Today's guest correspondent is Merryn....
New Year's Eve and we are on the island of Santorini. We arrived in drizzly rain which continued for much of the day. December in Santorini is very quiet, peaceful and friendly. Only one in ten of the shops and restaurants open. (We still had three restaurants to choose from within a five minute walk of our hotel, but more on that later). 
On the short plane trip from Athens we were each presented with a gift wrapped pomegranate for New Year. The Greek tradition is that you smash the pomegranate against your front door at midnight. The more seeds that emerge, the better your luck for the coming year.
Our hotel is nestled into the side of the hill - on two levels with the girls clomping like donkeys above our bedroom. There is an indoor/outdoor pool and beautiful views of the centre of the volcano and the Aegean Sea.
As the rain eased in the afternoon we ventured out to attempt a walk down the 600 steps to the water - hoping for a cable car ride up again. Unfortunately the cable car eluded us again- just closed for the day! We ventured on anyway and ended up with fantastic views and leg muscles for our efforts.
A swim afterwards in the hotel pool. (Judy, please note I had my 2014 and 2015 swim in one as the swim took place in 2014 Greek time and 2015 Oz!!)
We spent the evening at a cosy restaurant on the cliffs with Greek music, amazing dips and the best yoghurt with walnuts and honey for dessert. Mostly English speaking travellers like us arriving from 8pm. The locals started arriving for dinner at 10pm!
Happy new year and many pomegranate seeds to all!
You seem to be doing very well in the restaurant field [looking to mushrooms vin santo!] but missing out on the cable cars. Does pomegranate feature much on menus? Has become popular here. Hope you enjoyed plenty of pomegranate seeds.
ReplyDeleteVery hot weather here -- both Melb. and Adelaide are experiencing extremely hot weather. Firies on alert.
Any fireworks for NY? Sydney put on a spectacle again -- this year filmed by the ABC and it included more panoramic vistas on a beautiful evening.
Happy New Year to you all.