Honeymoon, Part II of III
Santorini
Santorini is right up there with Venice, and probably surpasses it, as my favorite vacation destination. Gorgeous surroundings, warm weather, great food, no price gouging at all (shocking in a tourist town), and everyone spoke English.
It also helped that our hotel was paradise. The Mystique is in the northern town of Oia (pronounced EE-uh), built on the cliffside, with an infinity pool looking out over the caldera. We were upgraded to a luxury suite because of our honeymooner status (though it seemed like everyone there was on a honeymoon), so we had our own hot tub and gym, as well as a big patio facing the ocean (of course, with 18 rooms built on a cliff, everyone had an ocean view). After a fast-paced time in overcast London, things were about to slow way down and brighten up.
The views were amazing, and the town, with its signature white and blue buildings, picturesque.
We did manage to get off our butts the next day to take a boat tour of the caldera. It started with a long walk down the Fira switchbacks to the old port, which involved passing numerous donkeys (which tourists ride on the way back up) and the surprises they liked to leave in their wakes. One of us, however, was not so skilled in the art of donkey crap dodging (hit on the leg and shoe-top) and swore off the donkey ride on the way back (we took the tram instead).
The wooden boat first took us to the center of the caldera, where we hiked to the top for 360 views. We then took a swim to the volcano's hot springs, or lukewarm springs, as I prefer to call them. Pleasant, but not nearly as hot as I expected. We stopped for lunch on another island, then passed by the beautiful port of Oia before docking back in Fira (and taking the aforementioned tram ride).
Afterwards, we headed to the northern tip of Oia to watch the sunset, walking through the town's main plaza of shops and restaurants.
For our final day in Santorini, we headed to a new hotel further south, Mystique's sister hotel Vedema, where the island's numerous vineyards were concentrated. Same management, so we were once again provided deluxe accomodations, with our own private hot tub and a view of the vast coastal vineyards.
We did two wine tastings, first at Sigales, which had excellent dessert wines, including Vinsanto, a Santorini specialty. We then went to Gavala and were given a tour of the premises, after which we made the exciting realization that we had seen this very vineyard featured on a Food Network special on Santorini by Giada De Laurentiis!
Not only does Santorini have great wine, but it has great food to go with it. We tried all of the local specialties, including tomato balls (fried battered tomato cakes) and fava split (a fava bean mash), as well as a lot of chloro (Santorini goat cheese), Gina's favorite. But my favorite meal might have been the two-Euro gyros (say that ten times fast) we had at a streetside stand. Amazing, and so cheap! I would later try to find its match in Athens, but to no avail.
When we returned to our hotel after dinner, the staff had a nice surprise waiting for us, with flowers and decorations prepared for our room.
A nice touch, and a great way to end our too-short stay in Santorini.
For full slideshow:
[Santorini]
Finally, it was onto Athens for the conclusion of our trip...
Santorini is right up there with Venice, and probably surpasses it, as my favorite vacation destination. Gorgeous surroundings, warm weather, great food, no price gouging at all (shocking in a tourist town), and everyone spoke English.
It also helped that our hotel was paradise. The Mystique is in the northern town of Oia (pronounced EE-uh), built on the cliffside, with an infinity pool looking out over the caldera. We were upgraded to a luxury suite because of our honeymooner status (though it seemed like everyone there was on a honeymoon), so we had our own hot tub and gym, as well as a big patio facing the ocean (of course, with 18 rooms built on a cliff, everyone had an ocean view). After a fast-paced time in overcast London, things were about to slow way down and brighten up.
The views were amazing, and the town, with its signature white and blue buildings, picturesque.
We did manage to get off our butts the next day to take a boat tour of the caldera. It started with a long walk down the Fira switchbacks to the old port, which involved passing numerous donkeys (which tourists ride on the way back up) and the surprises they liked to leave in their wakes. One of us, however, was not so skilled in the art of donkey crap dodging (hit on the leg and shoe-top) and swore off the donkey ride on the way back (we took the tram instead).
The wooden boat first took us to the center of the caldera, where we hiked to the top for 360 views. We then took a swim to the volcano's hot springs, or lukewarm springs, as I prefer to call them. Pleasant, but not nearly as hot as I expected. We stopped for lunch on another island, then passed by the beautiful port of Oia before docking back in Fira (and taking the aforementioned tram ride).
Afterwards, we headed to the northern tip of Oia to watch the sunset, walking through the town's main plaza of shops and restaurants.
For our final day in Santorini, we headed to a new hotel further south, Mystique's sister hotel Vedema, where the island's numerous vineyards were concentrated. Same management, so we were once again provided deluxe accomodations, with our own private hot tub and a view of the vast coastal vineyards.
We did two wine tastings, first at Sigales, which had excellent dessert wines, including Vinsanto, a Santorini specialty. We then went to Gavala and were given a tour of the premises, after which we made the exciting realization that we had seen this very vineyard featured on a Food Network special on Santorini by Giada De Laurentiis!
Not only does Santorini have great wine, but it has great food to go with it. We tried all of the local specialties, including tomato balls (fried battered tomato cakes) and fava split (a fava bean mash), as well as a lot of chloro (Santorini goat cheese), Gina's favorite. But my favorite meal might have been the two-Euro gyros (say that ten times fast) we had at a streetside stand. Amazing, and so cheap! I would later try to find its match in Athens, but to no avail.
When we returned to our hotel after dinner, the staff had a nice surprise waiting for us, with flowers and decorations prepared for our room.
A nice touch, and a great way to end our too-short stay in Santorini.
For full slideshow:
[Santorini]
Finally, it was onto Athens for the conclusion of our trip...
posted by Chang Kim at Tuesday, June 17, 2008
6 Comments:
That looks absolutely beautiful!
Sounds like the perfect place to unwind after the whirlwind visit to England.
Man, why'd you come back? How much is a house out there? :p
Yeah. I'm trying to make a snarky comment, but I've got nothing. That place is just too damn pretty.
Who's gonna pretend to marry me so her father will pay for a vacation there?
Well, maybe that was a little snarky....
reading the last 3 posts made me realize how much i hate life, lol
...
that looked like a freakin awesome vacation.
I was willing to forgo my summer plans, but Gina made me leave. Hockey wouldn't have made me leave.
Hi There Chang and Gina. Web page put together very well. Looks like you had a superb wedding and honeymoon. I can only dream of vistiting these places. Please do keep in touch. Chang, welcome to the family. Senator Inouye once told me to be proud to be a part of the Fujikami family because that family is a pioneer family in the history of Hawaii. I always will remember Sen. Inoyue's remarks to me.
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