Relaxing in Santorini Santorini, Greece

Santorini, Greece

Today started with a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, with beautiful fresh fruit and veg, meats, pastries, fruit juice (OK that was basically cordial, not fresh). One thing about food on this island – I’d say much of it is grown locally, since the cost of transport must be pretty high to gets things in from another island or the mainland. As a result, very place we’ve eaten has had the most amazing tomatoes, freshest cucumbers, and the olives are of course incredible.

Then it was time for the Intrepid Travellers to wander around the laneways of Thira (or Fira). Very crowded, but at the same time that made it feel very much alive. One thing about this city is you need sturdy footwear – the walkways are all pebbles set in concrete, but as the concrete wears away it’d make for a bit of a spiky experience. The bigger challenge is looking where you’re going while marvelling at all the shops and the (again) amazing views that appear each time you turn a corner… so far I’ve managed not to fall over 🙂

On the more mundane side of things I also put some washing in to be done – but it wasn’t so mundane when we saw Peter, the laundrette’s pet rabbit. Very calm he was too, just sitting there expecting to be patted like cat. So of course we obliged.
Speaking of mundane what else can I tell you about Santorini. It has no rivers, so all drinking water is either gathered from the (infrequent) rain or shipped in. For tap water there is a desalination plant, but as soon as we arrived we were advised not to drink the tap water as it’s too salty. Maybe there’s such a thing as a desalination-ish plant.

All this walking around is thirsty work, so it was time for a beverage (a healthy orange juice) at cafe/bar with (once again) amazing views. Maybe just take it for granted that everywhere we go in this place has amazing views, and I’ll leave it at that. It really is like nothing else I’ve ever seen.

Since today was basically a relax/do nothing day, we spent the afternoon by the pool at the hotel, I even went for my regular once-every-few-years swim. the last time would have been Hawaii in 2013. This was followed by a short afternoon nap that became hours long… these thing happen when you set an alarm for 5AM instead of 5PM..but hey, we’re on holiday time, may as well enjoy it.

Dinner was on the roof of one of the restaurants, delivered the as-expected “amazing views”, and another nice opportunity to watch the sun as it slowly dips… then it’s as if the whole sun just drops out of the sky in 5 minutes. It’s a pretty incredible show, and one that happens every single day – as if this place was not pretty enough already.

That was about it for this ‘relax’ day – it’s the kind of thing you’re meant to do on holiday, and I think we did a pretty good job of it. Let’s see what we can all get up to tomorrow.