Santorini

I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record here but I can't express just how thankful and lucky I feel to have the chance to explore so many new places.  One country that I always dreamed of visiting is Greece.  We realized a couple weeks ago that if we didn't start planning something soon, our chance to have a relatively inexpensive Greece vacation would never happen.  Israelis love going to Greece - it is the closest vacation destination outside of Israel, so there are a lot of great flights and deals from Tel Aviv.  Also, this is still the off season so many places are just trying to fill their rooms at any price (yay :) ).  So we had an impromptu weekend in Santorini!

Santorini was formed when a giant volcano (possibly the largest eruption in history) erupted about 3600 years ago (part of the legends of Atlantis and the fall of the Minoans in Crete).  The volcano left a large crater (caldera) that is surrounded by steep cliffs.  I have always had a strange fascination with volcanoes and Atlantis so... perfect place to visit!

We stayed in a traditional cave house on the side of the cliff - it is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  One weekend was plenty of time to see Santorini because it is so little, but if we had been there during beach season I imagine we'd never want to leave!

 The place we were staying was owned by a woman who runs a restaurant - she sent fresh bread over in the mornings..yum!

 This wine is made in Santorini - fun nerdy wine fact: Greece is the only place in the world with prehistoric grape vines because the volcanic soil doesn't let any bugs grow to kill them.  All of the vines in Europe have been replaced at one point by vines from California after plagues killed them.

Here we are hiking from Fira to Oia - a 3 hour hike along the caldera - it was incredible! (and windy!)

Warming up with some tea on our balcony in the sun