We spent the last half of our spring break on the island of Santorini. Santorini is a special place and is the one of the most popular of the Greek islands. Here is a quick history lesson, skip it if you'd like.
The island is pretty much a big volcano and one of the most active in the area. However, about 3000 years ago it erupted and what is one of the largest eruptions in recorded history. The eruption blew out half of the island leaving behind a crescent shaped island with a few other smaller islands inside what is called the caldera.
All along the caldera are huge cliffs which lead to beautiful scenery. Local entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the views and build lovely hotels literally on top of one another all along the cliff edge.
We stayed in the town of Imerovigli, just north of the main town, Fira. We had a nice apartment with a shared balcony overlooking the caldera. The nice thing was that high season hadn't quite started yet so we ended up having the balcony to ourselves the entire time.
Traveling with a toddler has been quite the growing experience, but we are getting used to it. Jamie and I had to realize that it was okay if we spent half the day in the apartment letting Aden get a good nap in and just relaxing. We are more used to doing something each day and trying to see as much as we can. We were able to do some hiking and ate a lot of mouth watering Greek cuisine. Our new favorite is a sweet Greek yogurt topped with honey and walnuts. Throughout most of the trip, we hung out with friends of our, Heather and Dan Feimster. It was so nice to have another couple to hang out with and Aden loved having them around as well. They were like his second parents. Dan even took him for a morning during the conference in Athens so that Jamie and I could both go to sessions. We were so fortunate to have such caring friends who enjoy spending time with us and our toddler.
One of my favorite days we took a catamaran out from the south side of the island and cruised around the inside of the caldera. We were able to see different parts of the island including the two smaller islands inside the caldera. The medium sized one is the volcano (which is dormant, but not extinct) which we were able to hike a bit on. The smaller island is not much, but has hot springs. Jamie jumped in the water to check them out. He came back later saying that yes they were warmer than the sea, but not much. The water temperature that day was about 60-65 F.
Our big adventure happened the day we were leaving to go back to Athens. We arrived at the airport Easter Sunday night for an 8 pm flight just to find out that all flights were cancelled due to high winds. After much discussion we found out that the airline was adding in a new flight at 11 pm hoping that the wind would die down. So, we waited around for a few hours and then found out that our second flight had been cancelled as well. We knew that we needed to get back to Athens quickly to catch our flight back to Saudi the next day. Unfortunately, there were no guarantees that flights would leave the next morning, plus they were already full. So, we took the only option we had left, the overnight ferry. The airline was wonderful and had vans ready to race everyone to the port so we would make the ferry. We were able to book one of the last cabins and were very thankful to have beds to sleep on. However, the wind that had cancelled our flights made for a very interesting boat ride. Jamie and I both felt nauseous as we tried to sleep and visions of Titanic ran through my head as the boat was tossed around by the waves. Luckily, Aden slept great and even slept in until 8 am the next day (which never happens). We did safely arrive in Athens and had an uneventful trip back to Saudi.
It was a nice vacation away, but I am happy to be back in my own home again. Here are some pictures of our time in Santorini.
Tara
The island is pretty much a big volcano and one of the most active in the area. However, about 3000 years ago it erupted and what is one of the largest eruptions in recorded history. The eruption blew out half of the island leaving behind a crescent shaped island with a few other smaller islands inside what is called the caldera.
We stayed in the town of Imerovigli, just north of the main town, Fira. We had a nice apartment with a shared balcony overlooking the caldera. The nice thing was that high season hadn't quite started yet so we ended up having the balcony to ourselves the entire time.
Traveling with a toddler has been quite the growing experience, but we are getting used to it. Jamie and I had to realize that it was okay if we spent half the day in the apartment letting Aden get a good nap in and just relaxing. We are more used to doing something each day and trying to see as much as we can. We were able to do some hiking and ate a lot of mouth watering Greek cuisine. Our new favorite is a sweet Greek yogurt topped with honey and walnuts. Throughout most of the trip, we hung out with friends of our, Heather and Dan Feimster. It was so nice to have another couple to hang out with and Aden loved having them around as well. They were like his second parents. Dan even took him for a morning during the conference in Athens so that Jamie and I could both go to sessions. We were so fortunate to have such caring friends who enjoy spending time with us and our toddler.
One of my favorite days we took a catamaran out from the south side of the island and cruised around the inside of the caldera. We were able to see different parts of the island including the two smaller islands inside the caldera. The medium sized one is the volcano (which is dormant, but not extinct) which we were able to hike a bit on. The smaller island is not much, but has hot springs. Jamie jumped in the water to check them out. He came back later saying that yes they were warmer than the sea, but not much. The water temperature that day was about 60-65 F.
Our big adventure happened the day we were leaving to go back to Athens. We arrived at the airport Easter Sunday night for an 8 pm flight just to find out that all flights were cancelled due to high winds. After much discussion we found out that the airline was adding in a new flight at 11 pm hoping that the wind would die down. So, we waited around for a few hours and then found out that our second flight had been cancelled as well. We knew that we needed to get back to Athens quickly to catch our flight back to Saudi the next day. Unfortunately, there were no guarantees that flights would leave the next morning, plus they were already full. So, we took the only option we had left, the overnight ferry. The airline was wonderful and had vans ready to race everyone to the port so we would make the ferry. We were able to book one of the last cabins and were very thankful to have beds to sleep on. However, the wind that had cancelled our flights made for a very interesting boat ride. Jamie and I both felt nauseous as we tried to sleep and visions of Titanic ran through my head as the boat was tossed around by the waves. Luckily, Aden slept great and even slept in until 8 am the next day (which never happens). We did safely arrive in Athens and had an uneventful trip back to Saudi.
It was a nice vacation away, but I am happy to be back in my own home again. Here are some pictures of our time in Santorini.
Tara
View from the balcony of our apartment
Can you see the face in the rock?
Aden loved pretending to drive the catamaran
Aden hanging out with his new buddy, Dan
City of Oia, absolutely breathtaking
Another part of Oia
Hanging out on a volcano with the Feimsters
Having fun with Daddy at the volcano
Playing in the pool on Feimster's balcony
Family pic with Oia in the background
Aden on our hike to Oia
