"" Writer's Wanderings: Adventures in Santorini

Monday, November 26, 2012

Adventures in Santorini

The Aegean Sea was getting darker as our plane flight, made later by a delay at Athens, passed over the dark silhouettes of Greek islands below us. It was a short flight, only a little over a half hour. Barely enough time for the flight attendants to serve a drink and clean up.

We collected our luggage quickly enough and walked through the exit doors to the area where the rental car companies were. Many had already closed up shop but our friendly Budget representative was there waiting for us and eager to tell us all about Santorini. By the time we were done, we had a map with all the sights circled and a hand drawn map of how to get to our B&B, precautions about drinking only bottled water and not parking on the street (which most everyone seems to do anyway), opinions on the best beaches. . .the list went on.

I thought by the time we left we were going to be adopted into his big Greek family. He was great but we were tired and anxious about our drive in the dark to our B&B. We'd been to Santorini before and knew that the roads could be very narrow and difficult to navigate in the towns. Squinting to read whatever signs we could find, we saw a few arrows that indicated Imerovigli and followed them Imerovigli is a little town just north of Fira, the capital or main city.

While we didn't exactly follow his route (we veered left when we should have veered right) we eventually recognized the white church he had told us to look for. "Pull over and call her (Maria, the manager). You will not find it on your own." We did and she led our car a short distance up a hill and showed us where to park in front of a school. We unloaded our luggage which was was too much since we'd been on a cruise, and pulled the bags up a narrow walkway between two white walls. At a break in the wall, the entrance to Casa Bianca was lit with candles in glass lanterns. We walked up a couple of steps and into the courtyard subtly lit with soft accent lighting around a small central pool.

Maria gave us a choice between rooms because we were staying four nights. She wanted us to be comfortable and she wasn't full that night. We chose the junior suite it was only about an eight step climb and I figured after all the step climbing we were going to do in the next few days, when we returned we didn't want to climb any more than necessary. She left us to settle in after explaining that breakfast would be served in our rooms with a call to the desk. Once I had seen the little table and chairs outside our back door, I knew that was going to be the spot for coffee and whatever other goodies came our way in the morning. I'd have to wait until morning to see the view but I was sure I'd like it.

Hunger gnawed a bit and even though we were exhausted, we needed to eat something. We went back down near the church where we'd stopped and found a grill there that served us a salad and sausage bites that we split between us. I wondered if I'd regret the spicy sausage later.

The room was comforable and the shower a relief after spending a hot day in the Athens sun seeing the sights. We collapsed into bed and slept like logs (if logs sleep) knowing that we had four days to enjoy the island and lots of time to relax. Perfect.

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