European Vacation 2005

My Favorite Greek Island

Within a few hours of leaving Naxos, Natasha and I reached Santorini, which is easily my favorite greek island. This island is unique, in that the main town is situated on top of these huge cliffs overlooking the sea. Unlike Mykinos, Paros, and Naxos, the port is not in the largest, most populous town; instead the port is about 15km away. And there is no nearby beach. So if you want to touch the sea, you must drive about 20 minutes to the beach.

These differences contribute to making Santorini the most beautiful, romantic island I have seen. The view from Firas is breathtaking; the sunsets are intense; and all this makes for the most unique experience. Just having dinner or drinks at sunset here is a must.

AND DON'T FORGET THE PARTY
Add to this the most incredible party scene, and you really have perfection. In the center of town there must be five or more clubs. From what I can see, Ozzies, Canadians and Americans have discovered this little fact - ferry after ferry delivered them, each ready to get their groove on.

SCOOTER OR CAR IS A MUST
If you want the combination of rays and parties, you need transportation here. Natasha is not keene on riding scooters, so we rented a car as soon as we were settled in. As it turns out, we got the same Citroen Cabriolet we had in Naxos. We parked it at home and went searching for dinner.

After walking around a bit, we found a rooftop restaurant with a view of the town, cliffs, and sea. The town is really beautiful at night - and we shared a bottle of local red wine, while eating traditional greek food. And being exhausted from travel, we settled in for the evening.

WHAT HAPPENED TO PARADISE?
As luck would have it, we woke up to a cold, overcast day. We had every intention of heading directly to the beach this morning, but not now. No worries - let's get breakfast!! And we did. I grabbed a paper - Herald Tribune - and we had eggs and coffee outside. Just before finishing breakfast, some men escorted 20 or 30 donkeys up the cobblestone path next to our restaurant. :)

By the time I read my paper, and Natasha and I soaked up enough coffee, the sky turned partially blue. We gathered our stuff and headed for Perissa, where we were told we would find the best beaches.

And 20 minutes later we arrived in a little beach town. Perissa has a road that parallels the shore. Along this narrow road is restaurant after restaurant, each with its own lounge chairs situated on the black pebble beach. And as you pass each one, some waitress or waiter invites you in.

What started as a chilly but peaceful day turned beautiful, with a clear blue sky. We ate and sunned for the rest. But before we left, we were adopted by these canadian and slovenian girls,who work in Yazz. We ate there before going back to Firas for the evening.

YOU DID SAY PARTY, DIDN'T YOU?
We must have slept from 6 to 10pm. You know how exhausting it can be to lay around in the sun. We showered and headed for this "irish" pub called, what else but, Murphy's. At 11 it was still dead. Natasha and I started with Black Russians and Mai Tais - we finished with dancing all night. As promised, the place filled beyond capacity; so we were touching about 6 people at a time.

And you can never forget the Ozzies (Australians for you non-travelers). When the DJ played that 80's favorite, "Land Down Under", the Ozzies went f'n crazy. It just might be the Australian equivelant of the Fins' "Dancing Queen" by Abba.

FOOD, SUN AND DANCE
Natasha literally fell in love with authentic greek salads. We must have had 4 a day since we got here. So every day we woke up early, ate breakfast at Yazz, selected a lounge chair somewhere on the beach, went home and napped, and shook our asses at Murphy's until we couldn't move anymore. The crowd there got more and more out of control as the week went on.

NEW FRIENDS
Of course we can't forget our girlfriends from Yazz. We hung out with the Canadian and Slovenian girl each afternoon. Pretty cool girls. Actually, the Slovenian girl, who is about 6' tall, kept hugging Natasha and kissing her on the forehead. I didn't mind :)

GOODBYE TO GREECE, NATASHA
Our last night on Santorini we said goodbye to the island in the most appropriate way: we caught the last light at that same restaurant we ate at our first night. We watched the sky over Firas dim to black as we drank a good bottle of greek wine. Dinner was spectacular, and we walked home.

We woke up in time to take the bus to the port, the ferry to Athens, and the taxi to our last hotel together. The ferry trip was 9 hours this time; its better than an airplane by a long shot, but it is still very boring.

This morning we had enough time to grab a quick bite and a little coffee. Our driver from yesterday picked us up at 11:30am. I kissed Natasha bye at her terminal just about 2 hours ago; I won't see her again until June 10. I should be boarding my flight to Budapest, Hungary any minute now, where I will spend about a week with my father.

Have a great week - talk to you soon.

posted by Adam Stern @ 6:00 AM