Honeymoon special: Santorini

Died and gone to heaven? Quite possibly... Without doubt the absolute highlight of the trip which I suspect will remain unsurpassed. It may come as a surprise to some as normally i find it hard to sit still but here has just been too amazing to do anything but sit still... With a view like this from your front row private caldera balcony complete with private jacuzzi, cliff falling steeply and unforgivingly away into the aegean blue abyss, where better a place to kick back and lazily flop back into a big soft deck chair and enjoy life?!

Pearl Suite view

Moonlit Suite view

Manda often remarks "Brad, are we having a dream? I feel like I need to pinch myself!" and "is this really happening to us, normal run of the mill people?". I can't help but to wonder too... From the moment we walked through the cute discrete little white gate and passed the pretty little rooftop cactus and rock garden (where we were relieved of our bags by a white dressed man washing the hip height fence to a brilliant white)

Entrance

to the moment we left it was laid on; attention to detail paramount. Welcome cocktails upon arrival, candles in the room with champagne to settle us in, twice daily room service, everything immaculately clean, glistening cool blue pool, cocktails and beers at sunset (my beer kept filling itself up from my personal stash I'd purchased in town at a 5th of the cost),

Sunset drinks

a lovely room upgrade on our last night and a breakfast menu that would put many restaurants dinner menus to shame... Just tick the boxes of what you would like, pick the time slot convenient and hey presto it'd be delivered to your marble topped balcony table piping hot! I had to laugh, I wasn't sure if I could have just one or two things but Manda confirmed I could have as much or little as I liked; evidently I took advantage! Can't elaborate on what was on the menu but will try and put a photo in! When we had our room upgrade we also got an improved breaky menu; noticeable additions included smoked salmon, local blue cheese and some funky pies.

Oops! wrong way round - breakfast menu Moonlit suite

Did manage to drag ourselves away from the suite on a few occasions; red, white and black beaches all great and certainly unique.

Manda at Red Beach

Red Beach

Day and night trips to Oia, Fira and a road trip south through a number of smaller villages also memorable. It would be safe to say where we are in Imerovigli is the pick of the views and locations. Little villages cute and had a nice greek feel to them.

Oia - postcard view

Oia extremely busy as it's generally regarded as the best place to farewell the day and take in the worlds most celebrated sunset every afternoon (it's never cloudy or a flop so we've been told).

Brandy at Oia for sunset

Funnily most people visiting Santorini don't understand sunset and the concept of dusk following the sunset; as soon as the sun drops below the horizon the 1000's of people lined up watching it disperse; little did they realise that the best was yet to come. The period of about an hour here after suns red glow disappears is when you really get the sunset views... The pinks, oranges and red giving way to purple and every shade of blue imaginable before it turns to blackness.

Oia - crowds at sunset

It also has the best eateries we felt and ended up eating there a few times. The Red Bicycle was one such restaurant - Manda bravely settled with risotto of crab, wild asparagus and saffron and I had slow cooked octopus tentacle on a bed of potato with crab meat, dill and truffle foam! Yum! Then for desert we shared a passionfruit crème brûlée with coconut icecream and a mango foam... Small but delicious! To top the night off, just before finishing our crème brûlée, the power went off at Oia, in typical Greek fashion, leaving us romantically stranded in the candle light; the perfect way we felt to finish our evening out. It took about 20 minutes to come back on perfect timing (now midnight). Apparently this happens 5 or so times a year the waitress told us! Again lucky! More luck only realised after leaving saw us receive free wine! Nice touch! Can only assume they knew we were honeymooners!?!

Oia at dusk

Evidently we only spent one sunset in Oia with the hoards and in future spent it peacefully and unhindered on our balcony, cocktail/beer in hand with little bowl of complimentary nuts (some really interesting looking stuff!) Much better!

Mandy dancing at sunset

Fira, main village in Santorini, had some lovely little shops and we managed to find some nice little souvenirs and Manda found herself a pretty little pair of silver swirl earrings; the swirls represents life in Greek mythology so it was quite fitting. We initially spent a night here which while nice lacked the view and luxurious feel.

Wine (whites we've had quite nice), aubergines, watermelon, capers and tomatoes are all popular Santorini produce. My favourite would be the tomatoes; they turn them into chutney, patê, salads obviously and most impressively sundried tomatoes and tomato balls (a delicious deep fried appetiser). Yum!

Sun drying tom tomatoes

Can't forget the humble gyros/souvalaki that have sustained us so cheaply over the last 2 weeks! Santorinis not the best in Greece but not too bad!

Staple of the Greek diet?!

Donkeys. Didn't ride them on the basis that we didn't feel they were treated terribly well but did have a laugh watching them and avoiding their excrement as we used our own legs!

Now, leaving Santorini, we have really seen just how fortunate we are to be taking this trip and doing what we have. Santorini was our little treat and we've relished each and every precious moment accordingly. It's certainly been one of the most amazing experiences we've had and is highly recommended! It's also been a nice change to camping and hostel accommodation!

Back to the real world now! Heading to the UK for our last 5 weeks and a well overdue catchup with Jo in London!

View into volcanic part of Santorini from caldera

View from Above Blue towards Oia in the distance - some say it looks like a sprinkle of icing sugar, could also be, less romantically, compared to swallow poo on its mud nest in the hay shed!