I'm only about 3 months late but better late than never. One of the many benefits of attending an international B-school is the wide geographical network of friends. When such friends get married, well the inevitable conclusion is a trip abroad to join in their wedding celebration in Santorini, Greece.
We decided to combine the wedding weekend with our own vacation and embarked on our Greek adventure. Mama Mia Mama Mia!
Arriving in Santorini on Friday around noon we had plenty of time to get ourselves settled in and enjoy the amazing caldera views from our hotel. Based on recommendations from the bride and numerous good reviews on TripAdvisor we stayed at the Dana Villas in Fira Stephani. Superlatives like amazingly beautiful or ridiculously gorgeous really don't do justice here. Spectacuamazeballshyperpretty gets you to maybe 70% of an accurate description. Maybe 80% if you throw in a f***.
Hotels in Santorini are all constructed to face the ocean and thus are erected in a terrace style fashion to accommodate the fact that you're on a freaking cliff. The beauty can assuage the fact that you're about 50 feet from tumbling down to the craggy volcanic rock below.
The rooms were sparsely decorated but very nice. I found it pleasant and clean.
They gave us a welcome basket of fruit and wine. It's an easy way into my heart. Booze.
Getting my gangsta lean on while watching the sunset.
The first night we didn't venture far and had dinner at a spot right next to our hotel. Well, I wish you had seen the amount of wine they gave us when we got 1 glass each. They essentially filled it to the brim and said, enjoy vacationers. Enjoy, I did. I was liking the Greek hospitality. Food portions were ample. Vacation spot restaurants know what's up. I am not there to eat healthy or portion control. I'm on vacation dammit. Feed me!!!
Breakfast was buffet style with a serving of caldera view. It looks like I'm eating by myself but the SO just hadn't arrived yet from filling her plate up with food. She eats a lot so it takes her more time to gather it all.
Santorini, well actually, the Greek islands in general are HUUUUUUGE cruise destinations. It makes sense considering it's called the Greek islands. Thus, the ocean is dotted with mega ships waiting to port and drop off the day's worth of tourists.
Local fruit vendor selling his wares. 1 euro got me like 3 plums.
Our morning walk to Fira was nice. The cruise passengers don't really start permeating the streets of Fira until noon or so. One thing we noticed was the very large contingency of mainland Chinese tourists. To say, they were interesting to watch is an understatement. I hate to generalize but they really need to learn TPO, as my mom liked to say .Time. Place. Occasion. 5 inch heels on cobble don't work very well and their valiant efforts to try to take glamour shots offered much entertainment.
Santorini essentially has no natural resource. Even water had to be imported until they built a desalinization plant The landscape albeit beautiful is stark.
The wedding ceremony took place in Oia. It oozed Greece traditional.
The inside was quite ornate and ended up being packed with people. Definitely a fire hazard but I was hopeful that we were being watched over. *sarcasm*
I'm totally fuzzy on the order of this. Was it beer, then ceremony and then rice? Or was it ceremony, rice and then beer. Well, whatever. We drank some Yellow Donkey beer. It didn't taste like ass.
They gave us lavender infused rice to throw at the couple. The wonderful smell must've been nice as they were pelted with 60mph rice. Damn I even made it rhyme.
The reception was at a hotel, once again cliffside, with a spectacular view of the ocean. Would you like some sunset with your champagne? Why not says I while thanking everyone and everything that allowed me to enjoy something like this in life. I love you all.
We all had to stop and take photos for Facebook. Remember it's not how interesting your life is, it's how you portray it on Facebook.
A harp. Only thing that would probably work as musical accompaniment for a scene like this.
The next day we took a catamaran cruise around the island. T'was a small boat so I was worried I would get sea sick but luckily the winds weren't too strong.
Our first stop was a natural hot spring. This stop was eventful for the wrong reason. That brown area was where the hot springs were and you had to swim there from the boat. It's surprisingly far. I was swimming out there and there was a dad with this college aged daughters swimming alongside. About 2/3 of the way to the hot spring he started to struggle and really calmly asked us to help him out. Kudos to the guy for not panicking because I don't think I could've kept my calm like that knowing I was on the verge of drowning. In any case the SO, who was closer to the boat, swam back and got him a life jacket for the swim back. That was the end of his swimming in open water.
The rest of the trip was spent staring at the beautiful scenery and not drowning.
After 3 days in Santorini, we arrived in Mykonos Monday afternoon after taking a 3 hour high speed ferry from Santorini. The obligatory sightseeing. Windmills that reminded me of the windmills from Don Quixote. Previously used for grain, now used for cheesy tourist photos.
Sunset happy hour.
Dinner on our first night in Mykonos was at Katerina's. Kinda pricey but everything in Mykonos was really expensive in general. Personally, I would've axed Mykonos from our itinerary but lesson learned.
These look like mussels.
I can't quite remember what this dish was. Some sort of beef with red wine reduction? It was good though.
Beef stew? I should really write these things down. Stay tuned for Delos, Crete and Athens. Greek Bailout Part 2.
