Sifnos day 1 (09/09/2009)

We were really excited to finally be on Sifnos because our entire trip was more or less planned around when we could get a fast ferry there (as opposed to the slow ferry that takes 8 hours... no thanks!). So, we managed to pack in quite a bit in the three days we were there.

On our first day there, we started by walking over a steep hill at the end of Platys Gialos, where we were staying -- Gigi had recommended a place on the other side of the hill called Lazarou. What we found was an amazing waterside cafe/bar that went down the hill on several levels, with the bottom level right on the water. The place was practically deserted, probably because it was getting late in the season for tourists. They were getting set up for a big wedding reception being held there that evening (we had overheard some of the participants talking about it at dinner the night before, and our downstairs neighbors were also involved in the wedding -- it seemed like everywhere we went, we couldn't get away from this wedding). We had lunch at Lazarou and promised the friendly waitress/cook/owner that we would be back the next day to take advantage of their free beach chairs and go swimming.


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In the afternoon we took the bus into Apollonia (the central town on Sifnos) and did some sightseeing there. From Apollonia we walked on an ancient marble path across olive groves to the Kastro (a medieval Venetian town like on Naxos). The path wasn't very well marked and turned into a dirt path after a while, and eventually we got lost and ended up tramping through some pastures. It took us a bit longer to get to the Kastro as a result, but the scenery was still beautiful, and it wasn't too hot. We walked around the Kastro and met a million friendly cats (who were clearly all related -- funny). After it got dark we took the bus back to Apollonia, had dinner and a stroll, then took a bus back "home" to Platys Gialos.




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Santorini to Sifnos (09/08/2009)

On our last day in Santorini (Tuesday, September 8), our ferry to Sifnos didn't leave until 5:30 pm, which gave us plenty of time for a little more sightseeing. We had decided we'd like to go back to Oia, so we could see it a little better without the mad rush and crowds for sunset viewing. The weather was variable -- sprinkling one minute and sunny the next, with lots of wind. But we had a really nice afternoon in Oia, including lunch at an outdoor taverna overlooking the caldera. We made it back to the hotel with no problems, picked up our bags and said goodbye to Panos, our wedding coordinator.

The driver who took us to the ferry port told us about the cruise ship that crashed and sank into the caldera in 2007 -- we had noticed that the area was still marked off as if there were an oil spill and asked what was going on. They had recently brought in a company to drain the oil out of the ship, which sank almost 200 meters and will be there forever. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Sea_Diamond or see videos of it here: http://bit.ly/4i8aZF. (After hearing that story, you can bet I paid extra-close attention to the safety video on the ferry...I even had a plan for how I would remove the memory card from our camera and take it with me from the sinking ship, thus saving all our photos.) I don't think the Wikipedia entry has been updated for a while, because our driver told us that the two people who were supposedly missing later turned out to be running a scam for the insurance payoff.

Don't worry, though, we made it to Sifnos just fine, although a little late. The owner of the place we had booked met us at the port in Sifnos and gave us a nice tour of the island on the drive back (even though it was dark). We dropped our stuff off at our place (more like an apartment than a room or suite), and headed out to get some dinner. It was a big adjustment coming from Santorini, which was so crowded and touristy, to Sifnos, which seemed practically empty. The village where we were staying Platys Gialos, seemed like a ghost town! We had a quiet dinner at a taverna on the beach and then enjoyed the rest of the evening on the balcony of our place.



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Santorini day 2 (09/07/2009)

We started the day with a trip to another beach -- this one in Perissa, further down the coast from Kamari. This beach was also lava rock, but finer sand rather than pebbles. (Still pretty hot!) I liked this beach better than Kamari because it seemed less touristy. Everything was on a smaller scale. We stayed on the beach until mid-afternoon and then headed back to Fira for some more of that delicious ice cream (this time we had both fig and mastic-flavored scoops).

From Fira we took a bus to Oia, on the northern tip of the island. It's known for its fantastic sunset views -- known a little too well, in our opinion. The narrow lanes and steps there were completely mobbed with other sunset viewers. The streets were also crowded with dogs -- not strays, because they had collars. It seems dogs just get to run loose in the streets of Oia. (It's not very dangerous because most of the "streets" are pedestrian-only paths and stairs.) People put out bowls of water and kibble for them -- sounds like a nice life! We enjoyed the sunset but decided we'd like to come back to Oia the next day to see the town a little better without all the crowds.


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We took an extremely crowded bus ride back to Firostefani, during which we got to know our fellow travelers extremely well. (Carl struck up a conversation with an Aussie guy, while I was squeezed in next to some Japanese girls.) We had a delicious dinner at a traditional taverna near our hotel and headed back for an early night since it was actually very windy and chilly.



Click here for more photos from Santorini, day 2!

Santorini day 1 (09/06/2009)

On our first full day in Santorini, we headed to the other side of the island to Kamari Beach. Not having scooters this time, we relied on the public buses in Santorini, which are actually really nice "coach"-type buses, but cheap and (mostly) reliable.

The "sand" at Kamari is actually black lava rock, and good god is it hot. There are little boardwalks made out of plywood all over the beach so you can avoid walking on the pebbles as much as possible, but to actually get to the areas of beach chairs and umbrellas you have to go onto the pebbles. I tried to emulate the meditative state of someone walking on hot coals, but mostly I wanted to take my feet off and throw them in the ocean. We were really glad to have water shoes to put on (recommended to us by Gigi) because the pebbles go right into your flip flops.


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After an afternoon at the beach, we took the bus back to Fira (the main town on the island) and, not wanting to make the uphill walk to our hotel in Firostefani (smaller village north of Fira), we decided to change buses and get on one that would drop us off in Firostefani. But alas, we missed the stop because the bus driver didn't announce it, so we ended up riding further than we wanted, up to the next town, Imerovigli. It wouldn't have been so bad, since we only needed to walk downhill to our hotel at that point, but we were in a hurry to get showered and back to Fira in time to catch the sunset at Franco's, a great cliffside bar with lounge chairs. So, we were a little rushed, but we did make it to Franco's in time. After the sunset we had a tasty meal at a cliffside restaurant with a great nighttime view of the funicular that runs up and down the mountainside from Fira to the port. We finished up the night with delicious fig ice cream.



Click here for more photos from Santorini, day 1!

Wedding photos, part II: Now with more kissing!

Hi folks, sorry for the lack of updates this week. We've now uploaded the post-ceremony photos to Flickr! The photographer put us through our paces, at times bending and arranging us into some rather silly poses at different scenic locales across the hotel's many levels. If you were to speed through the 300 + photos she took of us, you'd see us slowly wilting in time-lapse. We've (hopefully) edited out the ones where we look a bit bedraggled.



Click here for the post-ceremony photos!

After the grueling photo-shoot was finished, we changed and went to dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Selene in Fira. We were definitely rubbing elbows with some extremely elite people there, including a well-heeled Englishman who was lamenting that his stable is down to "only" three Arab Chargers. While we ate dinner, some crazy clouds drifted in from the ocean right on top of us, basically (remember we're on the tops of cliffs in Santorini). Everyone at the restaurant was excited about it, as this was a very rare weather event for the usually arid island. We walked back to the hotel through a dense, noirish fog:



When we returned to our room, we found that it had been secretly decorated for us with rose petals and candles while we were away! (I thought that only happened in movies...) Carl's stepmom, Judy, also contributed to the surprise because she had sent us some flowers and a bottle of wine:





This was the perfect, non-anticlimactic way to end the day!

OMG Wedding Photos!!!!

Here they are! Apologies for the delay. There is another potentially large set of photos of after the ceremony that is still yet to come. (These should be posted tomorrow, we hope.)

We'll just let the wedding photos speak for themselves, more or less – enjoy!

OK, although we just said we'd let the photos speak for themselves, kindly keep in mind that it was probably in the mid-90s during the wedding. Any shininess you might observe was purely weather-related and denotes neither nerves, flop sweat, nor second thoughts, we assure you.

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Naxos to Santorini (09/05/2009)

On the morning of our wedding day (Saturday, September 5), we left Naxos by catamaran for Santorini. Although the sun was shining, there was a bit of fog on the water that delayed our arrival in Santorini by an hour or so. We arrived at our hotel, Dana Villas, in the midafternoon, and finally got to meet our wedding coordinator, Panos, with whom I've been corresponding by e-mail for several months. He took us to the wedding site at the hotel and went over some logistical details with us.

We had lunch at the hotel and relaxed in our room for a few hours (they upgraded us to a VIP suite -- sweet!). Then it was showtime! Panos and our photographer, Artemis, came to our hotel room and led the way to the wedding site. The sun was just starting to set and everything was beautiful. The ceremony seemed short, considering all the planning that led up to it, and before we knew it, we were married! Photos of the ceremony coming up in the next post...



(I love this photo that Carl took of his hat at Dana Villas.)

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