MONDAY: SANTORINI!

We sadly had to say goodbye to our villa in Mykonos this morning.  What an amazing 5 days!

Here was our view with drivers: either Panda, Theo or Chris all week:

usa today

SO excited to see this magical island!  The above image captures the iconic blue domed church with the white buildings set against the blue ocean.  And the white washed hotels, churches and business are intentional to offset the oppressive heat that they island experiences in the summer.

The island was a volcano that erupted thousands of years ago.  And the buildings look like caves - because that's what they were originally: caves for people to live in.

We have barely two days here, so we're going to attempt to fit in a lot!

From Santorini Dave:

Santorini is what remains from a massive volcanic eruption 3600 years ago. The eruption destroyed all settlements and created the caldera. The caldera is a lagoon of sea water surrounded on 3 sides by the steep cliffs of Santorini and on the 4th side by the island of Thirassia (which was part of Santorini before the eruption). The current volcano (on the island of Nea Kameni) sits in the middle of the caldera. It’s active but presently not at risk of erupting.

We arrive around 12:30pm and will be whisked away as soon as we can to one of the bigger wineries: VENETSANOS.  There, we'll enjoy a wine tasting, tour as well as lunch before heading to our gorgeous hotel to check in and get settled.

And wherever we go we will be rewarded with outstanding views!  It's going to be hard to leave...

We got to the port in Mykonos to get our tickets for the high speed hydrofoil.  Had to wait in line for them to open which wasn't the most fun, but we got through it.

Excited to see Santorini!

Wait, wait, wait....

Here she comes:

Our cabin on the seajets hydrofoil:

A driver (Adonis) picked us up (late), but here are a few pics along the way to our winery:

We arrived via our driver Adonis (not kidding, and it was quite the ironic name...), and here were the views of Venetsanos Winery:

Santorini Salad

DOLMADAKIA

TOMATO FRITTERS

Wine tasting of 6 of their wines via Anastasia:

INCREDIBLE!  We had SO much fun!

The winner - an Asyrtiko:

We then were whisked away to our hotel in Oia.  Here's the hot tub outside our cave room at Andronis Suites:

Lounge chairs, dining area and a hot tub:

Coffee and fully stocked fridge:

We have visitors!

Our view for the next 48 hours:

We had pool time; Caroline and I had some shopping time (very very fun boutiques along the promenade here), and we all had some (a bit) of relaxation time.

Heading out to dinner with the family (yes, we are all dressed in white and/or navy):

About to walk into dinner in Oia:

Picking out our freshly caught dinner at Katina Fish House:

THAT'S the one!!

Meet our dinner - Mr Red Snapper:

Watching burros wander up the volcano:

Carving up our dinner:

Santorini Salad:

Katina's version of Fried Calamari:

My "babies":

Voila! Grilled red snapper, freshly caught earlier today!

Sides of fries and rice:

Another day in paradise in the books.  We have a packed day tomorrow too - up by 7:30am, breakfast in our rooms, then, we hike!

Following our hike we're lunching in Oia before setting sail for a 5 hour sunset cruise where we'll also enjoy a fabulous Greek dinner.

YA MAS!!!!!!