostly all coach configuration, and a plane with an old style video system, not unlike our AA 767. Service was good, audio need help-upgrade Air Canada, please! We were however surprised to get a snack on Miami-Newark on CO, but hear that with the merger at UA, this is probably finished. Arrived in Athens easy clearance thru customs.
Train from Athens to city.

Thankfully there is now a train from Athens airport to the city. 5 euros each, a fair price for the distance. Blue line goes right into the airport. Very east to find, just follow the signs, about 5 min. walking from the customs area. Directions to most major sites in Athens are listed on the train. Very easy to use. We took the train all the way to the port of Piraeus. Out the door, turn left, 5 min to the Hotel Triton. A clean if minimal tourist hotel, we got Room 69! Breakfast included for 70 euro. Not too much to see in Piraeus. Avoid this area unless you have the need to be here early. We had a 7:30 am departure and we were able to pick up our tickets at the port the day before. The rest of the area of Pi reus was a dump. We had dinner at a restaurant at pier E-7, quite a big place, but food was so-so and cokes were $5 each. A McDonald's across the street would have served better at a lower price. Wake up at 5:30 am for breakfast which starts at 6:30am. Fantastic breakfast-continental style at the Hotel Triton, but a lot of choice. Fantastic Greek yogurt, eggs, bread, juice, coffee ham, cheese and cocktail fruits.

We arrived at the port to catch the speed lines ferry over to Santorini. Two classes of service on the boat. Regular seating is sort of like a domestic first class airplane seat and upstairs and area called "Distinguished class". Seat a bit bigger, few people, probably more money and not worth it. Seats were maybe about 3-4" wider, faced each other with a table in the middle. I was fine in the regular seats.
Five hours, we reached IOS, the first stop before Santorini. Ios, a non discript island, picking up a few tourists and dropping of a few also. The view on arrival to Santorini was quite beautiful. Arriving in port is a bit confusing due to a lack of Taxis available. The easy was to get to Fira is to grab a shuttle bus that waits to meet the ferry. Just look for people holding up a sign that says "bus" . 15 euros for two from the port to the area of our hotel. A real value, way too far to walk and all up hill. A regular bus would cost about 2 euros, but leaves you at the bus stop near the main street and with a lot of luggage, may be a problem.