I can see for miles and miles (Koroni to Santorini)

Another great band for the '60s and '70s to help us on our way with the post - The Who.

The early morning in Koroni is beautiful. The air is still and cool although you can feel the threat of the impending heat. There is no breeze and sound of water lapping at the sea wall is calming. This morning the serenity was disturbed only by the bells calling people to the first church service of the day and the sound of the market stalls being set up. The Parthenon had not yet opened so that meant no breakfast because we had an 8am bus to catch.

We came downstairs again to walk around to the bus stop at 7:40 and the restaurant was open but we didn’t have time to wait for food. The owner chastised me when I told her we needed to be at the bus stop. “You should have told me last night,” she said, “I would have opened early for you.” Breakfast was a couple of cookies from the bakery next to the bus stop.

I’ve mentioned the narrow streets previously, but seriously, maximum respect for the bus drivers. To get the bus out of Koroni he had to reverse back up the street and then do three small reverse manoeuvres to turn the first corner. If the windows opened and I had a duster I could have cleaned the underside of the balconies of the houses as we passed. It was very tight and the driver on both journeys managed these challenges well.

The bus trip back to Kalamata was much quicker than the trip down and we were safely on the bus to Athens at 9:30am. There was the usual confusion about seats because some people like to sit where they choose rather than where they have been allocated. The woman and her two children who originally occupied our seats decamped to the seat behind us after I protested. By the time we reached Athens they were in their correct seats down the back of the bus.

The return trip, still with a few sweetheart drop-me-here deals, was 5 hours long and we were in a taxi and on our way to the airport by 1pm. While I'm sure I wouldn't want to drive around Athens (kudos Glenn) I can't say I'm quite comfortable with the speed at which the taxis drive. Although one taxi went past us like we were standing still and we were doing around 120km/h.

We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and found a nice little wine bar the other side of the security barrier. We did some duty free shopping and waited for the plane.

The trip was over before it began - 45 minutes in the air. Barely enough time to distribute a cookie. As we flew over a number of islands, the villages clustered around the high point to get the best view looked like a snow capped mountain because of all the white-washed buildings.

On the ground I was unimpressed with what I initially saw. The island is dry (yes I know it's summer), dusty and sparsely populated despite the abundance of traffic - cars, quads, bikes and people on foot. We drove for about 15 minutes before we reached Imerovigli and the Petra Honeymoon Villas. Once we crossed the road to the side of the caldera I had a vastly different perspective. Stunning. The bare cliffs, the blue of the water contrasting with the white buildings perched like swallows' nests on the cliff side.

The view from outside our room

Our bedroom

The front of our suite

Our suite is beautiful - carved into the mountain side, we have a serious piece of the rock face as our bedhead. We have a sitting room, full-sized bathroom with jacuzzi - which is unusual in Europe. And the view? It just goes forever. We hadn't eaten all day, aside from a charcuterie plate at the airport so it was time for dinner.

Navigating the path from our room to the restaurant and back again proved to be a little more challenging than anticipated, but we made it. The last of the night was whiled away sitting outside our room on the sun lounges drinking our complimentary wine watching the sparkling lights across the water.