Our first full day in Santorini….

Good Morning on Sunday! Cave- like living on the edge of the cliffs over looking the Caldera. What a special place to wake up. The wind is strong on the edges of the sea high up in the majestic mountains of this magical island in late March. The actual season for tourists starts mid April. Lots is closed including hotels & restaurants, yet we are really enjoying the quietness of what is normally a packed like sardines island, so we have been told. Room service was served, we chose not to eat on our beautiful balcony at 8 am due to the cold brisk weather. As we looked outside, we see huge cruise ships that have recently docked in front…..you can hear the captains announcements. The sun is rising and the birds are singing, church bells are dinging. Good Morning Santorini!!!

Breakfast was not such a hit, but it held us over until our next meal, lol. We’re dressed in layers to handle the ever changing weather of the day full of an array of seasons. We made our way to meet the tour. We got very lucky during the off-season to have George all to ourselves. A private tour guide for the 6 hour day in a comfortable Mercedes, as opposed to the planned van. We certainly lucked out, Mr. Greek was our guy. He wanted to show us the BEST DAY, It was a serious goal of his- he made it very clear he was working hard for a tip, whether in a stellar review or extra cash. First stop was for coffee, our hotels was mediocre- we wanted more. Let the adventurous Dora day begin….the island came to life for us through his eyes. We learned so much history, land development shifts of rock, story upon story around every corner. I LOVE a good tour in a new town. George is a Gemini, born June 21st, a cusper. From his personality I decided he’s more Gemini not cancer. He was our personal photographer….like seriously, so much of the day was him telling us where to take beautiful photography and taking crazy amounts of pics in the same spot moving around us like paparazzi. He says you will delete and keep the best one. On a mission to capture all the beauty and our biggest fans- LOL.

We learned SO many interesting facts from this wise man……Gasoline costs $12 a gallon on the island. The population of locals living year-round is 16K, while 45k workers come here to live for the 8 month seasonal time of year. There are 5 million travelers who inhibit the island as “sleep” travelers (which we are a part of), while up to approx 50 million day time travelers visit on cruise ships. Crazy the amount of people we saw today with 3 large ships docked here all day. The locals truly survive off tourism, wild to think what it was like here during Covid?!

He brought us by his favorite bakery where he buys all his bread. My aunt Marlene & mom would go nuts in this establishment, yummy. We had the opportunity to try a Melitinia, a sweet cheese tartlet from this island, omg…I was planning for one bite and had to eat the whole thing. I have now since tried it again at another bakery, and George’s spot wins the prize of deeeeelicious. After driving all over this Island we ended up at the Red Beach for a yummy fresh fish lunch by the sea. The scenery of where he brought us as out of a movie. Like for real, every part of the sounds of waves crashing, to the authentic greek staff, to the smells of salt water, the wind on your face, the smiles and laughter of kids, and the birds flying above us. Omg- pinch me, “life is but a dream”. We ordered like kings…..we are the 3 musketeers or 3 princesses and George is the king, lol. George told us the must haves and we ate so much. We got mushed fava beans (their version of hummus), SO good, grilled feta, a greek salad(which is just capers, cherry tomatoes, peppers, onions and more feta), an entire Cod fish that had literally just been caught within the hour, a loaf of fresh bread, and more fried tomato balls. He then surprised us with a dessert, greek yogurt with this sour cherry preserve. OMG.

We left the dolphin place stuffed and have about 1 hour of this glorious tour day left to explore. He was so kind to stop at his house to grab Tracy an iphone charger. He noticed Tabby loved chocolate, so he made a surprise stop at a candy store to get her a choc nut greek treat. This guy worked it and was SO exceptionally gracious. He was our protective guide, as he is the father to one 21 yr old daughter and a devoted father. His ability to drive backwards was unreal, driving on these narrow roads and parking in the tiny lots is a true talent. We highly recommend him to anyone going to Santorini. Happy to make an intro via Whats App. He told us all about his fellow travelers who stay in touch and even had art work laminated from a small fan, lol.

Seriously this was a day of perfection. We started out this morning in Fira, made our way to Imerovigli, Oia( the beverly hills of Santorini), Pyrgos, Akrotiri, and The Red & Black beaches. We truly got the lay of the land and soaked in so much learning. George was an awesome DJ….playing Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, and lots of 80’s music that we all sang too, while driving all over the place. We saw many free roaming horses, donkeys and mules. Did you all know that a mule is a result of a horse mating with a donkey? This was fascinating to learn……similar to a golden doodle in Tracy’s interpretation. Odd to think about for this group, yet makes sense as they carry so much stuff for the workers in this country. Strong like a horse, yet smaller to make way through narrow villages. We stopped to capture the flying greek flag which is on display everywhere, along with the many 100’s of churches on this tiny island. With all the stores we passed by, a sweet old greek man working hard in his lil factory making hand- made leather sandals, was so adorable, checkout his live video on my story on IG, we loved him, another George- the common greek name.

We arrived back to rest before dinner, plus the wind had picked up and was 30 miles per hour, the beautiful sun shiny day had come to a close. Tracy and I ventured out, while Tabby took a nap. We walked into a few chic bar type places, too cold for a drink. Tracy who you all know is my “ fancy friend”, she packed like a fashionista, yet came prepared for the cold too. We laughed so hard, as she has transformed from …..the fashionista and is now calling herself the truck stop/convenience store vixen. 😂Lol….. We did a lil souvenir shopping before grabbing Tabby for our italian meal.

A late night for us, not home until 11:30 pm after a frozen yogurt/gelato stop. Change of plans for tomorrow as the 45 mile per hour winds will not allow us to do our hike. A lil sad, but better than flying off the cliffs which is the apparent danger, ha. We have new plans……stay tuned for a shopping leisure Monday in a freezing island. Miss you all…..

love Laurie Sue

Aka Dora & friends