Soaking in the Santorini spirit

June 25, 2014: Today I checked in at hotel Gold Suites. This hotel has very classy suites with private jacuzzis in the balcony overlooking the deep blue sea.

In the afternoon, we took a steamer to see the various beaches of Santorini with its black, red and white sands and rocks.

Many visitors to the islands admit the wild beautiful beaches of Santorini are among the strangest. It is impossible to be out in the strong Santorini sun for long and you can feel your skin burn. However, you can see thousands of sunbathers, mostly European, lying on the sun lashed beaches getting tanned. Its a very different lifestyle.

There is an excellent network of pick up-and-drop boats for five Euros on these beaches. In contrast and rather surprisingly, I am told that there are only 39 taxis in the whole of Santorini. I really felt it when I had to wait for two hours to get one to get back to the hotel.

I also went to see the Kamari beach area which is the most common beaches in Santorini. It is famous for its black sandy beach and is connected to Fira by a bus service also.

Not far from the village, lies the famous archaeological site of ancient Thira.

My hotel Gold Suites (picture) is located some 20-minute walk from Fira in an area called Imerovigli from whose balcony I witnessed one of the most beautiful and famed Santorini sunsets.

For dinner, we went to a traditional restaurant called Anoti or Anogi in Greek. I think this restaurant, which is not on the beach, was the best vegetarian food joint during my entire trip to Greece. Thanks to Aditya’s immaculate homework.

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