Day #6
We awoke to our third day in Mykonos with daylight coming through our wood shutters...the first time we had slept in at all during this trip. And by sleeping in, I mean 7:30am. We definitely had been going nonstop, and had plans to continue that schedule, so it was nice to have a few more hours of sleep midway through the trip.
Despite the daylight, the morning ended up being quite windy, with winds gusting all through the streets of Mykonos. We decided to head out for some breakfast with a view of the water, and I ordered a feast to charge my battery for the day. After a nice leisurely breakfast, we went back to the hotel to pack up and leave our bags in the small front office while we walked the streets of town before our ferry left town.
Exploring on our final morning in Mykonos.
Julie wanted to explore some of the shops to look for gifts for others (and herself), so I brought the camera and shot the streets while she jumped store to store. We went out to Little Venice one more time to see the windmills and the local fisherman coming in from their morning excursion.
Checking out the day's catch
After a quick stop at Piccolo (the sandwich shop from the day before) to grab some sandwiches to go, we made our way to the local port to get ready for our ferry ride from Mykonos to Santorini. The port was a short walk, and we quickly found our line and stood there waiting excitedly for the next leg of our journey. And then we waited some more. And then we did some waiting. And after the waiting, we did some waiting. Given the extremely windy conditions out on the water, we figured there were some delays in the earlier connections. Our ferry finally arrived about an hour later, and all the standing guests were quite happy to get aboard and have a seat. And man, it was definitely a rocky ride! Good thing I don't get seasick, and Julie took some precautionary Dramamine to avoid any potential problems on the water.
As with the ferry ride to Mykonos, I spent this one diving into our tour travel books, studying up on Santorini and all its intricacies. Julie had us all set for another great stop on our trip, and as I read the books, I began to understand why this island was always described as the gem of all the Greek islands. Just reading the books made me salivate for the food and get excited for all the hiking, exploring, beach lazing and fun we were about to encounter!
The end of our ferry ride was incredible, as we slid between two neighbor islands (part of the volcano caldera) in a narrow gap in the sea. This was a phenomenal entrance to the island. Once we got off the ferry in port, we were immediately overwhelmed by all of the local vendors, car renters, motorcycle renters, taxi drivers, cafe vendors and anyone else selling anything. What we didn't realize was that the port was very isolated from the rest of the island, so everyone hoards down there to get the first crack at the fresh crop of tourists. Schnikies.
(sorry, not many bus photos...)
After successfully elbowing and shouldering through the throng, we found our connecting bus to Fira, the main hub-city of Santorini and settled in for what we had read as a very winding, ess-curve, uphill ride. And what we read was right. I think Julie was glad she still was feeling the effects of her Dramamine, although neither of us anticipated needing it for the bus ride. After that ride, we switched buses in Fira and found our final leg of our bus trip to Oia (pronounced EE-uh), where we would be staying.
As we sat on the bus, we realized that our delayed ferry from earlier in the day was going to make us just miss seeing the sunset from our hotel room. I was definitely bummed, as I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous Santorini sunset along all the white houses. But alas, I would have to wait until tomorrow to catch my first glimpse of the houses lit up golden, so instead I settled for a beautiful sky from the bus window as we trekked along the small roads to Oia.
Once in Oia, we set out to find our accommodations. Then we realized there was no address. Then we realized we had no idea how to find this place. And after 20 minutes of walking, Julie walked into a local restaurant and asked if they knew where to find Old Oia Houses, and the lady said "Yes! This is the office for it!" Huh?
Apparently Old Oia Houses is a small, privately-owned set of white houses on the hill, and the owners also run a local restaurant, and operate their business through there as well. So this woman called the owner's son, Manuel, and within minutes he appeared, grabbed our bags, and walked us through the masses of people, winding through the narrow streets and restaurants and finally stopping in front of a tucked away door with no signage, no doorbell. Seriously, this door just appeared submerged in a random white wall. He opened the secret door and we were immediately floored by the RIDICULOUS view in front of us. We walked down a set of stairs and found ourselves standing on the balcony of our own private house. This is a tough piece to type, cuz there are no words to describe the view we had. Having arrived post-sunset, there were some beautiful colors still in the sky, and below us was the expansive water, with islands in every direction.
After gawking at the view for far too long, Manuel showed us in the house, which had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and a common area with a day bed. Manuel informed us that e also would be receiving a fresh bread delivery every morning at 9am! Are you kidding me?! The place was perfection. I mean that sincerely. It was the most serene, gorgeous, homey, comfortable feeling in the world. We were in heaven, and we couldn't wait to start our Santorini adventures!
The view from our doors in Santorini.
Despite wanting to sit on our balcony all night long (again, it was still 75 degrees at 9pm), we needed some dinner, so we consulted The Travel Bible and chose Ambrosia & Nectar, a highly lauded restaurant known for its fantastic pasta and meat dishes. The place was a small seven-table outdoor patio that overlooked the busy streets of Oia. We had a nice bottle of wine from a local Santorini winery called Sigalas (more on this later in the trip), and immediately dove into our main courses of shrimp linguini (me) and stuffed lamb (Julie). The lamb was incredibly tender and rich with the feta, and my linguini was uniquely seasoned in its marinara-type sauce. And then came the crowning dish...which deserves its own paragraph...
BAKED FETA. Yes, baked feta. Fresh feta wrapped in phyllo dough and baked to a crispy perfection, and then covered in thinly sliced fig, and smothered in fresh honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I...want....it....again. We're talking straight salivation for well after the meal. Eating this was an experience. A bit of the saltiness from the dough, combined with the richness of the melty cheese, juxtaposed with the sweet fig and honey was out of this world. We housed this thing. It was gone in seconds. Best thing I ate in all of Greece in the two weeks.
On that note, I will end this post. We dragged our feet home, took one last breath of fresh air on the balcony, debated which of our two beds to sleep in, and then snuggled up together in our first night in the most beautiful place I had ever stayed. Not bad, eh?
*Up Next* - We heart Santorini. Just wait and see.
No comments:
Post a Comment