Santorini - A blue and white beauty!

The previous post on this series is here..

We used Agean airlines to go from Athens to Santorini first flight out. Given that Syntagma square was a good 40 minutes away even without traffic, we woke up real early to get a pre booked Uber in Athens and made it to the airport on time.

Santorini has a small airport that flies to Athens and other islands on small planes. It is an interesting island in a lot of ways. At one point it was considered as a possible candidate for the last city of Atlantis !

We had booked an Airbnb in Fira which was literally 10 minute drive from the airport. Our landlady had arranged a car for us and she greeted us at the place. It was small, incredibly cute and a walk down the slope across the McDonalds on the one main road in Fira. 

We put our travel bags down and wandered around the street a bit. There is a nice bakery right next to the McDonalds which had amazing pastries and juices, not to mention hot cocoa. We ate a brunch at one of the shops on the main street right next to the donkey statue in the main square. 

Then we had to make our way down the hill to the Caldera walk and boat ride tour.. again prebooked through Viator! There were three options to go down. Climb down ~700 steps , go on a donkey ride down or take a cable car. We took the cable car option.  Walking or donkey would have meant smelling donkey poop all the way down. So we got two way tickets for the cable car.  

Also the family had told me to bring something blue and white to wear. However my idea of blue was not Santorini or Greece blue! It was navy blue. When I came out ready to go, everyone was giving me the "what is wrong with this guy?" look! So to stop looking like a guy who didn't understand basic colors, we shopped for a linen shirt right outside the cable car entrance. This is the costliest shirt I have purchased to date in my life's shirt purchasing history. At 30 USD, this shirt actually ended up being a great wardrobe addition. It is light and seems to breathe well.. and also dries fast! I did not know all this at the time and was only experiencing sticker shock. For a guy who shops exclusively in Sri Kumaran in Mylapore or wears Bikram Yoga 60 day challenge T-shirts which were all earned the hard way.. this was an interesting experience! 

Did I mention the 30 dollar shorts that was also bought to match greek colors? 

Moving on... now that we were all Santorini ready, we went down and had to wait a good hour before our boat showed up. There is not much to do once you go down the cable car. Most of the eating places are closed. There are gelato shops. So we had some and took pictures.

Once the boat showed up, we were off to see the Caldera. Hiked that mile and a half to the top wearing bata chappals! Tip for you.. wear hiking shoes for the hike but take your sandals for the boat ride!  The hike was nice and pleasant. The guide told us all about the Caldera called George that erupted and blew a big hole in the middle of Santorini. We got to stick our hands into a few vents which were still very hot and fuming!

That is the tallest point.. a small pillar from which you get a 360 degree view!

Then came the kicker. We were told at pre booking that novice swimmers would still be able to go swim in the volcanic waters as part of this tour and everyone will be given floating noodles. When it was time to do that though, the guide said we had to jump off the boat and also the water was 50 feet deep and we had to be decent swimmers to go the distance. The boat was not allowed to get too close to the sulfur brown waters per some regulation! So San and me stayed on the boat and watched the experts (our kids included) go to the volcanic water for the swim like monkeys that have just tasted ginger (something got lost in that translation from Tamil to English on that one). You can see it all in the video!

The water outisde was 14 C and the sulfur water was only 20 C.. warm, not exactly hot. It was supposed to be medicinal. When the kids came back they cursed us for sending them there. The smell was bad, it was cold and not easy to breathe in that smell. "What were you thinking?".. we said our plan was for all of us to go.. but we were not expert swimmers! In any case, they forgave us after a few minutes knowing they did something we couldn't and that we actually wanted to do it!

We have to rectify this swimming situation. Time for me and the missus to start taking some joint swimming lessons till we can swim in open water. We are missing out one too many times..

Once the boat got back,we waited again and got back on the cable car and made our way up. 

Did laundry and had the pleasure of drying clothes outside...The place is windy and clothes dry in a jiffy.. so washers and no dryers!  Hadn't done that in a while! 

It was late evening and beleive it or not, there are vegetarian options a plenty in Santorini compared to Athens! The wife and kids got some veggie mediteranean bowls and I went back to the airbnb and made Maggi noodles for dinner.. added some nice pastries to go with that from the bakery! 

We were all talking about how beautiful the slopes and buildings were.. inspite of it all being blue and white! It was very different from anything we had seen in recent past..

A video highlight of our first day in Santorini! 

Given we had woken up early, we slept. early.

The next day was going to be the highlight of the entire trip. An all day tour of Santorini island from 7AM to 9PM with 7 stops! 

That has to be broken into a lot of little blog posts.. 

The magnificent Acropolis

The previous post on this series is here..

Day 2 morning was spent on a city bus tour (which ended up being a repeat for San and me of what we saw on the hop on hop off bus tour the previous day). We have learned to love these Viator tours of cities. The guides are decent, we can leave stuff in the bus as it is safe, we get to meet other folks for the day and have them take your pictures as you take theirs..and also learn about their experiences in the same city if they had reached a day or two earlier. A lot less stress for me as I don't have to drive!

The exception compared to previous day, was we got down to take pictures at a few spots like the stadium where they had the Olympics.

Then we spent the rest of the morning at the Acropolis museum followed by a walk to the top of the Acropolis itself from the museum.

You end up walking on thick glass floors where you can see two or three layers of excavated sites below. In Athens, anywhere you dig, you will find history! This is one amazing place if you love history!

There is a fantastic view of the theater as we walk up. As a FOB grad student, got introduced to Yanni.. folks used to tell me I look like him when there was the long hair phase. Had all his records and had watched him perform live at the Acropolis! walking past this brought back memories of listening to Yanni in Philadelphia!

Here is a tip if you are visiting Athens even in September. Take an umbrella. There is not much vegetation in this place. Only Olive trees grow here and while they may be few hundred years old, they are 8 feet tall, tops, for the most part! Not much in terms of shade, unless you hide behind the statues and pillars here and there!

It is still pretty hot in Athens in September. Take your water bottles with you!

The walk up to the acropolis was crazy. We estimated at least 5000+ people on the steps and another 5000 at the top! Apparently we went off season and usually the wait to go up is 2 hours! We made it in 35 minutes. 

Walking under the majestic gate of the Acropolis was an experience in itself. All those traders that had docked below would have had to walk up the same steps. They must have just been floored by that entrance gate! You have to see it to believe it!

The Acropolis is just magnificent. The scale of it on top of that hill is just amazing. Couldn't help but feel a similarity between the Greeks and Indians when it came to their pride of history, their array of damaged and vandalized monuments by invaders or war, their best stuff all in the British museum!

Given the crowd, taking photos was challenging! We did get a great view of the entire city from the vista point.

Here is photo vs reality.

Greek tour guides take their jobs very seriously. Maybe they are all teachers doing a part time gig was the joke as we walked around. They have pages of notes, then they quiz you after explaining things, and even ask some folks in the group "Now, did you understand that?". Some of the kids in the group were like "if we wanted to be in school, we wouldn't have come on this vacation now, would we?". Enjoyed the history lesson as an adult. 

On the way down we stopped at a park looking place with a statue of a famous greek singer. That place was nice and cool and it was a welcome break before our bus ride back to Syntagma square. 

A video highlights reel..

Then we had to find lunch. Every place was booked solid with a waiting line to be seated. Stomach acid does not bode well for 50% of the family, so we all scattered and finally found a place to eat! The dry heat had gotten to us all. So after that lunch we decided to take a nap back in the rooom and venture out late evening!

You cannot help being happy here..

Usually the family visits the happiest place on earth aka Disneyland during Thanksgiving and celebrate the parents birthdays. This year, we were not sure what was going to happen during thanksgiving. 

Both the kids were new college bound.. the older one for a masters and the younger one starting undergrad.

At the end of summer we knew they were both going to be in Southern California 2 hours apart in two different UC's. 

So we made a plan on the long weekend to go visit both schools, hunt for housing for the older one, look at the college for the younger one to see how she will fit in and as an added bonus, given we cross Disney, dedicate one day for Disney as well. 

The college visits were not much.. they were empty and deserted as it was a long weekend and in hindsight it was a bad idea to show the kids deserted eerie large open spaces and collosal buildings. Does not help form a good first impression. Still that is where they ended up and have settled in. Both of them got hit with health issues and local hospital and ER visits within a quarter. All that seems to be behind us. This post is about our Disney visit.

Given we have almost been there every alternate year for the last 24 (this blog probably has enough entries to make a parade evolution video), this maybe just "yet another Disney post". 

We did smile all day, have fun, go see the latest Star Wars show. You have to see it. It is just too amazing for words (there are small bits in the video.. but not giving anything away so you go see it for yourself)!

Enjoyed as many rides as possible in one day, but didn't sit in the cold for fireworks. We saw it on the way to the parking lot. We had dinner reservations for a mexican place right outside the gate but within the Disney walkway to the parking lot. So we rushed to have dinner, then watched the fireworks and walked back to the hotel. 

Here are a few memories for later.

The kids wanted to go to Plant power, a burger chain which was apparently the place to be for Veggie burgers! So went with them and ate fries while they enjoyed the burgers as an early evening snack.

We also got to eat at a small Indian restaurant right next this place called Star of India. That place did not disappoint. It was very good snacks and amazing ginger chai!

We did some shopping including my first visit to a thrift store to buy things! The kids had made a reservation at a fancy place, Osteria La Buca (in Melrose) for dinner and we enjoyed that as well. The candle lights were a special touch!

We also got to eat at a place later in Santa Barbara called Masala Spice. That was also good. Finger licking good. 

Have always failed at these pictures that they take.. so we never end up buying one. Someday, I will stare at that camera and smile. The family was mocking me for a good hour after this. "Even Disney is giving us something for free and you mess it up!"

and the parade.. we always love this parade of old and new Disney characters.. they make it so much fun!

Our visit to a sea of storm troopers! We were talking about the possibility of "storm trooping" being a minimum wage job, now that the kids are older and our conversations in Disney seem to be different every now and then.. then the kids hit me with some snarky comment to put me back in my place, so we can all be just kids again and enjoy the rides!

A picture with the main star of the place. We stood in line for more than an hour to get this picture!

and the final fireworks!

and a video as usual!

our smiling faces say it all..

There was a picture of the girls in a tea cup that brough back memories from a different tea cup ride in San Jose downtown.

Kids are all grown up.. but happy to see them still be kids in tea cups!

I am happiest when my girls are all smiles.

This place is priceless!

Given almost every trip has a bittersweet ending for me recently, this one also did. Here is a public service annoucement. Always wear sunglasses when driving back from LA back to the bay area. Yes, the sun is in your face when you drive back and your eyes are wide open after a few hectic days in theme parks or otherwise. The wind is almost always kicking up crap on 101 North when you are near the San Antonio de Padua mission exit. Something went into my eye. It took me a good week to get better after washing and treating it. 

Wear those damn sunglasses..even if you think you don't look good in them. You can thank me later!