Living like an Olympian (by Olivier)

We were pretty concerned when we found out that our flight from Amsterdam to Budapest was 30 minutes late, considering our connection for Athens was only 45 minutes! Fortunately, our second flight was also late by 30 minutes, so all worked out for the best and arrived in Athens, luggage and all!

While the Greeks have trouble paying for it, they enjoy brand new infrastructure, including a subway line going right to the airport. We took it downtown, and found out that our station was closed for repair. Four euros later by taxi, we arrived at the Centrotel, a small, bit out of the way hotel with excellent reviews on TripAdvisor. After checking in to a spacious room with a balcony, we walked over to nearby Victoria Plaza, restaurant and cafe hub with huge outdoor seating areas. We hadn’t had lunch, so we sat down to a sizeable Greek late lunch/mid-afternoon snack: a salad of fresh tomatoes and rye bread, huge meat balls in tomato sauce, and a ½ litre of house white wine. I made the mistake of asking if their house wine is good. “Yes, I think, very!” came the natural reply. For only a few euros, I wasn’t sure, but it turned out to be great. We walked around the area a bit, which was not at all touristy but full of locals. Later on, we were a bit hungry, so we popped into a souvlaki place with a huge grill, full of meat on a stick. We called it a night early since our ferry for the islands was leaving early the next morning.

The alarm went off at 6am Athens time, 4am London time. Ouch. Only the thought of paradisiacal white and blue islands was strong enough to tow us out of bed. The pre-booked taxi was right on time, and we headed for Piraeus, the main ferry port. The city was empty, until we reached a traffic snarl at the port. We jumped out and walked the rest of the way, picked up our pre-booked tickets and boarded the huge and modern HighSpeed 5, “Greece’s fastest vessel”.

Five hours later, the crowds lined up to disembark off the bridge onto Santorini, the “most beautiful island” in Greece. The port was a bit of a zoo, everyone hawking their guest rooms, hotels, tours and taxis. Luckily, the hotel shuttle was there to pick us up, and we hit it off with an Italian couple living in Athens on the way. It was time to reap the rewards of the “3 stays = 1 free hotel night” at Starwood (we got 6 free nights by switching hotels every night in South East Asia). The Vedema hotel is a 400-year-old vineyard transformed into a small ~50-room hotel located in a tiny village on the hills. It is built respecting the traditional curvy, minimalist Greek island architecture, and every room is unique and charming…especially ours! Thanks once again to my Platinum status, we were upgraded to the ridiculous Olympian villa, complete with a small private pool, Jacuzzi and unobstructed views of the vineyard and sea in the background! I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

After some welcome champagne and a comprehensive tour of the facilities, we pinched ourselves, did a little happy dance, and quickly changed into our bathing suits to catch the shuttle to its private beach with volcanic black sand. We had an outstanding, fresh seaside lunch with the new friends we met in the shuttle, followed by a long swim in the crystal clear water, followed by a pleasant lounge chair nap, swayed by the sound of waves. Jess even had a massage from a Chinese lady roaming the beach. Once the sun was getting low, the shuttle brought us back to our palace, where we alternated between the pool and the Jacuzzi while drinking our complimentary bottle of local red. The hotel restaurant was way, way overpriced, so we walked out to the village and had good grilled fish in a very good restaurant that clearly feeds off the Vedema tourists.

We woke up just in time to catch the 11am shuttle into Hora, the main town on the island. It is crammed with chic touristy shops and with restaurants overlooking the ocean…and the prices are much higher than anywhere else in Greece. However, the calderas, or steep cliffs overlooking the ocean and volcano, are a sight no one should die without seeing. They are what make Santorini such a famous destination. We had a simple lunch with a great view of the cliffs and ocean, followed by more wandering around and marvelling at the views: cliffs composed of layer after layer of colourful rocks, charming little guesthouses with smiling owners and beautiful small churches with the signature sky-blue semi-spherical roofs. The sun was hot, and overall it was perfect weather for exploring, especially since there were so few tourists compared to the craze and heat of August.

We stopped at Carrefour to buy breakfast for the next day, with some fresh fruit and wine before heading back home to enjoy more of our backyard. That evening, around 6pm, we decided to take out some bikes and head for the neighbouring village, high on a hill, to watch the sunset. The Vedema provided us with pretty good looking bikes, and even pumped up the soft tires. We followed some small little curvy back roads towards the village, until we found the main street—and it was all uphill. My bike was stuck in a high gear, and it wasn’t easy going. As the sun was setting, we were near the base of the village, and the climb would be at least another half an hour of brutality. We called it a day and enjoyed the much more fun way downhill, and rode into the sunset.

Once again, we walked into the village for dinner, but this time we chose a very local restaurant. The decor was kitsch, the music Greek, and we were the only tourists there. We got to choose our fish from their refrigerator in the kitchen, and the husband and wife served us a great spread. Three kinds of fish, accompanied by tzaziki (yogurt, garlic and cucumber sauce, we had it at least twice day while in Greece), Greek salad (no lettuce, just fresh tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, olives, a big hunk of feta cheese and olive oil), saganaki (fried or flambéed salty cheese) and a delicious, dirt-cheap house wine, of course! Happy and full, we walked back home for a second night in paradise.

On our last morning in Santorini, we had breakfast on our patio overlooking the sea, then headed to the cavernous gym for a good work-out. Many back-and-forths between the pool and Jacuzzi later, we were sad to check out of the best digs of the trip, and headed for the port to catch the ferry to Naxos. Upon check-out, our total payment was: zero euros! Memories and enjoyment at the Vedema: priceless!