* Mykonos & Santorini … our 25th anniversary present to ourselves

Our whole life since we retired is basically a vacation, interrupted by writing novels and enjoying times with our family and friends. So how do you do something special to celebrate 25 terrific years of marriage? You could do a whole lot worse than go to the Greek Islands.

Actually, we were a year late, and it was our 26th anniversary this year. But who’s counting?

Our plan was simple. Find the most beautiful place in the world and basically do not much once we got there. Here’s what we saw each day. So how do you think we did?

this was our view from our room in Mykonos

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and this is what it looked like from our room in Santorini

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* the Vencia hotel in Mykonos is spectacular

We never use a travel agent for any of our travels. But we did this time, mainly because the boat schedule between Mykonos and Santorini was not available when we had to book and pay for the air tickets, so we wanted somebody who knew to make sure we got where we had to go. Our travel agent was Efi Mihalopoulou at Fantasy Travel in Athens … http://www.fantasytravelofgreece.com/. Efi was terrific to deal with, always thorough and prompt, and we got an excellent result, including her recommendation for our hotel in Mykonos.

The Vencia Boutique Hotel … http://www.vencia.gr/ … is a family-owned hotel located on the hill overlooking Mykonos Town. It’s a 5-10 minute walk down and a little more coming back up but not a problem.

I think we had the best room (#124), with a picture window view of the harbor below and a balcony with the same great view. We enjoyed four nights in a row of spectacular sunsets.

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sunset from our balcony in Mykonos

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The infinity pool was just below our balcony. It looked like you could swim right over the edge, but not so. It was perfectly safe. There was a bar at the pool (of course), comfortable lounge chairs and umbrellas. Every day was filled with bright sun. Actually it was raining when we arrived, but by the time we had retrieved our luggage and passed out the other side of the airport, the sun was shining and it never stopped.

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in the pool in Mykonos

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There is a restaurant at the Vencia, set on a veranda overlooking the sea. An excellent buffet breakfast was included but the real treat was dinner. The young lady who was the cook (the one wearing the hat) prepared one outstanding dish after another. We never eat in hotel restaurants, but we tried it the first night when we were tired from our flights (Paris to Athens to Mykonos), and we came back for three more nights. We can’t make a higher recommendation than that.

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the Vencia's wonderful staff

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* Shirley Valentine made us do it

We said we weren’t going to do anything or go anywhere, but we did take a walk (one walk! … see separate post) in Mykonos Town and we did go to the site where the movie Shirley Valentine was filmed in 1989. Things are a little more developed than they were then, but just as charming. The ocean was warm, the ladies were topless (not Pat), and our snack at the taverna was perfect. The Vencia driver took us there and picked us up when we called. And by the way, if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s a good one.

at Shirley Valentine's beach and taverna

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* Mykonos Town … just to prove we left our hotel

It’s beautiful. Narrow streets, wide curving bay, cruise ships coming and going and lit up at night, lots of shops and restaurants, bars and night clubs. There was much to do there and we did almost none of it. We had one nice lunch along the port and conversed with a British couple from one of the ships. But why should I try to tell you when we have pictures …

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Mykonos Town

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more Mykonos Town

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* doing pretty much nothing in Santorini, but doing it in style at the marvelous Aria Suites

Do you think it’s easy doing nothing? Well, actually it is.  We were served breakfast on our balcony each morning, including champagne. Then we had to choose which balcony to sit on, or go down to the pool. We read a lot, Pat swam, and I actually did some writing.

We stayed at the Aria Suites hotel … http://www.ariasuites.com/santorini.php … in the Rigoletto suite, which was gorgeous: a beautiful and very comfortable bedroom, large living room, and two balconies with slightly different views of the sea. The staff was also terrific. Dimitra, with Pat in the top middle of the second photo below, was always available, cheerful and accommodating. The room was made up twice each day, and the “good night” runner at the bottom of the bed always made us smile.

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* dining in Santorini

The Aria Suites is located around the corner from the main street of Fira (Thira), the “big” town on Santorini, which must have more high quality jewelry and clothing shops per linear foot than anyplace else on earth. There’s also a funicular and donkeys to get up and down the steep hill from the cruise ship tenders below. Or you can walk the 588 steps.

There are a wide variety of restaurants. We had an exquisite meal overlooking the sea, mousaka at what seemed to be an authentic taverna, and a tuna salad on toast at the closest thing to a diner we found.

dining in Santorini

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* Oia … pronounced Ia … at the very end of the island and definitely worth the trip

We probably wouldn’t have strayed far from our hotel in Santorini, except for the arrival of a cruise ship carrying our good friends Rawy and Nijole. In the winter, we live down the lane from them in Key West. And they have an apartment in Paris, so we see them several times each summer. It also turned out we were in London at the same time in July. And now on Santorini the same day in September. In October, we’ll all be back where we started in Key West.

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Pat with Rawy & Nijole

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Rawy and Nijole took the donkey ride up the hill and we met them at the top. We walked around Santorini, made a stop at our hotel, and then took a taxi (about 20 minutes) to Oia. Why go to Oia when it’s so beautiful in Fira? The pictures below don’t begin to show how spectacular Oia is: white cliffs, rocks and buildings, with brilliant blue domes and highlights, a monstrously high cliff overlooking the sea. We had an excellent light lunch, walked some more, got a taxi back.

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