Large coffee: check! Pictures uploaded and ready to go: check! Creative juices flowing: good enough.
After the whirlwind that was our wedding weekend, we turned around on Monday morning and took off for our 3 week honeymoon. Kirk and Amy dropped us off at the airport around noon after a healthy breakfast of Top Pot donuts and coffee (slam style!) with our two families. We were full of eagerness and excitement...mainly for our business class seats. Got to the airport and b-lined it to the business class lounge-we could get used to this! Around 2pm we boarded the plane for our flight to Frankfurt.
Our flight hadn't even left yet, but here we were, flashing our camera around like a tourist in Time Square.
Needless to say, we looked green.
By the time we polished off our second glass of champagne, we were in the air and feeling good! Once we hit a cruising altitude, we were greeted by our in-flight steward and co-captain with a honeymoon welcome....two more glasses of champagne and a red rose for our tray. So we chatted with the co-pilot for a few minutes, then leaned back our seats and settled in for the journey ahead.
9 hours later, the sun was rising over the horizon and it was time to begin our decent into Frankfurt.
The 4 hour layover in Frankfurt was a bit painful, but with a few bratwurst, a couple lagers, and a couple dozen thank you cards to write, the time flew by. Before we knew it we were off again, headed to Santorini via Athens. We arrived with a bumpy landing in Santorini around 8pm and were greeted by our driver at the airport.
A short 20 minute drive later, we warmly welcomed by the ladies of Hotel Afrossesa!
They (as well as Eddie) would prove to be the kindness, most welcoming hosts we could have asked for. And what a beautiful hotel! It was dark when we arrived, but we could tell that this place was going to be amazing.
After a quick check in, they brought us down to our room, gave us a basic map of our village, then left us to unpack and settle in. Once unpacked, we walked down to the village to have dinner....we started with a baked goat cheese, then I had a Greek salad and Kevin tried the swordfish (amazing!)
Back to the room we went after filling our bellies to get a good 8-10 hours of sleep and start exploring in the morning.
First picture in Santorini....taken from our window!
While I'm at it, I'll give the quick tour of the hotel; it was breathtaking.
I've said it before, but even if we had all the money in the world, we'd still some back to Hotel Afroessa...the views, service, location and price cannot be beat. We saw plenty of other, more expensive hotels which didn't hold a candle to Afroessa.
Thanks Trip Advisor!
Great room, but next time we go back, we're getting room #8!
(taken a few nights later, but the awesome view we had of our pool at night!)
Woke up around 6am and headed out to explore the island!
Our intention was to walk to Fira for breakfast, but as we were walking through Firastefani, we noticed a large rock formation jutting out from the caldera with a small pathway leading down...so why not a hike instead?! We later learned this was Skaros rock. A very difficult, but rewarding adventure.
As we got to the western most side of the rock, we noticed a small church below...sweet...let's check it out!
After watching the sun rise over the east of our village and snapping a few pictures, it was back to the village for breakfast.
Instead of heading into Fira (which would have been another 20 walk...at least) we settled on Firastefani for a quick bite and our first Greek coffee (aka- liquid tar) of our honeymoon. Here's a pic of Firastefani...small shop on the left with the Illy sign is where we had breakfast...mornings after this would consist of breakfast on our terrance. It would be the only way for me to avoid these morning hikes ;)
Pics below in and around the village...
Back at our hotel, Kevin rested for a while (pic below) while I took more pics of our place (below!)
Our cute kitchen!
And our angry toilet! With all the hotels built along side the cliffs, plumbing is difficult, so toilet paper is "suppose" to go in the garabage...oops!
Headed out for a nice lunch, then sat poolside the rest of the afternoon until sunset..
Me and my journal. I don't travel without it!
Headed out after sunset to Fira. Awesome walk along the top of the caldera (about 25-30 minutes)...so much to see...so beautiful!
Okay- I'm not sure what's going on with formatting, so I'll start this post again on a second entry...hope it stops doing this!!
After the whirlwind that was our wedding weekend, we turned around on Monday morning and took off for our 3 week honeymoon. Kirk and Amy dropped us off at the airport around noon after a healthy breakfast of Top Pot donuts and coffee (slam style!) with our two families. We were full of eagerness and excitement...mainly for our business class seats. Got to the airport and b-lined it to the business class lounge-we could get used to this! Around 2pm we boarded the plane for our flight to Frankfurt.
Our flight hadn't even left yet, but here we were, flashing our camera around like a tourist in Time Square.
Needless to say, we looked green.
By the time we polished off our second glass of champagne, we were in the air and feeling good! Once we hit a cruising altitude, we were greeted by our in-flight steward and co-captain with a honeymoon welcome....two more glasses of champagne and a red rose for our tray. So we chatted with the co-pilot for a few minutes, then leaned back our seats and settled in for the journey ahead.
9 hours later, the sun was rising over the horizon and it was time to begin our decent into Frankfurt.
The 4 hour layover in Frankfurt was a bit painful, but with a few bratwurst, a couple lagers, and a couple dozen thank you cards to write, the time flew by. Before we knew it we were off again, headed to Santorini via Athens. We arrived with a bumpy landing in Santorini around 8pm and were greeted by our driver at the airport.
A short 20 minute drive later, we warmly welcomed by the ladies of Hotel Afrossesa!
They (as well as Eddie) would prove to be the kindness, most welcoming hosts we could have asked for. And what a beautiful hotel! It was dark when we arrived, but we could tell that this place was going to be amazing.
After a quick check in, they brought us down to our room, gave us a basic map of our village, then left us to unpack and settle in. Once unpacked, we walked down to the village to have dinner....we started with a baked goat cheese, then I had a Greek salad and Kevin tried the swordfish (amazing!)
Back to the room we went after filling our bellies to get a good 8-10 hours of sleep and start exploring in the morning.
First picture in Santorini....taken from our window!
While I'm at it, I'll give the quick tour of the hotel; it was breathtaking.
I've said it before, but even if we had all the money in the world, we'd still some back to Hotel Afroessa...the views, service, location and price cannot be beat. We saw plenty of other, more expensive hotels which didn't hold a candle to Afroessa.
Thanks Trip Advisor!
Great room, but next time we go back, we're getting room #8!
(taken a few nights later, but the awesome view we had of our pool at night!)
Woke up around 6am and headed out to explore the island!
Our intention was to walk to Fira for breakfast, but as we were walking through Firastefani, we noticed a large rock formation jutting out from the caldera with a small pathway leading down...so why not a hike instead?! We later learned this was Skaros rock. A very difficult, but rewarding adventure.
As we got to the western most side of the rock, we noticed a small church below...sweet...let's check it out!
After watching the sun rise over the east of our village and snapping a few pictures, it was back to the village for breakfast.
Instead of heading into Fira (which would have been another 20 walk...at least) we settled on Firastefani for a quick bite and our first Greek coffee (aka- liquid tar) of our honeymoon. Here's a pic of Firastefani...small shop on the left with the Illy sign is where we had breakfast...mornings after this would consist of breakfast on our terrance. It would be the only way for me to avoid these morning hikes ;)
Pics below in and around the village...
Back at our hotel, Kevin rested for a while (pic below) while I took more pics of our place (below!)
Our cute kitchen!
And our angry toilet! With all the hotels built along side the cliffs, plumbing is difficult, so toilet paper is "suppose" to go in the garabage...oops!
Headed out for a nice lunch, then sat poolside the rest of the afternoon until sunset..
Me and my journal. I don't travel without it!
Headed out after sunset to Fira. Awesome walk along the top of the caldera (about 25-30 minutes)...so much to see...so beautiful!
Okay- I'm not sure what's going on with formatting, so I'll start this post again on a second entry...hope it stops doing this!!
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