We arrived in Santorini and unloaded from the ferry with hundreds of other tourists. We had decided to rent a car so we could better explore the island. We got the car and felt liberated from public transportation and thrilled to have air conditioning!! The ferry dock is located at the bottom of a cliff and there is a steep switchback road that you must take to get anywhere. It was a great place for Kellen to remember how to drive a stick shift car. We were staying at Kamari Beach and headed to get checked into our hotel. After checking in we drove about 20 minutes to Oia for one of the most famous sunsets in the world!! Oia is a darling town of white washed buildings nestled in the side if a cliff.The view of the Caldera Sea was breath taking.
We meet another American couple and watched the sunset with them. It was truly spectacular with so many colors and a huge sun that appeared red as it dropped into the ocean at exactly 8:25pm. 
Then it was gone... And the huge crowd that had gathered to watch cheered. A moment I will never forget. Maddie loved watching it because there were lots of people to entertain her! Then it was time to take more pictures.
After a perfect evening we grabbed some Thai food to go and drove sleepy Maddie back to the hotel. We got back at around 1000pm and Maddie had a melt down before going to bed. She has only done this a few times but I guess only one half our nap and a late night results in a very tired baby!!!
Day 2: Kamari Black Sand Beach
Kamari is one of the beach towns on Santorini. It has a beachy vibe and a cobblestone boardwalk lined with beach shops, resturants, and hotels. Our hotel is right in the middle of the boardwalk and leads straight to the beach. We intended to do an early morning jog but after a late night and a buffet breakfast we make it out about 11:00am. In Europe every beach has sunbeds and umbrellas set up to rent. The price for 2 chairs and an umbrella can range from 8 euros to 50 euros (depending on what beach you are at). It was nice our hotel had sun beds set up that were free for hotel guests!! So we set up for the afternoon.
As you can see the sand/small stones are black which gets very hot during the day. This is because Santorini is a volcanic island. Everyone wears water shoes or sandles to walk around the beach so they do not burn their feet. The beach is also conveniently lined with a network of walkways for people to use. We really like the black sand/stones because when you sit by the water it makes the most relaxing sound as the water recedes and runs through the stones. So we spent a lot of time sitting and playing by the waters edge.
Maddie is one seriously darling bikini baby! She is so much fun at the beach, she loves swimming in her floaty, playing in the sand, and is great at beach naps! We stayed at the beach until about 6:30pm when we realized we had skipped lunch and were both starving.
We are dinner at Zorbas Tervena and had a huge meat plate made for two. It consisted of a bunch of grilled Greek meat and potatoes. Kellen was in heaven especially when it concluded with gelato!
Day 3: Explore Santorini
We set out in our little car up a widing ride to our first stop: Ancient Thira which is a city that is on the top of a cliff and was inhabited from the 9th century BC to 726AD. It is now just ruins but has awesome views of the surrounding island.
Second stop: Fira town. Which is one of the larger towns in Santorini and is also built on a cliff and has amazing views of the Cladera Sea. We explored the narrow streets and grabbed gyros for lunch before heading on.
Third stop: Amoudi Bay. This was my favorite stop of the day. It is the bay located right under Oia and has some charming resturants serving very fresh sea food. After a short hike on volcanic rock you get to a swimming area where you can also cliff jump! And check out our sweet car we have had in Santorini!
We left Amoudi Bay around five and headed back to the hotel. We were both craving Greek salad and pizza and found a place on our boardwalk where we could get it. We then spent the next hour or so playing at the beach with Maddie. She loved playing with the small stones at the beach, standing up on the lounge chair, and crawling around in the sand. It was such a perfect last evening in Santorini!
We had agreed to return our rental car at 5:30pm and our flight was not until 8:30pm, which ment a three hour wait in the tinest most crowded airport I have ever been in. We were thankful to have a chair, nice people to entertain us, and that the one airiport shop sold Cheetos!! I love Cheetos and they do not sell them in Belgium. We also were entertained when a man came through security and refused to be searched then proceeded to yell, in Greek, at the airport security for 10 minutes then was dragged out of the airport by the police. Made for some intense, yet great, entertainment! After a long evening we were finally on our way to Athens.
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