Ahhhhhhhhh, yes, finally…. here we are. Shacked up on a black sand beach in Santorini, Greece. Life couldn’t be any better. Relaxation is the best medicine…and now we’ve got six days of it.

I would first and foremost like to thank my Sister Monica, my brother-in-law Chad and our good friend Tanya for taking some time to come join us on this vacation within a vacation.
This time spent in Greece was much needed by all six of us. For us it was a break from constant planning and moving around. For them it was a nice get away from the work world. I remember speaking to Tanya the day I picked her up at the Athens airport. In the previous 48 hours she had flown from Boston to Denver, worked a 24 hour stint and then jumped on a plane to Athens. By the time we got to the night ferry headed to Santorini she was going on two plus days without sleep. Outside of her lack of sleep let’s just say that we were all tired by the time we got to the beautiful island…..or at least as some of us were…ha ha.. Our first day on the beach consisted of a few sunburns and hour after hour of being in and out of consciousness. In between cat naps we soaked up the rays and enjoyed the cool crisp water of the Aegean sea. It was a good start to a beautiful six days. We were enjoying Greece!!

Prior to catching the night ferry to Santorini we spent one day in Athens. Before getting to Athens I had heard from other travelers that the city wasn’t much to see. I often received recommendations to get out of Athens and to the islands as soon as possible. I’m going to have to say that I disagree with what these travelers said. I actually found the city to be quite beautiful. It was clean, the people were great and it was easy to get around. Three important things when you rate a city, right? As we determined what we would do with our day we all quickly agreed that the Acropolis was a must. The night we arrived in Athens we crashed on the floor of Monica and Chads hotel room. Who I would like to thank again for letting us do so. When we got into their room it was late and they were both asleep. We had just flown so we wanted to unwind a bit. Monica woke briefly to say hello and tell us that there was a roof top bar in the hotel. We decided to take advantage of it and go grab one cold beverage prior to heading to sleep. As we walked out on to the roof patio we took a sharp right and looked up to see the Acropolis just in front of us. It was on a hill top and was illuminated by several lights. It looked like a golden temple. It was beautiful and we were all speechless when it first popped into our site!! As we walked towards the bar we noticed that the bar tender was shutting down for the night. Right when we began to turn around he said “would you guys like a drink?”. We said yes but as long as it doesn’t inconvenience you. It was 2AM at this point and for the next hour that bar tender not only gave us good hospitality but he also gave us a crash course on the Greek language and the city of Athens. He immediately imprinted Greek culture on us as a positive thing. At the time we were all saying to ourselves I think we will like these people. It turns out in the end we did like the people as we continued to receive hospitality like this for the next 7 days. Our day spent in Athens consisted of walking around the Acropolis and doing some grocery shopping for our night ferry ride. The acropolis truly was as beautiful as you would think but currently they are trying to replicate and repair some of the damaged columns. Due to this there was construction equipment surrounding it which ruined the feel somewhat. Personally I think they should let it be.

Santorini is located in the Aegean sea about 7 hours (by boat) to the South East of Athens. It is know as one of Greece’s’ more beautiful islands. The island itself is an extinct volcano and along the coast of it you will find either black sand beaches, rocky cliffs, or hillside living which consists of a beautiful white architecture. Our six days there literally was spent sitting by the beach or pool, swimming in the pool or sea, sleeping, eating good Greek food or seafood and watching sunsets. It was so great and it felt amazing to not have a worry in the world and truly be able to relax! You may not think this but traveling at the pace we have hasn’t been exactly what I would call relaxing. We certainly have had our moments (Thailand, Dahab, etc) but it had been awhile. And at least this time around we didn’t have to worry about being up for scuba class every morning. I will not hesitate to say that this was the most relaxing part of trip thus far.

Ahhhhhh what a great week it was!!! ONCE AGAIN, thank you Monica, Chad and Tanya for making our week that much better. We hope you enjoyed it too! More pictures are below. I am getting to the point now where I wish I could show all of them to you. Stay patient and hopefully I can get some of my best together from the past 6 months.

Jamie

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