Santorini, Part I

I've been absent here for a while, and for that I apologize, loyal readers. (Um, do I even have loyal readers at this point?!)

Anyway, there are loads of excuses - just closed a HUGE deal at work, have been taking piano lessons, was in China last week, etc. But the real one is this: I really wanted to write one post about Santorini - this vacation story telling has gone on long enough for goodness sake! But I cannot. There is just too much. Alex and I packed entirely too much into our two days and one night on the island. So I've resigned myself to two posts. And here we are.

So, Santorini. Where to begin? It's an island, or it was an island, until a volcano blew its center out, leaving it in pieces. As a result the landscape is amazing. What was the center is now cliffs falling into the sea below, a caldera. And Alex and I started out by exploring the caldera by boat.

Alex looking like a polo model. Oh, and I was there too.

Our boat (or a boat that looks just like ours) and our sail.

The varied palette of the rock formations and beaches was striking.

The seas were open, and other than our sailing buddies, we didn't encounter many other boats. Other than the pirate ship, which, of course, was not a real pirate ship.

I mean, duh.

And we saw these really cool ruins on a cliff.

Except, they weren't ruins. Just buildings under construction. Duh. (Yeah, I didn't figure that out until I looked at this picture on my computer screen.)

And remember what I said here? About the blues of Greece being incomparable? I find it worth pointing out that the only editing I did to these pictures was to add yellow (because the pictures were too blue) and straighten (because, yikes, that boat was R O C K - Y).

Seasick yet?

After the boat trip, we made our way back to our ultra-cool, super wonderful hotel.

Where they gave us a room with a phenomenal view (and a bottle of local white wine).

And from there, we drove to Oia to watch the famous Santorini sunset. Oia is on the northern tip of the island along the caldera and is the place to watch the sunset. But the cliffside town is lovely on its own. I mean, look at it!

The view

Me and the view

The town bathed in the light of the setting sun was a lovely backdrop for the flag and the local canine.

And here it is. The Santorini sunset.

While I took pictures of the sunset, Alex took pictures like these. (Ah the joys of bringing two cameras on vacation!)

When Alex wasn't taking pictures of my sweet photography-face, he was rocking some mad jealousy induced by this guy's sartorial amazingness.

But we got some nice pictures as well:

Strong execution by Alex on the self-portrait

Strong execution (on the rebound) by one of the many people who asked me to take their picture

We capped off our evening in Oia with an amazing dinner here. And I embarrassed Alex by trying to get pictures of the sweet light. Because that's what I do. :)

Part 2 someday soon!