Morys Musing

Yikes! We had to get up at 3:30 AM in order to board our flight at the Athens airport. Our transfer van driver was very efficient in getting us to the airport. Who would guess there would be no traffic at 4 AM. We really had no problems at the airport, except, I had forgotten I had my Cretan honey with Thyme in my carryon😳. I must have been rushing my packing after coming back from the Samaria Gorge. Oh well. I can always come back to Greece!

It is not that easy to get to Bormes-les-Mimosas (to be known moving forward as Bormes) as you have to use a couple of connections with smaller regional airlines. The prices are good, but, the maximum allowable weight for “CHECKED” luggage is only 10 kg!! That meant that for 4 flights (to Toulon and back to Paris) we had to pay an exorbitant fee for heavier checked luggage.

We flew to Paris Orly (with a 5.5 hour layover, and NO lounge 😢) and then flew to the Toulon-Hyères airport. I had one more security blip along the way when my three-quarters empty sunscreen container was confiscated (the bottle volume was about 105ml)! No other airport prior seemed to mind🤨.

We got into Bormes about 5:30 PM that day and picked up our rental car. We were able to find our rental home (a nice small place in Le Pin) and met Herves, our host. He spoke some English which made things easier. He called to make sure a local restaurant in the Village was open (a harbinger). Thanks!

We drove up to the restaurant, had some cocktails and a really lovely 3 course meal which included the largest serving of chocolate mousse we had ever seen😳! We couldn’t finish it. We went back to our accommodation and went straight to bed as we were exhausted from the day’s travels.

This week in Bormes was meant to be about relaxation and little else, after the go-go of Greece. We had not arranged anything and had no expectations. Therefore, for this blog post, I will provide only brief reviews of our time here and hopefully give you a better sense of the area with…..some photography! It goes without saying (but I will say it anyway), that each day we found fantastic food at local restaurants that were open and enjoyed a local white or rose wine along with cocktails and Pastice (we needed a replacement for our beloved ouzo).

On our first day, we simply walked around the beautiful, medieval village of Bormes. We had both been here in 2010 and fond memories flooded back. While there were some tourists, it was very quiet and many shops/restaurants and venues were closed for the season. Again, it was a good thing we had gotten our shopping done in Greece! We loved the walk!

The next day was very interesting. The plan was for us to explore local wineries by self-drive as we had a rental car. The first three wineries were closed or not open until later in the afternoon. We felt disappointed and were beginning to think that this was a bad idea.

We then lucked upon two wineries that appeared to be closed, but then, someone would appear and opened up just for us. Merci! We bought either a white or rose wine. The third winery (the Chateau Malherbe) we found was the jackpot. A huge rural estate that was clearly open and very welcoming. They gave us a map to walk around the actual vineyard for about 30 minutes (it had rained earlier, but now, the sun had came out and shone brightly- it was gorgeous), followed by a lovely wine tasting and explanation of their estate and what made their wines unique. We purchased a white and a red. This was one of the most lovely experiences I had ever had at a winery. Unfortunately, I did not take many photographs here, so, I will rely on Anna’s smartphone photos. What a fantastic day.

The following day was an “at-home” day. We had been running around (pleasurably) for the last 3.5 weeks and just needed to chill. We slept in and sat around the pool at our house rental all day. Bliss! We even went for a swim in the pool. Anna got ten laps in! Steve worked feverishly on the blog to catch up and post. I do need to comment on the dinner that evening. We found a quaint (in the corner of a village square) restaurant in Le Pin that we could walk to within eight minutes (perfect for that day). It was run by a solo fellow who did it all (served as host, server and chef- he had NO other staff)!! What a unique concept! There were 4 other tables of 2 people each, but somehow, he managed it all. The meal was fantastic- cheese stuffed figs with bacon wrapping, sweetbreads with mushrooms in a lovely sauce and sour cherry pavlova. Yum!

The following day we decided to do a small hike up to Notre Dame de Constance (a church) which provided panoramic views of the surrounding area. Gorgeous! The church was open and as we sat inside lovely classical baroque music played- it was very special and peaceful). We then went down to the premier hotel in Bormes (renamed the Eden Rose Grand Hotel) where we had stayed one night in desperation in 2010 (a long story). It has subsequently been purchased by the Best Western hotel chain and renovated. It is absolutely spectacular. We sat out on the terrace and enjoyed wonderful cocktails. The views off the terrace were excellent and we were surrounded with blossoming lime trees whose flowers give off the most wonderful scent. Bliss again! We enjoyed our time there so much we booked dinner reservations at the restaurant that evening. Needless to say, the meal that evening was spectacular and readily enjoyed. Anna got startled at one point when an extremely good looking young French staff member waited on our table. I thought I had lost her🤣. I named him “Pierre”.

The last full day in Bormes involved another relaxing day sleeping in and packing up. We had another very early departure to Paris and then Gatwick in London the next morning). In the afternoon we went back to the Eden Rose Grand Hotel for an early light dinner and cocktails. We were expecting to have our food and libations on the terrace again, but, the bottom section appeared to be closed. Oh no! Thankfully, we went inside and were informed that meals and cocktails were still being served by the pool. We were led upstairs and then out to a massive deck with a big infinity pool and great views. Perfect! The only thing that made it more perfect (for Anna) was our waiter turned out to be “Pierre”again🎉! We then filled up the rental in preparation for dropping it off early tomorrow morning in Toulon at the airport. The rest of the day and early evening was spent lounging on our deck chair and enjoying Camembert flavoured chips (the BEST chips ever!) and the last of our purchased local wine. Steve also worked feverishly on the blog as Anna read her book. Needless to say, it was an early evening!

The next morning was another early one, a 4 AM start with a straightforward departure from Toulon. We love this particular corner of southern France and will likely return in the future at some point. We flew back to Paris Orly and then onwards to London Gatwick. We had the evening at an airport hotel close to our departure terminal. Since we were in England, mushy peas and fish and chips were enjoyed. It was another early night in preparation for our flight home the next day. I must say, the airport experience in London Gatwick was excellent. They really “have it on”!

Thankfully, on departure day, we did not have to get up as early. Yay! We were very close to the North Terminal. Checking in and security were a breeze!

As I write this final blog post for this trip, Anna and I are flying home to Calgary. It has been another fantastic trip full of great experiences/adventures, fantastic food, wonderful companionship and ,as always, hearty belly laughs. I strongly encourage anyone to visit Greece (and southern France)- you will not be disappointed. Until next time………………………!

It was hard to believe that our Greek adventure was almost over! We had accomplished a lot, and seen a lot, over the last three weeks. It was time to fly back to Athens. We had to leave the Thalassa Boutique hotel At 5 AM, so our wake up time was 4 AM (this would be the first of a few early morning departures over the next week)!!

Our taxi driver was very efficient in getting us back to Chania and the airport there. We arrived in very good time. The only glitches that we ran into were the 10 kg limit for a checked baggage (which was never going to happen and added significant cost to our “cheap“ flights) and my confiscated Cretan honey with thyme😢, I must’ve forgotten about with my exhaustion and quick packing last night! Oh well!

The flight back to Athens was uneventful, and after departing, we had a free shuttle to our hotel (the Avra) which was located in Rafina. This suburb of Athens is located about 30 minutes from the main airport. We had a nice little walk around Rafina and then went out for dinner at an authentic Greek restaurant portside from the ferry terminal. We couldn’t resist having grilled octopus tentacle one more time! As always, it was delicious. We were also served a unique Greek dessert known as a milk pie. On our way back to the hotel there was a small mini market that was open that just happened to sell the right sized bottle of Mini ouzo! A picture perfect ending to our Greek adventure.

We would have to get up at 3:30 AM the next morning in order to get to our flight to Paris Orly. Ouch!

Overall, we absolutely loved our Greek adventure. Wonderful, warm and engaging people with fantastic, healthy food and plenty of culture and adventure. We are ever thankful that we have the financial means and opportunity to undertake these travels and share them with you. We will always be grateful to the Greek for Mini ouzo (besides creating that modern democratic civilization thing🤣)!

The great news is that there are many more Greek islands to visit…..and we shall!

A relaxing time in southern France awaited us.

I was up very early at 6 AM trying not to disturb Anna. My bus pick up was at 6:40 AM in front of my hotel. When I got on the bus I was surprised to find the same female guide we had to Chania! Great! She was excellent. The bus was not completely full as the gorge was to close for the season in a week (phew, just made it!).

We drove along a similar route as we had to Chania, but, at some point we turned up and drove into the White Mountains. It was a twisty road and it was very lush with orange/lemon and mandarin groves along the way!

We had a 30 minute stop about 4 km from the start of the gorge hike for a hot drip coffee and a washroom break. The guide handed out our entrance tickets for the gorge and we paid for the ferry ride at the end up front. We were given a free map of the gorge as well as a specific end meeting point and time in Agia Roumeli. Once we stopped at the top of the gorge the guide gave us our entrance tickets individually telling us we could go as soon as we had them. She would hike last to make sure our group got through. Now, a bit about the gorge itself.

The Samariá Gorge is a National Park of Greece since 1962 on the island of Crete – a major tourist attraction of the island – and a World’s Biosphere Reserve.

The gorge is in southwest Crete in the regional unit of Chania. It was created by a small river running between the White Mountains (Lefká Óri and Mt. Volakias). There are a number of other gorges in the White Mountains. While some say that the gorge is 18 km long, this distance refers to the distance between the settlement of Omanis on the northern side of the plateau and the village of Agia Roumeli. In fact, the gorge is 16 km long, starting at an altitude of 1,250 m at the northern entrance, and ending at the shores of the Libyan Sea in Agia Roumeli. The walk through Samaria National Park is 13 km long, but one has to walk another two kilometers to Agia Roumeli from the park exit, making the hike 15 km long. The most famous part of the gorge is the stretch known as the Gates (or, albeit incorrectly, as “Iron Gates”), where the sides of the gorge close in to a width of only four meters and soar up to a height of almost 300 meters (980 feet). The gorge became a national park in 1962, particularly as a refuge for the rare Kri-kri (Cretan goat), which is largely restricted to the park and an island just off the shore of Agia Marina. There are several other endemic species in the gorge and surrounding area, as well as many other species of flowers and birds.

The village of Samariá lies just inside the gorge. It was finally abandoned by the last remaining inhabitants in 1962 to make way for the park. The village and the gorge take their names from the village’s ancient church, Óssia María.

Visitors to Crete can complete the walk down the gorge from the Omalos plateau to Agia Roumeli on the Libyan Sea, at which point tourists sail to the nearby village of Sougia or Hora Sfakion, where they could spend a night there, or they could catch a coach back to Chania or Rethymno (in my case). The walk takes five to seven hours and can be strenuous, especially at the peak of summer.

The gorge hike was spectacular, but, very difficult to get good photos because of the extreme dynamic range required. I did the best I could. It is pretty much all downhill and very easy to slip and fall due to the worn rock and sand (thankfully this did not happen to me). I stopped in the “village” of Samaria for self-packed snacks and a washroom break. As the hike wore on it got very hot and I think the gorge temperature got up to 33 C! I got through the gorge in good time- 4 hours.

At the end of the hike, as you exit the park, they ask you for your entrance ticket in order to make sure no one is left in the park unaccounted for. I knew I placed mine in my shorts back middle pocket, but, could not find it!! It took me about 7 minutes to eventually find a wet, rolled up wad of paper that represented my entrance ticket. I showed it to her with glee. She said “ move along” not taking the ticket! Cheap paper and sweat do not make for a well preserved ticket!

After completing the hike I carried on by a small church and then into Agia Roumeli. I got into town by 2 PM and did not need to meet up with our guide until 5 PM to get my ferry ticket to Sfakia, where our tour bus was waiting to get us back to Rethymno. Great!

Agia Roumeli was a very small village with quite a few tavernas. Just my kind of place! I proceeded to a beach on the Libyan Sea and found a beach bar that offered a lounge chair and two drinks for €10. How could I say no? Thankfully, I had brought my swim suit and the beach bar had a change closet and outdoor shower. I spent the next 2 hours swimming in the Libyan Sea and sunning myself on the lounge chair. Absolute bliss.

All good things have to come to an end, however, so I went up to the taverna we were meeting up at to have a lovely meal of Greek salad and “goat in oven”. It all went down easy with a Greek lager.

At 5 PM I collected my ferry ticket and we had a lovely ferry ride as the sunset back to Sfakia. The bus ride from the ferry terminal at Sfakia back up into the White Mountains was not for the faint of heart! Hairpin turns with great elevation gain, and no lighting posts. Thankfully, we had a great bus driver.

The rest of the bus trip was uneventful, and I got back to my hotel at a very good time of 8 PM. Anna was surprised when I walked into the room. I was expecting to get back to the hotel by 9 PM.

I loved the hike and the effort involved. The scenery was spectacular, even if the camera could not do it justice. I am just sorry I did not see a kri-kri!

I must admit, I was somewhat tired from the constant downhill of the hike, as well as the heat within the gorge. I had to quickly pack because we had to check out of the hotel by 5 AM the next morning in order to catch our flight from the Chania Airport to Athens. Yikes!

And now ladies and gentlemen, a guest post from Anna about her day.

So….Steve is very eloquent in his writing where I am more of a ‘here are my highlights in point form’ kind of girl…..

– Relaxing breakfast on the restaurant deck

– Read a chapter of my book on the chaise lounge in the room overlooking the ocean

– Went thru Steve’s luggage (Long story….don’t ask!)

– Repacked my luggage…..again!

– Went to the beach, lounged, read, frolicked in the ocean and then walked down beachside to the big supermarket

– Picked up a few supplies at the market….okay…it was a bottle of rose and a small bottle of our most liked ouzo (a surprise for Steve after his hike)

– Walked back to the hotel, changed, and had an Aperol spritz on the hotel deck

– Walked to ‘CAVO Rethymnon Restaurant’ down the street and had ‘Yellow split pea purée with smoked eel’ – excellent!….and some white wine. I spied our hotel from our vantage point

– Back to the hotel room and sat on our balcony overlooking the ocean with previously bought rose and book (just in case you are wondering what I have been reading…The Island by Victoria Hislop)

– It was a lovely day, quite sure I had made the right decision not to go to the Gorge and I looked forward to hearing about Steve’s adventure!

Steve’s back. And, she did!!

After breakfast at our hotel, we walked back down to Old Town to further explore this interesting area. Our focus this time was to see the churches, local architecture and squares we may have missed last time. I do believe, however, that some “Anna shopping” got done. Anna found a very cool linen table runner with olives motif, red saffron and we both found cool metal wine jugs perfect for a half litre.

Rethymno, or Rethimno (we found no less than 4 spellings!), is a city on the north coast of the Greek island of Crete. In the old town, the Venetian Harbor is filled with fishing boats and lined with tavernas. Rethymno Lighthouse was built in the 1830s. West, the hilltop Fortezza is a star-shaped, 16th-century citadel. The Historical and Folklore Museum preserves local crafts like textiles and ceramics. Long, sandy Rethymno Beach stretches to the east.

While we were in Rethymno, we stopped at the oldest restaurant there which was much quieter and seemed more authentic than some of the other restaurants. We finally had Retsina and Saganaki!! They also had a very helpful list of “common Greek phrases” that we could have used at the start of the trip!!

Soon after our little snack, we were walking down one of the narrow streets and I spied a nice little surprise out of my right eye. It was a cafe that served original (Greek honey and cinnamon covered) loukoumades!! This was probably our favourite Greek thing besides Mini ouzo. They went down….way….too….easily!

Afterwards, we slowly made our way back to our hotel. Along the way, I stopped at one of the supermarkets to pick up my food snack and water supplies for the Samaria Gorge.

Upon returning to the hotel, I went to the pool as Anna got us some cocktails. We had dinner at the hotel and cocktails as I had an early start for the Samaria Gorge. Anna would have a free day. How would it all go?

We had another great breakfast (with hand-crafted lattes) at the hotel followed by preparation for our bus tour, with pick up at our hotel, that morning.

The bus arrived on time and we boarded. We had a very competent female guide who spoke four languages (impressive). The main tourists on the bus were German, French and a few English people. We had a nice lecture about Chania along the way and very clear directions of how to get to Old Town and our drop off/pick up times as well as locations. A very useful town map was provided for us helping us plan our time in Chania. We parked by a park clock tower. Our guide then led us to the entrance of Old Town letting us loose! We had four hours to self-explore. Great!

The immediate thing that struck us with regard to Chania was the greenery and the plethora of trees. The rest of Greece did NOT look like this. We could see the White Mountains which climbed over 2200 m elevation (!) and were told that there were a lot of orange, lime and mandarin orchards just out of town. The town itself was very picturesque with quite a few historical sites, shops and bar/restaurants. We had a breakfast (again) at a local cafe.

It was very leisurely strolling around Old Town, enjoying the languid pace and pretty sites. Anna did some shopping for a purse and strap, a belt and honey dippers made from olive wood. Our big task was to find a particular motif-styled T-shirt for our friend Anita. This proved to be very difficult, until, we came upon a fellow who made custom T-shirts!! Jackpot! Before we knew it, and for a good price, we had two in our possession (Anna had to have one as well!).

We got back to our pickup point early and found a nice outdoor restaurant to enjoy a couple of Aperol Spritzes before boarding the bus back to Rethymno.

When we got back to the hotel, we went down to the pool to enjoy some relaxation, a swim and more cocktails. The hotel pool was MUCH superior to the “beach” by our hotel which was VERY rocky.

That night we went to a restaurant next door to our hotel that specialized in seafood. It was busy and the food was fabulous. We each had octopus again (we can never get enough)!! We also enjoyed the sea views from the patio and the Fortezza lit up across the harbour.

It was a short walk back to our hotel for final cocktails and then an ouzo in bed before retiring. We couldn’t believe how quickly the time was going with respect to our Greek Island adventures. A decision had to be made about booking the Samaria Gorge as we were running out of days for this to happen. Anna waffled and then decided not to do it, but, I was keen to do it. It was a good thing we booked it that day as the next day’s (Sunday) outing (my preference) was not available. Monday was available, but, we were leaving very early on the next day Tuesday. Oh well, you only live once and I figured I could catch up on sleep later. I booked it through our hotel as I had pick up at the hotel, so it was easy. I would have to be up by 6 AM that day. Anna was going to have a “free”, relaxing day which made her very happy. She was also happy that I was going to “do the Gorge”.

Tomorrow we decided we would walk back into Rethymno for another go around Old Town. It was a lovely area and we felt there was much more to explore there.

Our hotel in Rethymno offered a nice included breakfast which we enjoyed seaside. The sea was calmer this morning.

We were going to walk to Rethymno to visit the Venetian Fortezza of Rethymno and then explore Old Town which had (you guessed it) a lot of churches, narrow alleyways, shops and restaurants. The weather continued to be excellent for us. We really only had a little rain in Athens when we arrived but nothing since 🎉! As mentioned, Andreas our taxi driver had provided a really nice map of Rethymno. It was a very pleasant walk in and we passed several small supermarkets along the way that would prove to be useful for food, water and ouzo purchases. So we arrived at the Fortezza which is a focal point of this city, so, a little history first.

The Fortezza of Rethymnon Crete: The Venetian stronghold of Fortezza is built on top of a low hill above Rethymno Town, Crete. The hill is known as Paleokastro, which means old castle in Greek and suggests the existence of an older structure in that place. This huge fortress, with its turbulent history, was built between 1540 and 1570 by the Venetian maritime power as a bulwark against Turkish pirates.

More than 100,000 Cretans on compulsory labor and over 40,000 pack animals were used in the construction of this mighty fortress. However, the Fortezza was conquered by the Turks in 1646. After many upheavals during the next three centuries, only the outer fortifications of the Fortezza remain intact and few buildings are still under restoration. The Fortezza is visible from every part of the town and provides the visitor a panoramic view of Rethymno town. The visitors enter from the East Gate through an impressive archway.

Some of the many sights to see inside the Fortezza are the Ibraham Han Mosque, the Bastion of Santa Maria and the church of Agios Theodoros Trichinas. This orthodox chapel was built in 1899 by the Russian Governor of Rethymnon. The 20th-century Theatre of Erofili is also inside the Fortezza and holds many cultural events every summer.

We spent several hours going through the Fortezza as it was so interesting. Many pictures were taken again!

When we exited we found a nice, “boho” cafe for beer and a nice rest. We were going to venture into Old Town next! We were quite surprised that the number of shops and different alleyways that were available in Rythmol. It was much bigger than we expected! Several gift purchases were able to be made, including some red saffron, Cretan honey with Thyme (in plastic bottles, which were hard to find) and lovely pillowcases.

Eventually, we made our way towards the port, where there were a large number of Seaside bars and restaurants that were clearly struggling for business as it was late in the tourist season. We passed a particular one where an older gentleman (who was very talented in attracting customers) was able to get us to come in and have a seat. We had some Aperol Spritzes and then made our way back into town to find a particular restaurant named Alana, as recommended by Andreas.

What an absolute find!. This was probably the best that we had in Greece overall. The prices were extremely reasonable, the restaurant was gorgeous and the food was spectacular. We enjoyed cocktails, a beautiful bottle of white wine, Cretan snails (an unbelievable portion size), Dolma (really like Greek cabbage rolls!) and the best wood spit lamb that we have ever tasted. We left very satisfied, and then proceeded to walk back to our hotel. We did get a little mixed up in terms of direction so we had to pull out the smart phone and we’re able to eventually get back to our hotel after dark. we had cocktails back at our restaurant bar followed by ouzo back up in the room. What a fantastic day! We were looking forward to our bus excursion to Chania tomorrow. We had decided that renting a vehicle in Crete was out. We could accomplish everything we needed to with the help of our hotel and our feet!

The morning came quickly on our last day in Santorini. We were due to journey to Crete (our last island😢) but did not have to board the fast ferry until 4 PM. We checked out and stored our luggage until the van transfer to New Port. What better way to whittle away the hours than by the poolside enjoying the Rose wine we purchased from Anhydrous Winery and our last little bit of ouzo. It was nice and warm as we soaked in our last views of the sea off the high calzone (caldera). Before leaving we tipped our Albanian bartender handsomely for his service to us throughout our stay. Yamas!

We also enjoyed the van transfer ride to New Port. It gave us our last looks at Santorini’s landscape.

We got to New Port early, and after some confusion as well as asking the local SeaJets agent, found out we were departing out of Gate 4. There was quite a long line into Gate 4, so we decided to stop at an adjacent Port restaurant (not expecting great things) to have a beer and an appetizer. All of the lager beer we had tired in Greece was excellent. Up to this point during our Greek travels we had not tried “native” tzatziki so that is what we ordered. It was absolutely delicious. The waiter was also very helpful telling us our ferry was ALWAYS 45 minutes late upon arrival and to wait for the long line to clear. His advice was spot on. The long line was for the fast ferry to Piraeus, Athens. Once it cleared, we still had to wait a bit before we could board our last ferry ride (we were going to fly back to Athens’s from Crete by air).

It was a short ferry ride of about 1.45 hours and I continued to catch up on the blog as Anna read her book.

We landed at the Heraklion Port in Crete, a distance away from our hotel in Rethymno. We quickly found Andreas, our driver, who walked us (and our luggage) over to an adjacent parking lot. I happened to notice a white Tesla X and a small red Toyota Corolla sedan. I pointed out the Tesla to Anna (the first one we had seen in Greece) stating “ don’t get your hopes up, we will probably get the Toyota”. Imagine our surprise when he opened up the Tesla and offered us ice cold water bottles and a nice map of Rethymno. Lovely!

He was very informative during the entire 90 minute journey giving us a lot of useful information. He also explained his rationale for purchasing the Tesla as part of his taxi transfer business that he had been doing for 18 years! We were definitely going to use his service to get us to Chania Airport for our departure flight to Athens from Crete at the end of this island journey.

We arrived at the Thalassa Hotel in Rethymno in comfort. We were given a nice complimentary wine and sat on the restaurant outer deck to complete our check in as the sea waves crashed in. The seaside hotel was very funky and we were given one of the best rooms with great artwork and a large balcony with a bistro set overlooking the sea. Fantastic.

After unpacking, and as it was a transfer day, we had dinner and cocktails at the hotel restaurant. They specialize in seafood which was fine by us. Andreas had recommended the pasta (linguine) with lobster. However, when we saw a couple of fellows with that exact dish beside us, we thought otherwise. It was massive! Enough for a hungry family of 4-5 people. We chose s nice salad and a much smaller seafood pasta dish. After dinner, we had a couple of Negronis as we watched the dramatic crashing in of sea waves along the shoreline. Our friend ouzo helped us settle in for a very comfortable sleep. Tomorrow, we would be touring Old Rethymno by foot (it was about a 1.2 km walk away).

Our second full day on Santorini was going to be devoted to a small hike, as well as a wine tour later in the evening. Again, it was much easier to arrange the wine tour through the Internet and we found out the pick up place was quite close to our hotel location. Excellent!

Skaros Rock was located, approximately 600 m from our hotel location. We had another fantastic breakfast brought to our room that morning in order to energize us for the hike. Anna was a little hesitant about the hike exposure (see attached photos), but, I reassured her that things would be fine.

Skaros was considered the most important of Santorini’s five castle fortresses. The rock was inhabited in medieval times, because the fortress constructed there offered protection from pirates.

It was quite a climb down from Imerovigli to get on the rock itself. You passed a small church (the Church of Hagios Ioannis Katiforis) on the way down to the start of the trail to Skaros Rock. There was a sign once we got on the rock warning people not to venture onto it due to dangerous conditions. I don’t think this did much to reassure, Anna! However, there were definitely people hiking on it, so, we forged forward.there was some exposure, but most of the hike was quite safe. When we got on the other side of the rock, the stairs going downhill we’re very steep, so Anna decided to stay there while I’ve ventured forward. There were further stairs, going down the rock, which took me to a surprise – a small, blue-domed church that was very beautiful and picturesque. There was no one else there. It was well worth the visit. Of course, I got photos.

I started back up the stairs to get Anna, but to my surprise, she decided to venture down the steep stairs on her own. Way to go!. We then found an alternate route back to the start, which was on the side of the rock and definitely had significant exposure. I was proud that Anna was able to do it so confidently.

After the hike, we simply walked up to the end of Imerovigli to look at the connecting trail for Oia which we would be doing the next day. We found a nice quiet bar to celebrate our hike adventure and had a couple of Aperol Spritzes. we walked back and found our pick up point in front of a car rental agency for our wine tour, which would occur later that evening. I know, it’s a tough life!

We went back to our hotel and enjoyed a little pool time and then got ready for our wine tour. We proceeded to our pick up point in front of the car rental agency and, before we knew it, an air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz van came to pick us up along with two other guests. There were six other guests that were picked up, at alternate locations, for a total of ten guests. We had a very informative guide who was going to take us to an actual wine field to show us the unique features particular to Santorini, and then, three different wineries which would provide small food plates and several tastings.

Santorini is famous for its white wines, which are grown in a very unique way as we soon found out. Santorini is extremely hot and windy and does not have much in the way of irrigation. The white wine vines are curled around as they grow into a crown very close to the ground. This is to help protect the grapes from the severe growing conditions that exist on Santorini. Apparently, the roots of these vines can go down up to 30 to 50 m in order to find water which is amazing!

We then proceeded on to our first winery, which was located on the opposite side of the island very close to the sea. It is quite unique in the fact that the wine undergoes vinification in clay vessels while others are done in stainless steel and finished in oak barrels. we tasted about eight different wines and had a lovely selection of olives, crackers, as well as local cheeses. Yummy!

We then proceeded on to our next winery Santo Winery. This was the largest winery on the island of Santorini. It was a very beautiful and elegant winery with fantastic views off the large deck balcony. It was also the winery where we were able to enjoy a beautiful wine as the sun set. Our guide was very helpful in getting photographs of both Anna and I, for which we were very thankful. We also had a large selection of wines to taste here as well as some excellent, tasty tapas dishes. Superb!

We finally ventured on to our last winery Anhydrous Winery, which was located very close to “our hometown” of Imerovigli. It was very dark out so I could not get any photographs of it😢. Again, several wines were tasted and we had the best small meals of the evening here including amazing veal/beef sliders. We did buy one bottle of rose wine from this winery (to be enjoyed later poolside🎉).

We had an eclectic group on our tour including an East-Indian couple living in Bangkok (who worked for Booking.com), a newly married mature couple from North Carolina (who we got really friendly with and spent most of our time with- a lot of fun!), a male couple from Minnesota and another couple from Phoenix! Quite a mix and a lot of fun.

We returned to our drop off spot in Imerovigli and finished off our evening with cocktails back at our hotel on the outermost balcony jutting over the caldera. A fantastic finish to a fantastic day! Yamas (Greek for cheers- one of the few Greek words we could master)!

This was our final full day in Santorini. After another wonderful breakfast in our room, we decided to trek from Imerovigli to Oia. One of the classic treks on Santorini is to walk from Fira to Oia. We simply accomplished it over a couple of days.

It was very hot and windy on the day we did our walk. Sections of the trek are quite rough as well as exposed. It could be slippery due to worn rock as well as fine sand and gravel so you have to be careful not to fall. Anna, again, was a trooper and did a great job with the trek. There was one steep section where an older Greek fellow was offering donkey rides up to the high point before the descent into Oia for €20. Some fellow trekkers took advantage of this opportunity, but we did not, wanting to trek the entire distance with our own two feet.

Our initial plan was to eat in Oia after the trek, but we decided otherwise, after arriving there. We were very happy that we stayed in Imerovigli as it is much quieter, and believe it, or not, much less touristy. Oia was much more developed and had higher-end stores. It was the place everyone came to for sunset making it very busy. We did have some nice drinks upon our arrival, and then simply walked around town, enjoying the photographic opportunities and colourful buildings and churches.

When it came time to return to Imerovigli, the original plan was to catch a taxi. We did find a public bus stop and a taxi driver offered us a $55 euro ride back to Imerovigli (5 km away!). we respectfully declined. We did some research and found out that one could travel back to Imerovigli by public transit for $1.80 euros!! The only problem was that it would take much longer. We were OK with that because we had nothing but time. Another man at the bus stop reassured us that the public bus did stop at the location that we were at, which was reassuring but, we felt much better when an American couple came up to us stating that they were going to catch the bus as well after getting directions from a local shopkeeper. We also found out that this bus would only take us to Fira, but, we could then catch a connecting bus back to Imerovigli. In the end it all worked out, and, we got a tour of a part of Santorini that we otherwise would not have seen. We dropped off our gear once we got back to the hotel, took a final Santorini sunset photograph and then went out to dinner.

Our evening finished with a fantastic “carnivore” meal at a restaurant called Rare in Imerovigli. It was an authentic Greek restaurant, and I must say, the prices were much more reasonable compared to those in Oia. A win-win! we top things off with a final set of cocktails, and ouzo before retiring. we had spent one day longer on Santorini than our two previous Greek Islands, which was an excellent decision. Santorini was fantastic for the dramatic calderas, the limitless photographic opportunities and the great food! Would Crete measure up?

As mentioned earlier, considering where we were as well as the topography, it was much easier to walk on our excursions. We had a substantial breakfast served at our hotel just outside our hotel room on a semi-private balcony overlooking the sea. Anna was amazed at how the bar staff could carry large, heavy trays of food and dishes without holding on for dear life up and down the steep stairs. During our breakfast we were also introduced to the phenomenon of the “Santorini Flying Dress” photoshoots. You can Google it to see what it is all about. Santorini is a photographers and wedding/anniversary paradise. Every morning during our stay we were entertained by the myriad of woman who paid (a lot) to get “that photograph” of them on rooftops (at times perilously close to the edges, we thought, from our vantage point) with the train of their dress thrown up into the wind and shot with a wide-angle lens.

We decided to walk down to the main square of Fira which is busier than Imerovigli. They are both VERY picturesque villages. There were some very steep and slippery (worn marble) sections! We also saw the funicular that transported the hordes of tourists from cruise ships through Old Port up to Fira. There was a very steep walkway down the caldera to Old Port, but, it appeared most cruise ship tourists chose the funicular.

There were many shops, restaurants and churches. One of our tour guides here said “there are more churches than people on Santorini. Santorini is famous for the blue-domed churches which I am sure have made it into millions of tourists photographs (including mine). It continued to be quite hot in Santorini (for us), like most of the Greek islands we visited (I’m definitely not complaining) necessitating several “libation refreshment” stops.

There is not much more to say about the day as we really couldn’t stop taking photographs, so, I will let the photographs speak for themselves!

A funny (maybe, not so funny) thing happened that evening. We decided to go to a local restaurant “The Aegean”. The food prices looked quite good, they specialize in seafood and they were very authentic Greek. As we were looking at the menu, Anna said “why don’t we get the whole, fresh fish of day?”. I agreed. We had three choices and I said “we need to get the sea bream. We had them de-bone it but we kept the head on. It looked, and was, delicious. All went well but when we got the bill we were in for a little shock. It turns out the fresh catch of the day fish goes for $79 euros per kg. Ours weighed in at 750 grams. Lesson learned (which we normally do) ask the price before ordering. Having said that, it was one of the best fish we have ever had. Anna even enjoyed the cheeks and eyeballs🤢. I do have my limits.

We walked back to our hotel for (you guessed it) cocktails and our evening medicine of ouzo. Sleep came easily that night and our pocketbooks were much lighter.