One more Santorini sunset

I love sunrises.  Sally preferred sunsets.  She converted me on our vacation to Santorini while sitting on our edge-of-the-caldera  hotel terrace drinking red wine and eating cheese and olives!  

Sally shared with me that one of her dream travel destinations was visiting Greece. I was happy to put that trip together...I love traveling and visiting new places and the adventure begins on my way to the airport.  We planned 10 days in Greece, 6 in Santorini and 4 in Athens.  We could have spent it all in Santorini taking in the spectacular sunsets.  

I had collected a ton of frequent flyer miles and had enough for First Class from Toronto to Athens.  Top deck of the Jumbo both ways.  The highlight of the outbound leg was that we got to sleep with Sophia Lauren.  Yes, that Sophia Loren.  She came onboard just before the doors closed and took her seat two rows behind us.  Sidebar...she was fully put together when she came onboard and looked exactly the same 9 hours later after the all night flight. It's a mystery how she did that...she didn't have any handlers with her.  I digress...

The ferry ride from Piraeus Port in Athens to Santorini usually takes hours.  I booked us on a high-speed catamaran ferry and that reduced the sea time significantly.  It was a blast standing on the bow of the boat with the wind blasting in our faces.  The boarding experience was also a hoot:  Our travel agency had warned us that we'd have to scramble to board since the boarding system was simply a mad dash once boarding time was announced. We joined the crowd!

The white washed buildings that top the Santorini cliffs like confection on top of a cake rose up out of the mid-morning Aegean brilliance.  It was magical.  We made the wise choice to take a taxi to our hotel in Fira and that was the wise choice given the situation with the overcrowded buses that had to navigate the switchback from the pier up the side of the vertical caldera.

We had chosen a small hotel at the south end of Fira that had the lovely name back then of 'Madame Rita'.  There was no 'madame' and none of the staff was named Rita.  It didn't matter.  We were in Santorini.  On the edge of the Caldera with a Terrace to ourselves.  That first evening was our first Santorini sunset.  It was to be like that every day of our time in Fira.

Many years have passed since that dream vacation. What I'd give for one more Santorini sunset....

I can't go back but I have the memories...and those grow stronger every day.

Until next time...