Santorini and Athens

Our last 2 stops on the trip were Santorini and Athens. Santorini turned out to be a beautiful Greek isle. We stayed on Kamari beach, which is opposite the port side (Fira). Our hotel had a nice pool and the beach was just a minute walk outside the hotel door and across the cobblestone street. The beach had beautiful black sand, but it was very hot. We were on Santorini for 3 nights. One of the days Deb and I went out on an excursion. She did scuba diving and I did some snorkeling. I was a bit disappointed because there really weren't a lot of fish to look at, although we did get to check out some cool caves. (I think I've been spoiled by snorkeling in Hawaii-- it's hard to beat that). The water was pretty cold. Even though I was just on the surface snorkeling, they provided me with a wetsuit. I was glad I had it after I got out there into the water. Another day on Santorini we went on a tour of the nearby volcano crater, hot springs, and the little island of Thirassia, which is also considerd part of Santorini. At Thirassia, we rode donkeys up the zig-zag hill to catch the brillant view. We rode in what we liked to call a "pirate ship" the whole day as we stopped at each of the tour sites.

After Santorini we made our last stop in Athens. We were only there for an afternoon, but were able to make it to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. I wish we would have had a little more time in Athens, but I don't regret the length of time we spent in the other places.

Here are a couple pictures from those adventures:



Elizabeth taking off on her donkey.


Some flaming dishes ordered up by Mary and Elizabeth in Santorini. We had some wonderful seafood (shrimp and swordfish) at this establishment.