As I compose this blog update, I am sitting alone in my new office with the sunshine and picture pefect seaside view of crusie ships and tour ships passing by directly in front of me. The popular volanic crater and hot spring island almost seem within swimming distance from here, in the beautiful calm blue green, and sparkling Mediterranean Sea...for now I will soak the last moments in!
Today is clear, sunny, and very warm...the past 2 days have been quite overcast and a bit cooler, while the seaside breeze is always blowing to keep your body conditioned. The Kavalari Hotel is the oldest hotel in Fira, next to the larger Atlantis, and both began over 40 years ago as many dwellings were damaged during an earthquake just prior to that time in the 70's. It certainly seems Mr Kavalari( means Horse Rider in Greek), who is a local resident, and a very simple older man built quite large had quite a vision with this property as each of the 20 private rooms are unique and built into the mountainside.
The other surrounding hotel and villa properties look very similar with their architecture and white stucco appointments, which has become the expected design and look on this island, rather than the unusual as it has become kinda Greek with the island tourists
It's kinda funny as when you first arrive here and walk through the gate to the property, that is located right next to the street, you see for the first time the incredible views and the sea. It is just like the pics you see on the internet when you are searching like crazy for an available and reasonable hotel, in what you hope to be is clean and in a good location. When it becomes real before your eyes and as you acquaint you rself with the village and the staff, it feels pretty good when things come together nicely!
I have enjoyed as every day new guests arrive and they tour the place and their cave rooms I listen quietly and hear the very same reaction I had, most all the time. The staff kinda get used to it cause it's just the faces that change, and most everything else that challenges and the questions asked remain constant in the tourism and hospitality business?
The staff here at the Kalavari consist of only 6 regulars, that I have seen and met, and they are work very hard to serve and keep the property in superb conditon and each guest weel taken care of.
A special bouquet to Elena in the reception who adminitsters everything and accepts each guest and checks them out, arranges for any tours and provides all the information of the island that you would ever need to know. Elena works 7 long days per week and is very grateful for her job and cant even consider a day off as she feels it could jeopardize her employment position as they are so many local Greeks looking for a job...and they work for quite low wages, (approx 1000-Euro/mth).
Then there is Giannis who at 33 years old is a strong and multi talented guy who does most all the ligght maintenance and hauls each residents heavy suitcases up and down the many stairs to their room, prepares and serves breakfast and is very particular about the table linens and the furniture in the breakfast room and on the patios. He is forever working and preparing and serving each guest with a smile. The cleaning ladies are alao non stop with each room cleaning and a very thorough and complete service and then afterwards its the laundry with all the table linens and sheets pressed and folded, as I have spent time in the big breakfast room finding internet and just chatting with them...very special and dedicated staff that are so grateful to have a job, in this bankrupt country.
The village of Fira is very well tourist developed with many shops and restaurants, and the seaside views are simply incredible but most all of the restaurants offer a view and the cuisine can accommodate most appetities nicely. I found the table service has been good and the menu prices are 13 to 20 Euros for an entree, of course they make plenty on drinks and with me they only get a bottle of water added!
I have enjoyed various vegetarian preparations from Artichoke Stew, to Veggie Mousaka, and Linguini...the home made deserts are crazy sweet and amazingly good...it's a one time only so kinda trying it all out just as I had been doing in Turkey. Apparenlty the Greek coffee is Turkish coffee and vice versa so it just depends if you are asking a Greek or a Turk, cause both are very proud of their history and beginings! lol
I have chosen to avoid the popular tourist traps and they include a boat tour to the dead volcano crater, and the hot springs with a small hike. Also popular is a donkey ride up the stairs from the old sea port, or the tram both up and down from the top of the Fira village to the bottom, and then there is tons of quads buzzing around for self guided island trips along with scooters and cars for rent everywhere.
The next most popular village to enjoy or stay at seems to be Oye and pronounced 'Eya'...this is on the upper tip of Santorini and is reputed to have amazing sunsets. The new hotels and villa's on the sea are very small, private, and opulent, and some rent up to 1000-Euro per night. This village in the tourist areas is very classy with their marble laid walkways and up until the much anticipated sunsets it is quite packed, and restaurants with the best views are taking table reservations and are full.
As a reference point...my hotel in Fira for the 3 nights including breakfast and the daily room service, etc, was booked online in advance, and my bill at checkout today was 185-Euro's...for a crippled financial economy, there are no travel bargains in Greece that I experiencedor heard of?
How I know a bit about this area is from other locals and the long walk I undertook on Wednesday from the bottom othe Old Port and up the over 600 wide stairs, while dodging donkey trains coming back down, and many piles of donkey poop! This is hardly the Santorini Grind as it only took me 15 minutes of fast paced climbinmg even with the donkey encounters.
Once I made it to the top of Fira I headed to the roadway that would take me to Oye...this was a nice steady up hill grind over very uneven cobblestones and rocks with amzing views when it began to meander next to the sea.
I was told by locals the walk should take over 4 hours and it took me half that, but I was keeping pace with a 20 year old for a good part of the way. It was a very warm day but the breeze was strong and I got pics I would have never seen and met a few good travelers along the way, but for the most part everyone else was on the main road on their scooters and quads...while the tour buses were literally bumper to bumper as it got to the late afternoon.
As it turned out in the early evening some low clouds rolled in and with the wind it was chilly...I found a lovely restaurant that wasn't too expensive and as most had reservations, they had a small tablewith a view, and met a gal from Korea who was waiting and in a similar dilemma...so we shared the table and dinner with the cloudy sunset.
This young Korean lady had traveled extensively, and on this trip was going next to Turkey from Santorini, all total for 35 days trip since she left her home in Seol...exactly what I will have been. She even spent 6 months in Vancouver teaching english, while taking a course...quite an interesting coincidence indeed!
It always amazes me how many people I have met over the past almost 5 weeks, and also in the most unplanned and often distressed circumstances and always how well it turns out afterwards...those most interesting people happenings have certainly made this adventure indelible and very special!
Sadly, my airport transfer arrives here at the Kavalari for 6:00, which is 90 minutes from now...I am all packed and simply getting caught up on my blogging in this beautiful warm sunshine while admiring this surreal and unobstructed view of the sea and the cruise ship and other various boats sailing by, My next marathon trip I gotta plan just a bit more rest and relaxation, and a quiet small and interesting island like Santorini works very well!
My only real island challenge while trying to gear way down in this most beautiful place has been with the internet and with my new iPad as I obviously have taken too many pics and the 32GB strorage capacity has been completely exhausted.
I have been pestering my son Sheldon many times and very late evenings and early mornings, while I am sitting outside trying for a stronger internet signal and to get advice how I can free up space to continue taking and working my important trip pics. What a great addition to the iPad if Apple would provide a USB port or even an adapter to dump files onto a thumb drive and just keep going along smoothly with the provided storage?
As a consequence of this frustrating and time consuming dilemma, I have had to recently rid my iPad of almost 50 apps and their content, including audio books, music, movies, and all the items we carefully loaded before I left home so I could enjoy them during quiet moments, and particularly during the long flights both ways...oh well, I can chalk this learning experience up also to many first time choices with minimal information, and it's still always how we react...so it's all well and very good at the end of the day, with so much to be grateful for!
The rest of my beautiful Santorini Island story can be told perhaps with the pics I was able to download before everything froze up on me...enjoy the perfect postcard pics and stay tuned for my hopeful and nearing to final travel blog update, which will include my full day and night in historic Athens...
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