MYKONOS TO SANTORINI

WEATHER: Hot and 28C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Arriving onto the island of Santorini

BUMMER OF THE DAY:  I’m in Greece – no problems today

BUYS OF THE DAY: A water, a coke and a souvlaki for 4.50EUR – bargain right!

WORD OF THE DAY: They knew we were coming!

Well considering the way my night ended last night, I was feeling quite chipper this morning and ready to rock and roll.  I made it to breakfast and then went back to my room for another hour’s sleep before having to check out at 11am.

We then got transferred into Mykonos town to have some free time before our ferry ride to Santorini at 2.55pm. Ed was the watcher of the 50 odd bags and we were free to head into town bag-less.  We did some souvenir shopping and then had some lunch.  We bypassed all the restaurants on the water (they were expensive) and went into the labyrinth of shops and found a local souvlaki shop and we decided to eat there.  I can’t believe for 4.50EUR I got 2 drinks and a souvlaki .  Amazing value.  Dee, Kasey and Bree decided to walk around a bit more but Lisa and I decided to head back to Ed and the bags and just chill till ferry time.

The ferry is organized chaos.  After lining up to have our tickets checked in the sun for about 15 minutes, we then get to head on to the fast ferry.  There are 2 entries and we used the back one as our bags are actually stored on the back of the boat and not inside.  The ferry itself is really set up for day trips and not to handle so much luggage (like the Tangalooma Flyer).  Lucky we had Ed, as we came on he loaded and stacked our bags for us as we headed inside.  There was allocated seating for the 2.5 hour journey from Mykonos to Santorini.  I used this time to catch up on my blog, so the time went really quick.  As the ferry travels at over 100km an hour, you are not permitted to go outside while the ferry is moving, I hope the bags are secured down, be too funny if we saw our bags floating past the ferry!!!

5.45pm got us arriving into Santorini and the island looks amazing, even from the port.  There was a coach transfer to take us up to the hotel, which is about a 15 minute walk from Fira, the main town.  The views we got as we wound our way up to the top of the island was incredible, and to think that the island was created by a volcanic eruption 2000 years ago.  I didn’t know that Santorini is actually on a fault line, so they get a few earthquakes and tremors here as well.

The hotel is quite sweet.  It is basic, but very Greek looking.  There seems to be a variety standard of rooms, but I am lucky enough to have my room right next to the pool.  The downside is it is right near the entrance, so I heard to 2 groups of people come home this morning at 3am and sometime after that.  We got some free time and free Wi-Fi till 7.30pm and then we headed into Fira for dinner.  Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we got to a great lookout point; the sun was setting and was a great introduction to Santorini.  We are doing a sunset cruise in a few day’s time, so I am really looking forward to that.

The restaurant where we ate was amazing.  The views from there were stunning and the food was pretty good value.  We asked our waiter about getting a bottle of sparkling wine and he suggested Moet at 80EUR a bottle, when we actually stopped laughing, he was not impressed as he was serious and then suggested a lesser bottle at 50EUR, um no thanks we’ll take a bottle of the house white thanks.  I mean for goodness sakes we are on Contiki right!  The white was nice though for the record!!  We then went to a bar called Murphy’s where they offered 2-4-1 cocktail happy hour that ran for the whole 2 hours we were there.  For 9EUR I guess that is pretty good value.  It was a pretty cool pub with some cool stuff on the walls and the DJ was playing some groovy songs, so it was a great night, even if it wasn’t a big one.  Needless to say I was a little cocktailed out after my billion Devils Tongues the night before, so I had 2 vodka red bulls and a few beers and then it was time to head home.  We were pretty knackered as a group, so happy to walk the 15 minutes home.

Santorini seems cool and I am really looking forward to spending 4 nights here.