Tieche European Vacation (Part 8)

The One Where We Relax

The Isle of Santorini (Greece)

After six amazing days in Florence, we said farewell to our close friends (the lovely and patient Van Meters) and headed off for a tricky day of travel.

• 7am: take a cab to the Firenze Train Station

• 830am: take the 1.5 hour train ride from Firenze to the Rome Train Station

• 10:25am: take the Leonardo Express - a non-stop 30-minute express train connecting the Rome Airport to the Rome Train Station

• 1pm: catch our 2-hour flight from Rome to Santorini.

• 4pm: land in Santorini’s tiny airport (after losing an hour via timezone change)

Santorini is a rather small island in the Aegean Sea, about 120 miles off the coast of mainland Greece. It’s basically a dead, dormant volcano. The island itself is not green, tropical or lush, but a brown half-crater - a backward C facing a small island called the caldera which was the mouth of the ancient volcano.

But with its distinctive white buildings, dramatic coastline views, and PERFECT water and temperatures, Santorini has been ranked as the world's top island by many magazines and travel sites, and an estimated 2 million tourists visit annually (mostly by cruise ship). And it’s the home to an expensive viral TikTok trend!

Nicole first visited this place 20+ years ago, when she was in college, and always wanted to bring me back. But since she married a pastor and not the son of an oil baron, she had to wait a little while to get back. Man, it really is stunning.

This is what awaited us. This was the place Nicole found on VRBO and booked for our family back in November of LAST YEAR. I am telling you, it pays to marry a woman that organized. Not only was it perfect, but it was super, duper affordable.

Here’s another view.

During the night, our family would drive up to one of the three cities in Santorini, all of which are perched atop the cliffs, and all of which afforded us views like this.

And this. This is the capital city of Thera (or Fira, as the locals say).

Or this.

Or this. This is taken at the very northern-most tip of the island in a picturesque city called Oia (pronounced EEEE-ah). Now, being from Ohio, I love places with high vowel-to-consonant ratios. But this is a little ridiculous. The only other city I know with a higher vowel to consonant ratio is this place, in Hawaii.

I’M ON A BOAT. I’M ON A BOAT.

Now if you’ll remember, dear reader, the reason for this trip was to celebrate a number of things, including my daughter’s sweet 16, my son graduating high school, our 20th Wedding Anniversary, and Nicole’s milestone birthday.

So during our trip, Nicole’s dad surprised her by hiring a small catamaran sailboat to take us out around the island for a day-tour. A private boat tour?

!!!

The Greeks literally invented sailing, so we were incredibly excited. They sent a private car to pick us up to drive us to the marina and docks where the boat was, which made me feel like a Kardashian.

And from there, we boarded a practically-new 45-foot catamaran built in 2020 called the IQ.

There was a crew of three, including Captain Theo, who helmed our ship. Theo is from Greece, and like someone who went to Stanford, this is a fact about him you will learn within a few seconds of meeting him. Regardless of the topic, Theo will *find* a way to let you know. An example:

Welcome aboard our ship, the IQ. This boat was built in France. As you know, it was the French who first sailed to Polynesia and discovered the catamaran. The French may be the best ship-builders in the world, but the French cannot sail. That polynesia thing was luck, really. The French are good in some things, but sailing is not one of them. So I flew to Northern France and navigated the ship down to the Greek Isles, where sailing was discovered and perfected by my people for the past thousand years.

Heres’s Jaelle sunning herself out on the bow. The color of the sea must be seen to be believed.

Here’s us diving into the water.

And this. Look at the color of that water, people. Ryan Gosling’s eyes are not that blue.

Of course, I made sure to listen to a little Yacht Rock while I was ON A YACHT. I am so meta.

And I want to remind everyone: the canvas can do miracles. Just you wait and see.

Regardless, this was a trip of a lifetime.