We arrived by hydrofoil to the port where we boarded a shuttle bus that took us up one of the twistiest, scariest roads I've seen (though it does not beat the ones I had to endure outside Barcelona in a double-decker bus). We arrived in the town of Fira where we walked up a narrow street to our hotel, and down many steps to the reception. We were greeted by Chrys, the wonderful manager, who showed us a detailed map of the island and told us the best things to do. She then showed us to our gorgeous room with its breathtaking views of the caldera, its fabulous amenities, and - of course - the jacuzzi :)

We relaxed and watched the sunset over a bottle of complimentary local wine, and introduced ourselves to the couple that shared our balcony, who were from Venice. Afterwards we had a low-key night with a delicious meal and a good night's sleep.

We awoke to a traditioal Greek breakfast waiting for us outside on the balcony, and leisurely ate while overlooking the volcano. We then took Chrys' advice to rent a car (there are only 60 cabs on all of Santorini for the thousands of visitors during the summer, and the buses come every 1/2 hour but are usually so packed at this time of year that you can't even get on them), and we took off to Red Beach where the water was shallow and a beautiful color, and there were lots of rocks to climb on and swim to.

While there we met a girl from Athens, named Marina, and her Milanese boyfriend, Andrea. They later joined us on the balcony to watch the fireworks in honor of the volcanic erruption, as well as the next day in Oia to watch the famous sunset.

On the final day on Santorini, we decided to go Perissa Beach where we stumbled upon the Sussmans! We spent the day there with them, then had them over to see the sunset from our balcony, and they joined us for dinner in Fira.

The next morning we boarded a plane for Athens, and looked out the window as the beautiful Cycleades remained behind us. It was truly an amazing vacation.