Mykonos - Santorini 18 September 2011

Weather – sunny and breezy

Temperature – pleasant in late 20’s

We spent the morning at the hotel packing and on the internet.  We had to book out at midday so we stored our bags at the hotel and walked down into town for the last time.

With a stroke of luck and some of the boys’ inner compasses we found the little café where we had our savoury crepes yesterday and Desley’s recommended coffee.  Yes, the coffee was the best I’d tried in Greece as generally cappuccinos are made on water and tend to be very strong.  This one was more like home.  Suitably sated we strolled around a little more and finally left our hotel for the port. 

Photo:  our first sunset on Santorini taken from our balcony! 

The weather was quite windy with some white caps on the water so Desley and I were a little worried about seasickness even though we had dosed ourselves.  Coming over to Mykonos we had taken the large ferry however this time we were catching the flycat. 

The journey took over three hours from Mykonos to Santorini and it was a smooth ride.  Desley and I felt fine and both of us managed to snooze.

There are advantages to choosing both methods of boat:  the flycat is fast so less time is wasted;  the ferry is slower but you can move around the boat as there are not allocated seats as in the flycat.

Our first glimpses of Santorini as we came into port were not as I’d expected.  The cliffs are huge and rocky and enter the water so the towns are built high on the top.  We caught a bus for five euro each – very cheap considering the walk up!  As the Hotel Keti is located on the side of the cliff we were dropped off at a nearby hotel and had to struggle down with our bags to reception via narrow steps.  All the time we could take in the sunset as it was now about 7.15pm.  What a lovely introduction to Santorini.

All the rooms at the hotel face the caldera so we spent our first half an hour soaking up the atmosphere of the sunset, taking photos of the township to our right and getting our bearings.

Photo:  standing in front of our hotel door with the township in the background.

We made our way up the narrow steps to a little restaurant, ordered traditional Greek food including souvlaki and a prawn dish, toasted Dionysus and looked forward to tomorrow's adventures!