The Travel Connection

One door closes and another one opens.  We started the day with gloomy news that all the airports and ports are closed due to ongoing union strike. By the time we sorted and figured out an alternative mode of transport to get to Crete, a good part of the day had passed. We went to Fira to await the move towards Crete. The Weather Gods must have felt ours emotions and revealed grey hues in place of the vibrant blues. But by God, the result was spectacular. One of the memories that will always be close to me. The unscheduled visit to Santo wines at Pyrgos was the cherry on the already over flowing exquisiteness.  Like every other person, we had a day earlier taken a half day cruise on the traditional wooden boat to Caldera Island and Hot springs. A short hike leads to top of Caldera island and some more views of the croissant island and some smoke here and there. The jump into hot spring is best avoided as one get less than 10 minutes.  But Volca...

Santorini has few other quaint little places that offer some more photo opportunities and are less crowded. The first photo opportunity was at the Red beach or rather close to Red beach which is  named after its crimson volcanic background and resulting sand. It is situated near the village of Akrotiri but was off limits at the time of our visit. A short walk up the hill will lead you to the view of blue and red below. You have plenty of fruit and snack vendors along the way. The fresh Juicy mouth watering fruits of greece will energies you like no other. A must have!! The red beach The next stop over was at the village of Pyrgos. This hillside village had  more of white washed churches ,blue domes, narrow winding paths,cafes and of course the lovely views of vineyards. A short drive away on the highest peak of the Island is the Monastery of Prophet Elias. A replica of a citadel , this monastery came to existence in 1711. Though the physical fatigue, lack o...

Cliched, Over used,  theme of every travel show - The blue dome. What is it about a blue dome , white washed buildings and the deep blue Aegean Sea. It invites over 1.5 million tourists every year. And it did feel like all the 1.5 million tourists were around the same day as we were in Oia. So let me share something most travel books or shows don't share. With that out of the way, i have to share the mandatory images of blue domes, wind mills and the world famous sunset of Oia captured with great difficulty over the top of all the heads. So here you go So you guessed right, Oia was not my favorite places to be. Crowded Chaotic Confusing , I care about it less than other places i have visited. Beautiful, no doubt but not for me. May 2017 Oia, Greece The Travel Connection: With the good comes the bad Tip: Go to left hand most corner of the sunset spot if you need the typical shot of sunset.

The window into the travel book Santorini was through the town of Fira. The capital of the island is along the west of the croissant Island. The clifftop town with its white washed buildings cobbled narrow streets and peak a boo views between the large clusters is breath taking. The paths are lined with luxury hotels, terraced restaurants and of course shopping establishments.  Every nook feels picture perfect and every corner calls you to capture it. The First sight of Aegean Sea on foot The Cliff top Buildings Now shopping is not my forte, so among the first things we did was to explore the cafes and local eats. And the greatest find was the flavoured greek yoghurt. Heaven just got closer to me. If i ever go back to greece, it would be to have the greek yoghurt. And of course how can one forget the greek coffee. Just the jump start required after the hectic hopping between countries and cities. After the soul stirring greek yoghurt, we to...

Every since I could remember , I was in love with Greece or the idea of Greece. I was waiting for the perfect circumstance to experience my dream. The perfect senario never happened but I did visit Greece during the times of turmoil. The 7 nights 8 days holiday turned out to be a bitter sweet memory. Sometimes the budget traveler takes over me and I took the long haul option of Bangalore New Delhi Doha Athens on Qatar. What made it acceptable  was the access to priority pass lounge and the new aircraft between Doha and Athens.  We landed early afternoon and almost immediately took off on a half day tour. But More of it later. We had an early morning flight to Santorini the very next day. A short flight of about 45 minutes with the highlight being the aerial view of island as one is about to land. If luck has it, you are seated on the right hand side of the aircraft which will treat you with magnificent views of the Cyclades islands. Take off from Eleftherios V...