May 30-31, 2024

We had a three hour drive back to Zurich. The views were amazing. Switzerland is really beautiful. They have photo speed traps everywhere and as we were coming into Zurich, I saw one flash at me. Thank heavens, I was going only 96 kmh in a 100 kmh zone that had quickly changed to 80 kmh. For us Americans, that’s only nine mph over. My friend got three photo tickets in Paris getting to the airport and had a $3000 fine. He didn’t pay it and now can’t enter France for 5 years or he’ll be arrested. Luckily, I found out the ticket was only $60 when I got back to the US. The rental car company paid for it and then charged it to my card. We made it to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare. This gave the company just enough time to pick up TT’s rented bike. Phew!

After we got checked in to the hotel, we headed out to find a place to eat. We only found one place that wasn’t totally booked. That should have been our first clue. Kenna and I ordered a lemon salmon gnocchi and we smelled it before they even got to our table. I have never in my life had a more disgusting meal in a restaurant. Even the boiled beef hoof and cold peach soup in Austria wasn’t as gross. We didn’t eat a single bite, stacked the other plates on top of it, paid, and left. I liked the hotel a lot though. It was called the Ambassador and really boutiquey with very comfortable beds. We weren’t in Zurich long enough to really get an impression of it. The dinner and breakfast we had there were the worst of the whole trip.

We woke up the next morning. I had dreamed we missed our flight. I was worried about it, so we left a little early. It was raining pretty hard as we headed to the airport. We bought gummy bears and spun a wheel and won a Lindt luggage tag. Our gate was changed. We ran to the new gate, only to find out it wasn’t the right one. Then we ran again to find the correct one as they were boarding. We were delayed, so I assumed we’d probably miss our connection. An agent from the airline was waiting for us when we landed in Athens. We were in the very back row. The other passengers let us off first. Then we ran again to our next gate. You may think we ran because it was boarding. Nope, we discovered they were about to give our seats away. We had to be there in person. We waited while some very unhappy people did not get our seats and were vocal about it. We sat in the exit row. The flight attendant asked Rel about her age. She wanted to know if Rel was at least 15 years old. She was not happy about that. I bought a random book in the airport in Zurich and ended up reading more than half of it. We got to the hotel in Santarini – the views are amazing and the hotel is just okay. I really liked the restaurant though, especially the breakfast. The hotel and restaurant overlooked the Aegean sea right above where a Cruise ship crashed and then sunk. They have a giant ring around it to keep boats from going over it. It’s hard to imagine staying there and watching that happen. The weather is nearly opposite here. Hot and dry. Somehow, I imagined Greek Islands to be tropical or at least humid. I don’t know why I thought that. But they are basically a desert in the middle of a beautiful sea. We are perched on a literal cliff.

We headed into Fira to walk around and check it out. It’s exactly like the photos but with massive amounts of tourists.

Then next day we headed to the black sand beach that was more like a blackish rock beach. We camped out on chairs in front of a restaurant that brought us food and drinks for the day.

We went on a tour of the island that the front desk recommended. This was such a scam. The driver took us to a monastery. We also visited a cute little town. Finally, he drove us to the same beach we went to the first day. He was rude to Rel. He told TT the influencer want-to-be’s were dressed very skimpily. He said they were “really hot” when the girls were out of earshot. He smoked like a chimney at every stop.

Soo many photo ops and ……..sooo many young women fighting for them

Cruise ships stop here. The trek up to the city is so hard that they let people ride donkeys up the stairs. Poor donkeys.

We were in the restaurant at the hotel. I saw a guy that looked like one of our neighbors in Draper. He’s also one of Taz’s customers. B had mentored him a lot in the business. I thought there’s no way that was him, but it totally was. It was crazy! He brought his whole sales team because they’d hit some big goal and was staying in the same hotel. He was super friendly and told his whole team that it was because of B that they were all there.

One morning I woke up. A whole pack of Chinese tourists was camped right outside our door. They were having a very loud argument or conversation at 7 am. I should have gone out there and yelled at them. They were all in the restaurant with us having breakfast. They either continued their argument during breakfast or that’s just how they sound.

We went on a sunset cruise that at least 20 other catamarans and 20 people per boat went on. It was more like a leisurely boat race. Super mediocre food and our crew was definitely dialing in the performance with the captain decidedly grumpy. Also, it was as if we were invisible to the other tourists on the boat. They were all drinking and we weren’t and not one single person said one single thing to us.

My kids showed off their flips and dives off the boat, but on one particular flip TT hit his leg.

Man that’s got to hurt!

My thoughts on Santarini

• It’s not a pretty island. It has pretty white buildings with blue roofs and pretty water surrounding it.
• The local men are kind of swarmy. There was one exception, a waiter we had every morning at breakfast. The women are really unfriendly. They are very cold and dismissive working in the hotels, shops, or tours.
• Everything is expensive. The prices are a little like Mexico. If you look like a sucker, they’ll charge you like you’re a sucker.
• The island is dirty with mostly poor areas except for the hotels and shopping areas.
• I never want to go back. I was pretty disappointed overall.

We headed to the ferry to take us to Mykonos.