Dear Foodie Fam,

Sensory memories still float through my head…

SURROUNDINGS

• The way the melt-like-butter gold, aquamarine, pink, purple, orange unhindered sunset view could be seen pretty much anywhere.

• Walking so high up you could see the ocean on all side of you.

• Large working-class type dogs and cats welcome to sleep and walk about everywhere.

• The dogs seem clean. They don’t wear tags. They sometimes walk along together. They sleep on doorsteps and eat from bowls outside many restaurants and businesses. Some will follow you sweetly for food and even for company.

• Cats often wander into stores and nestle themselves into piles of soft fabric. I’m jealous of their litter box views.

• Lizards bobbing in and out of holes along the hike.

• Old churches no longer in use- still ethereal in their loneliness.

• Santorini is quite windy in November. Dutch’s swimming trunks and slippers- drying in the wind, were swept away outside. I’m also glad I wasn’t wearing a skirt, dress or hat…

SOUNDS

• The ringing of bells here is like the call to prayer elsewhere. It signals that you are in a place that is home to many devout people.

• The whipping wind and crashing waves at the Red Beach.

• The sound of clapping for the view of the sunset from Oia Castle.

BUSINESSES

• Every store seems so boutique-y and many are outfitted with the similar art and souvenirs. My favorite buy in all of Santorini was an Olive lava oil soap I absolutely adored. It was only $2 and lasted months. It kept my face clearer than it ever had been before… or, sadly... after!

• Every restaurant seems boutique-y, too.

• We liked the little convenience kiosks that stayed open late. I loved Loacker wafers and 7Days large chocolate croissants. Dutch liked the special flavored Oreos and Crunch bars. We’d grab these and an Alpha or Mythos beer, every night.

TRAVEL

• Touring in a rented car to a CD that came with the rented car: all house music.

• Open, winding roads in open fields. Sometimes, you’d pass very small villages, but for the most part, it seems people stay in the larger cities.

PEOPLE WE MET AND CAME ACROSS

• American and Canadian college-aged hikers climbing rock edifices

• Sweet people at the Aria that flattered us by asking us if we were celebrities! ha!

• Manuella, the little baby girl niece of the lovely front desk lady. As she bounced on her aunt’s knee and patted her round red cheeks with her tiny little hands, I wondered if Manuella would ever know how lucky she was to live where she did.

ART

• The old, well preserved and golden lined Byzantine and Orthodox church art.

• The colorful blown glass, everywhere.

• The tiny ornate details people got away with in a mainly white and blue landscape (colored doors, little sculptures, mosaic entryways, sculptural knockers, curving fences and knobs, for example).