Santorini - Ah ... the Food & Drinks ...

A prime mission on our arrival was to find good food and a place with good drinks. Traveling with these girls was going to be fun!

We lucked out on day 1 when in search for lunch, we found a great little taverna on the water. Really, really good food and reasonable. We stumbled out, found our way back to the beach and happily slept off a Greek salad, Santorini salad (featuring local Santorini tomatoes with wonderful flavor),tzatziki, bread and grilled octopus … life in Greece was going to be good. (It took us a few meals, but we finally figured out how little we actually needed to order.) By the end of the week, we'd been back 4 times and the family recognized us as we approached. The best meal was our final lunch of the most amazing lamb (vegetarian, who me? where?) and wonderful saganaki (fried cheese – a favourite of mine that I'd remembered from my last time in Greece) and the unforgettable Santorini salad. mmmm good.

Then there was the question of predinner drinks – we initially stuck with our hotel bar – 3 for 2, a good deal, until it became clear there was a reason they were cheap. So onto the Navy bar – the draw initially was free wireless, but we kept coming back – cute waiters didn't hurt but the real draw were the very good (and strong) cocktails and what became 'our' seats - right on the front where we could watch people stroll by to our hearts content. We had some good conversations and a lot of laughs ... in fact, our last night there, we just stayed - after our lunch there was no need for dinner beyond the drinks and a few appies. It was very good fun.

In between these two haunts, we found other good spots as well as some good bakeries – the 1.50 euro spanokopita is hard to beat for lunch and the pastries made excellent late afternoon snacks. And of course a little fresh gelato was found – somehow required to finish an evening.

With all this eating and food appreciation, I learned a few things about myself. My Uncle had actually first pointed it out when I was visiting him in Montreal - over breakfast and my appreciation for a very good fresh croissant, my Uncle started to chuckle ... he said that my entire family all made mmmm noises as we ate good food. Quite audible appreciation really. He thought my father was the instigator (certainly couldn't have been his sister, my mother) and he'd noticed it with all of us. I shared this with the girls and I have to say, they concurred - that along with my pretty consistent 'very good' comments made them chuckle - and me much more aware ... ah well, at least you know if I like it right? :-)

I was really going to miss the girls when they left - particularly at meal times. Their great companionship of course but compounded by the fact that eating in Greece is such a communal event - you don't order your dish but rather a few to share - after all, who could eat an entire plate of grilled octopus for a meal - but a little, with some salad, some saganaki and tzatziki with bread - now that was a meal! I really wasn't sure how I was going to do that on my own ...

Looking back, it was a fabulous week - relaxing times on the beach, wonderful swimming/splashing about, enough exploration to keep us entertained and some great meals and a lot of really good laughs. We've said we'll be back in 10 years and I'm definitely in! C&S, it was an absolute blast and a great way to kick off my adventures - thank you!