Hellenic Getaways- Santorini

Next morning- Day 9 of our trip, we decided to have an Indian lunch in Athens. Our flight to Santorini was in the early evening hours. So, we went to "The Indian chef" restuarant and Sanjeev and I had Palak Paneer and Dal and rice while Sahana had Dosa and sambar. Though I didn't particularly miss Indian food so far, it did taste heavenly. Food continues to be a disappointment in Greece. In the USA, orzo is a Greek restaurant staple. I never found it even in one restaurant in Greece. Most of the food was overpriced and had barely much taste or any gravy. Even the meats looked dry. The wine was equally disappointing. TheGreek salads were the only saving grace. The feta and the olive oil were mild and creamy. When we took a cab to our hotel in Santorini , one of the porters from the hotel we stayed in met us and took us nearly 200m downhill into our "cave" hotel. The rooms were very nice in Porto Fira suites, but we had to climb nearly 60 steps to get in or out of our room. We turned in for the night. When we awoke the next morning, the site in front of us almost caught my breath. The expanse of the Aegean extending to many miles and volcano island and the pristine white buildings on our cliff was a scene out of a postcard. The only thing was that it was super cold due to the wind chills. The breakfast was brought to our room, but it wasn't upto the standards. The coffee was often cold as they didn't even have flasks to bring it in. We stayed in the island of Fira and took a local bus to go visit Oia, the other side of the island. Oia is much smaller and when we went there,it was absolutely freezing. We became aware that this isn't the best time to visit this island. In Fira, there were lot of takeaway restaurants including some Chinese ones. Sanjeev was against eating is a Chinese restaurant in Greece, but I longed for some fried rice. That meal turned out to be the cheapest and best meal of our trip !!!!!!talk about irony!!! During the summer months, you could take a ferry to the volcano and swim in the hot springs there.