The End

I'm sitting here in the Toronto airport waiting on our delayed flight back to the US. We hopped off our 11 hour flight from Athens and rushed through the airport as we had one hour before our plane was to take off. Then made it to the boarding line just in time for the boarding to start before we were told it was delayed. So needless to say I'm not going to miss the traveling part.

Last shot of Fira, Santorini.

Santorini port. Oia is the far left.

Imerovigli on the hill from the port.

The volcano of Santorini as seen from the ferry.

Greenland as seen from my plane window.

Final thoughts:

This was an amazing experience for me, and I'm so glad I was able to do it.

If I had to rank the islands we visited over the last 18 days I would say:
#1 Folegandros - hands down the best we visited in all ways
#2 Naxos - beautiful beaches as well as lots to see on the island
#3 Hydra - I liked the lack of cars and noise associated with them (especially the honking)
#4 Sikinos - this would have probably ranked higher had we spent more time here, but the food options are limited and you all know I love food
#5 Santorini - there was stuff to do here, but the beaches weren't very good (I literally had a beer can hit me in the rib cage while I was telling Bob about how I didn't enjoy the Perissa Beach at Perissa Beach) and it was more crowded
#6 Mykonos - although we were only here for 3 hours, I didn't enjoy the crowds or the town; it wasn't as nice as the others


I will miss the food in Greece a lot. Especially gyros. I savored my gyros yesterday and was sad knowing it was probably my last.

To those who made it with me to the end, thanks for reading.

Santorini: Ancient Thera

Our final archaeological site of Greece was ancient Thera. The site is located up on a mountain that has a 1.3 km trail and tells you will be a 40 minute walk (we did it in 20-25). You can get a nice view of the Perissa Beach on one side and the Kamari Beach on the other. There is a road that allows you to drive almost all the way to the entrance on the Kamari Beach side or you can take a donkey up on the Perissa side if walking up a mountain isn't your thing. Anyway, back to Thera.... it dates back to the 9th century BCE and was named after the mythical ruler of the island, Theras.

This was the sign to start the hike up the mountain.

A Basilica.

Temenos of Artemidoros. This was an open air sanctuary.

The south section of the city.

Stoa.

House of Tyche. One of the largest buildings in the city.

Stoa.

Theater.

Sanctuary of Egyptian Gods.

The Kamari Beach side.

Perissa.

Kamari Beach.

Perissa Beach.

Tonight we walked into town to try to see the sunset, but it was pretty cloudy. I did get a few nice pictures of the clouds though.

I was browsing the ice cream flavors and stumbled upon this one... what would that even taste like?

These pictures aren't very clear, but the city looked pretty neat all lit up.

Santorini: Museums and Fira-Oia-Fira walk

30,206 steps today. We walked the path from Fira to Oia that everyone says you have to walk. The path is ~11 km or about 6.2 miles. We are staying in Karterados, which is roughly a 20 minute walk to Fira. This morning in Fira, we visited two archaeological museums before heading onto Oia. We had lunch at Oia and intended to go to a museum there, but it was closed (unexpectedly?). Then walked back to Karterados. I read online that the trail can take from 2-5 hours depending on your walking speed and how often you stop. I think we were just over two hours each way. Also recommended is taking a bus for one of the ways, but we wanted the walk. Warning: while the walking both ways allows for maximum scenic views and nice exercise, it isn't without sweat and sunburn.

Oia

Bob on the trail.

This hotel had individual pools for each of the rooms.

A donkey parade in Oia.

Oia from Imerovigli.

A model of Akrotiri from the museum. Behind this model on the wall it says "The City of Akrotiri in it's HeyDay". This translation made me laugh, and Bob says the Greek above it said The City of Akrotiri at it's height. 

The paintings of the ladies from the House of the Ladies at Akrotiri.

Painting of the Blue Monkeys.

Taking a gander at Fira.