Santorini

Somewhat reluctantly, we left East London this morning. We took an Uber to London City Airport and made such good time in the morning traffic that we had to sit and wait for a while before we could drop our luggage in. In the departure lounge, British Airways staff made several announcements asking for four volunteers to skip this flight and instead take one to Rome, and from there, leaving at 3.30am, to Santorini. They offered a free taxi to Heathrow and 357 British pounds for anyone taking up the offer. They said this was due to it being a ‘weight restricted flight’. We didn’t take it up because we’d arranged to meet a driver in Santorini to take us to our accommodation, but I imagine that it would be tempting for some people. You would essentially get to Santorini twelve hours late, but you’d have the equivalent of $750 in Australian dollars for each person in your group who agreed to the deal. I think they got the numbers they needed because there were a few empty seats on the flight.

And then there was another announcement from British Airways apologising for the late boarding and delayed departure because “our flight crew hasn’t turned up yet and unfortunately we have no idea where they are!” Thankfully they turned up not long after that and our flight, just short of four hours, went quite smoothly, though we got into Santorini about an hour late.

So here we are in Greece, our fifteenth country on this trip, and our last. I’ve booked a cave house on AirBnB (photos below) high up on the hill overlooking the caldera in Thira. The views, as you can see, are quite spectacular. We have to climb 39 steps to get to our front door from the lane below. There were three cruise ships anchored just offshore when we arrived. One left while we were having dinner and another went at about 9.30pm. It looks like the third ship might still be here in the morning. The weather is a balmy 30-something degrees, although there is a cool breeze as I sit typing this on the balcony. I think we must have one of the prime locations on Santorini because this view is simply stunning.

We found a really nice bar/cafe just a few doors from where we are staying. We were given a table overlooking Thira and its harbour, so we sat and watched the sun go down and the lights of the town gradually come on. It was quite magical. I’m very happy just thinking about doing the same thing for the next four nights too. And for our first night in Greece, Marg had a haloumi dish, which she said was superb and I had marinated octopus, which was also amazing.

We’re not planning to do too much over the next four days. After twelve often tiring weeks on the road, doing new things every day, we just want to chill out and and enjoy the final days of our trip. We might go for a few walks (although I’m drawing the line at walking the 600 steps down to the water and back again!) and do a few touristy things, but our accommodation has some comfy seating with unimaginable views. Maybe it’s just time to sit for a while and take the weight off our feet.