Was it a dream?

We are back!! Alhmadullillah.
Oh.My.God! It was crazy beautiful!
I knew Santorini was breathtaking, Ive seen the pictures, movies but I didint know it was THAT breathtaking till I stepped foot on it.
It felt like stepping into a postcard or a dream.

Yes the view as you would expect was crazy but it was the atmosphere, the feel of the place, the 'happy' mood of the people and the fact that we took time to just relax and soak in the peace and quiet that made it all beautiful.

Woke up to a heavenly balcony with a picture perfect view and a jacuzzi to relax in. To top that, breakfast served at our balcony every single morning.
And watching out of the world sunset right from our balcony in the evenings, watching the clear blue sky turned a hue of orange.
And to be enjoying all of that with the 2 kids and alim...I couldnt have asked for more!

Our routine for the few days there usually started off with a slow lazy morning, a hearty breakfast and a jacuzzi swim, followed by a walk around the streets and series of shops, ice cream or a drive around the island to the nearby beaches. Yes, we rented a car coz it was just hard to resist although we didnt even research on the routes or feasibility of driving before the trip. But Santorini wasnt too complicated to drive in and with a car we managed to enjoy and explore different angles of the view, from a top the cliff or lower to the sea level. All equally beautiful.
And we just have this weakness for beautiful drives, something about moving vehicle and incredible views accompanied by our choice of music playing in the car, that we just can never have enough of, no matter which counrtry we are in.

What we didnt expect was the sweltering heat (have to admit, there was a lack of research for this holiday) and the uncountable steps leading up to everywhere.

We came home many shades darker. And much fitter (I would like to think).

Luckily the girl loves steps and wanted to climb all of them, but most times we had to carry her cause she was often a road block to people behind who had to wait for her dainty feet to climb the cobbled steps. And plus, I don't know what's with her pausing at every step and reciting 'bismillah hirahman nir rahim' before she climbs on each step, which of course slowed her down even further.

And now that she is 2 plus and her character crystalising, she has a mind of her own and insisted on getting her way, which we have to battle with more often during this trip as compared to our previous trips when she was much younger.

And with her insistence, the sweltering heat and the steps, it did get quite challenging at times, which even the breathtaking view
could not save. Oh well, I knew Santorini was a honeymoon destination but I knew it would not be a honeymoon for us, with the kids in tow. :) But, but, but, when they were asleep, and we have that beautiful balcony all to ourselves, it almost felt like we were on honeymoon:):)

And one more thing we didn't expect was the 24 hour strike in Athens on 15th June. Though our hotel was not in the thick of the action at Syntagma Square but we were near enough to see the 24 000 people thronging the streets in front of the Parliament House. Uncountable tear gas was released, a lot of public property damaged as people got violent and started throwing stones and whatever else they could get their hands on at the line up of policemen and army, all geared up with shields and masks. Sounds of sirens filled the streets and shots of the tear gas continued till the night. Road blocks everywhere and the public transport came to a standstill except for some still running, mostly taxis. It was quite a sight considering, we have never seen such things in singapore. And the view from our hotel was great where we could watch the action but still remain safely far away. In fact, we had two BBC reporters in the room next to ours and they had their whole set up at their balcony beside ours, covering the story and getting some 'professor-looking' people on the balcony for interviews.

Thankfully, the strikes were quite contained in Syntagma Square. Other than Syntagma Square, other streets were pretty safe and we did go down in the evening for early dinner at this cafe which served superb nutella chocolate banana crepe. It was perfectly normal at other parts of Athens. Strikes are pretty common in Greece lately and it wasnt totally alarming.

Its 2.15am now and the girl is still up. Which is absolutely normal when we get back from different time zones. She will probably settle in, in a day or 2.

Pictures will be up soon..after I find the time to look through the gazillion pictures we've taken!

Now back to work in a week's time ! Oh well, that's the reality. These 2 weeks have been a dream :)