Santorini Island in Greece!

After 3 days of Greek salads, Lucky's famous gyros, views of the caldera, hanging with my "adopted parents" from Pennsylvania (sorry mom & dad), a boat tour with a Greek god (yes, ladies...they DO exist!), a donkey ride up a switchback staircase (which was fun considering it was kind of sacrilegious for the "mountain girl" to be climbing a mountain on a donkey's back); I decided I needed one more day in Oia, Santorini. Oia is the quaintest little village on the Santorini island and I had been living in Fira; the touristy town close to the port. So, I took to the streets or shall I say narrow cobble stone paths meandering up, down and around the white stucco dwellings built on the side of a steep slope of the caldera in search of a hotel with a view. Many of these dwellings are literally built into the earth, they dig out caves on the side of the mountain and then put a face on the cave in the form of a beautiful white stucco building. I found a no-frills room, owned by a charming Greek family, with stunning views of the ocean for 35 euro and called it home for one night. The weather was colder than expected around 15C and windy, however, the hotel balcony overlooking the ocean (see video), was protected and so laying in the sun for 5 hours was quite invigorating.




During my time in Santorini, I met many friends along the way; the crazy Malaysians, "Lucky" the owner of the best gyro shop in Fira (I visited him everyday for some good eats and free 'home made' wine), John & Ann- a retired couple posing as my "adopted parents", and "Papa" the Alzheimer's elder of the Greek family in Oia. That is truly the beauty of traveling solo, you meet so many interesting and convival people with piquant stories.