A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Santorini, Greece by TravelPod blogger Pmontap titled “Santorini sites”

Pmontap’s travel blog entry:

“We have had a wonderful time on this island. The Mystique hotel is gorgeous. They have individual suites built into the side of the mountain. They all have hot tubs in the rooms and face the ocean. We’ve met nice folks, most of them on their honeymoon. The food is delicious and healthy. And the staff fantastic.

We arrived around lunch time and sat outside overlooking the Aegean Sea. Amazing sites that you will see when I post the pictures. We all had a cocktail and for the first time were totally relaxed. We had no tours, no dates, no work meetings and it felt great. Bob and Karen shared lobster and spaghetti and I had an amazing shrimp and fois gras salad. YUM YUM. We then took a much needed nap and met later for dinner.

The first night we ate at Ambrosia. It is walking distance on a really cute street that’s filled with shops, markets and restaurants. I had an amazing Rissoto that was even better than what I make at home! The salads have also been great. Lots of seafood and cheese and amazing fresh vegetables. It was a wonderful meal and again the service was fantastic.

The bad news is that the weather for the balance of our time in Santorini turned cold. It rained and it was really, really windy. We watched movies and took a walk late in the day. Bob had an amazing desert that I took a picture of. The sun was out so I was also able to take some pictures with my cell phone.

Since it looked like it was going to stay cold through the 28th, we rented a car. This was a very special car. It had a soft top, but it was so torn up that they used scotch tape to attach it to the vehicle. The good news is that we were given a roll of tape………just in case. We drove to Fira (the capital) and did some wandering around and shopping. We also had the pleasure of meeting “Nick the Greek”. Again, pictures will follow. He’s a jeweler who seems to own half of the island. Karen and I were looking for something….we just didn’t know what it was. Four hours later, and after several glasses of wine, we left with some gorgeous unique pieces. We both bought a ring and I bought a matching bracelet, Karen also bought some cute earrings. Bob drank wine and enjoyed watching us try on all of his “special” pieces. At one point I had a diamond bracelet on that was worth over 150,000 euro. Each diamond was 1 full carat and it was just amazing, fantastic and it looked great on me!! I’m still mad I don’t make enough money to afford such lovely things. Maybe in my next life . That night we skipped dinner and went to bed early.

The next day we kept the car and decided to go wine tasting. Santorini is small and we had a great time driving around the island. The wines were good, especially their white wine. The prices were also good but the shipping was over 150 euro so we weren’t able to send any home. The two wineries we hit were Santos and Boutari. Santos has a great tasting room and the view from there was beautiful. Funny thing…..it was sunny and warm on the other side of the island!!!!! But cold and rainy at our hotel. Go figure.

On our last night in town we hit the hot spot of 1800. Delicious food and a cute little location. We sat in the non smoking side of the building and were surrounded by folks from the US. Again, most on their honeymoon. 1800 was also walking distance from our hotel and since it was Karen’s last night before she flew home to Sacramento we took our time and relaxed. Had some wine and some desert, and Bob and I had a cocktail back in our room. The next day was a travel day to wonderful Roma.”
Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pmontap/sabbatical_2007/1193317800/tpod.html

Photos from this trip:
1. “Our hotel restaurant”
2. “View of the rooms”
3. “More Santorini”
4. “The amazing view-Aegean Sea”
5. “More ocean”
6. “Our pool”
7. “Our patio”
8. “Old chuch in Fira”
9. “Their grapes–growing on the ground”
10. “Older vine”
11. “View from Santo Winery”
12. “Santo”
13. “Another kitty friend at the winery”
14. “View looking down”
15. “Santo tasting room”
16. “Red rock beach”
17. “Amazing red lava”
18. “Old church at Red Lava beach”
19. “Bob chillin”

See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00d9-e7c2-22de?ytv4=1

Duration : 0:2:12

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