the blues of santorini

ker, whit and rus at red beach
russ and jeff on scooter
kids in oia
oia at sunset
russ at red beach

now, this is the greece i was dreaming of....santorini is beautiful...it's not all lush, like hawaii...it's actually sort of dry with cacutus and boganvilla like california...but, it's got the added greek houses and churches...all in white with blue doors or windows...i love it.our hotel is set among vineyards and the view is so pretty...each room is a different color...kerry and whit's is bright, bright yellow...did i say bright? kelly and jeffs is turquoise mine is actually just off white..lucky me.....the people are very friendly...last night we went to oia which is pronounce eee-ah...it's a beautiful town hanging off the cliffs, known for it's gorgeous sunset...that was fun to see...today we rented a little car and 2 scooters...we drove around the island...went to the red beach which after a bit of a hike you get to this beach which has black and red rocky sand...very cool...that was fun...there was a fruit stand there and this cute old man was selling the best fruit ever...then we drove to kamaris which after getting a bit lost and driving to the highest point on the island which has a wonderful view...we wandered that town, had lunch etc...it's just so nice and so different...this is my kind of place...they have fun jewelry...lots of gold etc...fun to look at...the people are all really friendly...one lady at a shop in our hotel fell in love with whit and kerry...she was so nice...we are good friends now...she loved the babies...anyway...more later....

ac

hot, hot, hot

russ, kerry and whit at temple of zeus
ker and russ at parthenon
gav hiding on the steps of acropolis
from our hotel
another view

so, today was one of those days...at least the first half....not to complain on this wonderful trip....but.....we set up a tour for 10 am...get down to the lobby..wait, wait, talk to concierge, wait...at 10:20 they say, your bus is outside...when we got on the bus, he had been waiting for a half an hour...what's with this hotel? then, we find out, they only ordered a driver. no guide...well, he was nice enough to give us a little tour...usually these drivers don't speak english, so we were lucky..he took us to the acropolis and we get out...after buying our tickets with the thousands others, we find a tour guide there...she was very good and very nice, told interesting stories of greece...it was really hot.....so, hot, kelly thought she was going to faint, she was out of sorts, because, she jeff and gav all had either the flu or food poisoning the night before...there were more people at the acropolis than i've ever seen at a tourist site...it was crazy!!! anyway, it was fantastic to see..amazing what those people did so long ago.....then we got back on the bus after russ and i inadvertantly (sp?) took too many frozen lemonades...he took 2 and i took 2...oh well....then, our bus driver drove us around to some other sites...at which time his bus broke down! he felt very bad, but, what are you going to do? so we walked back to the hotel, up this long hill....poor kelly.....poor me...poor babies...the others were fine..anyway...after that, i was wiped...had a headache all day...so we went to the pool....that was verrrry cool....and refreshing...and just sort of hung out the rest of the day....so, i guess every trip needs one down day...the sites were great though....we go to santorini tomorrow....hope it 's only us.....